Psychology and technology: the psychologist practice in organizations

Abstract

Psychology applied to work has been the subject of diverse criticism, as it is presented as it is focused, mainly, on the maintenance of current society and the productive system, becoming, therefore, an instrument of social control and domination of individuals. In order to analyze the contradictions of these practices, this paper presents the results of an empirical study, conducted with 106 psychologists, about the relationship between Psychology applied to work and the ideology of technological rationality, according to the subjects’ responses to a Questionnaire of Personal and Professional Data and an Attitudes Scale. The results allow, at least, two important observations. First, it was observed that the professionals seem to be in a sort of imprisonment due to the impotence of thought and action, for going beyond the reality the way it is currently organized. On the other hand, the research also points out to the possibility of resistance to the elements that promote the fixity of the current set of social relations.