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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
AT LOS ANGELES
REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
BY MAJOR ROBERT M. YERKES
Reprinted from The Psychological Review, Vol. 26, No. 2, March, 1919.]
UNIVERSITY of CALFORNU
AT
LOS Ai^GELES
UBRAitY
^'•> ■.•>' >75 ," ,
> _ 1 , t .
Ed./ Psych.
[Reprinted from The PsychologicAtSS^^w, Vol. 26, No. 2, March, 1919.I
REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
Respectfully submitted to Dr. George E. Hale, Chairman National Research Council
BY MAJOR ROBERT M. YERKES,
Chairman of the Psychology Committee.^
I. Organization of the Psychology Committee
The Psychology Committee was organized in April, 1917,
at the request of the Chairman of the Research Council, be-
cause of the appearance of psychological military problems
and the formulation of plans for participation in the war by
the Council of the American Psychological Association. ^
The constitution of the Committee, together with such
changes as have occurred by reason of resignation or addi-
tional appointments, Is Indicated below: James R. Angell,^
J. McKeen Cattell, Raymond Dodge, Shepherd I. Franz, G.
Stanley Hall, Walter Dill Scott, Carl E. Seashore, Edward
L. Thorndike, John B. Watson, G. M. Whipple, Robert M.
Yerkes, Chairman, and the late John W. Baird, Vice-chair-
man.
Simultaneously with the organizing of the Psychology
Committee of the National Research Council, the Council of
the American Psychological Association authorized the ap-
pointment and designated the chairmen of twelve committees
of the Association to deal with various aspects of the rela-
^ Grateful acknowledgment is made by the Chairman of the Committee to Cap-
tain Richard M. Elliott for his assistance in the preparation of this report.
* An account of the events which preceded the organizing of this committee and of
its early activities was published under the title "Psychology in Relation to the War"
in the Psychological Review, 25, 85-115, March, 1918.
^ Angell and Scott were appointed in October, 1917. Cattell resigned in October,
V 1917. Baird was appointed Vice-chairman in March, 1918.
83
X 4; i^^ ± ^ ) ^
• • • •
84 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
tlons of psychology to the war. With a few exceptions, these
committees were ultimately organized by their chairmen.
Subsequently all which attained complete organization and
became active were constituted subcommittees of the Psy-
chology Committee of the Research Council. This was done
for convenience and efficiency of administration, since the
chairman of the Psychology Committee of the Research Coun-
cil was also, during the year 191 8, President of the American
Psychological Association and in this capacity responsible for
the operation of the Association's war committees.
The following list of committees which have been active
for varying periods during the military emergency at once
supplements the history of psychological service previously
published in this journal and supplies a scheme for the pre-
sentation of the results achieved by the Psychology Commit-
tee and through its cooperation.
1. Committee on psychological literature relating to mili-
tary affairs. Chairman, Madison Bentley.
2. Committee on the psychological examination of re-
cruits. Chairman, Robert M. Yerkes.
3. Committee on psychological problems of aviation, in-
cluding examination of aviation recruits. Chairmen, Harold
E. Burtt, George M. Stratton, and Edward L. Thorndike
(serving successively).
4. Committee on the selection of men for tasks requiring
special aptitude. Chairman, Edward L. Thorndike.
5. Committee on recreation in the army and navy. Chair-
man, George A. Coe.
6. Committee on problems of vision which have military
significance. Chairman, Raymond Dodge.
7. Committee on pedagogical and psychological problems
of military training and discipline. Chairmen, Charles H.
Judd and William C. Bagley (serving successively).
8. Committee on psychological problems of incapacity,
including those of shell-shock and reeducation. Chairman,
Shepherd I. Franz.
9. Committee on problems of emotional stability, fear
and self-control. Chairman, Robert S. Woodworth.
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 85
10. Committee on "Propaganda behind the German
Lines." Chairman, James R. Angell.
11. Committee on acoustic problems of military impor-
tance. Chairman, Carl E. Seashore.
12. Committee on tests for deception. Chairman, John
F. Shepard.
13. Committee on adaptation of psychological instruc-
tion to military educational needs. Chairman, Raymond
Dodge.
In addition to the lines of service indicated by the titles
of committees, special work was done by individual members
of the Psychology Committee or of its subcommittees as
follows :
14. For the Division of Military Intelligence, on methods
of selecting and training scouts and observers, by John B.
Watson and Madison Bentley.
15. For the Chemical Warfare Service, on psychological
problems of the gas mask, by Raymond Dodge, John W.
Baird, and Knight Dunlap.
16. For the Committee on Education and Special Train-
ing of the War Department, on adaptation of army intelli-
gence tests for use in the Students' Army Training Corps, by
Lewis M. Terman.
17. For various military and civilian agencies, studies of
special problems in learning, methods of instruction, and
methods of selecting for special tasks, by L. L. Thurstone,
Herbert S. Langfeld, and Robert S. Woodworth.
II. Committee Service and Expenditures
The Psychology Committee depended chiefly on three in-
strumentalities for the conduct of its service and research:
subcommittees, conferences, and appointments in the army
or navy. The results obtained through these several instru-
mentalities will be presented under the subcommittees or
special topics listed above.
Though many of the subcommittees have seemingly played
unimportant roles, it is nevertheless clear that this form of
organization was indispensable for the instigation and main-
86 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
tenance of service. Appointments in the army and navy
rank next in importance, for it usually was found desirable
to have experienced and highly trained specialists administer
for the army or navy the methods which were prepared and
recommended by the Committee or its subcommittees. The
conference has served the important purpose of bringing to-
gether, for a relatively short period, a group of individuals
especially interested in and competent to discuss and advise
concerning certain immediately important practical questions.
