Vocational Psychology: Its Problems and Methods Part 4

A physical examination which dealt mainly with anthropometric measurements, strength tests, and with an inquiry into habits of eating, sleeping, and the use of narcotics, revealed nothing very unusual. Poincare had head measurements somewhat larger than the average. He was troubled with indigestion, also with insomnia. He did not use tobacco, and indulged only sparingly in wine and coffee. He was able to work for but four hours a day, in two-hour periods, and the tendency to automatisms and the perseverance of psychic activity compelled him to cease work for some time before retiring. He disliked muscular exercise except for the automatic processes involved in walking. His absent-mindedness was a matter of common comment among his a.s.sociates. The examination of his sensory and motor capacity showed Poincare to have been rather feeble from a sensory point of view.

Hearing was defective for low tones, but auditory orientation and localization were fair. He was shortsighted, but had no astigmatism; tests of the field of vision showed no abnormality. Muscular weakness of the eyes was present, which led to accommodation spasms. His general bodily movements were characterized by uncertainty, irregularity, awkwardness and hesitancy, and his muscular reflexes were prominent.

The greater number of the tests had to do with more strictly mental characteristics. Poincare had no visual images or memories, except in the transition state between waking and sleeping, when he had frequent visual hallucinations of remarkable distinctness. In his waking life he relied chiefly on motor images and tendencies, thinking of geometrical forms in terms of optical or manual movements. He had no visual "schemes," but represented time, in his thinking, by a rotation of the eyes on their axes.

In his youth he had p.r.o.nounced colored hearing, which was evoked not by the form but by the sound of letters and words. He had no other synesthesias.

Tests of recognition memory for length of lines, reproduction of drawings seen once, etc., are said to have shown exceptional memory capacity. The memories were held with the aid of motor imagery, and the reproduction was often not from the image but on the basis of an a.n.a.lysis of the material which had been presented to him. He had a memory span for digits of about eleven, as compared with the ordinary record of about eight. In the case of letters he had an auditory memory span of nine, and a visual span of seven.

Mechanical memory did not seem to be particularly good, and much emphasis is laid on Poincare's tendency to use memory devices when remembering this non-logical material; he employed a.n.a.lysis and incidental schemes whenever possible. He had a "remarkable facility in mental calculation," which is said not to be the rule with mathematicians. In tests of logical memory he was superior to both Zola and Dalou, and here again his memory was found to be a.n.a.lytical and artificial rather than mechanical. All material was arranged in a coherent scheme or system, and it was this system, rather than the material, that was remembered.

A series of cancellation and reaction-time tests showed that the simple sensory reactions were slower and more regular than those of the average person, but the motor reactions were much quicker. This accords with previous indications as to Poincare's general motor type. The most significant thing about the reactions is said to be the wandering and unstable attention which they disclosed. It was difficult to keep Poincare's mind on the tests, because his attention constantly wandered to the apparatus. In receiving instructions for such experiments he did not seem to comprehend what was being said, but appeared distracted and uninterested. This is the same impression he is said to have given to those whom he met in his daily relations. He was restless, could not remain in one position or stay by one task, had no patience and abandoned his work whenever it seemed to require any voluntary effort. Tests of reverie a.s.sociations and of free paired a.s.sociates showed absence of voluntary attention and predominance of purely verbal a.s.sociation tendencies.

Binet's "cigarette description" test was used, and Poincare was found to belong to Binet's first type of observer (simple description, with no evidence of reflection or judgment, no display of erudition, no expression of fancy or sentiment). His description was remarkably lucid and clear.

Poincare spoke correctly, never learned his addresses by heart, and made few corrections either in writing or in speaking. Indications of his temperament and type are said to be suggested by his handwriting.

Poincare's opinions on various topics are given, and several peculiar habits of daily life are recorded, chiefly for the sake of emphasizing his constant air of distraction, his impatience and restlessness. He loved music; sketched a little; did not sleep soundly; and often began to work on a problem only to abandon it in the faith that it would in some way solve itself unconsciously or that the right idea would come spontaneously on some later occasion. He often began a memoir without having any conclusion in mind. He often wrote formulae automatically for the sake of the chance a.s.sociations which they might bring.

