4 o

EMPLOYMENT  PSYCHOLOGY

girl  did  very  well  in  the  tests.  While  she  was  going
through  them,  the  experimenter  noted  down  the  usual
remarks  which  he  was  in  the  habit  of  passing  on  each  subject ­
  in  his  capacity  of  an  observer  rather  than  an  experimenter. ­
  In  this  case  they  were  as  follows:
General  intelligence  A
Rhythm  A
Attention  A
Physique  Slender,  healthy
Personal  appearance  ..Neat,  attractive
Remarks  Capable  looking,  ambitious,
clean  movements.
However,  when  this  girl  came  to  the  number  group  checking ­
  test  (8  in  the  Appendix),  she  began  it  so  poorly  that
it  seemed  as  if  she  had  mistaken  the  instructions;  and  so,
taking  the  paper  away  from  her,  the  experimenter  repeated
them.  “I  understood  you  the  first  time,”  she  answered
pleasantly,  and  then  proceeded  to  do  the  test  in  204.4
seconds,  which  was  19.4  seconds  slower  (including  mistakes) ­
  than  the  maximum  time  set  for  this  test.  This
puzzled  the  experimenter  and  so  he  inquired  further  from
the  foreman  as  to  the  success  of  this  girl.  It  thereupon
developed  that,  although  she  was  a  very  steady  and  conscientious ­
  worker,  and  of  more  than  average  intelligence
and  willingness,  she  had  been  working  for  over  six  weeks
and  had  not  yet  reached  the  stage  usually  reached  by
successful  girls  in  one  or  two  weeks.  She  was  still  on  daywork, ­
  and  her  inability  to  make  piece-work  puzzled  not
only  herself  but  the  foreman  as  well.  In  this  instance,
therefore,  when  all  other  signs  pointed  conclusively  toward ­
  a  successful  inspector,  this  test—the  test  which  had
shown  the  highest  correlation,  it  will  be  remembered—
showed  conclusively  that;  she  lacked  the  very  qualification