Psychology Paper Essay
Psychology Paper Essay
Locate and review three recent (from the past five years) peer reviewed research articles which highlight the way psychologists have successfully impacted public policy. In 1,500-2,200 words, do the following for each article:
- For each article provide a summary of the article’s main points.
- Discuss the research methods utilized.
- the results were.Describe the population studied, the sample, how the sample was chosen and what
- Next, critically evaluate the study including limitations and any bias.
- Finally synthesize elements of public policy change that were evident in the articles, commonalities between the articles, including how they were different.
- Discuss how you think the researchers could have improved their impact on public policy and your suggestion for researchers to do differently in the future to make more of an impact on public policy.Psychology Paper Essay
ORDER NOW FOR ORIGINAL, PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPERSThe Role of Work in Psychological Health
and Well-Being
A Conceptual, Historical, and Public Policy Perspective
David L. Blustein
Boston CollegePsychology Paper Essay
The primary theme of this article, which serves as the
introductory contribution of a special section of the American Psychologist, is that work plays a central role in the
development, expression, and maintenance of psychological health. The argument underlying this assumption is
articulated at the outset of the article in conjunction with a
historical review of vocational psychology and industrial/
organizational psychology. The article follows with an
overview of contemporary vocational psychology and a
presentation of the psychology-of-working perspective,
which has emerged from critiques of vocational psychology
and from multicultural, feminist, and expanded epistemological analyses of psychological explorations of working.Psychology Paper Essay
Three illustrative lines of inquiry in which research has
affected the potential for informing public policy are presented. These three lines of scholarship (role of work in
recovery from mental illness; occupational health psychology; and working, racism, and psychological health) are
reviewed briefly to furnish exemplars of how the psychological study of working can inform public policy.
Keywords: career, work, career development, psychological health, psychology of working
Despite the fact that work consumes so much time
and is such a major concern in people’s lives,
psychological discussions of work, for the most
part, have been compartmentalized or have been marginalized within our discipline. In this article and the Psychology Paper Essaytwo
articles that follow, I, Fassinger (2008), and Fouad and
Bynner (2008) provide an overview of the role of work in
people’s lives, with a particular emphasis on how psychologists can inform and shape public policy on work-relatedPsychology Paper Essay
issues at both micro and macro levels. Our intention with
these articles is to highlight the unique, and often overlooked, contributions of vocational psychology, which we
believe are increasingly relevant to the continued growth
and evolution of psychological discourse across specialties.
In these three articles, we summarize innovative ideas and
research findings from vocational psychology, with the
objective of highlighting the central role that work plays in
people’s lives (cf. Richardson, 1993). Taken together, this
set of articles has the potential to generate sustainable
conversations and research about the unique and important
ways that psychologists can contribute to public policies
that will increase access to fair, dignified, and rewarding
work for an increasing proportion of citizens.
The role of work in psychological theory, research,
and practice has had a long and complex history (Barling &
Griffiths, 2002; Blustein, 2006; Richardson, 1993; Zickar,
2004). From a broad view, work has been studied primarily
by industrial/organizational (I/O) psychologists and vocational psychologists, with additional input from rehabilitation psychologists (e.g., Neff, 1985; Riggar & Maki, 2004;
Szymanski & Parker, 2003), health psychologists (e.g.,
Quick & Tetrick, 2003), community psychologists (e.g.,
Martı´n-Baro´, 1994; Shore, 1998), and consulting psychologists (e.g., Lowman, 1993). I/O psychologists have tended
to examine aspects of working that are pertinent to employers and organizations (e.g., Barak, 2005; D. T. Hall,
1996; Spector, 2005), seeking to respond to such questions
as What sort of motivators can be established at a given
organization to enhance productivity and reduce turnover?
How can we select the best workers for a specific set of
tasks? What are the core elements of effective leadership in
a work setting? Vocational psychologists have explored the
role of work in psychological functioning and development
from a more individual perspective (e.g., Brown & Lent,
2005; Holland, 1997; Savickas, 2005), generally examining
questions such as What career should I pursue? How do I
explore my options? How can I move to a different line of
work? How do I make decisions when I feel overwhelmed
by anxiety and indecision? How can I be more satisfied in
my work life? Both I/O psychology and vocational psychology have made substantial contributions to the social
sciences, management, counseling, and education, and both
are poised to continue making these contributions to meet
the challenges of the 21st century.
In this set of articles, I and the other authors have
elected to focus on the vocational psychological perspecI thank John Bynner, Madonna Constantine, Nadya Fouad, Mary Sue
Richardson, and Graham Stead for their comments on a draft of this
article.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to David
L. Blustein, Department of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational
Psychology, Campion Hall-315, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA
02467. E-mail: blusteid@bc.edu
228 May–June 2008 ● American Psychologist
Copyright 2008 by the American Psychological Association 0003-066X/08/$12.00
Vol. 63, No. 4, 228–240 DOI: 10.1037/0003-066X.63.4.228
tive of work as the “figure” and to focus somewhat less on
I/O psychology, which functions as the “ground” in our
contributions. The major objective of this set of articles is
to provide readers of the American Psychologist with an
informative overview of the important contributions from
vocational psychology, with a particular focus on the public policy implications of this body of work. Our rationale
stems from several critical issues that are central to the
work we present in this set of articles. First, in a manner
consistent with the foundation of vocational psychology
(e.g., Parsons, 1909), we are primarily concerned with the
role of work in individual lives, which we believe offers
considerable insights and relevance to a broad array of
psychologists and public policy analysts. Second, vocational psychology has developed an expansive framework
that is highly relevant to many new developments in psychological theory, research, and public policy. Third, although I/O psychology continues to develop innovative
theories and tools for scholars and practitioners, its focus
generally is limited to contexts and settings that are relatively circumscribed to those individuals with choice and
volition about their work lives (Zickar, 2003, 2004). The
material presented in this article and the two articles that
follow seeks to embrace a wider spectrum of people who
work and who wish to work. Indeed, we view these articles
as a means of furthering the integration of work into
psychology as a whole and as a means of enhancing the
intellectual agenda of the full gamut of applied psychological disciplines. (In this article and the two that follow,
applied psychology is defined as encompassing the psychological specialties that seek to understand and directly
intervene in the lives of individuals and organizations, as
exemplified by clinical psychology, counseling psychology, school psychology, and I/O psychology.) At the same
time, we acknowledge the rich contributions from I/O
psychology, many of which have been infused into, and
have informed, much of the vocational psychology agenda
and practices and which are also embedded in these three
articles.
Psychology Paper EssayAnother critical the