Applied Psychology : Part 3

The Science of Human Nature: A Psychology For Beginners
by William Henry Pyle

(Page 12 of 12)

The psychological aspects of one's work. All occupations have a psychological aspect. They involve some trick of attention, of association, of memory. Certain things must be looked for, certain habits must be formed, certain movements must be automatized. Workmen should be helped to master these psychological problems, to find the most convenient ways of doing their work. Workmen often do their work in the most uneconomical ways, having learned their methods through imitation, and never inquiring whether there is a more economical way.

Securing efficiency. Securing efficiency is a matter of influencing men, a matter which we have already discussed. Securing efficiency is quite a different matter from that treated in the preceding paragraph. A workman may have a complete knowledge of his work and be skilled in its performance, and still be a poor workman, because he does not have the right attitude toward his employer or toward his work. The employer must therefore meet the problem of making his men like their work and be loyal to their employer. The laborer must be happy and contented if he is to do good work. Moreover, there is no use in working, or in living either, if one cannot be happy and contented.

We have briefly indicated the possibilities of psychology in the various occupations and professions. There is a further application that has no reference to the practical needs of life, but to enjoyment. A psychological knowledge of human nature adds a new interest to all our social experience. The ability to understand the actions and feelings of men puts new meaning into the world. The ability to understand oneself, to analyze one's actions, motives, feelings, and thoughts, makes life more worth living. A knowledge of the sensations and sense organs adds much pleasure to life in addition to its having great practical value. Briefly, a psychological knowledge of human nature adds much to the richness of life. It gives one the analytical attitude. Experiences that to others are wholes, to the psychologist fall apart into their elements. Such knowledge leads us to analyze and see clearly what otherwise we do not understand and see only darkly or not at all. Literature and art, and all other creations and products of man take on a wholly new interest to the psychologist.

Summary. Psychology is of service to education in ascertaining the nature of the child and the laws of learning; to law, in determining the reliability of evidence and in the prevention of crime; to medicine, in the work of diagnosis and treatment; to business, in advertising and salesmanship; to the industries, in finding the man for the place and the place for the man; to everybody, in giving a keener insight into, and understanding of, human nature.

Class Exercises

1. Visit a court room when a trial is in progress. Note wherein psychology could be of service to the jury, to the judge, and to the attorneys.

2. To test the reliability of evidence, proceed as follows: Take a large picture, preferably one in color and having many details; hold it before the class in a good light where all can see it. Let them look at it for ten or fifteen seconds, the time depending on the complexity of the picture. The students should then write down what they saw in the picture, underscoring all the points to which they would be willing to make oath. Then the students should answer a list of questions prepared by the teacher, on various points in the picture. Some of these questions should be suggestive, such as, "What color is the dog?" supposing no dog to be in the picture. The papers giving the first written description should be graded on the number of items reported and on their accuracy. The answers to the questions should be graded on their accuracy. How do girls compare with boys in the various aspects of the report? What is the accuracy of the underlined points?

3. Let the teacher, with the help of two or three students, perform before the class some act or series of acts, with some conversation, and then have the students who have witnessed the performance write an account of it, as in No. 2.

4. Divide the class into two groups. Select one person from each to look at a picture as in No. 1. These two people are then to write a complete account of the picture. This account is then read to another person in the same group, who then writes from memory his account and reads to another. This is to be continued till all have heard an account and written their own. You will then have two series of accounts of the same picture proceeding from two sources. It will be well for the two who look at the picture to be of very different types, let us say, one imaginative, the other matter-of-fact.

Do all the papers of one series have some characteristics that enable you to determine from which group they come? What conclusions and inferences do you draw from the experiment?

5. Does the feeling of certainty make a thing true? See how many cases you can find in a week, of persons feeling sure a statement is true, when it is really false.

6. In the following way, try to find out something which a person is trying to conceal. Prepare a list of words, inserting now and then words which have some reference to the vital point. Read the words one by one to the person and have him speak the first word suggested by those read. Note the time taken for the responses. A longer reaction time usually follows the incriminating words, and the subject is thrown into a visible confusion.

7. Talk to successful physicians and find out what use they make of suggestion and other psychological principles.

8. Spend several hours visiting different grades below the high school. In how many ways could the teachers improve their work by following psychological principles?

9. Could the qualities of a good teacher - native and acquired - be measured by tests and experiments?

10. Visit factories where men do skillful work and try to learn by observation what types of mind and body are required by the different kinds of work.

11. Does the occupation which you have chosen for life demand any specific abilities? If so, do you possess them in a high degree?

12. Could parents better train their children if they made use of psychological principles?

13. In how many ways will the facts learned in this course be of economic use to you in your life? In what ways will they make life more pleasurable?

14. Make a complete outline of this chapter.

Copyright 1917 by Silver, Burdett & Company.