The Industrial/Organizational Specialization in Psychology is designed for Psychology majors interested in careers that apply psychological principles to the world of work. Our graduates work in a variety of areas such as benefits, training, recruiting, compensation, human resources, market research, sales, computer systems, teaching, school psychology, and health care management. The specialization retains the dual purpose of preparing undergraduates for advanced work in I/O Psychology and Human Resources (HR) graduate programs, while also providing them with business-oriented knowledge and skills to facilitate immediate entry into the workforce.
The I/O Specialization evolved from the I/O Track available to Psychology majors since 1991. The track has achieved great success in its history as evidenced by enrollments and the accomplishments of its members.
Please contact the I/O coordinator, Dr. Jason Dahling, for more details.
Credit Transfer Agreement with Rutgers MA in Human Resources
The I/O Specialization holds a credit transfer agreement with the Rutgers University that allows up to five TCNJ courses to be counted for the M.A. program in Human Resources Management. Please see the details of this Credit Transfer Agreement below if you are interested in targeting this specific graduate program.
- PSY 364 – Industrial Psychology or MGT 320 – Strategic Issues in Human Resources (Required grade: B or better)
- Equivalent Rutgers Course Waived: 38:533:580 – HR Strategy I
- PSY 203 – Design & Statistical Analysis (Required grade: A)
- Equivalent Rutgers Course Waived: 38:533:542 – HR Decision Making: Data-Based Decisions
- ECO 315 – Labor Economics (Required grade: B or better)
- Equivalent Rutgers Course Waived: 38:533: 565 – Economics and Demographics of Labor Markets
- FIN 201 – Finance for Non-Majors (Required grade: B or better)
- Equivalent Rutgers Course Waived: 38:533:540 – HR Decision Making: Financial Decisions
- BUS 325 – Employment Law or PSY 374 – Employment Law (Required grade: B or better)
- Equivalent Rutgers Course Waived: 38:533:566 – Employment Law
Faculty affiliated with the Industrial / Organizational Psychology Specialization:
- Dr. Jason Dahling (Specialization Coordinator) | Organizational Psychology Lab
- Dr. Jean Kirnan | TAP Lab
- Dr. John Ruscio | Decision Making Lab
Industrial / Organizational Course Requirements
Methods Sequence (Taken in sequence):
- PSY 101 – General Psychology
- PSY 121 – Methods and Tools of Psychology
- PSY 203 – Design and Statistical Analysis
- PSY 390 – Collaborative Research
*Prior to Fall 2025, PSY 299 – Research Seminar was the fourth and final required course for the methods sequence. Students entering the College beginning in Fall 2025 will instead be required to complete PSY 390 – Collaborative Research.
Foundation Courses (Choose 3):
- PSY 267 – Organizational Psychology
- Other Foundation Courses (Choose 2)
- PSY 212 – Biopsychology
- PSY 213 – Learning and Memory
- PSY 214 – Cognitive Psychology
- PSY 215 – Social Psychology
- PSY 217 – Psychological Disorders
- PSY 219 – Clinical Psychology
- PSY 220 – Development across the Lifespan
Specialized Courses (3 required):
- PSY 364 – Industrial Psychology
- Any other 2 Specialized Courses (your advisor may be able to help you in making selections). Note: an experiential course (e.g., PSY 395, PSY 393, PSY 394) or internship (PSY 397, PSY 399) can only count once toward the specialized courses.
Psychology Elective (formerly Psychology Option) (Choose 1):
- Any additional Psychology course at the 200, 300, or 400-level of the curriculum.
*The Psychology Elective is not a requirement for students entering the College beginning in Fall 2025.
Senior Experience (Choose 1):
- PSY 419 – History and Systems of Psychology
- PSY 470 – Senior Topics Study Group
- PSY 487 – Senior Internship
- PSY 492 – Senior Collaborative Research Course
- PSY 493 – Senior Individual Study
- PSY 494 – Psychology Thesis II
Additional Correlate Requirements (3 units):
- Choose any 2 from these 0.5-unit courses offered in the School of Business:
- FIN 201 – Fundamental Financial Methods
- IST 201 – Introduction to Data & Information Science
- MGT 201 – Management Principles & Practices
- MKT 201 – Marketing Principles
- Choose any 2 of the following courses below with advising. Most of these courses below (and FIN 201 above) have prerequisites. You’ll want to plan which of the courses are of interest above and align them with courses of interest below.
