THE HISTORY OF I/O PSYCHOLOGY

I/O Psychology is certainly nothing new. In ancient Babylon, if a house/hut, built

by the equivalent of a construction crew, collapsed and harmed someone inside, then the
crew was put to death. Perhaps this was the beginnings of quality control. In China, Sun
Tzu, a great military general often had problems communicating ideas to both superiors
and subordinates, thus was born line-staff problems. All the great civilizations, Greeks,
Romans, Egyptians, Chinese, etc. used written tests for the purposes of hiring civil
servants.
It is also during ancient times that "work" got a bad name. For only slaves and
servants actually did any work. Thus, to your average Roman citizen, work was
degrading, demeaning, and something left to the slaves and poor. Obviously, this attitude
towards work has continued into modern day perceptions although religion should be
thanked for trying to restore "work's" good name. Many religions, but most notably
Christianity, emphasized that work was good and holy especially if it was done to benefit
others or to provide sustenance. Perhaps, this is why everyone praises those who
participate in "Volunteer Work".

The field of Psychology is only about 125 yrs. old, Industrial Psychology is only
about 85 yrs. old, and Industrial/Organizational Psychology is a little over 20 yrs. old.

I. The Early Beginnings (1900-1916)

The actual "founding" of Industrial Psychology is hard to pin down
although most agree that it occurred some time between 1900 and 1905. Walter Dill
Scott, who is considered one of the first founding fathers, gave a speech in 1901, at
Northwestern Univ. (so CHICAGO could be considered the birthplace of I/O), to a group
of advertising professionals, outlining how psychology could be applied to advertising.
Over the years, Scott would publish many books, journals, and articles on psychology
applications.
The term "Industrial Psychology" was first used by a psychologist, W. L. Bryan,
addressing APA in 1904, who accidentally said "Industrial" instead of "Individual". By
1910, Industrial Psychology became a definitive specialization and was created out of
three different movements:

1) Experimental Psychology
2) Differential Psychology (Study of Individual Differences)
3) Industrial Engineering

Technically, Industrial Psychology does not have a single founding father but
rather a collection of four men who share equal claim to the title. These men are: Hugo
Munsterberg, Walter Dill Scott, Frederick Taylor, and James Cattell. A fifth person,
Morris Viteles, is also occasionally mentioned since he was the first to write a book
entitled Industrial Psychology.
One thing I would like to note here is that the history of I/O Psychology and
Business/Management is very similar up until about 1960. While there are different
people of prominence for both fields, there is considerable overlap in terms of key
people, events, and research so don't be surprised if you either heard this before or here it
sometime in a future Business course.
A. Walter Dill Scott
Scott, as previously mentioned, was a psychology professor at Northwestern. He
was highly influential in espousing the various applications of psychology in the business
world, most notably advertising. Scott also trained under Wilhelm Wundt, the man
known for establishing the first psychology lab (pre-1900). He is credited with four
books (listed in the first chapter in your book). However, even more important than his
early publications, Scott is credited with pushing Industrial Psychology into the forefront
of personnel testing during WWI. This involvement with the Army helped establish
Industrial Psychology as a reputable field.
B. Hugo Munsterberg
Munsterberg, who also trained under Wundt, came to Harvard University at the
invitation of William James (who essentially started Psychology in America).
Munsterberg, who was an excellent statesman for Psychology, is best known for his book
Psychology and Industrial Efficiency (1913) which laid the foundation for research in the
area and his infamous selection system for streetcar motormen while in Boston.
Munsterberg referred to his area of work as "Economic Psychology". It is unfortunate,
that with the outbreak of WWI and Munsterberg's German heritage, that many of his
accomplishments were downplayed after his death in 1916. Some argue that had it none
been for his support of Germany, Hugo would be remembered as the founding father.
C. Frederick Taylor
Taylor was an industrial engineer, who along with other noted engineers like
Lillian and Frank Gilbreath, redesigned jobs, developed training programs, and use
selection methods to increase the efficiency of workers. His book Principles of
Scientific Management (1911) is considered the first management text (some say he is
the father of management although others make him out to be a villain).

He discovered that work periods increased productivity as did increased pay. He also
worked in establishing standards for tools and new approaches for tool shop machinists.
His motto "one best way" epitomized his belief that through observation and research you
could identify the best way to do a job.
As such, Taylor conducted "time and motion" studies to learn how to minimize human
movement/exertion and maximize production.

II. World War I (1917-1918 U.S.)

World War I was probably the greatest single event to affect Industrial
Psychology. Robert Yerkes, the president of APA at the time, and Walter Scott were
very active in getting psychology involved in the war. Scott worked in a government
department classifying personnel; prepared job descriptions for more than 500 army jobs
and received the Distinguished Service Medal.
Yerkes, along with Walter Bingham, was charged with developing tests that could
quickly assess the intellectual capacity of incoming army recruits. He developed Army
Alpha and Army Beta (for illiterate recruits). Tested 1.75 million men but didn't
officially start until 3 months before the war ended. Nonetheless, this marked the
beginning of large-scale testing and personnel selection. Thus, while the actual testing
had little impact on the war, it did give personnel psychology a big boost. Army Beta
went on to be used in the testing of immigrants who came to the U.S.
It was also during this time (1917), that the first issue of JAP was published.

