i8 
EMPLOYMENT PSYCHOLOGY 
ical tests is quite in accord with the dictates of common 
sense and good practice. However, while similar in prin 
ciple, psychological tests differ from the general tests 
just mentioned in being far more refined and accurate. 
They are developed by a method based on very careful 
experiments and the use of accurate statistical formulas. 
The details of this method as applied to employment are 
explained in subsequent chapters. 
This method is gradually making it possible to obtain 
standard measures of the mental qualities, measures 
which are infinitely more accurate than those used in the 
past. By means of these measures or tests, it is becoming 
possible to set up standard specifications for the kinds 
of applicants who are desired for a given position, and to 
fill these specifications exactly as the tool maker would 
fill the specifications for a tool which he is to make. Not 
only will it be possible to apply these standards in the 
particular office or location where they have been origi 
nated, but it will be possible to apply them in all places. 
The psychological tests devised for use in the army, for 
instance, were distributed throughout every camp in the 
country, and as a result, the classification of all privates, 
commissioned and non-commissioned officers, was based 
largely upon standard measures. 
The distinguishing feature of employment psychology, 
that which differentiates it from applied psychology in 
general, is its field of activity. Heretofore mental tests 
have been devised largely in the university laboratory 
and have been tried out for the most part on students and 
pupils in educational institutions. Employment psychol 
ogy, however, works directly in the field of employment, 
not employment as represented merely by the activities 
of the employment office, but employment in the sense