These tests of Poincare showed him to present a striking contrast to Zola, the novelist. Zola's type was found to be characterized by prominent voluntary intellectual activity, clearly conscious and intense, concentrated effort, with no tendency to perseveration of ideas after cessation of work. His thought, as disclosed by the tests, was logical, methodical, and seemed preeminently fitted for the work of mathematical deduction. His method of work was quite the opposite of that of Poincare, who, when he met with a difficulty or with a point requiring voluntary effort, abandoned his work or proceeded to another part of it which would develop more spontaneously. The surprising thing was that a methodical, logical and persistent worker, such as Zola, should have become the prince of romance that he was. One might have expected that the mental processes of Poincare, which were shown to be flighty, uncontrolled, spontaneous, unstable and spasmodic, would have particularly fitted him for the activity of the romancer. Instead, they found their outlet in severe mathematical and philosophical creation. Poincare's genius is thus said to be incapable of explanation on the basis of his sensori-motor equipment, his imagination and memory, and the speed or control of his psychic activity. If his case is taken as typical, it suggests the quite unexpected result that tendency to distraction, automatisms, oscillating attention, restlessness, uncontrolled a.s.sociation and reliance on chance syntheses and spontaneous ideas are significant for the type of genius required in mathematics and philosophical speculation. Certainly in Poincare's case they seem to have const.i.tuted a definite method of research.

The chief value of this examination of Poincare does not lie in the particular results which it yielded, but in its initiation of such attempts to study in a more or less intimate and intensive way the psychological processes and type of individuals of marked achievement in special lines of work. For the purposes of vocational psychology it would be valuable to know the ways in which such admittedly superior individuals as those now being studied by Dr. Toulouse, differing as they do in their types of achievement, would react to the simple and complex tests now employed by those interested in the measurement of intelligence and special apt.i.tudes.

It is true that these psychographic methods do not yet yield results which are sufficient to inform us why the particular individuals examined were so much more successful in their work than were others who seem to have been equally favored and equally diligent. Nor have they yet revealed in any adequate way the nature or degree of the qualifications requisite for success in the vocations from which the representative men have been selected. Nevertheless the individual psychograph const.i.tutes a suggestive method of research for the vocational psychology of the future. It represents the intensive development of the older type of "biography,"

based on direct observational data rather than on hearsay, conjecture and anecdote.

It is on some variation of this method that we must largely rely in our efforts to learn to what degree vocational success depends on the presence of demonstrable personal characteristics, rather than on the accidents of time, place and circ.u.mstance. It was inevitable that the first attempts to give psychographic accounts of the personality of individuals of genius should be more or less fragmentary, incomplete and experimental. This has been due partly to the rapidity with which our knowledge of mental tests has developed, and partly to the very complex and subtle types of achievement toward which these early psychographic methods have been directed. Various investigations are now under way in which these same methods are being used in the intensive examination of individuals who have engaged in simpler and more common forms of activity, with varying degrees of success. In some of these researches, for example, men who have made their life work the marketing of a specific type of commodity through direct and personal salesmans.h.i.+p are being submitted to intensive psychological examinations. The problem is to discover whether there is a more or less specific and recognizable type of personality which characterizes the successful salesman and differentiates him from the mediocre salesman and the utter failure. Directed toward these more familiar and more easily accessible occupations, the individual psychograph const.i.tutes one of the most interesting forms of vocational psychology.

Closely related to it, though sufficiently distinct in aim and method to merit separate presentation, is the method of the vocational psychograph, in which the work, rather than the worker, is made the object of a.n.a.lysis.

THE VOCATIONAL PSYCHOGRAPH

Closely related to the method of intensive examination described in the preceding section, and profitable in a somewhat different direction, is the type of psychograph represented in Professor Seash.o.r.e's reports on "The Measurement of a Singer." This may be called the "vocational psychograph"

as contrasted with the psychograph of the individual of genius. It proceeds by discovering first the necessary abilities and capacities which a given sort of performance demands. In the case of singing, rather more than in almost any other vocation, certain definite and fairly identifiable abilities are quite obviously required, and the degree to which they must be present for definite attainments is rather more easily discoverable.

