Psychological Effects of the Maritime Industry on Seafarers

Abstract

Industrial psychology is one of the applied sub-branches of psychology and focuses on human behaviors in the workplace. It aims to increase the performance and satisfaction of employees and organizational productivity by using a range of scientific methods. Developments within the scope of industrial and organizational psychology lead to the emergence of new fields of study, such as personnel psychology, organizational behavior, engineering psychology, vocational counseling, organizational development, and industrial relations. These fields had to be adapted to the complex structured maritime industry. In this context, maritime psychology can be widely described as the study and application of the interaction of human behavior and its environment. This chapter is a venture to identify and construct the specific maritime psychology characteristics, whilst protecting its vivid interaction with other perspectives including social, biological, physical, and environmental ones.