EMPLOYMENT  PSYCHOLOGY

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will  restore  his  confidence  in  himself.  If  it  is  pleasant  and
interesting,  it  will  put  him  at  ease.
This  method  is  better  than  the  conversational  method;
for  the  process  of  setting  a  person  at  ease  through  the  medium ­
  of  words  is  an  exceedingly  delicate  one.  The  slightest ­
  sharpness  or  abruptness  in  the  examiner’s  tones  may
only  serve  to  increase  the  nervousness  of  the  subject.
Consequently,  while  it  is  desirable  that  the  examiner  should
keep  up  a  current  of  cheerful  and  more  or  less  irrelevant
talk,  the  less  strenuous  his  efforts  in  this  respect  are,  the
better.  He  should  rely  upon  his  conversation  only  to
cover  up  awkward  pauses  and  to  make  clear  his  directions.
The  tests  chosen  to  serve  as  shock-absorbers  will  vary
widely  with  the  nature  of  the  other  tests  which  are  to
follow.  No  one  test  or  set  of  tests  can  be  prescribed  as
ideal  shock-absorbers.  For  every  type  of  examination,
the  preliminary  test  must  be  selected  on  the  basis  of  long
experience  and  many  trials.  In  the  experiments  described
here,  certain  tests  have  been  selected  for  this  purpose.
For  example,  the  shock-absorber  given  to  inspectors  is
the  manual-dexterity  test.  This  test  is  also  given  to  machine ­
  operators  for  the  same  purpose.  In  fact,  a  simple
form-board  test  of  some  kind  is  one  of  the  best  tests  for
this  general  purpose.  Besides  being  easily  understood,
it  requires  almost  no  directions  and  no  technical  ability*
One  of  the  best  form-board  tests  for  this  purpose  is  the
pictorial  completion  test,  a  colored  picture  with  various
details  cut  out.  The  picture  must  be  completed  by  restoring ­
  the  cut-outs  to  their  proper  places.  This  test  is
both  extremely  interesting  and  funny.  It  usually  puts  the
subject  in  a  very  good  humor.  For  clerks,  stenographers,
assemblers,  and  higher  classes  of  workers,  this  test  has
proved  a  very  successful  shock-absorber.