MODULE 1.1 The Importance of I-0 Psychology The Importance of Work in People's Lives Most adults devote the majority of their waking weekday (and often weekends as well!) to work.High school and college students,too,find themselves using a great deal of their discretionary hours in part-time jobs,particularly during the summer months.For many. this is a greater devotion of time and energy than to any other single waking human activity. For this reason alone,we can assume that work is important to people.Then there is the fact that most people need to earn money,and they do so by working.But the experience of work goes well beyond the simple exchange of time for money. Although many people have mixed feelings about their jobs,research indicates that most people would keep working even if they had the opportunity to stop.The National Research Council,in a book about the changing nature of work(NRC,1999),adds support to this observation.When asked the question "If you were to get enough money to live as comfort- ably as you would like for the rest of your life,would you continue to work or would you stop working?"the percentage of people reporting that they would continue working has averaged approximately 70 percent since at least 1973.A follow-up study found that although that percentage had declined slightly in the years from 1980 to 2006,the majority (68%)of people surveyed still reported that they would continue working if they won the lottery(Highhouse,Zickar,Yankelevich,2010).This is dramatic evidence of the central- ity of work(Arvey,Harpez,Liao,2004)as a noneconomic experience.This is strong testi- mony to the meaning of work-not a particular job,but the experience of working-in defining who we are. The importance of work is further confirmed by talking to people who are about to lose or who have lost their jobs.As we will see,work is a defining characteristic of the way people gauge their value to society,their family,and themselves. The Concept of "Good Work" Gardner(2002)notes that psychology has often ignored how workers actually "conceptual- ize their daily experiences-the goals and concerns they bring to the workplace."He goes on to characterize what he calls "good work"(Gardner,Csikszentmihalyi,Damon,2001). Good work is work that "exhibits a high level of expertise,and it entails regular concern with the implications and applications of an individual's work for the wider world"(Gardner, 2002,p.B7).These concepts have been turned into an extensive endeavor,called the "GoodWork Project,"which is directed toward identifying and,if possible,creating good work.As the project leaders point out,good work is tougher to do than it might seem. Scanned by CamScannerScanned by CamScanner