HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF I/O PSYCHOLOGYAtty. Harve B. Abella, Esq.

Pscyh 11 MWF 5:30-6:30PM

PRE-PSYCHOLOGY

•Ἀριστοτέλης Aristoteles / Aristotle

• Developed the foundations for modern

Management concepts• SPECIALIZATION OF LABOR• DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY• DEPARTMENTALIZATION• DECENTRALIZATION• LEADERSHIP SELECTION

PRE-PSYCHOLOGY• GUILDS OF MEDIEVAL

EUROPE

• Functioned like training centers• Functioned like modern day

Quality control circles to ensure

Fine craftsmanship

PRE-PSYCHOLOGY

• Niccolò Machiavelli

• Offered practical advise for developing

Authoritarian structures within organizations

• Applied principles of power and the

Understanding of human nature in dealing

With people

PRE-PSYCHOLOGY• THOMAS HOBBES (1651)

• Advocated strong centralized

Leadership as a means for bringing

“order to the chaos created by man”• Justified the use of autocratic rule

That helped establish the pattern for

Organizations throughout the 19th century.

PRE-PSYCHOLOGY• JOHN LOCKE (1690)

• Advocated participatory management

In his argument that leadership is

Granted by the governed.

PRE-PSYCHOLOGY• Jean Jacques Rousseau (1762)• Supported Locke’s position in

The Social Contract

PRE-PSYCHOLOGY• ADAM SMITH (1776)

• Wealth of Nations • Revolutionized economic and

Organizational though by suggesting

The use of centralization of labor and

Equipment in factories, division of

Specialized labor, management of

Specialization in factories.

THE EARLY YEARS 1900-1916

1900-1916• W.L. BRYAN• Encouraged psychologists to study “concrete activities

and functions as they appear in everyday life”

• The term INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY which appeared in 1904 was MERE TYPOGRAPHICAL ERROR

• Quoted a sentence he had written five years earlier in which he spoke of the need for more research in individual psychology. Instead, Bryan wrote industrial psychology and did not catch his mistake."

1900-1916• WALTER DILL SCOTT• Gave a talk to Chicago Business leaders on the

application of psychology to advertising

• Books on the matter were published in 1903 and 1908• Influencing Men in Business• Increasing Human Efficiency in Business

• first to apply the principles of psychology to motivation and productivity in the workplace

• instrumental in the application of personnel procedures within the army during World War I.

1900-1916• HUGO MUNSTERBERG

• Considered as the father of INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY• Pioneered the application of psychological findings from

lab experiments to practical matters

• 1911: cautioned managers to be concerned with "all the questions of the mind...like fatigue, monotony, interest, learning, work satisfaction, and rewards."

• first to encourage government funded research in the area of industrial psy

• 1913 his book Psychology and Industrial Efficiency addressed such things as personnel selection and equipment design

1900-1916• HUGO MUNSTERBERG (continuation)

• Early I/O PSYCH became influential well into the 1950s

• assumed people need to fit the organization, thus applied behavioral sciences largely consisted of helping organizations shape people to serve as replacement parts for organizational machines

1900-1916• FREDERICK TAYLOR

• realized the value of redesigning the work situation (thru use of time and motion studies) to achieve both higher output for the company and higher wages for the worker

• 1909 Taylor's book Shop Management explained management's role in motivating workers to avoid "natural soldiering", i.e., the natural tendency of people to "take it easy"

1900-1916• FREDERICK TAYLOR (continued)• 1911 Taylor's book The Principles of Scientific

Management; two of his key principles: scientifically design work methods for efficiency • select the best workers and train them in the best methods• e.g., showed workers who handle heavy iron ingots more

productive given use of work rests • training when to work and when to rest raised productivity from

12.5 to 47.0 tons moved per day • Less fatigue reported • Increased wages • Costs dropped from 9.2 to 3.9 cents per ton

1900-1916• FREDERICK TAYLOR (continued)

• Charged with inhumanely exploiting workers for higher wages • great numbers of workers would be unemployed because fewer

were needed (which was a sensitive topic since unemployment was already high at the time)

• Investigated by the Commerce Commission• Replied that increased efficiency would produce greater not

lesser property• Outbreak of WWI distracted most from the controversy before

much was resolved

WORLD WAR 1 (1917-1918)• Robert Yerkes was the psychologist most influential in

getting psychology into the war proposed ways of screening recruits for mental deficiency and assigning selected recruits to army jobs

• committees of psychologists also investigated soldier motivation, morale, psychological problems of physical incapacity ("shell shock"), and discipline

Army was skeptical and approved only a modest number of proposals, primarily in the assessment of recruits -- which Yerkes and others developed as a general intelligence test

• Meanwhile Walter Dill Scott was doing research on best placement of soldiers in Army He classified and placed enlistees, conducted performance evaluations of officers, and developed and prepared job duties and qualifications for over 500 jobs

•However, the final authorization for the testing program came in August 1918, only three months before the Armistice was signed -- thus the intelligence tests weren't as utilized as much as Yerkes had hoped

1917: Journal of Applied Psychology began publication Today is still perhaps the most respected, representative journal in I/O field

WORLD WAR 1 (1917-1918)

1919-1940• JAMES CATTEL (1921)• Psychological Corporation - promote its usefulness to

industry

• maintain quality reputation of field by serving as a place for companies to get reference checks on prospective psychologists

• Helped companies weed out quacks from qualified professionals

• Mission has shifted: Today serves as one of largest publishers of psychological tests