Influences on the Field of I-O Psychology
World War I:
• Need for group assessment for selection and placement of military
recruits
• Development of Army Alpha & Beta intelligence tests
• Development of Woodworth Personal Data Sheet (1st self-report
personality test)
Members of the Committee on the Psychological Examination of Recruits
By mid-year of 1917, the first year of its existence, the team constructed 5 forms of the
Army Alpha test (verbal test), and developed the Army Beta exam, a nonverbal test
for illiterate and non-English 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
Robert S. Woodworth
~ Woodworth Personnel Data Sheet ~
• Purpose to identify military recruits likely
to break down in combat
• 116 questions with yes/no response
• Items selected from lists of known
symptoms of emotional disorders and from
questions asked by psychiatrists in their
screening interviews
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?
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
Between the 1st & 2nd World Wars
• Development of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (now O*Net)
• Formation of the Psychological Corporation (James Cattell)
Cattell
• Formation of the Institute for Sales Research
Scott
• Doctoral degrees in industrial psychology begin being offered at U.S.
universities (Ist degree in 1921 to Bruce Moore, Carnegie Institute
of Technology)
• The Great Depression (e.g., unemployment, government regulations)
• The Hawthorne Studies [effect of environmental changes e.g., lighting, on
performance discovered the key roles of: informal work groups, worker
attitudes, supervisory style, informal communication networks]
Elton Mayo
World War II:
• Development of training simulators (e.g., flight/aviation)
• Development of situational exercises [the Assessment Center method]
for "managerial" positions
• Growth of ergonomics or human factors
• Significant increase of females in the workforce
After WWII:
• Civil Rights Acts (1964, 1972, 1991)
• Organizational Psychology officially recognized (I-O Psychology)
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
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)
Vocation & Career Guidance
(Person-Career Fit)
Basic Activities: Career counseling, testing, job application/search
strategies
Background: Personality theory, Psychological assessment,
Communication skills
Industrial Relations
Basic Activities: Conflict resolution, collective bargaining,
safety and work rule coordination
Background: Employment law, comminication skills, negotiation
strategies
Organizational Development
Basic Activities: Organizational diagnosis and intervention,
feedback, survey research
Background: Organizational psychology, team building, social
psychology, communication skills