III. Between WWI and WWII (1919-1940)

Walter Bingham organized the Bureau of Salesmanship Research at the
Carnegie Institute of Technology which focused on the selection, classification, and
development of sales personnel, clerical workers, and executives.
In 1921, James Cattell, the last of the "founding fathers" made his mark.
A. James Cattell
Cattell established the Psychological Corporation (still a major business in
psychology today) for the purposes of performing reference checks on psychologists that
companies were considering to hire as consultants. Today, Psych. Corp. is a major
psychological test publisher. Cattell was also very influential in the early statistics.
The first Ph.D. in Industrial Psychology was also awarded to Bruce V. Moore at
Carnegie-Mellon in 1921. Penn State Univ. and many other campuses have a building
dedicated to Moore.
Some notable publications included Morris Viteles "Industrial Psychology" book
in 1932 and the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) that described and classified
hundreds of jobs and the abilities necessary to perform them. Viteles book fully outlined
the Ind. Psych. profession and led to the development of academic depts. across the U.S.
B. The Hawthorne Studies
However, the most infamous event during this time was the Hawthorne Studies.
In 1924, a group of researchers from Harvard began conducting a series of experiments at
the Hawthorne Plant of the Western Electric Company (just outside of CHICAGO) that
lasted over a 12 year period.
Results included: (1) work behavior is a compilation of many complex factors, (2)
work groups establish norms, (3) power and prestige affect the social structure of the
work group, (4) job satisfaction is related to the individual, (5) including workers in
decisions reduces resistance to change, and (6) the workplace is a social system.
But the single most important finding (forever associated with the studies) was
coined the "Hawthorne effect". The researchers found that when a novel or new change
was implemented into the work system, productivity went up. Furthermore, what the
change was often irrelevant. However, after a period of time, productivity returned to
normal.

III. World War II (1941-1945)

Industrial psychologists were much better prepared for the second war.
This time the Army came knocking on the psychologists' doors. Walter Bingham was
again a key person chairing an advisory committee during the war. The Army General
Classification Test (AGCT), a group test, separated new recruits into categories for
military duties based on test scores. Psychologists were also responsible for the
development of cockpit simulators to train pilots. The Office of Strategic Services was
formed (OSS) to train military intelligence personnel. Examined how officers performed
under stress, constantly scrutinized by a team of psychologists. This approach eventually
led to the development of Assessment Centers at AT&T, a personnel predictor we'll talk
about later on.
Personnel psychology was also evident in the civilian sector where women had to
be tested, selected, and trained to take over all the jobs in the factories. It was Industrial
Psychologists who quickly realized that women were more than capable of competing
with men in the workplace (although socially the world wasn't ready for it yet).
It was during this time that business and industry began to realize that many of the
testing, selection, training, and other techniques being used by the military could also be
applied to everyday companies.

IV. The Post-War Era (1946-1960)

After the war, Personnel Psychology (1948) was introduced as a second
research journal. Graduate programs in Industrial Psychology flourished. Industrial
psychology textbooks became common. Psychology began to associate itself more with
business and management. APA formally founded a Division devoted to Industrial
Psych. The late 40s and early 50s was probably Industrial Psychology's best years.
Unfortunately, there were some down sides to this era particularly in the late 50s
and into the 1960s. Industrial Psychology began to splinter into (1) personnel
psychology, (2) organizational psychology (not yet a formal discipline), and (3)
engineering psychology.
Industrial Psychology also came under widespread attack and criticism for several
reasons: (1) ind. psych. became dominated by fads and fashions, (2) ind. psych. began to
take a back seat to the demands of business which insisted on a managerial emphasis, and
(3) many techniques were outdated, obsolete, and only relevant to blue-collar workers.

V. The Chaotic Years (1961-1979)

Characterized as chaotic more by the social upheaval then chaos within the field,
Industrial Psychology, nonetheless, experienced a variety of ups and downs.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 had significant effects on employment, hiring,
selection, and work discrimination (we'll talk about this Act more later on). The Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) under Title VII created a formal
government committee to oversee ALL selection procedures. This would be the first of
many governmental laws that would serve to intervene in Ind. Psych. methods. Thus,
psychologists served two masters, the field of I/O and the government.
During 1973, the term "Organizational" was added to Industrial and I/O
Psychology was officially born.
In 1978, the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures further
dictated to I/O psychologists how testing/hiring/selection would be done.
Business and Industry began "borrowing" many of the concepts developed by I/O
psychologists and implementing them into their own Business and Management
programs especially in academic departments.

VI. Modern I/O Psychology (1980-Present)

Lately, psychology has gotten much more involved in influencing government
policy on all employment-related law and regulations. The Civil Rights Act of 1991, and
the American Disabilities Act of 1990, were both actively controlled by psychologists.
Research is increasing at a prolific rate with perhaps thirty good research journals.
Research methodologies and statistical techniques have become more refined and
powerful. With the advent of utility equations, psychologists can now show in dollar
terms how much their services can benefit a company.
Organizational psychology, often intertwined with business and management
approaches, has led to more practice (i.e., consulting) than ever before. I/O Psychology
continues to be a major contributor to the U.S. military, schools, police, fire, postal,
hospitals, and Fortune 500 business organizations.