Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Department of Psychology faculty involved in industrial and organizational research

Jared B. Kenworthy, Lewis Hollweg Endowed Professor of Industrial-Organizational Psychology

Group and Intergroup Processes Research Lab

Dr. Kenworthy joined the Psychology Department at UTA in 2005. Before coming to UTA, he was a post-doctoral fellow for three years at the University of Oxford (UK) studying (a) the effects of crossed and multiple categorization on intergroup bias and prejudice reduction, and (b) the development of trust between the Catholic and Protestant communities of Northern Ireland. At UTA, he continued to focus on prejudice reduction, primarily via various means of intergroup contact. In the past few years, his research has also included intragroup processes. Specifically, he has studied the processes involved in group creativity and decision-making. He has published several books, numerous book chapters, and dozens of peer-reviewed research articles on these topics. He teaches undergraduate Advanced Topics in Social Psychology, graduate-level Social Psychology, graduate-level Group and Team Processes, as well as seminars on intergroup relations and meta-analysis.

Logan Watts, Assistant Professor 

Leaders have important impacts on employee well-being and organizational performance. The PELICAN Lab, directed by Dr. Watts, explores how leaders solve complex problems related to employee ethics and creativity. His ethics research shines a light on professional issues in I-O psychology and best practices in professional ethics training programs. His creativity research uncovers cognitive processes and individual differences that facilitate creative thinking, with a special interest in understanding how workers identify and refine creative ideas. Finally, Dr. Watts studies how leader attributes and behaviors influence workplace ethics and innovation.

Michelle Martín-Raugh, Assistant Professor of Psychology ***

Michelle Martín-Raugh is an Assistant Professor of Psychology and director of the Employee Assessment, Selection, and Training (EAST) Lab at UTA. Research conducted in the EAST Lab explores the development, use, and validity of assessments (e.g., situational judgment tests [SJTs], video-based interviews, performance-based team tasks) for use in personnel selection and training contexts. Prior to joining UTA, she previously worked as a Research Scientist for Educational Testing Service (2013-2022) and received her Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology in 2013 from Rice University. She has authored publications featured in outlets such as the Journal of Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management Review, and has served as a guest editor for a special issue of the Journal of Intelligence. She holds a patent for the automatic scoring of video-based interviews, and her research on SJTs has been federally funded by the Army Research Institute.

RESEARCH INTERESTS
Situational Judgment Tests (SJTs), Employment Interviews, Assessment, Personnel Selection, Negotiation Skills, Ethical Behavior in Teams 

Dr. Liana Bernard, Assistant Professor of Research 

Dr. Bernard is an Assistant Professor of Research. Her research focuses on workplace diversity and inclusion, with a particular focus on neurodiversity and mental health, specifically examining how subtle behaviors and perceptions impact marginalized employees. Dr. Bernard employs a variety of methodologies to study several marginalized groups; she has conducted experimental research examining gender expression and interpersonal discrimination in hiring, qualitative research examining the experiences of employees with drug-related criminal convictions, and she recently published an empirical introduction to the auto-photovoice method through examining inequities due to COVID-19. Dr. Bernard is particularly excited about her ongoing work examining workplace reassurance-seeking as a behavior that is particularly likely to be enacted by neurodivergent employees, and can elicit cumulative biased perceptions of marginalized employees.