Thus, Seash.o.r.e writes: "Musical power is generally admitted to embrace certain well-recognized and fairly concrete capacities. In our commonplace judgments about ourselves and others we say: 'I have no ear for music.' 'I cannot tell a chord from a discord.' 'I cannot keep time.' 'I have no sense of rhythm.' 'I cannot tell a two-step from a waltz.' 'I cannot remember music.' 'I cannot image sounds.' 'I am not moved by music.' 'I do not enjoy music.' Or, if speaking of someone who has musical ability, we say: 'He has a deep, rich voice.' 'He never forgets an air.' 'He lives in song.' Such judgments have reference to generally admitted specific factors involved in musical capacity by virtue of a musical organization. Corresponding to these judgments of native capacity we have judgments about musical education, about musical environment, about special influences and stimuli for the development of musical talent, and about technique and success in the rendition of music. When judgments of this kind are based upon measurements, cla.s.sified and adequately interpreted, they may const.i.tute a measure of the individual as a singer.

"The measure of a singer should consist of a relatively small number of representative measurements upon specific capacities and achievements.

These measurements must be set in a full survey by systematic observation and other verified information bearing upon the variation of the individual as a singer. The cla.s.sification of the measurements must be based upon (1) the attributes of sound which const.i.tute the objective aspect of music, and (2) upon fundamental and essential processes in the singer's appreciation and expression of music. From the point of view of the objective sound, we must take into account pitch (with its complexes of timbre and harmony), intensity, and duration. From the point of view of mental processes we may group the tests under the heads, sensory, motor, a.s.sociational, and affective, each of these furnis.h.i.+ng natural subdivisions."

The writer then presents an arrangement of these proposed measurements in a program, which is also recommended as the outline for a systematic description of the individual in his capacity as a singer. The sensory group of tests includes five tests under pitch, two under intensity, and one under time discrimination. The motor group includes seven tests under pitch, two under intensity, and four under time. The a.s.sociational group includes two tests under imagery, three under memory, and four under ideation. The affective group contains three tests under musical appeal, and one each under reaction to musical effect and power of interpretation in singing. A copy of this program of tests is given in the Appendix.

In a chapter of his "Psychology in Daily Life,"[6] Seash.o.r.e describes these special tests. He indicates their significance and suggests approximate norms for those cases for which they are at present available. For the acc.u.mulation of many of these norms, and for the conduct of the tests, special and elaborate apparatus and methods are required. For several years the workers in Seash.o.r.e's laboratory have busied themselves with the problems concerned in the measurement and acc.u.mulation of norms for pitch discrimination, vividness of tone imagery, span of tone memory, consonance and dissonance, rhythmic action, intensity discrimination, voluntary control of the pitch of the voice, and the singing of intervals.

Reference to norms thus acquired shows, for example, that in the case of discrimination in voluntary control of the pitch of the voice "a record of .9 vd. means that this ability is within three per cent of the best record for individuals under similar conditions, and that those who have such control are thoroughly qualified to render a high cla.s.s of music in this respect; while a record of 9 vd. falls within eight per cent of the poorest ability measured, and is characteristic of an individual who cannot sing; whereas 3 vd. represents the average ability of an untrained individual."

Again, in another connection, and with reference this time to the discrimination of tones when heard, the same investigator has suggested that one who can discriminate a difference, from a given standard pitch, of 3 vd. or less may become a musician; one whose threshold falls between 3 and 8 vd. "should have a plain musical education"; one whose discrimination is so poor that 9 to 17 vd. is the measure "should have a plain musical education only if special inclination for some kind of music is shown"; while a measure of 18 vd. or above indicates that the individual "should have nothing to do with music." These suggestions were proposed for individuals of equal age, advancement and general ability.

