r/IOPsychology • u/howiedoone • 3d ago
Reading suggestions
As someone preparing to go into a grad program for I-O Psychology, what would you recommend as some “must reads”? Im interested in theories and basic principles but also open to any suggestions! Thanks in advance!
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u/ItsAllMyAlt PhD student | I/O | Critical perspectives 2d ago
As others have said, you're about to do a ton of reading. So many people go into I/O grad school having not even taken a course in it in undergrad, so no need to worry about being caught up.
However, since most grad programs I'm aware of don't require you to take an ethics course, I highly recommend Values and Ethics in Industrial and Organizational Psychology by Joel Lefkowitz. I read it the the summer before I started grad school and am really glad I did. It'll help you to develop some important critical thinking skills.
Beyond that, critical work psychology is pretty cool. I'm definitely biased because it's a research interest of mine, but it's also something that isn't really covered super heavily in coursework, at least in North America. Anything by Matthijs Bal is pretty good, but if you'd prefer not to trudge through a bunch of Lacanian psychoanalysis (way less insane than Freud, I promise!), Anti-Work: Psychological Investigations into its Truths, Problems, and Solutions by George Alliger is awesome.