492 EVENING DISCOURSES 
believed from careful experiment to afford a reliable measure of the group 
factor of manual dexterity: it should therefore prove useful in vocational 
guidance, but its exact practical value has yet to be determined. 
Even more important, however, for vocational guidance, in the opinion 
of many, than the assessment of mental abilities—or at all events fully as 
important—is the assessment of qualities of temperament and traits of 
character. Ifa-young person is emotionally unstable, it is hopeless to recom- 
mend him to a post which demands an unusually equable temperament. 
Indeed in a case of grave emotional instability the psychologically trained 
vocational adviser will advisedly recommend expert medical treatment before 
attempting to offer guidance. If a young person shows strong social pro- 
clivities, it would be disastrous for him to embark on work which has to be 
performed in relative loneliness. If he is fond of change or seeks adventure, 
he cannot without serious risk of failure be advised to take up work of a 
highly routine nature. 
Unfortunately there are no sufficiently reliable tests of temperament and 
character available for the vocational psychologist. He is compelled at 
present to collect as systematically as possible—and far more systematically 
than before—all the information possible from those who have been in the 
closest touch with the applicant and also directly from the applicant himself 
by his own questioning and observation. How this is done can be best 
described by the account which I will presently give you of the vocational 
examination of a secondary or public school boy or girl who at the age, say, 
of 16, after obtaining the school-leaving certificate, is seeking advice as to a 
future career. 
But before passing to this, I would stress the importance of a medical 
history concerning many applicants for vocational guidance. It is obvious 
that on medical grounds, not only of a bodily but also of a mental character, 
certain occupations may in certain cases be very definitely contra-indicated. 
I would also stress the importance of ascertaining the family history, not only 
medical but occupational. Further, the psychologically trained adviser must 
take into consideration not only the possible hereditary factors but also the 
present social environment, home conditions, and the character and influ- 
ence of the parents of applicants who seek from him vocational guidance. 
Even the terminal school reports have value, although they are couched so 
often in vague, non-committal language which gives little or no psychological 
insight into the real mental make-up of the pupil. He must be guided, too, 
by the applicant’s interests and ambitions, when sufficiently genuine and 
potent, by his opportunities and his financial circumstances, by the pros- 
pects of different occupations and by a vast number of other general con- 
siderations. In the exercise of his art, the applied psychologist cannot 
expect success merely by applying a few psychological tests, computing the 
scores made at them and translating these scores mechanically into the 
particular occupation or occupations which seem to demand the special 
abilities indicated by the test scores. "This is what I had in mind when, 
earlier in my address, I stressed one of the directions in which psychology is 
helping vocational guidance—namely its insistence on a very broad attitude 
and on a carefully balanced judgment. This end is undoubtedly attained 
most easily and effectively by an adequate training of the adviser in 
psychology. 
The time has now come for you to see how the psychologically trained 
adviser proceeds to deal with a young applicant for vocational guidance. 
I exhibit successively the different forms which are sent to his (or her) 
parents, to his (or her) headmaster or house master (or mistress) and to 
several of his (or her) form masters (or mistresses) before the applicant is 
interviewed and examined. You will see how, and you are now in a better 