That is to say, there are but three persons in a hundred who, having just sung the tone which is produced by a tuning fork vibrating two hundred and fifty-six times per second, can then voluntarily and accurately change the pitch of the voice to represent the tone of a fork vibrating 256.9 times per second, a change of .9 of a vibration. But fifty persons of the hundred can produce voluntarily a change of three vibrations, and ninety-two of the hundred can produce the very large change of nine vibrations. Seash.o.r.e, of course, points out that in addition to these various measurements, "there must be other measurements, statistical data, biographical information, and free observations concerning musical training, traits of temperament and att.i.tude, spontaneous tendencies in the pursuit of music, general education and non-musical accomplishments, social circ.u.mstances and physique," and that all these in their unity must be considered in the light of expert knowledge and expert technical insight before they can be said to give an adequate estimate of the particular individual's various capacities and qualifications as a singer. Those interested in the use of psychological tests in connection with musical ability should familiarize themselves with the many original reports from Seash.o.r.e's laboratory. The methods there being followed may well serve as models for future a.n.a.lyses of vocational demands and individual tests.

If the highly specialized work of singing calls for such complex a.n.a.lysis and for such varied measurements, technical skill, and arduous collection of norms and standards, one realizes the utter folly of such vocational counsel as that which vaguely recommends the candidate to "be a musician,"

"be a writer," etc. Indeed, we may now begin to see that it is only when each particular aspect of each particular calling is thoroughly a.n.a.lyzed into its elementary requirements, when reliable tests for the detection and measurement of these abilities are available, and adequate norms and standards acc.u.mulated in each case, only then can the method of the vocational psychograph come to have practical application in vocational a.n.a.lysis and guidance.

How far, we may now ask, has such a.n.a.lysis been able, as a matter of fact, to proceed with the representative types of work? So far as recorded enterprise is concerned there have been three different ways of attempting such a.n.a.lyses. One of these methods is that used by the various vocational bureaus in endeavoring to learn what type of individual is most in demand in the different occupations. Futile as these endeavors have been, it is nevertheless well to have them before us for our future reference and guidance. In the main the questionnaire method has been used in this connection; employers have been asked to state, in much their own way, the necessary or desirable mental and moral qualifications of those who might expect to succeed in the various kinds of work.

These replies have been collated and attempts made to secure "clinical pictures" of the type of individuals. These methods result in such characterizations as the following. The words specifying the vocation itself are omitted, and the reader is invited to guess which of the large number of possible callings is being described.

"The girl who enters ---- should be able to use good language, and should dress neatly and appropriately in order to impress people agreeably. She should be able to write a legible hand, make clear figures, and spell correctly; a practical knowledge of arithmetic, especially fractions, is very important. Prime requisites for success are interest and enthusiasm and a knowledge of human nature. The born ---- takes a vital interest in her ----, in her ----, and in her ----. She studies her ----, learns something of their ----, knows what their good points are, and is able to ---- about them intelligently and truthfully. She is a good judge of people, and she has the sincerity and the tact which enable her to help a ---- so to ---- as to go away satisfied and come to her again. Such a ---- is alert, energetic, and gives strongly the impression that she is in her place to ---- and therefore never displays an indifferent manner toward anyone who may ask her service. Loyal to her work, she is always courteous, for loss of temper means loss of ---- ----."

Now, if one but insert suitable words where the omissions occur, the paragraph remains equally applicable and illuminating when applied to any of the following occupations, diverse as they seem to be: housekeeper, waitress, stenographer, milliner, teacher, mother, doctor, nurse, cas.h.i.+er, sales-woman, insurance agent, bookkeeper, clinical psychologist, private secretary. The following paragraph is equally illuminating:

"If a girl wishes to succeed in ---- she must be possessed with intelligence [How much?], good judgment and common sense. She must have good eyesight, good hearing and a good memory. She must have good perception and be able to concentrate her attention completely on any matter in hand. In addition to these she must be neat in executing ---- work and accurate to the last degree. It is absolutely necessary that she have a good education."

It would require several trials to guess of what particular occupation this is a psychographic picture.