- ACC 201 – Financial Accounting & Reporting
- ECO 101 – Microeconomics
- ECO 102 – Macroeconomics
- FIN 239 – Personal Finance
- IST 310 – Business Information Systems Technology
- IST 320 – Database Management for Business
- MGT 310 – Cross-Cultural Management
- MGT 320 – Human Resource Management
- MGT 345 – Compensation
- BUS 325 – Employment Law
- MGMT 337 – Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workforce
- BUS 375 – Innovation
- BUS 385 – Business Ethics & Corporate Social Responsibility
- MKT 371 – Professional Selling
- MKT 380 – Advertising
Experiential Learning Opportunities
Students interested in I/O psychology should see Drs. Dahling, Kirnan or Ruscio for research opportunities and internship opportunities.
- Dr. Dahling works with students conducting research on motivation and self-regulation at work, including applications to feedback, leadership, and emotions in the workplace. Students assist with many different facets of the research process, including literature reviews, data collection, data entry and management, and writing of reports.
- Dr. Kirnan collaborates with students on a variety of projects including the development of personnel selection tools, prediction of early college success, analysis of commercial messages, and an investigation of “everyday” ethical dilemmas.
- Dr. Ruscio works with taxometric analyses to differentiate categorical and dimensional data; Distinctions between science, pseudoscience, and myths of popular psychology; Techniques for generating and using multivariate comparison data sets; Citation-based indices of scholarly impact
Recent Research Projects:
Dahling:
- Employee and Consumer Reactions to Organizational Expressions of Anti-Equality Messages toward LGBT Individuals
- A Longitudinal Assessment of the Effects of Workplace Health Promotion Policies on Employee Exercise Behaviors and Well-Being
- Regulatory Focus and Emotion Management in Customer Service Interactions
Kirnan
- Development of Assessment Tools for PSY121 and PSY203
- Impact of the Tail Waggin’ Tutor Program on Elementary Grade Reading
- Developing Ethical Case Studies as Pedagogical Tools
- Reliability and Cross-Validation of the PASS (Predictors of Academic Success of Students)
Ruscio
- Generalizations and extensions of the probability of superiority effect size estimator
- Confidence intervals for the probability of superiority effect size measure and the area under a receiver operating characteristic curve
- Determining the number of factors to retain in an exploratory factor analysis using comparison data of known factorial structure
- Variance heterogeneity in published psychological research: A review and a new index
- Measuring scholarly impact using modern citation-based indices
Past Internships:
(Find current I/O psychology internships)
- Syneos Health – Reporting Analytics Intern
- Cape Resorts – HR Intern
- NJ Transit – HR Intern
- Church & Dwight Inc. – Campus Recruiting Coordinator Intern
- Maxim Healthcare Staffing – Recruiting Agent
- Genesis Biotechnology Group – HR Intern
- Johnson & Johnson – Consumer Sales Co-Op
- System Freight, Inc – HR Intern
- PVH, Inc. – HR/Recruiting Intern
- OneMedPlace – Research Analyst
- Atlantic Health System – HR Intern
- Mathematica Policy Research – HR Intern
- Six Flags/Great Adventure – HR Intern
- MTV Networks – HR Intern
- Chanel, Inc. – HR Intern
- Liz Claiborne, Inc. – HR Intern
- Sesame Place – HR Intern
- The Princeton-Blairstown Center – Program Evaluator
- Philadelphia Zoo – Animal Training
- Life Ties, Inc – HR Intern
- MTV Networks: Nickelodeon – Research & Planning Intern
- Wegmans Food Market – HR Intern
- Campfire NJ – Data Analysis Intern
- Nickelodeon – HR Intern
- National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) – Administrative Intern
- CrisisChat – Project and Training Intern