Dr. Guastello's research interests fall into several areas. The largest concerns nonlinear dynamics (chaos, complexity, and catastrophe theories, and related principles) and their applications to work motivation, work performance and turnover, occupational safety and health, creativity, group and organizational behavior, and cognitive workload and fatigue. Dr. Guastello's other interests include the role of macroeconomics in organizational behavior, human-computer interface design, computer-based test interpretations and expert systems, personality and organizational behavior.
Education
Ph.D., Illinois Institute of Technology, 1982
M.A., Washington University, 1979
B.A., Johns Hopkins University, 1977
Teaching Interests
SJG's teaching responsibilities include industrial psychology and organizational development at the undergraduate (PSYC 3230 syllabus
) and the graduate levels. PSYC 8665 and the graduate course in Personnel Selection are also part of the MU Masters program in Human Resources and popular choices in the MU Ph.D. Program in Interdisciplinary Studies. Human Factors Engineering (PSYC 4330) is also available as a graduate course. SJG also teaches General Psychology regularly, plus a few other courses on an occasional basis, such as Graduate Statistics 2 (PSYC 2001) and Chaos and Complexity in Psychology (PSYC 4995) which is a special topics seminar.
Research Interests
Dr. Guastello's research interests fall into several areas. The largest concerns nonlinear dynamics (chaos, complexity, and catastrophe theories, and related principles) and their applications to work motivation, work performance and turnover, occupational safety and health, creativity, group and organizational behavior, and cognitive workload and fatigue. Dr. Guastello's other interests include the role of macroeconomics in organizational behavior, human-computer interface design, computer-based test interpretations and expert systems, personality and organizational behavior.
Book: Chaos, catastrophe, and human affairs: Applications of nonlinear dynamics to work, organizations, and social evolution. (1995, publ. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, now available through Psychology Press, div. Taylor & Francis).
Book: Managing Emergent Phenomena: Nonlinear dynamics in work organizations. (2002, publ. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, now available through Psychology Press, div. Taylor & Francis).
Book: Human Factors Engineering and Ergonomics: A systems approach. (2006, publ. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, now available through CRC Press, div. Taylor & Francis).
Book: Guastello, S.J., Koopmans, M., & Pincus, D. (Eds), (2009). Chaos and Complexity in Psychology: The Theory of Nonlinear Dynamical Systems. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Book: Guastello, S.J., & Gregson, R. A. M. (Eds.). (2011). Nonlinear Dynamical Systems Analysis Using Real Data. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press (div. Taylor & Francis)
Software: Peressini, A. F., & Guastello, S. J. (2010). Orbital Decomposition v1.2. ORBDE is an analysis based on symbolic dynamics that identifies recurring patterns of events in nominally-coded data. In other words, the events can be identified by categories, rather than metrics. The final statistics include the string length, topological entropy in the form of the (largest) Lyapunov exponent, fractal dimension, Shannon entropy, and a chi-square test for goodness of fit. Available from Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology & Life Sciences, Resources for Students and Teachers, Menu 4.
Other Professional Activities
Editor in Chief: Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology, and Life Sciences. This is the refereed research journal of the Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology & Life Sciences. SJG is the founding Editor in Chief, and currently continues in that capacity. NDPLS was first published by Human Sciences Press, Div. Plenum in 1997-98 and by Kluwer Academic Publishers, now part of Springer Inc., during the years 1999-2003. NDPLS is now published directly by the Society. SJG also manages its production operations. For journal purview, instructions for authors, subscription information, citation rates and indexes, please visit the NDPLS site above.
Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science. SJG was appointed to the editorial board in 2002. Published by Taylor and Francis.
Consultant to Industry
The most frequently requested projects have involved the application of basic research in nonlinear dynamics for personnel selection and retention, occupational accident analysis and prevention, and management development. Portions of the work have involved writing, administration, and analysis of surveys for occupational safety, organizational development efforts, and knowledge acquisition for expert systems. Other projects include the development of personnel selection systems and selection test validation for executives, salespeople, controllers, operations, skilled trades, and support personnel.
Selected Publications
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