no.i.] PSYCHOLOGICAL EXAMINING IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY. 115 



Commanding officers in divisional and replacement units found the ratings of considerable 

 service in making transfers and assignments of men within their units. Questionnaires and 

 other means of securing information showed that the following were the chief uses made of the 

 ratings by company commanders : 



(a) Assistance in the organization of the company in cases where many new recruits 

 arrived at one time. 



(b) Assistance in the selection within the company of men for special duties; for example, 

 company clerk, orderly, post exchange detail, etc. 



(c) As a check upon the officers' personal estimate of men and to direct particular attention 

 to men whose ability had previously been either overlooked or overestimated, Such system- 

 atic use of the ratings as the calling in of all A and B men for personal interview by the cap- 

 tain or the inspection of men grouped by platoons of A, B, C, D, and E ratings are sometimes 

 reported. 



(d) Assistance in the selection of noncommissioned officers, acting noncommissioned offi- 

 cers, and candidates for noncommissioned officers' schools. In many camps, this use either 

 as a sole or partial basis for such selection, was made obligatory by camp order; in others, such 

 an order was not found necessary; but in no camp, so far as is known, were psychological grades 

 entirely disregarded in making such selection. 



(c) Assistance in the selection of men for officers' training school. Until forbidden to do 

 so by General Orders, No. 74, the commanding officers in certain camps issued orders that such 

 candidates must have A or B or, in some cases, C + rating. In general, however, the psycho- 

 logical grade was considered simply as one of the chief factors to be taken into consideration. 

 The assistance given by psychologists to officers' training camp officers is described elsewhere 

 (seep. 118). 



(/) In several camps special training groups, based upon psychological ratings, were formed; 

 the group with the higher rating was given more intensive and rapid special training. A major, 

 who assigned new recruits in his battalion into four groups, the A's, the B's, the C's, and 

 the D's, thus describes the result of his experiment: 



I went out to watch the platoons that were classified on the basis of your intelligence ratings. I was interested in 

 seeing whether I could pick out the different platoons and classify them as to rank on the basis of their showing on the 

 drill field. I had no difficulty in picking out the best, the medium and the lowest platoons. However, I could not 

 distinguish between the A and B group; both of them seeming to execute the drill equally well. This may have been 

 due to the fact that the B group was small in comparison to the other three, and consequently, had received more in- 

 dividual and therefore, better training. It was very evident that there was an apparent difference between the other 

 three groups. If I should have graded them, I would have given the D and D — group 50 per cent; the C + 

 C and C— group, 75 per cent, and the A and B group 100 per cent. The A and B group would easily learn in one 

 week what it would take the D and D— group two weeks to learn with the same amount of drilling each day. My 

 plan was to rearrange the groups at the end of the first week, but I found no rearrangement necessary as the classifica- 

 tion already made seemed to be correct. I watched the platoons in order to pick out any men who were not up to 

 the standard of the group, but could not detect a single case that needed reclassifying. 



This exrjeriment was much more commonly tried in development battalions (see below). 

 At Camp Gordon, the chief psychological examiner spent the greater portion of his time for 

 several months advising and lecturing to officers on methods of training. 



(g) Many company commanders reported that psychological rating was consulted by them 

 and found of assistance in deciding what should be done in disciplinary cases. Thus a man 

 with a low psychological rating might be presumed not to have understood the full meaning 

 of the offense which he had committed, and might be given another company punishment merely 

 instead of being brought before a summary court martial. Numerous examinations were made 

 at the request of company commanders in cases of men who were giving trouble through appar- 

 ent inability to learn, through misconduct and the like, and special recommendations for treat- 

 ment were made by the psychologist. 



(h) The uses made of the psychological examination of officers are mentioned elsewhere 

 (see pp. 22f). It needs only to be indicated here that psychological grades were commonly con- 

 sidered by superior officers in making assignments of their subordinates to special duty, in recom- 

 mending promotions, in courts-martial and in examining for discharge for inefficiency. 



