THE OBSERVATIONAL METHOD 
245 
developed. Psychologists will be the first to admit this. 
The higher we go in the scale of success, the more numer 
ous and complex the factors which have to be taken into 
consideration. Until we master those fields of employ 
ment where the activities involved are comparatively 
simple, it will be presumptuous to leap at a problem 
infinitely more difficult. If the observational method is 
inadequate to analyze the character of ordinary in 
dividuals, it would be rash to assume that it is able to 
analyze the exceptional man. 
OBSERVING RELEVANT ACTIONS 
As a matter of fact, the observation upon which most of 
us rely is not so much the observation of appearances as 
the observation of actions. In this respect, as in the 
field of pictures, we prefer the moving picture to the old- 
fashioned photograph. The amount of knowledge about a 
character which a picture can impart is almost directly 
determined by the number and kind of actions in which 
the character takes part. In meeting people, we are 
Undoubtedly impressed at the very outset by their ap 
pearance. However, we are quite prepared to modify this 
impression in the light of their subsequent actions, thus 
living up to the adage that handsome is as handsome does. 
Examples of this kind are probably vividly present in 
the minds of all. One which the writer remembers in 
particular is that of a young girl about sixteen years old, 
who came to apply for work as a stenographer. She was 
below normal size, her face was small and childlike, her 
hair was in a braid down her back, her manner was ex 
ceedingly diffident. When she sat down to take the typing 
test her feet did not reach the floor. So far as appear 
ances went, she looked like anything but a capable girl,