Although the activities of the Psychology Committee
have extended over a period of nearly two years, its expendi-
tures, omitting clerical help, office rental, and supplies which
were furnished by the Research Council, amount to less than
twenty-five hundred dollars. Of this sum approximately nine
hundred dollars was used for the personal assistance of psy-
chologists in the work of the Committee or of the Division
of Psychology, Surgeon General's OfHce; about one thousand
dollars for conference expenses, and the remainder for print-
ing, preparation of charts, and incidentals.
III. Organization and Services of Subcommittees
AND Special Investigations of the Psychology Commit-
tee
I. Committee on Psychological Literature Relating to Mili-
tary Affairs. — This committee was originally authorized by
the Council of the American Psychological Association, which
at the same time designated Howard C. Warren as chairman.
Because of Warren's inability to serve, Madison Bentley was
made chairman of the committee. Bentley, although never
assisted by an organized group, rendered important service
by supplying the various committees and subcommittees with
references to pertinent psychological articles and with sum-
maries of the more important of such articles.
This work ceased when Bentley accepted appointment in
the Signal Corps to assist with the work of the Aviation Ex-
amining Boards.
He had already succeeded in demonstrating to the satis-
faction of psychologists who were directing the activities of
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 87
subcommittees that the psychological literature relating to
military problems was not of great practical importance in
connection with the emergency, because most of the tasks
presented to or discovered by the committee demanded en-
gineering of the pioneer sort.
2. Committee on the Psychological Examination of Recruits.
— This committee of the Psychological Association was ac-
cepted as a subcommittee of the Psychology Committee of the
Research Council in November, 1917. It was organized in
May, 1917, with the following membership: Walter V. Bing-
ham, Herbert H. Goddard, Thomas H. Haines, Lewis M.
Terman, F. Lyman Wells, Guy M. Whipple, and Robert M.
Yerkes, chairman.^
During June, July, and August of 1917, the committee
prepared and directed the trial of group and Individual pro-
cedures for psychological examination of recruits. Subse-
quently, various members of the committee- made indispen-
sable contributions by assisting with the revision of the meth-
ods.
The final meeting of this committee was held on June 17,
1918, on which date it was called in conference by the chair-
man of the Psychology Committee of the Research Council
to consider the scientific utilization of methods and results of
mental testing in the army. At this conference, It was de-
cided to attempt to preserve for subsequent careful analysis
and statistical study at least 200,000 of the original records
of psychological examinations of recruits. At the same time,
the committee carefully considered and formulated for the
guidance of the Division of Psychology, Medical Department
of the Army, advice concerning the revision and utilization
of methods of examining.
The methods prepared for the army by this committee,
consisting of a procedure for the examination of large groups
of subjects and also a series of tests for individual examina-
tion, were accepted by the Medical Department of the Army
^ The committee was assisted in its early work on methods by N. J. Melville, E. A.
Doll, and members of the Department of Psychological Research of the School for the
Feeble-minded, Vineland, N. J.
* Notably, Bingham, Haines, Terman, and Whipple.
88 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
in August, 1917, for official trial. They have since been
thoroughly revised and importantly supplemented in the
light of extensive results.
During November and December of 1917 thorough mili-
tary trial of these methods in four cantonments yielded re-
sults which led the Surgeon General to recommend to the
War Department the extension of psychological examining
to include "all company officers, all candidates for officers'
training camps, and all drafted and enlisted men."
This extension was approved by the War Department in
January, 1918, and at the same time a Division of Psychology
was created in the Office of the Surgeon General to organize
and direct this new variety of service.
To supply the requisite trained personnel for psycholog-
ical examining, a school of Military Psychology was estab-
lished at the Medical Officers' Training Camp, Fort Ogle-
thorpe, Georgia. Approximately one hundred officers and
three hundred enlisted men were given two months of inten-
sive training in this school. The instruction included, in
addition to training in procedures of army psychological ex-
amining, the courses in military drill, army paper work, and
medical department administration, regularly required for
medical officers of the army.
The methods were carefully revised during January and
February, 1918, as a result of the official trial; the necessary
equipment to supply approximately two hundred examining
officers was manufactured, and the various forms of examina-
tion blank were printed In large editions In order that all
examining stations should be adequately equipped.
Suitable buildings for psychological work were either as-
signed or constructed in the principal army training camps,
and within a few months the service was satisfactorily or-
ganized.
The principal results of psychological examining may be
summarized statistically and their applications briefly indi-
cated.
The work of mental examining was organized finally in
thirty-five army training camps. A grand total of 1,726,000
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 89
men had been given psychological examination prior to Jan-
uary I, 1919. Of this number, about 41,000 were commis-
sioned officers. More than 83,000 of the enlisted men inclu-
ded in the total had been given an individual examination in
addition to the group examination for literates, for illiterates,
or both.
Between April 27 and November 30, 1918, 7,749 (0.5 per
cent.) were reported for discharge by psychological examiners
because of mental inferiority. The number of recommenda-
tions for assignment to labor battalions because of low-grade
intelligence was 9,871 (0.6+ per cent.). A total of 9,432
men (0.6+ per cent.) were recommended for assignment to
development battalions in order that they might be carefully
observed and given preliminary training to discover, if pos-
sible, ways of using them in the army.
During this same period of six months, there were re-
ported 4,744 men with mental age ratings below seven years;
7,762 between seven and eight years; 14,566 between eight
and nine years; 18,581 between nine and ten years. This
gives a total of 45,653 (3 per cent.) men under ten years'
mental age. It is extremely improbable that many of these
individuals were worth what it cost the government to main-
tain, equip, and train them for military service.
