Applied psychology in the context of "Ergonomics"

Applied science is the application of the scientific method and scientific knowledge to attain practical goals. It includes a broad range of disciplines, such as engineering and medicine. Applied science is often contrasted with basic science, which is focused on advancing scientific theories and laws that explain and predict natural or other phenomena.

There are applied natural sciences, as well as applied formal and social sciences. Applied science examples include genetic epidemiology which applies statistics and probability theory, and applied psychology, including criminology.

Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of human mental processes such as attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity, and reasoning. Cognitive psychology originated in the 1960s in a break from behaviorism, which held from the 1920s to 1950s that unobservable mental processes were outside the realm of empirical science. This break came as researchers in linguistics, cybernetics, and applied psychology used models of mental processing to explain human behavior. Work derived from cognitive psychology was integrated into other branches of psychology and various other modern disciplines like cognitive science, linguistics, and economics.

Psychological research refers to research that psychologists conduct for systematic study and for analysis of the experiences and behaviors of individuals or groups. Their research can have educational, occupational and clinical applications.

Kurt Zadek Lewin or Kurt Tsadek Lewin (/ˈluːɪn, ləˈviːn/ LOO-in, lə-VEEN; German: [leˈviːn]; 9 September 1890 – 12 February 1947) was a German-American psychologist, known as one of the modern pioneers of social, organizational, and applied psychology in the United States. During his professional career, Lewin's academic research and writings focuses on applied research, action research, and group communication.

Lewin is often recognized as the "founder of social psychology" and was one of the first to study group dynamics and organizational development. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Lewin as the 18th-most cited psychologist of the 20th century. During his career, he was affiliated with several U.S. and European universities, including the University of Berlin, Cornell University, MIT, Stanford University, and the University of Iowa.

Occupational health psychology (OHP) is an interdisciplinary area of psychology that is concerned with the health and safety of workers. OHP addresses a number of major topic areas including the impact of occupational stressors on physical and mental health, the impact of involuntary unemployment on physical and mental health, work–family balance, workplace violence and other forms of mistreatment, psychosocial workplace factors that affect accident risk and safety, and interventions designed to improve and/or protect worker health. Although OHP emerged from two distinct disciplines within applied psychology, namely, health psychology and industrial and organizational (I-O) psychology, historical evidence suggests that the origins of OHP lie in occupational health/occupational medicine. For many years the psychology establishment, including leaders of I-O psychology, rarely dealt with occupational stress and employee health, creating a need for the emergence of OHP.

OHP has also been informed by other disciplines. These disciplines include sociology, industrial engineering, and economics, as well as preventive medicine and public health. OHP is thus concerned with the relationship of psychosocial workplace factors to the development, maintenance, and promotion of workers' health and that of their families. For example, the World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization estimated that exposure to long working hours, a risk factor extensively studied by researchers allied to OHP, led 745,000 workers to die from ischemic heart disease and stroke in 2016. The impact of long work days is likely mediated by occupational stress, suggesting that less burdensome working conditions are needed to better protect the health of workers.

Industrial and organizational psychology (I-O psychology) "focuses the lens of psychological science on a key aspect of human life, namely, their work lives. In general, the goals of I-O psychology are to better understand and optimize the effectiveness, health, and well-being of both individuals and organizations." It is an applied discipline within psychology and is an international profession. I-O psychology is also known as occupational psychology in the United Kingdom, organisational psychology in Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, and work and organizational (WO) psychology throughout Europe and Brazil. Industrial, work, and organizational (IWO) psychology is the broader, more global term for the science and profession.

I-O psychologists are trained in the scientist–practitioner model. As an applied psychology field, the discipline involves both research and practice and I-O psychologists apply psychological theories and principles to organizations and the individuals within them. They contribute to an organization's success by improving the job performance, wellbeing, motivation, job satisfaction and the health and safety of employees.