PSYCHOLOGY AND INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY

CONTENTS


INTRODUCTION

I. APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY

II. THE DEMANDS OF PRACTICAL LIFE

III. MEANS AND ENDS


I. THE BEST POSSIBLE MAN

IV. VOCATION AND FITNESS

V. SCIENTIFIC VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE

VI. SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT

VII. THE METHODS OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

VIII. EXPERIMENTS IN THE INTEREST OF ELECTRIC RAILWAY SERVICE

IX. EXPERIMENTS IN THE INTEREST OF SHIP SERVICE

X. EXPERIMENTS IN THE INTEREST OF TELEPHONE SERVICE

XI. CONTRIBUTIONS FROM MEN OF AFFAIRS

XII. INDIVIDUALS AND GROUPS


II. THE BEST POSSIBLE WORK

XIII. LEARNING AND TRAINING

XIV. THE ADJUSTMENT OF TECHNICAL TO PSYCHICAL CONDITIONS

XV. THE ECONOMY OF MOVEMENT

XVI. EXPERIMENTS ON THE PROBLEM OF MONOTONY

XVII. ATTENTION AND FATIGUE

XVIII. PHYSICAL AND SOCIAL INFLUENCES ON THE WORKING POWER


III. THE BEST POSSIBLE EFFECT

XIX. THE SATISFACTION OF ECONOMIC DEMANDS

XX. EXPERIMENTS ON THE EFFECTS OF ADVERTISEMENTS



APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY


Our aim is to sketch the outlines of a new science which is to
intermediate between the modern laboratory psychology and the problems
of economics: the psychological experiment is systematically to be
placed at the service of commerce and industry. So far we have only
scattered beginnings of the new doctrine, only tentative efforts and
disconnected attempts which have started, sometimes in economic, and
sometimes in psychological, quarters. The time when an exact
psychology of business life will be presented as a closed and
perfected system lies very far distant. But the earlier the attention
of wider circles is directed to its beginnings and to the importance
and bearings of its tasks, the quicker and the more sound will be the
development of this young science. What is most needed to-day at the
beginning of the new movement are clear, concrete illustrations which
demonstrate the possibilities of the new method. In the following
pages, accordingly, it will be my aim to analyze the results of
experiments which have actually been carried out, experiments
belonging to many different spheres of economic life. But these
detached experiments ought always at least to point to a connected
whole; the single experiments will, therefore, always need a general
discussion of the principles as a background. In the interest of such
a wider perspective we may at first enter into some preparatory
questions of theory. They may serve as an introduction which is to
lead us to the actual economic life and the present achievements of
experimental psychology.


XXI. THE EFFECT OF DISPLAY

XXII. EXPERIMENTS WITH REFERENCE TO ILLEGAL IMITATION

XXIII. BUYING AND SELLING

XXIV. THE FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF ECONOMIC PSYCHOLOGY