The original purpose of psychological examining in the
army was stated as follows in the preamble to the plan first
submitted to the Surgeon General: "The Council of the
American Psychological Association is convinced that in the
present emergency American psychology can substantially
serve the government, under the Medical Corps of the Army
and Navy, by examining recruits with respect especially to
intellectual deficiency, psychopathic tendencies, nervous in-
stability, and inadequate self-control."
It was the expectation of psychological examiners that
their principal service would be assistance in the prompt dis-
covery and proper disposition of mental defectives. Long
before the official trial of methods of examining had ended,
however, it had become clear that various other applications
were desired by officers of the line and that the significance of
90 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
psychological service would unquestionably be much broader
than had been supposed. The official medical inspector of
this work in his report listed its chief purposes as: {a) to aid
in segregating the mentally incompetent, {b) to classify men
according to their mental capacity, and {c) to assist in select-
ing competent men for responsible positions.
With the extension of psychological examining, these three
lines of application rapidly became differentiated, and both
line and medical officers discovered, for themselves or with
the assistance of psychological examiners, new and important
ways of utilizing mental ratings to increase military effici-
ency and to lessen the cost of training and maintenance.
The principal practical uses of these ratings common to the
majority of the training camps in which the service was or-
ganized are listed below:
(i) For the discovery of men whose superior intelligence
warranted their consideration for promotion, special training
or assignment to positions of unusual responsibility or diffi-
culty; (2) for assistance in selecting suitable candidates for
officers' training schools, non-commissioned officers' training
schools and other special training organizations; (3) for the
guidance of personnel adjutants in the assignment of recruits
so that organizations might be built in accordance with desir-
able intelligence specifications or, in the absence of such speci-
fications, so that their different constituent parts, such for
example as the companies of a regiment, should possess ap-
proximately the same mental strength, thus avoiding the
risk of weak links in the army chain; (4) for the prompt dis-
covery of men whose low grade intelligence or mental peculi-
arities rendered them of uncertain value in the army, and the
assignment of such individuals to development battalions for
observation and preliminary training; (5) for the discovery
and recommendation or assignment to labor battalions of
men obviously so inferior mentally as to be unsuitable for
regular military training, yet promising serviceableness in
simple manual labor; (6) for the discovery of men whose men-
tal inferiority unfitted them for any sort of military duty and
whose rejection or discharge should therefore be recommended
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 9^
to medical officers; (7) for utilization In connection with the
organization of special training groups so that each group
might be Instructed or drilled in accordance with its mental
capacity, thus avoiding the delay Incident to dull or awkward
individuals and enabling the especially able men to proceed
rapidly and ultimately to take special forms of training in
preparation for promotion or other forms of responsibility.
The judgment of the army concerning the practical value
of this work has been very clearly indicated by reports of com-
manding officers. On completion of the official trial of methods
in four cantonments, approximately seventy-five per cent, of
the regimental and company commanders who were more or
less familiar with the psychological ratings and their proposed
applications expressed their approval of this new line of ser-
vice and the opinion that It should be continued, extended,
and its military usefulness increased. As the organization
of the service was gradually perfected and the officers of the
line and the Medical Corps became acquainted with its actual
and possible values to them, the proportion of favorable opin-
ion tended to Increase.
The psychological service was so organized in each large
training camp that a staff of four officers of the Sanitary
Corps, six enlisted men, also trained in military psychology,
and thirty to forty privates temporarily assigned for service
as scorers, clerks, and orderlies, could, when necessary, exam-
ine and report on from one to two thousand recruits per day.
During one month the total number of psychological exami-
nations in the camps approached three hundred thousand.
The results of psychological examining in the army have
two particularly important bearings. Their primary signif-
icance Is In connection with the development and improve-
ment of methods of mental measurement which are appli-
cable alike to industrial, educational, military, and other
practical situations. Equally important, however, with the
advance in the development of methods, are the scientific
results of this extensive mental survey.
The most important single achievement of the group of
psychologists which developed the methods for army mental
92 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
testing is the creation of a practical, serviceable, and reason-
ably reliable method of group examining by which, if neces-
sary, as many as five hundred individuals may be examined
at one time.
The improvement in methods of individual examining due
to the army work and experience is also extremely important,
for more than eighty-three thousand individual examinations
were made and the attention of a large number of expert
examiners was concentrated for months on the perfecting of
procedures and the increase of their practical military value.
The Performance Scale for the examination of foreign and
illiterate subjects, developed by army psychological exam-
iners, has wide applicability. Like the group examination
devised especially for subjects incapable of reading and writ-
ing English to any considerable extent, it marks a most sig-
nificant advance in mental examining.
It is already evident that the contributions to methods of
practical mental measurement made by this committee of
the National Research Council, and by the psychological
personnel of the army, are profoundly influencing not only
psychologists, but educators, masters of industry, and the
experts in diverse professions. New points of view, interest,
and expectations abound. The service of psychological ex-
amining in the army has conspicuously advanced mental en-
gineering, and has assured the immediate application of
methods of mental rating to the problems of classification
and assignment In our educational institutions and our in-
dustries.
If the full value of the labor on methods of mental measure-
ment and the results of their use in the army is to be achieved,
this work must be adequately reported and suitably published.
The psychological staff of the Surgeon General's Office has
made a tentative arrangement which promises to provide a
satisfactory permanent scientific record.