It is clear at once that this method yields little information of the kind we are here considering, beyond the cataloging of the general sterling virtues of mankind. The peculiar and distinctive mental functions presumably involved in the various types of work are just the ones that no one not an expert in psychological a.n.a.lysis could be expected adequately to portray. The so-called special qualifications, such as honesty, patience, attention, neatness, perseverance, etc., do not represent elementary psychological categories. Moreover, they are qualifications with which no legitimate sphere of human activity can afford to dispense. In the long run they are characteristics which correlate to a high degree or, indeed, perhaps help to make up and const.i.tute what we call general intelligence.

In no case is there any specification of the precise amount of these various traits that may be needed. Since the days of the faculty psychology we have ceased to think of attention, memory, will, etc., as h.o.m.ogeneous powers which play in a general sort of way on all sorts of material. We usually find that when an individual is inattentive to one set of facts this is largely due to his being attentively preoccupied with some other set. Still further, no tests have been proposed which satisfactorily measure such traits as honesty, perseverance, promptness. Nor is it certainly known to what degree such traits are fixed characteristics of individuals and to what degree they represent present habits and tendencies modifiable in many ways if the circ.u.mstances call for such change.

Turning from the employer himself, and his description of the ideal worker, we may inquire what happens when the professional psychologist undertakes this a.n.a.lysis? The only case in which an expert psychologist has attempted this is to be found in Munsterberg's recent book on "Vocation and Learning." It is there pointed out that every act and experience has its threefold aspect, the aspect of knowing, that of feeling, and that of doing. Corresponding to these three aspects, there are to be pointed out in the case of each occupation the required information, the necessary technical skill, and the special guiding personal interests and social satisfactions. In order to clarify our knowledge of the special needs of the various vocations, and presumably to aid in the guidance of individuals in their vocational choices, eleven different representative vocations are a.n.a.lyzed on this threefold basis. Two or three of the a.n.a.lyses may be given here as an indication of the results arrived at by this method at the hands of the avowed applied psychologist. The specification of the particular technical knowledge we need not include for our purpose, since this consists of information supplied through some form of education. The outline on the following page brings together the requisite abilities and the implied motives and interests, as stated for the occupations of domestic worker, architect, physician, and journalist.

---------------------------------------------------------------------- Occupation Domestic Worker Architect Physician Journalist ----------+----------------+--------------+--------------+------------ Abilities Joyful work Esthetic sense Social dealing Sociability Required Energy Imagination Energy Energy Patience Industry Discretion Memory Teaching Drawing Tact Accuracy Economy Modeling Judgment Judgment Physique Specification Observation Employment of men Housekeeping Architecture Dissection Typewriting Sewing Engineering Microscopical Quick Cooking Heating Observation Expression Nursing Ventilating Psychotherapy Forceful House furnis.h.i.+ng Construction Clinical style Activity Surgical Technique ----------+----------------+--------------+--------------+------------ Implied Morality Honor Honor Honor Personal Beauty Beauty Truth Truth Motives Position Position Position Influence and Social Support Fees Fees Salary Interests Home Life Comfort Influence Progress Family Welfare Progress Comfort of Housing Welfare of Politics Community Community Education Family Comfort Health Information Prevention of Entertain- Disease ment --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is obvious that such a.n.a.lysis is inadequate for our purpose. For the most part the various vocations are said to be actuated by much the same motives, the leading satisfactions being honor, truth, position, beauty, progress, fees or salary, and welfare. These enumerations, of course, help us in no way to distinguish between the particular satisfactions or interests involved in the different types of work. Quite the same thing is true of the abilities required. Most of them call for energy, industry, judgment and ability to deal with people. The same might be said of prize-fighting, plumbing and peddling. And do not the journalist and the housekeeper require tact as well as the physician? Is it true that the architect alone, of the four examples here given, has use for imagination and an esthetic sense, that the domestic alone needs physical development and joyfulness? Accuracy is perhaps more necessary to success in architecture than to the pursuit of journalism, while judgment, discretion and observation would seem to be of occasional value even to the housekeeper and the architect.

