Vocational Psychology: Its Problems and MethodsHollingworth, Harry L. (Harry Levi)
Science
Vocational Psychology: Its Problems and Methods
Hollingworth, Harry L. (Harry Levi)
Psychophysiology
Only occasional attempts have been made to determine the influence of
practice on the correlation of abilities, and those that have been reported
have been based on so few practice trials that no review of them need be
given. In the present chapter I shall present the results of an experiment
in which a group of observers were repeatedly tested until in each test a
practice limit was approximated, a limit which, in most cases, one hundred
further trials failed to improve. The results have a real interest for
vocational psychology.
The experiment consisted in putting each of thirteen individuals through
205 repetitions of seven different mental tests. The trials were
controlled as thoroughly as possible with respect to such factors as
_interim_ occupation, exercise, food, rotation of tests, temperature,
illumination, and incentive and interest. The subjects, four women and nine
men, ranging from eighteen to thirty-nine years in age, were mature,
zealous, and faithful. Competition was stimulated by the award of desirable
prizes, and each worker received a daily wage. Records were announced to
the subjects only after each thirty-five trials. So far as previous
practice in these particular tests is concerned, all the subjects were
naive. Five trials were made daily, these trials being distributed through
the day at about two-hour intervals. The tests themselves occupied about
forty minutes at each sitting.
The tests used were the following familiar laboratory forms:
1. Adding. Adding seventeen mentally to each of fifty two-place numbers and
reciting aloud the correct answer. Order of numbers random at each trial.
Record with stop watch, time required for perfect score.
2. Naming Opposites. Correctly naming opposites of each of fifty adjectives
which occurred each time in random order. Record, time required for a
perfect score.
3. Color Naming. The Columbia laboratory form of this test, with ten
repetitions of each of twelve colors. Position of card changed at each
trial. Record, time required for perfect score.
4. Discrimination Reaction. Discriminating between red and blue, and
reacting correctly with appropriate hand. Record, average time, in _sigma_,
and number of false reactions.
5. Cancellation. Crossing out digits from the Woodworth-Wells form of this
test. Record, time required for 75 correct cancellations of equally
difficult digits.
6. Coordination. The familiar three-hole test, for accuracy of aim. Record,
time required for one hundred correct strokes.
7. Tapping. Executing four hundred taps at maximal speed, with hand stylus,
right hand, elbow support. Record, time required.
Each test has been correlated[16] with all the remaining tests at various
points in the curve of practice. Correlations were made at each of the
following points:
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