It is proposed to prepare, first of all, a comprehensive of-
ficial report of psychological service for the Surgeon General
of the army and to recommend its publication by the Govern-
ment. This report will present the history and organization
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 93
of psychological examining in the army; an account of the
methods as originally recommended, as revised, and as finally
applied throughout the army; the history of the organization
of the School for Military Psychology, and of the appointment
training and assignment of the psychological personnel of the
Sanitary Corps, and, finally, a summary account of the re-
sults of psychological examining and their values to the army,
together with recommendations or report concerning the re-
lations of this service to the permanent United States Army.
It is believed that this report can be limited to approximately
three hundred pages.
For scientific purposes, it is planned to prepare more de-
tailed reports on methods and results which it is hoped may
be published as memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences.
The initial volume, the manuscript of which is nearly
completed, will consist of three parts: (i) An introductory
description of the inception and organization of psychological
service. (2) A detailed description of the methods of army
examining in the various forms in which they have been tried
out. This part of the volume will reproduce the directions
for examination and the several examination blanks, together
with all other printed materials, norms, and other standards
of judgment which are essential for the proper understanding
of the methods and their uses. (3) As a third part, it is pro-
posed to present a complete account of the results of official
trial of the methods in four National Army cantonments.
This will include a description of the principal phases of the
early organization of psychological service in the army and
of the general relations of results of examining to revisions of
method and extension of the work to the entire army.
In a second volume it is planned to present results of the
examination of approximately 1,600,000 soldiers. In addi-
tion to a general description of results, the volume will pre-
sent a statistical study (based upon data secured with the
Hollerith System) of approximately 200,000 records of exam-
ination chosen so that they adequately represent states, arms
of the service, negroes and whites, and types of camp.
Finally, miscellaneous materials which cannot properly
94 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
be placed in the preceding volumes v/ill be published either
separately or as a third volume. It is not improbable that
these studies should be placed in psychological periodicals
rather than the National Academy series. So far as the time
of the psychological staff permits, these miscellaneous studies
will present results bearing on such generally important topics
as the nature and distribution of illiteracy among negroes
and whites, and the relation of illiteracy to intelligence; the
intelligence of the negro as compared with that of other racial
groups; the relation of intelligence to geographical distribu-
tion and its significant bearings upon educational, industrial,
and other social problems; the geographical distribution of
intelligence in relation to the newly arrived or partially assim-
ilated immigrant; the relation of intelligence to occupation
and the significance of army occupational classification and
intelligence ratings in connection with the practical problems
of securing and utilizing mental specifications for vocational
guidance; the mental characteristics of conscientious objec-
tors and their significance for military service, educational
activities, and social or governmental obligations. These are
only a few examples of the miscellaneous studies which should
be based on the abundant data of examination and special
report available in the Office of the Surgeon General.
The preparation of the several volumes and special studies
enumerated above is already well advanced. It is hoped that
the volume on methods and initial results may be ready for
publication early in the spring of 1919 and that it may be
followed promptly by the volume on the analysis of results,
the official report, and the more important of the miscella-
neous studies.
The above plan, it is believed, provides as adequately as
is now practicable for the publication of the results of mili-
tary psychological service in the interests of the army and of
other governmental agencies as well as of education and in-
dustry.
3. The Committee on Psychological Problems of Aviation^
including Examination of Aviation Recruits, was authorized
by the Council of the American Psychological Association.
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 95
It was made a subcommittee of the Research Council in
November, 1918. Under the chairmanship of Harold E.
Burtt, the committee, whose other members were W. R.
Miles and L. T. Troland, undertook the selection and de-
velopment of mental and physiological tests which promised
a priori to be indicative of aptitude for flying. Various exist-
ing forms of apparatus were adapted for the tests and several
new forms were devised and constructed. Although the pri-
mary Intention was to proceed purely empirically to deter-
mine which tests were indicative of flying ability, it was also
proposed to undertake the development of tests bearing on
the mental and physiological state of the aviator during
flight.
The evaluation of tests by trial on cadets at the Army
Aviation Ground School, Massachusetts Institute of Tech-
nology, was begun early In June, 1917.
The following tests were given:
1. Patellar reflex with two stimuli in succession, a gradually de-
creasing interval between stimuli.
2. Electrical threshold.
3. Cardiograms and records of respiration while reclining and while
"chinning" oneself.
4. Finger movement; first and second fingers moving together as
rapidly as possible through an uncontrolled distance.
5. Swaying; standing with a helmet beneath smoked paper.
6. Visual acuity; Ives gratings.
7. Memory test (Dodge's); words exposed one letter at a time.
8. Inhibition of winking reflex.
9. Eye reactions to light; moving from fixation point to a spot of
light which appears.
10. Speed of eye movements.
11. Ocular pursuit movements; following pendulum.
12. Reversed maze; tracing it visibly and then invisibly and rotated.
13. Association reaction with crucial words involving fear, falling,
etc.
14. Motor learning; learning a fixed series of reactions with two
alternatives by trial and error.
15. Auditory difi'erence threshold with loud standard similar to the
sound of a motor.
16. Distance and velocity estimation; moving target passes across
96 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
opening at constant rate and then disappears; the subject
tries to stop it when it has reached (invisibly) a given point.
17. Continuous choice reaction; each stimulus being produced by
the preceding correct reaction.
18. Tapping with index finger vertically between two fixed contacts.
19. Equilibrium reaction time; subject sitting on platform which
tilts suddenly; choice reaction to the direction of tilt.
20. Simple visual reaction time.
21. Simple auditory reaction time.
22. Fatigue; ergograph with middle finger.
23. Emotional stability; changes in pulse, breathing and arithmet-
ical performance as affected by a revolver shot.
