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EMPLOYMENT  PSYCHOLOGY

most  quickly  succeed  and  at  which  they  can  make  the
largest  wage  of  which  they  are  capable.
In  this  day  of  scientific  management  this  is  by  no  means
an  easy  task.  The  fine  subdivision  of  labor  and  the
various  piece  rates  or  bonus  rates  which  the  task  setters
and  time-study  men  have  set  for  these  operations  have
made  it  very  necessary  that  laborers  be  chosen  with
equal  care  and  accuracy.  As  a  matter  of  common  experience, ­
  it  is  well  known  that  not  every  worker  can  succeed ­
  at  the  various  tasks  which  have  been  set.  This  is
largely  due  to  the  fact  that  tasks  for  various  kinds  of  work
are  set  on  the  basis  of  a  study  of  a  group  of  workers  who
have  already  been  chosen  for  that  particular  kind  of
work  by  a  process  of  natural  selection.  When  studies  are
made,  they  are  never  based  on  workers  who  have  given
up  the  work  because  of  their  inability  to  succeed,  but
always  on  workers  who  have  had  at  least  a  measure  of
success.  When  a  task  is  set,  therefore,  it  is  not  intended
to  be  within  the  reach  of  every  individual  regardless  of
what  his  qualities  may  be,  but  only  within  the  reach  of
certain  types  of  workers.  The  task  of  the  psychologist
and  the  employment  office  is  to  select  for  the  distinct  types
of  work  which  exist  in  a  factory,  the  type  of  workers  who
are  most  likely  to  succeed.
The  method  which  the  psychologist  applies  in  this
problem  has  already  been  thoroughly  described  in  previous ­
  experiments.  By  finding  significant  tests  for  different ­
  types  of  work,  the  psychologist  is  enabled  to  guide
the  various  applicants  into  those  kinds  of  work  for  which
their  natural  and  acquired  ability  best  fits  them.  And
in  doing  this,  psychological  tests  make  it  possible  for  each
new  worker  to  begin  at  the  task  at  which  he  is  most  likely
to  succeed  and  at  which  he  is  likely  to  earn  the  highest