Psychology and Industrial Efficiency

The author outlines a program to apply experimental psychology to commerce and industry, proposing that laboratory methods be used to analyze vocational demands and to test individual mental functions. He contrasts holistic simulations of job tasks with atomized tests of elemental capacities, and emphasizes matching workers to roles through scientific vocational guidance and management. Detailed chapters report experiments and case studies in transport, communication, and factory settings, and examine learning, training, attention, fatigue, monotony, and the economy of movement. Later sections investigate advertising, display, consumer behavior, imitation, and the dynamics of individuals within groups, concluding with proposals for further development of economic psychology.