About seventy-five cadets were given the above series of
tests. Arrangements had been made to correlate test per-
formances with records from the flying schools as soon as
these men learned to fly solo and also when they received the
rank of "Reserve Military Aviator." Unfortunately the ex-
igencies of the situation in Europe interfered with this pro-
gram, since it became necessary to send some of the men
direct from the ground school overseas. Records of flying
ability were obtained for twenty-five of the men tested.
In the summer of 1917 the committee was reorganized.
Burtt resigned and George M. Stratton who had been work-
ing independently on tests for aviators at Rockwell Field,
San Diego, was appointed chairman. Edward L. Thorndike
was chosen as executive secretary, and John B. Watson, War-
ner Brown, Francis Maxfield, and H. C. McComas were added
to the membership. Stratton had tested over fifty cadets in
the following capacities: auditory reaction time, visual reac-
tion time, emotional stability, steadiness and standing, per-
ception of gradual tilt of the body as a whole, dexterity, and
the power to continue in imagination certain segments of
curves presented visually.
A combined score showed that of the six aviators who made
the lowest scores, five men subsequently were relieved from
flying because of failure to learn to fly. Stratton's results,
together with the entire data of Burtt, Miles, and Troland,
and later the findings of Maxfield, were pooled for compara-
tive analysis under the direction of Thorndike, who under-
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL ^^
took a statistical study of the relation between the results of
the tests and the degree of success achieved in flying.
It was early foreseen that it would be necessary to select
a number of tests, each properly weighted, as the practical
means of predicting aptitude for flying. Provision was made
by the army for a systematic and detailed tryout of promis-
ing tests by Captain Stratton and Captain Henmon at Rock-
well Field and Kelly Field in cooperation with the Committee
on Classification of Personnel. The personnel of the group
on whom the tests were tried out included one hundred men
chosen on the basis of their special skill in flying, one hundred
chosen as relatively inapt at flying, and one hundred candi-
dates of unknown ability. This work, carried on in the
spring of 1918, resulted in provision by the War Department
for further research by Captain Stratton, and the authoriza-
tion of four special examining units to apply the tests to can-
didates for cadetship.
To Major John B. Watson of the subcommittee on avia-
tional problem was assigned, in the summer of 1917, the task
of organizing methods, other than medical, to be used by the
examining boards for the selection of personnel. Watson
also assisted in organizing a group of research psychologists
to collaborate with physiologists and medical officers in the
study of aviational problems at the Bureau of Mines, Wash-
ington.
Special mention should be made of the Psychology Sec-
tion of the Medical Research Laboratory at Hazelhurst Field,
Mineola, Long Island, which developed from the work inaug-
urated in Washington by Watson and his associates. At
this station. Major Knight Dunlap^ was primarily responsible
for the development of a series of psychological tests to assist
in determining the ability of candidates for the aviation ser-
vice to withstand the effects of high altitudes. Oxygen in-
sufficiency was produced by the Henderson rebreathing ap-
1 For an account of the psychological work of this station see Knight Dunlap:
"Psychological Research in Aviation," Science, N. S., 49, 94-97, Jan. 24, 1919;
" Manual of Medical Research Laboratory." War Department, 1918, pp. 163-199^
and " Medical Studies in Aviation," (IV. Psychologic observations and methods.)
Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc, 71, 1382-1400. Ocober, 1918.
98 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
paratus, and the important resulting effects on attention and
on voluntary sensory-motor coordination were made the basis
of practical tests for rating aviators.
In general the method employed called for the performance
by the subject of a group of continuous tasks involving co-
ordinated reactions during the gradual decrease of oxygen
supply. The composure of the subject and his ability to
comprehend instructions were noted. Attention and motor
tendencies were recorded on a fixed scale of types, as were
also the moments when the effects of oxygen insufficiency at-
tained a certain standardized importance, especially the final
moment of 'complete inefficiency' which would have been
followed quickly by a complete breakdown and unconscious-
ness if the reactor had not been given air.
The psychological section of the Mineola Station, at first
under Major Dunlap and later under Major Stratton, trained
and sent into the field units for administering these tests to
aviation cadets. During the last half of 1918, beside the
conduct of psychological tests of the ability of aviators to
withstand high altitude and the consequent lack of oxygen,
further research was carried on for the discovery of special
aptitude for flying. To this end, experiments were instituted
at Taylor Field, Montgomery, Alabama, under the immediate
charge of Captain McComas, and at Souther Field, Amerlcus,
Georgia, under the immediate charge of Lieutenant Bagby
with special apparatus and methods in the following regions:
The judgment of differing rates of motion which intersect,
pursuit movements of the hand, the power to trace and re-
trace a given course, the strength and maintenance of a max-
imal grip, the time of complex reaction to visual signals.
These experiments are now in progress and it is too soon to
give their outcome even in summary.
J. F. Shepard cooperated with the subcommittee on avia-
tion in devising tests for aerial observers. The Shepard
method of modifying photographic plates is worthy of special
notice.
Captain H. C. McComas of the subcommittee also con-
ducted work along somewhat similar lines.
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 99
H. L. Eno and O. V. Fry developed apparatus for measur-
ing the aviator's ability to point his plane quickly and accur-
ately in a desired direction, as at an enemy plane.
Major Watson was sent to Europe to gather statistics on
the qualities essential to success as a military aviator.
Dr. Parsons of the Navy received help from the committee
in giving tests to every candidate for flying status in the naval
air service. Parsons' study of the relation of the duration of
nystagmus after rotation to flying ability yielded negative
results, which are corroborative of Thorndike's findings, and
supported by Dodge's analysis of nystagmus reactions.
