June 11, 1920] 



SCIENCE 



597 



FRIDAY, APRIL 23 



Afternoon Session — S o'clock 

 Hampton L. Carson, M.A., LL.D., vice-president, 



in the chair 

 Symposium on Psychology in War and Education 



Introduction : Lightner "Wither, Ph.D., director 

 of the Psychological Laboratory and Clinic, Uni- 

 versity of Peunsylvanda. 



Methods : J. McKeen Cattell, editor of Science. 

 The speaker reviewed the development of experi- 

 mental and quantitative methods in psychology, 

 and especially the transfer of its main concern 

 from introspection to the study of individual dif- 

 ferences in behavior. This has made possible the 

 applied psychology which was of such service to 

 the nation in time of war and will prove of increas- 

 ing value in education and in industry. Efforts 

 to alter conduct by a direct appeal to consciousness, 

 as undertaken, for example, by the churches, the 

 schools and the law courts, have yielded small re- 

 sults. But individuals can be selected for the work 

 for which they are fit and can be placed in the hu- 

 man and physical environmenit in which their re- 

 actions are what we want. By cooperation with 

 other sciences, it is also possible for psychology to 

 change the environment, and ibehavior can be con- 

 trolled more effectively by a change in the envir- 

 onment than by a change in the constitution of the 

 individual. The older psychology must be put in 

 its proper place; it can not be altogether dis- 

 carded. As far as production goes, consciousness 

 may be only a spectator; but it is the ultimate 

 consumer. 



Psychological examining a/nd classification in the 

 United States army: Egbert M. Yeskes, Ph.D., 

 chairman of Division of Eesearch Information, Na- 

 tional Research Council, Washington. (By invi- 

 tation.) Psychological examining in the United 

 States army was miade possible by the prompt ac- 

 tion of American psychologists, who individually 

 and collectively, in committees and conferences, 

 formulated plans, prepared methods and induced 

 the army and the navy to utilize psychological 

 service. The methods of examining which were 

 finally adopted are based upon princdples previ- 

 ously used but they exhibit also new and important 

 features which constitute significant contributions 

 to the technique of practical mental measurement. 

 The personnel for psychological examining was 

 carefully selected in accordance with qualifications 

 and the men were especially trained at the Gamp 

 Greenleaf School for Military Psychology. This 

 intensive training in the rudiments of military sci- 



ence and military psychology ranks next in im- 

 portance in its relations to the final success of the 

 service to the superior quality of the army's psy- 

 chological personnel. The initial purpose of ex- 

 amining was the discovery and prompt segregation 

 or elimination of men of markedly inferior intelli- 

 gence. The uses which were actually made of re- 

 sults of psychological examinations were extremely 

 varied and covered the classification of men to fa- 

 cilitate military training, the selection of men of 

 superior ability for training as officers or for spe- 

 cial tasks, the segregation and special assignment 

 of men whose intelligence was inadequate to the 

 demands of regular military training, and finally 

 the elimination of the low-grade mental defective. 

 It was the demonstration of values in these and 

 several other directions that converted military 

 skepticism concerning the serviceability of psy- 

 chology into 'belief and active support. After the 

 official trial of methods approximately 75 per cent, 

 of the officers concerned believed that they shoiild 

 be used further. On the signing of the armistice 

 90 per cent, of the officers of the army, if we may 

 judge by the opinions of the commanding officers 

 of camps and divisions, were highly favorable to 

 the psychological service. 



The relation of psychology to special proilems of 

 the army and navy: Eatmond Dodge, Ph.D., pro- 

 fessor of psychology, "Wesleyan University. (By 

 invitation.) To help mobilize the himian factors 

 that were needed by the army and navy to win the 

 war, that was the task for which the psychologists 

 of the country were organized under the leadership 

 of the National Eesearch Council. Two great 

 achievements stand to their credit; first the sorting 

 of the conglomerate of the draft army with respect 

 to general intelligence imder Major Yerkes; and 

 second the discovery, indexing and assignment of 

 trade experience, special skill and presumptive 

 ability to perform the tasks needed by a modem 

 ajmy, under Colonel Scott. These achievements are 

 regarded by experts as an important factor in the 

 supposedly impossible undertaking of building a 

 great fighting organization in a few months time. 

 New demands were made on human nature during 

 the late war, many of which were only imperfectly 

 understood. The task of flying is a good illus- 

 tration. Psychologists cooperated with the Air 

 Service in studying the effects of high altitudes 

 and in discovering test indicators of the ability to 

 stand them. They were responsible for the mental 

 tests in picking those who could learn to fly with 

 a minimum expense and risk. Gas warfare and 

 adaptation to the wearing of gas masks, the de- 



