Chinese Civil Service Exams (1115 B.C. – 1905)
[Assessed such knowledge and skills as music, archery, horseback
riding, writing, aritmatic, civil law, agriculture, geography]
• First Exam: Requirements --- Write on an assigned theme; one day
and night (1% - 7% pass rate)
• 2nd Exam (for those who passed first exam): Three days and nights
(scribes copied the exam answers to avoid bias; 1% - 3% pass rate)
• 3rd Exam: 3% pass rate
Personnel Selection (Pre 1900)
• Introduction of 1st personal history inventory (Thomas Peters, Washington
Life Insurance Co., 1894)
• James McKeen Cattell’s concept of “mental test” & study of individual
differences
• Charles Spearman’s developemnt of reliability
• Development of the correlation coefficient (e.g., Galton, Edgeworth,
Pearson)
• Study of the job of professioanl telegraphers (Bryan & Harter (1997) *
[1900-1909]
Trends: Industrialization, larger companies, immigration,
efficiency focus, time & motion studies popular, focus
on environmental changes
• Theory of Mental Measurement (Thorndike, 1904)
• Establishment of “test-criterion method” (circa 1910) to determine the
value
of tests (association between test scores and a criterion)
• The Theory of Advertising (1903) and Psychology of Advertising (1908) by
Personnel Selection [1910-1919]
Increasing Human Efficiency in Business (Scott, 1911)
Influencing Men in Business (Scott, 1911)
Principles of Scientific Management (Scott, 1911)
Psychology of Industrial Efficiency (Munsterberg, 1913)
• Division of Applied Psychology at Carnegie Institute of Technology (1915)
• Scott Company (1919)
• Journal of Applied Psychology (1917)
Aptitude test for trolley car operators (Munsterberg, 1910)
Army Alpha & Beta Tests developed
Woodsworth Personnel Data Sheet
Applied work:
a) Performed job analysis of the position of trolley
car operator and developed a performance test
using mock trolley cars
b) Studied the effect of street lighting on driver and
pedestrian safety
Hugo Munsterberg
Books:
On The Witness Stand
(1907)
Psychology and Industrial
Efficiency (1913)
c) Developed early polygraph test
• Heart rate
• Blood pressure
• Free association latency test
• Automograph
Members of the Committee on the Psychological Examination of Recruits
The first year of its existence (1917), the committed developed 5 forms of the Army Alpha
test (verbal test), and developed the Army Beta exam, a nonverbal test for illiterate and nonEnglish speaking recruits. Final forms of the Army Alpha and Beta tests were published in the
beginning of 1919. By the time the war ended, the tests had been administered to
approximately 2 million recruits.
• The tests were the first instruments designed for group administration
• They also generated a great deal of interest in the application of intelligence testing
Sample Items from the 1917 Version of the Woodworth Data Sheet
6: Do you have too many sexual dreams?
29: Have you ever lost your memory for a time?
31: Were you happy when 14 to 18 years old?
38: Has your family always treated you right?
42: Do people find fault with you more than you deserve?
44: Did you ever make love to a girl?
48: Do you think drinking has hurt you?
50: Do you think you have hurt yourself by going too much with women?
52: Did you ever think you had lost your manhood?
53: Have you ever had any great mental shock?
54: Have you ever seen a vision?
57: Have you ever felt as if someone was hypnotizing you and making you act against your will?
58: Have you ever been bothered by the feeling that people are reading your thoughts?
62: Are you troubled with the fear of being crushed in a crowd?
81: Do you find it difficult to pass urine in the presence of others?
113: Can you stand pain quietly?
115: Can you stand disgusting smells?