From August 4, 1918, Thorndike served as chairman of the
subcommittee on aviation. The Department of Military
Aeronautics had requested that he be designated as expert to
prepare and put into operation methods of psychological
testing appropriate for examining the personnel of that de-
partment. To that effect he studied the system used by the
aviational examining boards for the selection of candidates
in the air service and also the intelligence tests In general use
in the army. Especially by modification and supplementa-
tion of the latter he developed a test of mental alertness to
measure mental ability of the order requisite for success in
the air service.
From the records of over two thousand flyers, Thorndike
determined the relation between actual success in the work
of a military aviator over the lines and age, social status,
intellectual ability, business achievement, athletic ability,
and many other characteristics.
A testing and rating plan, a part of the general plan for
the selection and classification of officer material in the Stu-
dents' Army Training Corps, was adopted by the Procure-
ment Branch of the Personnel Section of the Air Service and
was to have been put into operation in November, 191 8, for
the selection of over one thousand aviation cadets per month
from the Students' Army Training Corps. ^
4. Committee on the Selection of Men for Tasks Requiring
^ This account is supplemented by E. L. Thorndike: " Scientific Personnel Work in
the Army," Science, N. S., 49, 53-61, Jan. 17, 1919.
lOO REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
Special Aptitude. — This committee was organized with the
following membership: James C. Chapman, Truman L. Kel-
ley, Walter Dill Scott, Edward L. Thorndike, chairman. It
was constituted a committee on 'Tests of special skill' by
the Executive Board of the Research Council in November,
1917.
Numerous problems of special skill dealt with by this
committee ultimately led, through the activity of Thorndike
and Scott, to the organization of the Committee on Classi-
fication of Personnel in the Army.
By request, the following summary account of the services
of the Personnel Committee has been prepared for this re-
port by Walter V. Bingham, Secretary of the committee.^
"The Committee on Classification of Personnel in the
Army was created by Secretary Baker, August 5, 1917, as an
instrument to increase the value of the army's man-power
through securing the most effective placement of each man.
This has demanded an exhaustive study of the entire army
organization to determine where ability of various kinds is
required, and the development and supervision of an army
personnel system to discover the occupational, educational
and military qualifications possessed by the recruits and to
insure their assignment to the proper units.
"The Committee was organized with Walter Dill Scott as
Director, E. L. Thorndike as Chairman, and W. V. Bingham
as Executive Secretary. The other members were J. R.
Angell, R. C. Clothier, Raymond Dodge, H. L. Gardner, J. F.
Shepard, E. K. Strong, Jr., L. M. Terman, J. B. Watson, and
R. M. Yerkes. The places of five of the original members
have since been filled by J. J. Coss, W. R. DeField, W. B.
Hale, P. J. Reilly and J. J. Swan.
"A large force of able and devoted civilian and military
associates of the Committee, in Washington, in the camps,
and overseas, has made possible the realization of its plans.
"For this program an initial appropriation of ^25,000 was
^ An official account of this work is in preparation for early publication by the
War Department under the general title " The Personnel System of the United States
Army." There will be two volumes: I. The Evolution of the Personnel System; II.
The Personnel Manual.
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL lOi
made, and as the scope of the Committee's responsibilities
grew, additional appropriations were approved until the total
amounted to ^851,650.
"While it happened that the original membership of the
Committee consisted almost wholly of psychologists, many
industrial and business specialists in employing, classifying,
and assigning men were called upon to insure the successful
prosecution of the work. This has included the following
activities :
"(«) Classification and placement of enlisted men. Per-
sonnel offices have been established in all army divisions,
depot and training camps, coast defense stations, aviation
fields, special training camps, for Staff Corps and at other
army posts. In these offices a special card system furnished
accessible information as to the educational, occupational,
and military qualifications of every man. With a minimum
of clerical work this system selected 973,858 men for transfer
largely into technical units in the Engineers, Aviation, Ord-
nance, and other Staff Corps, and even more men for trans-
fer within the divisions or camps. Sixteen civilian supervis-
ors, directed by the Committee, acted in an organizing and
supervisory capacity in the field. Approximately 450 officers
and 7,000 men were engaged in this personnel work. The
number of soldiers interviewed by trained examiners and
classified according to their best army usefulness was in all,
approximately three and a half million.
" {b) The allotment branch or central clearing office of the
committee in Washington received reports on the numbers of
skilled tradesmen found In each contingent of the draft, re-
ceived and consolidated requisitions from the Staff Corps for
specialists, and prorated these requisitions among the various
camps according to their supply of necessary skilled men.
On November ii, requisitions for roughly 600,000 men of
designated qualifications had been filled here. Information
was available at any moment for the Operations Division of
the General Staff concerning the occupational qualifications
of all men in the several depot brigades, army vocational
schools, and similar sources of supply.
I02 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
" {c) Trade specifications and index of occupations. Def-
initions of the many hundred different trades needed In our
military establishment were prepared after exhaustive study,
and were brought together In a book, "Army Trade Speci-
fications." This index is an indispensable reference for Staff
Corps and camp personnel officers in securing the skilled per-
sonnel needed.
"(^) Tables of occupational needs and personnel specifi-
cations. Tables were prepared showing in detail the needs
for skilled workers in each sort of platoon, company, regiment,
or other unit. These tables were studied, criticized, and ap-
proved by army units at the front In France, and later formed
the basis for organizing quickly the newest divisions. Out of
these occupational tables have developed the Personnel Speci-
fications which have now been completed for the enlisted
personnel of four hundred different kinds of organizations.
