Apollo 13 Psychology

It seems that true character really shows itself in people when life hangs in the balance. One must wonder what happens inside of someone psychologically when faced with such a nerve racking situation. Some people collapse under pressure and really mess up the situation they are in. The movie Apollo 13 is about a space crew that experiences major issues with there space craft. They are faced with going back to earth at great risk. Industrial and organizational Psychology can be applied to the situation of these men and what they had to face. They can be explained by relating the situation of these men to certain aspects of Industrial and organizational Psychology. Employee motivation, as well as having good reliable leadership, and finally,

If employees are not motivated, dedicated, or committed to their work, they will not perform their work in any efficient way, and something will go very wrong. Some people are motivated intrinsically when performing their tasks. The definition for intrinsic motivation reads “Work motivation in the absence of such external factor as pay, promotion and coworkers” (Aamodt, 2016, p. 326). This is what drove these men forward. They were trying to reach the moon at first and then tried to get back to earth alive. One can safely assume that these types of people are not motivated by a simple paycheck or praise. These people have a passion for the cosmos. They are intrinsically motivated to learning more about what lies beyond our home planet. It seems that Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs kicked in when they technical issues occurred. The first two needs occurred which are Basic biological needs, and safety needs. The first need reads “the first step in Maslow’s needs hierarchy, concerning survival needs for food, air, water, and the like; the next step reads “The second

In the movie Jim had to replace Ken with a backup crew member named Jack. The rest of the crew does not trust in Jack’s ability. Perhaps they did not trust in Jim’s choice to replace Ken with Jack. Trusting in your leader is very important. Especially if your leader knows what they are doing. The two crew members begin to argue at one point, Jim being the leader of the group is able to calm them down. Resolving conflict is important especially if you are the leader. Jim does just that. The definition of the IMPACT theory is, “there are six styles of leadership (informational, magnetic, position, affiliation, coercive, and tactical) and that each style will be effective only in one of six organizational climates (Aamodt, 2016, p. 440). According to this theory Jim the leader of the group falls under the tactical style of leadership. The proof is in a scene where Jim had to strategize how to best use their amps with out running out of amps too soon. Had they used their amps before getting close to the earth they would have never reached earth. The definition for situational leadership theory reads “a theory of leadership stating that effective leaders must adapt their style of leadership to fit both the situation and the followers” (Aamodt, 2016, p. 443). Jim exhibited this type of leadership. He had to change is style of leadership when they realized