GENERAL INTELLIGENCE 
133 
a candidate for work, Mr. Lambert, you usually have in 
mind some particular kind of work, I believe? 
Mr. L: Yes. Nearly every applicant has a certain 
choice and we try to follow that as much as possible. 
Mr. W: Suppose a man applies for work as an engineer. 
, e have just admitted that intelligence is the most 
important thing to look for. Would you, in interviewing 
this man, look for his general intelligence—that is, for his 
ay erage knowledge of English, geography, history, arith 
metic, engineering, and so forth—or would you be in 
terested in his engineering ability alone? 
Mr. L: Primarily the latter. As long as he has ability 
as an engineer, it wouldn’t matter much if he were below 
the average in other respects. 
Mr. W: And if a candidate applies for a job as tool- 
maker, would you be interested in his general intelligence, 
or m his ability as a toolmaker? 
Mr. L: Why, in every case when I interview a man I 
°°k for some special kind of intelligence, because almost 
ever y job requires intelligence of a different kind. 
. Miss N: Then you don’t hold it against a man if his 
mtellig ence i n other respects is likely to bring his general 
av erage down? 
th‘ R " ^^tainly n °t - We can’t all be good in every- 
ln g> Miss Nelson, as you yourself have just shown us. 
W: Miss Hurlbut, you are the latest among us to 
j C °me from college; you ought to be able to give us the 
j^ st w ord of science on this subject. What does psychology 
aRe to say about intelligence? 
Lss Hurlbut: As I remember, most psychologists 
ne intelligence as the ability to profit by trial and 
error. 
Miss N: That is as much as to say the ability to learn.