" (<?) Trade tests. To increase the accuracy of selecting
skilled workers among the enlisted men, a system of practical
trade tests was devised, standardized, and installed In twenty
camps. At the time of the armistice about 130,000 men who
claimed occupational skill had been trade tested.
" (/) Personnel work for officers. Qualification cards for
officers, furnishing a record of occupational, educational and
military experience and a rating by superior officers, were
developed and put into use throughout the army. These
cards are filed In Washington, and duplicates filed in the cus-
tody of the Division commanders for their own use In assign-
ing their officers.
" {g) Rating of officers. A uniform system of rating offi-
cers was developed. This rating system was first Installed in
the Officers' Training Camps as an aid in selecting candidates
for commissions. Later It was used In selecting candidates
for Officers' Training Schools. Now Its use is universal both
in America and in France as a means of securing every three
months a rating on every officer as an aid in determining
promotion, demotion, discharge, and appointments to the
Officers' Reserve Corps.
(A) Commissioned personnel specifications. Definitions
n
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 103
of duties and qualifications of no less than 500 different kinds
of officers In the various arms and branches of the service
have been prepared, after ascertaining the answer to the
question, "Just what does he do?" These commissioned
personnel specifications are for use in recruiting officer mat-
erial, in selecting men for training as officers, and making
assignments. Statistical studies have been made of the rela-
tive significance of age, education, civilian earnings, intelli-
gence and other qualifications of officers In the different corps
and arms of the service.
''(i) Cooperation with the air service. The methods of
selecting aviators were investigated and checked by reference
to the actual success or failure of the pilots. An Improved
system of tests for aviation candidates was introduced and a
new program of examination and selection installed.
"(/") Cooperation with the Provost Marshal General's Of-
fice. Plans for securing classificatory information regarding
all registrants were submitted to the Provost Marshal Gen-
eral and were partially embodied in the draft questionnaire.
''(^) Development Battalions. The Committee cooper-
ated closely with the General Staff and the Surgeon General's
Office in preparing and introducing the plans for segregating,
sorting, training, and utilizing the partially fit.
" (/) Cooperation with the Surgeon GeneraFs Office. Some
assistance was given to the Division of Psychology of the
Surgeon General's Ofllice in devising and administering the
intelligence tests for enlisted men and officers. The psychol-
ogists in turn have tested 1,726,000 soldiers and furnished
personnel oflScers with their intelligence ratings to assist In
making assignments, balancing units, and selecting men for
special responsibilities.
" (w) Cooperation with the Navy. At the time of the armi-
stice, representatives of this committee were assisting the
Navy and the Marine Corps to prepare and install a complete
personnel classification program to correspond with the army
system. In addition, one member of the Committee has
done valuable work in refining methods of selecting and train-
ing men for special duties in the Navy, such as gun-pointing,
I04 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
hydroplane listening, the work of the fire-control squad, and
the lookout.
"(w) The War Service Exchange. This branch of the
Committee was established January i8, 1918, to receive and
classify applications of persons desiring to serve the govern-
ment and to refer them to the branches of the service needing
them, and to cooperate with other agencies in locating and
supplying men needed for special purposes by the various
branches of the service. This organization relieved high of-
ficials of the War Department of the necessity of devoting
valuable time to the interviewing of the many influential men
who came to Washington to offer their services to the gov-
ernment. It also cared for a total of about one hundred and
ten thousand written proffers of service. It placed approxi-
mately ten thousand men, including many of superior at-
tainments.
" (0) Personnel work in the American expeditionary forces.
Members of the committee studied the personnel needs of
the A. E. F., and with the cordial approval of General Persh-
ing, established there a personnel organization similar to that
in America. The Officers' Qualification Cards have had their
widest usefulness overseas, in supplying replacements and in
ocating rare specialists in emergencies.
" (^) British experience. Detailed study was made of the
working of the British personnel organization, which in some
respects is far superior to ours. Special reports and exhibits
obtained in London from the British War Office covered their
whole program of recruitment, classification, trade-testing,
assignment and transfer; industrial furloughs; weekly consol-
idation and analysis of strength reports; and plans for de-
mobilization.
"This in outline is a picture of the Personnel work, begun
in the National Army cantonments with the arrival of the
first contingent of the draft. Neither the civilians nor the
army officers who initiated this development dreamed of the
scope it would so rapidly assume or the share it would have
in effecting the speedy organization of a well balanced army,
trained and ready for the critical hour in France.
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 105
*'The Committee on Classification of Personnel in the
Army as such has disappeared. After fourteen months of
service under the Adjutant General of the Army, it was
transferred to the General Staff and merged with the Central
Personnel Branch, newly created to supervise the procure-
ment, placement, tranfer and promotion of officers through-
out all branches of the army. This means that centralized
control of personnel work for both officers and soldiers is
recognized and thoroughly established as an integral part of
the United States Army organization."
5, Committee on Recreation in the Army and the Navy. —
Originally authorized by the Council of the American Psycho-
logical Association, under the chairmanship of George A.
Coe, this committee was organized with the following mem-
bership: William C. Bagley, Rowland Haynes, J. T. Patrick,
J. H. Tufts, and the chairman.
On acceptance of his appointment the chairman formu-
lated a plan of work which included important investigations
and the establishment of profitable cooperative relations be-
tween his committee and the various civilian agencies con-
cerned with recreational activities in military training camps.
Various unfortunate circumstances delayed the fulfillment
of the original plan and it was finally decided that the Com-
mission on Training Camp Activities and the Y. M. C. A.
were satisfactorily meeting the urgent demands of the situa-
tion.
