PSYCHOLOGY IN INDUSTRY 



results of research, but leaving it to the reader to pass 

 upon the practical social value of these investigations, or 

 to project into the future the benefits which may ultimately 

 accrue from a scientifically grounded understanding of 

 man's behavior in relation to his daily work. 



First, let us take a hasty glance over the vast field into 

 which, here and there, industrial psychology has been 

 pushing its outposts of discovery. We can then look more 

 closely into the specific aims of recent research, comparing 

 them with the aims of scientific management on the one 

 hand and of mental hygiene on the other. We shall inquire 

 particularly into the ways which have been used to measure 

 attitudes, interests, and abilities, to validate employment 

 tests and other aids in vocational selection and placement, 

 to diagnose and correct occupational shortcomings, such 

 as lack of skill and susceptibility to accident, and to learn 

 the true nature of industrial fatigue; for these are some of 

 the more strategic areas in which industrial psychology 

 has been exploring. 



A Glimpse of the Field as a Whole. Research in industrial 

 psychology, as in other branches of scientific inquiry, 

 consists essentially in finding out precise relations between 

 variables. The variables which must be analyzed, described, 

 measured, and related, are: 



(a) Significant aspects of industrial behavior, and 



(J)) Factors conditioning this behavior. 



How, for instance, is a worker's productivity best defined 

 and measured? How does the scientist measure the satis- 

 factions men experience in their work? What are the 

 incentives, financial and non-financial, which lead workers 

 to put forth their full efforts? And just what is the relation- 

 ship between each of these different kinds of incentives, 

 and the accomplishments and satisfactions which follow 

 from their use? 



The vast industrial experiment now going forward in 

 Russia is challenging the hypothesis that monetary reward 



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