EMPLOYMENT PSYCHOLOGY
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consists of taking small parts, placing them in the proper
position, and then either hammering, screwing, pushing,
or springing them together. The successful assembler
is therefore one who is possessed, to begin with, of unusual
manual dexterity. A clumsy fingered person loses a disastrous
amount of time at this work, for any natural
awkwardness has hundreds of opportunities to repeat
itself in the course of a day. In order to detect the
presence or absence of the necessary ability, the socalled
manual dexterity tests were devised. They consist
of a form board with a row of pieces of graduated size
cut out and the pieces left fitting loosely. In giving the
test, the pieces are turned into the cover of the board
and left in their exact order, after which the subject
is asked to put them back into their proper spaces as
expeditiously as possible. This is tried first with the
right, then with the left, then with both hands. The
pieces are in some cases quite large, in others quite small,
just as in assembling, certain operations consist of putting
together very minute and delicate parts, while others have
to do with larger parts. In every case, the pieces were
graduated in size and the subject was always required
to work from the largest to the smallest. This served
the useful purpose of increasing the difficulty of the test
by degrees, thereby making it unnecessary to upset the
subject by starting him suddenly at a difficult and novel
task.
Another quality required by the successful assembler is
the ability to pick up a part, size it up, and then decide
just where it belongs and how it shall be placed there.
In some cases it is the ability to size up a space and then
pick up the proper piece for that space. In many cases,
a very fine discrimination of shapes and spaces is required