In short, this type of a.n.a.lysis, which, whether accepted seriously or not, represents the latest word from a distinguished psychologist on the differences among the occupations, gives us no more a.s.sistance toward the basis of a vocational psychograph than did the catalogs of sterling virtues provided by the employers in their replies to the questionnaires.

Various other types of a.n.a.lysis have been proposed, as well as different criteria, on the basis of which the occupations might be thrown under some form of psychological cla.s.sification. Thus it has been pointed out that the traditional distinctions on the basis of materials handled or type of product produced, give little indication of the type of activity involved or of the characteristics necessary for success. As Schneider has remarked: "If a boy were successful in wood-shop work, he was told he would make a good carpenter; however, wood-turning in a shop and outdoor carpentry are dissimilar types, while wood-turning in a shop and metal-turning in a shop are similar types."

Schneider has for many years considered the problems involved in adjusting human beings to congenial types of work, and prefers to cla.s.sify both men and jobs on the basis of certain broad characteristics which refer more particularly to interests, habits, preferences and similar temperamental factors than to the technical psychological mechanisms employed in the work. He writes: "Every individual has certain broad characteristics and every type of work requires certain broad characteristics. The problem, then, is to state the broad characteristics, to devise a rational method to discover these characteristics (or talents) in individuals, to cla.s.sify the types of jobs by the talents they require and to guide the youth with certain talents into the type of job which requires those talents. This is a big problem, but one possible of measurable solution, or, at worst, possible of a solution immeasurably superior to our present haphazard methods."

As an ill.u.s.tration of what Schneider means by "broad characteristics," take his distinction between the "settled" and the "roving" types. "There is a type of man who wants to get on the same car every morning, get off at the same corner, go to the same shop, ring up at the same clock, stow his lunch in the same locker, go to the same machine and do the same cla.s.s of work, day after day. Another type of man would go crazy under this routine; he wants to move about, meet new people, see and do new things. The first is settled; the second is roving. The first might make a good man for a shop manufacturing a standard product; the second might make a good railroad man or a good outdoor carpenter."

Or, again, consider his distinction on the basis of "scope." "Then there are two types--one of which likes to fuss with an intricate bit of mechanism, while the other wants the task of big dimensions--the watchmaker, the engraver, the inlayer, the painter of miniatures, on the one hand; the bridge builder, the steel-mill worker, the train dispatcher, the circus man on the other. One has small scope, the other large scope."

Basing his a.n.a.lyses mainly on the enterprises of manufacture, construction and transportation, and recognizing that other broad characteristics would probably be listed if different types of occupation were also considered, Schneider gives a list of sixteen cla.s.sifications which may be applied either to the individual or to the type of work. These are as follows:

a--Physical strength; physical weakness.

b--Mental; manual.

c--Settled; roving.

d--Indoor; outdoor.

e--Directive; dependent.

f--Original (creative); imitative.

g--Small scope; large scope.

h--Adaptable; self-centered.

i--Deliberate; impulsive.

j--Music sense.

k--Color sense.

l--Manual accuracy; manual inaccuracy.

m--Mental accuracy (logic); mental inaccuracy.

n--Concentration (mental focus); diffusion.

o--Rapid mental coordination; slow mental coordination.

p--Dynamic; static.

It must be said that the characteristics of the various types of work here enumerated are pretty much the features which have in the past guided such individuals as really chose their vocation rather than found it waiting for them, made a random selection, or seized the first available opportunity.

The paired adjectives probably afford truer descriptions of various types of work than they do of types of individuals. Most individuals of one's acquaintance one would have to group neither under the one nor the other extreme, but in an average group which would show each of the opposed tendencies under special circ.u.mstances or would show no particularly marked degree of either tendency. Observation of such individuals for long periods of time and under a variety of circ.u.mstances would be required before these cla.s.sifications could be made out by a stranger or by a professional counsellor. Even then such a cla.s.sification could hardly be said to be psychological in any technical sense of the word, and it is not very probable that psychological training or experience would facilitate or render more reliable such cla.s.sification. The question of to what degree the individual's judgment of his own characteristics may be relied on in such an a.n.a.lysis we must defer until a later section where that is taken up as the main subject of discussion.