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From [livejournal.com profile] rahael - five interests that she wants to expand on. Although I think the meme was five interests that you associate with the person. Either way - I think what she picked was interesting and somewhat suprising. [organizational psychology, degas, cole porter, dancing, and the 4400. - not one's I'd expect.]

organizational psychology

I'm a bit of a frustrated psychology major - have taken courses, gotten annoyed by them - too annoyed to stick with it, but find the study of psychology, human motivations, and how we interact with one another fascinating.

Organizational Psychology - is the study of how people interact within an organization or a better way of stating it is the psychology of an organization.

Here from Wiki: I/O psychology can be divided into two broad areas of study, as evident in its name. Organizational psychology is comprised of topics related to individuals within a context. Contexts studied within organizational psychology include organizations and jobs, leadership (e.g., how leaders influence workers), and interactions among group or team members. Topics such as worker motivation, emotion and affect, and job attitudes (e.g., job satisfaction) are also considered aspects of organizational psychology. Industrial psychology focuses more on individual differences; indeed, the term originated in 1903 when William Lowe Bryan, delivering his presidential address to the American Psychological Association, referred to an 1899 study of his on "individual psychology" but mistakenly referred to it as "industrial psychology." The core of industrial psychology is job analysis - a systematic process for understanding individual knowledge, abilities, skills, and other personal characteristics necessary to perform jobs. Industrial psychology also includes topics such as personnel selection (how to best select applicants for jobs), performance appraisal (how to evaluate individual effectiveness in jobs),and training and development (how to train workers to competently perform jobs).

I have a bit of background in this, since my father was a compensation and organizational consultant - who developed compensation plans, determined how to pay people in big companies, and aided in determining succession plans. After undergrad, I worked for 8 months in the compensation department of a major utility company in the process of merging with another major utility company - and my main job was writing executive job descriptions, listening to interviews of people in the company, summarizing the information presented, editing the board book and incentive plans, and creating organizational charts. Complex organizations fascinate me. In my lifetime - I've worked for a wide variety, profit, non-profit, tiny, huge, and across disciplines. My father, as a consultant, also worked for a wide variety - and prior to his consulting career, had been in the travel industry and with the Great Books Foundation.
So when I say - I have been in or seen just about every industry and company out there - I'm not exaggerating.

The psychology of those organizations, how the people interact, and what makes the work place more efficient has always to a certain extent fascinated me. I'm also and always have been, fascinated by what people do. I'm more interested in what they are working on - than personal relationships. Workplace dramas and comedies often intrigue me more than personal dramas do.

The 4400

This sort of fits with the interest in organizational psychology. The 4400 unlike The X-Files, was about group mentality and social psychology. How organizations attempt to control people. The twist in this science-fiction serial drama - was that instead of being abducted and experimented on by aliens, the super-powered characters were abducted, experimented on, and had their physical capabilities enhanced by a human organization in the future. This organization was at war with another organization in the future. Both were using the past as a way to control their present.

In the series - it was not clear which organization was right. Both sides had done increasingly questionable things.

It also sort of was a dark version of the X-Men and Heroes - in that the super-powered characters had been given powers against their will - initially - by human beings in the future. They were taken from their families and their lives. Losing huge gaps of time.
And placed back in the time stream at a time decades after their normal time line. One little girl had been abducted in the early 1930s, she is put back in the 2005 and given the ability to see the future. The organization who steals these people from their homes and families and timelines - rationalizes the action, by stating that these people can save the world, protect the future. They - this organization - states that individual sacrifices are necessary to save the world of the future. A world that this organization and its' direct forebears potentially caused.

The 4400 asks the question - is such a Machiavellian tatic justified? Have they saved the future or doomed it? Were they meant to take these people out of their lives? Or did they disrupt things by doing it?

These questions are never answered. The series also asks - to what degree can we trust religion or a charismatic prophet or leader? To what degree must the individual subject themselves to the group mentality.

I sort of miss the series. It lasted about four seasons, I think. And they did provide closure. Wasn't as scarey as the X-Files or Fringe, and in some respects far more interesting, less predictable, and a little more innovative. The government conspiracy bit was not the main focus of the series - the main focus was the individual's responsibility and choices regarding the organization - how the individual related to the organization, fought against it, and the degree to which they should.

Dancing

I think dancing is just absolutely beautiful. It is something I keep trying to do, but lack the ability or talent. Still won't give up though. In my lifetime - I've done: ballet, modern, salsa, tango, texas-two step, country line dancing, contra-dancing, square dancing, waltz, and choreographed dance for musicals. I sucked at all of the above - because have no sense of rhythm, I confuse my left with my right, and I tend to dance to my own drummer.

At any rate - I love watching it. And I see dance as language of the body. The body talking without words.

Cole Porter

I just like his music and songs. The lyrics are witty and resonant. They are also very easy to dance to. But the wit - is at times a commentary on our culture and the silliness of our manners.

Degas

Fan of impressionist painters - specifically the French impressionists. And Degas remains a favorite - for much the same reason I enjoy dancing and cole porter - all three are about movement. Degas would sit for hours at a ballet studio and draw the dancers performing in all sorts of poses. He was fascinated with the discipline of Dance, the movement, and the passion behind it. I share that fascination.

Date: 2009-02-20 05:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] joe-sweden.livejournal.com
Cannot agree more re Cole Porter. Much as I love the Buffy musical, no one can top him for funny, biting lyrics.

Though I do think Willow's "I think this line's mostly filler" is worthy of him :)

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