9° 
EMPLOYMENT PSYCHOLOGY 
In order to minimize the results of unfamiliarity with the 
machine, the tests finally chosen were confined to the 
universal keyboard and all catches were avoided. More 
over, those errors in the copy of the typist which were 
apparently due to novelty, such as the striking of an “i” 
for an “o”, were not counted against the applicant as 
heavily as other mistakes, such as omitting a word or a 
punctuation mark. 
Another test chosen to give to typists was a spelling 
test. The first step in devising this test was to select 
representative letters and forms from the correspondence 
of the company. These samples were then gone over and 
those words which were most frequently misspelled were 
selected and made up into a series for test purposes. A 
number of the words, purposely misspelled in character 
istic fashion, were mingled with words correctly spelled, 
and the applicant was asked to check off those which were 
incorrectly spelled. The written method was chosen be 
cause it is much quicker and more comprehensive than 
the oral method. However, it frequently happens that 
an individual is unable to spell a word correctly or recog 
nize its correct spelling until he writes it down. In order 
to meet this condition, those words incorrectly spelled 
on the test sheet which were not checked by the subject, 
and those correctly spelled which were checked, were read 
aloud to the subject and she was requested to write them 
down correctly. In this way, the possibilities of error 
were greatly reduced. It may be said that a typist does 
not necessarily have to be a good speller because she has 
the words before her. This assertion does not take into 
consideration the mental mechanism which copying in 
volves. Copying is more than a merely photographic 
process. It involves learning and memory. An individual