Applied work:
a) Director of the Bureau of
Salesmanship Research at
Carnegie Institute
b)
Director of the Commission on
the Classification Personnel in
the U.S. Army
c) President of Northwestern
University
Walter Dill Scott
Books:
Theory of Advertising (1903)
psychology of Advertising (1910)
Influencing Men in Business (1911)
Psychology of Advertising Theory and Practice (1921)
Personnel Management (1923)
Applied work:
Founder of Scientific Management movement
a) Design of work methods (time & motion
studies, tool design, standardization of work)
b) Rest periods and performance
c) Employee selection & training
Books:
Principles of Scientific Management
Frederick Taylor
(1911)
Personnel Selection [1920-1929]
Trends: Employment growth, prosperity (GNP),behaviorism’s
emergence, employment management growth
• 1st Ph.d. in I-O awarded (Bruce Moore, Carnegie Institute, 1921)
• Formation of Psychological Corporation (1921)
• Job analysis method introduced (Viteles, 1923)
• Use of the tern “validity”
• Graphic rating scale introduced (1922)
• Vocational Interest Inventory developed (1927)
Principles of Employment Psychology (Burtt, 1926)
The Psychology of Industry (Drever, 1921)
Psychological Tests in Business (Kingsbury & Kornhauser, 1924)
Applied Psychology: Principles and Methods (Poffenberger, 1928)
Personnel Selection [1930-1939]
Trends: Behaviorism, social psychology, personality theories
Attitude measurement, Great Depression, Social
programs (New Deal), Laws passed (NLRA, FLSA)
• Industrial Psychology (Viteles, 1932)
• Psychology in Business and Industry (Jenkins, 1935)
• General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) developed by U.S. Employment
Service
• Academy of Management (1936)
• Dictionary of Occupational Titles, now O*Net published (1939)
• Factor analysis (Thurstone, 1931) & KR-20 statistic developed (1937)
Personnel Selection [1940-1949]
Trends: WWII, expansion of educational system, prosperity
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Utility analysis work improved (e.g., Brogden)
OSS assessment center
Research Center for Group Dynamics (Lewin, 1944)
Ohio State leadership studies
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American Psychologist published
Personnel Selection (Thorndike, 1947)
Personnel and Industrial Psychology (Ghiselli & Brown, 1947)
Strong Vocational Interest Blank published
Army General Classification Test (AGCT) developed
ETS formed
Personnel Selection [1950-1959]
Trends: Beginnings of civil rights movement, computer use in
business, prosperity, decline of behaviorism
• AT&T Management Progress Study (Assessment Center)
• Human Factors Society formed (and journal, 1958)
• Multi-trait, multi-method matrix (Campbell & Fiske, 1959)
• Cronbach’s alpha (1951)
• Item-Response Theory (1952)
• Use of interviews and application blanks for selection
Personnel Selection [1960-1969]
Trends: Social unrest, Vietnwm War, teamwork focus, growth
in cognitive psychology, behavior modification, and
humanistic psychology
Major legislation passed (EPA, CRA, 1964), OSHA
Growth in use of interviews for selection
Job analysis approaches developed (e.g., FJA, PAQ)
BARS developed
Human-computer interaction research
Organizational Psychology (Bass, 1965; Schein, 1965)
Personnel Selection [1970-1979]
Trends: Workplace safety, Vietnam War, Watergate,
Organizational Issues
• Division 14 established (I-O)
• Center for Creative Leadership formed
• Valiidity generalization research
• Test fairness in selection
• Key Court cases (e.g., Griggs v. Duke Power, Albeamrle Paper v. Moody)
• EEOC created
Personnel Selection [1980-1989]
Trends: Global competition, diversity concerns, personal computers,
mergers and acquisitions
• Computer Adaptive Testing, Item Response Theory
• Utility analysis
• 1st publication of the SIOP Standards for the Validation and Use of
Personnel Selection Practices
• Revival of personality testing for selection
Personnel Selection [1990-Present]
Trends: Increased globalization, virtual teams/organizations,
downsizing, increasing importance of cognition
• O*Net developed
• Internet usage in selection (and in organizations)
• Legislation (ADA, ADAAA, FMLA, amended CRA)