PSYCHOLOGY 353 



isted a splendid spirit of cooperation and of appreciation of 

 one another's efforts to serve. 



One of the first obviously psychological problems which was 

 brought to the attention of the National Research Council by 

 the Government was the need of reliable methods for selecting 

 the best men to serve as lookout and gun pointers on armed 

 merchant vessels. This, like many other suggestions and re- 

 quests for assistance from the navy and the army, was referred 

 to a competent scientist, who finally succeeded in developing 

 highly useful methods. It is fair to say that the efforts of 

 psychologists to make themselves useful in the war were suc- 

 cessful from the very start. The authorities of the National 

 Research Council recognized this fact, but they were never- 

 theless greatly surprised, at first by the ambition of the psycho- 

 logical profession to help win the war, a little later by the 

 psychologists' expectations of success, and finally by the actual 

 achievements. 



Even before war had been declared individual psycholo- 

 gists had been thinking of ways in which their science might 

 be applied to military problems. On April 6, 1917, a group of 

 experimental psychologists, then in session at Cambridge, 

 Massachusetts, appointed a committee to consider the relation 

 of psychology to military affairs and to further its application 

 to practical problems. This was the beginning of concerted 

 action. From that day the psychologists of the country acted 

 unitedly as well as disinterestedly and whole-heartedly. In 

 other countries psychologists served conspicuously, but always 

 as individuals and seldom in their professional role. 



The national psychological association of this country imme- 

 diately interested itself in the question of service and commit- 

 tees were speedily appointed to work systematically on such im- 

 portant tasks as (i) the assembling and digesting of psychologi- 

 cal literature relating to military affairs so that we might make 

 use of the latest and the best information from all parts of the 

 world; (2) the psychological examination of recruits; (3) 

 psychological problems of aviation; (4) the selection of men 