6. Committee on Problems of Vision which Have Military
Significance. — Authorized in April, 1917, by the Council of
the American Psychological Association, this committee was
made a subcommittee of the National Research Council
shortly after its organization. Its membership comprised
R. P. Angier, H. A. Carr, L. R. Geissler, S. P. Hayes, G. M.
, Stratton, L. T. Troland, and Raymond Dodge, chairman.
The chairman of the committee most generously contrib-
uted his time and professional skill to the departments of
war and navy. Since much of his practical work demanded
secrecy and was imperfectly known even to the Psychology
Committee, he has been asked by the chairman of the com-
lo6 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
mittee to prepare for this report a summary account of his
war service. This contribution, which follows, is one of the
most interesting chapters of the scientific history of the war.
It Is more detailed than other sections of this report because
practically nothing has been published heretofore on most of
the topics.
Report of Lieutenant Commander Dodge
"The subcommittee on vision shared with some of the
other subcommittees in Psychology the disadvantages of
mutual Inaccessibility. Questions that were submitted com-
monly required an immediate estimate for prompt action.
There was neither time for nor expectation of a complete or
final solution. The military situations that we had to ana-
lyze were not infrequently of a highly confidential character.
In some cases the suggestion that the matters be referred to a
committee for investigation met with quite emphatic disap-
proval. Moreover, the Initial visual problems that we came
upon commonly turned out to be so Intimately related to
non-visual factors that they became the least important part
of the investigation. So It came about that in spite of the
enthusiastic cooperation of a splendid committee, the com-
mittee form of partitioned investigations In our case proved
impracticable during war times. We had to work as indi-
viduals at top speed.
"In the early psychological war problems in whose solu-
tion it was my privilege to participate, the conspicuous fea-
tures were the failure of military authorities to appreciate
the reality of the mental problems, even when they were the
main problems of a situation, and the failure of military tra-
ditions to meet the new problems of human engineering which
modern warfare occasioned. The great service of the mili-
tary psychologist was to analyze out of the situations the
human and mental problem, to give these phases of the mili-
tary problems precise formulation and then to bring to bear
his laboratory and scientific traditions In meeting the situa-
tions as they were analyzed.
'The military danger In the next few years of peace is
<('
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 107
that with the passing of the present crisis, so few military
officers are capable of carrying on the mental researches. I
fear that some other nation may take up the mental analyses
where we left them when the emergency ceased, and may de-
velop a real military psychology that will be more deadly
than 42 cm. guns. Our efforts, however excellent and how-
ever valuable, are only the first crude beginnings of such a
military psychology.
"In reviewing my war work correspondence, it is inter-
esting and instructive to note that while the practicable
means of attack was often delayed for months, and the prac-
tical occasion for developing the problem was often quite un-
connected with the inquiry from the Research Council, every
one of my leads for service came first from the Research
Council. Furthermore, in spite of some moments of personal
discouragement and misgiving, not one of the inquiries that
came to me in this way proved either useless or impracticable.
It seems to me that this is a very high tribute to the wisdom
of the guidance of our chairman and his colleagues of the Re-
search Council. The only serious difficulty in the path of
scientific service was the initial lack of confidence of the au-
thorities. When confidence was once established, their faith
in our ability to turn the desired tricks became an embar-
rassment, and the only limit to service was the limit of human
endurance.
"The months that I devoted exclusively to national ser-
vice seem in retrospect a kind of scientific excursion. The
shadow of sorrow at their close comes from the fact that with
the rotation of military service the old chiefs for whom we
worked and would have followed to the death If necessary are
being replaced by strangers who know nothing of our limita-
tions nor our scientific potentialities.
"Shortly after the Committee on Psychology was organ-
ized, Chairman Yerkes referred to me as an inquiry from Dr.
Mendenhall of the National Research Council the question
whether we could recommend tests to select gun-pointers for
merchantmen. The records of our efforts to answer that in-
quiry and of the vastly greater efforts to get our answer across
io8 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
are Intensely human documents. The first was a relatively
simple problem of analysis of reactions, adaptation of ap-
proved laboratory practice, and construction of a suitable
recording device. Four days after the receipt of the Inquiry
I outlined the Instrument that we used later, and I guaranteed
its success. The second was a problem of salesmanship.
Every gunnery officer who saw the instrument work was en-
thusiastic from the start, but It was months later before the
official wall of suspicion and red tape was passed.
"On June ii, I reported the construction and successful
trial of an Instrument to test gun pointers. It gave a series
of graphic records of the fundamental processes involved In
training a gun on a moving target, under as nearly service
conditions as possible. Simple Inspection of these graphic
records, without elaborate computation, showed (i) the la-
tency of beginning the training of the gun to a movement of
the target; (2) the accuracy with which the actual movement
of the target was followed; (3) the latent time of reacting to
a change in the apparent motion of the target; (4) the effect
on the aim of pressing the firing key; (5) the accuracy of the
aim at the moment of discharge.
"This instrument was set up and tested on expert marks-
men and Inexperienced recruits of the U. S. S. Georgia and
the U. S. S. Pennsylvania. The records show marked indi-
vidual dlfi"erences. The best gun-pointers gave the best rec-
ords; the untrained recruits the poorest. But among the
partially trained, some consistently followed the moving tar-
get with short reaction time and considerable satlsfactori-
ness; some showed promising Improvement within the five
trials permitted.
"The instrument consists of an aluminum recording drum
mounted on a horizontal axis. This is turned at an even rate
through an arc of approximately ninety degrees by a weighted
piston falling in a cylinder of oil with a predetermined by-pass.
The weighted piston as it falls also moves the target in a horizontal
plane. Thus the target starts when the drum starts and stops
when the drum stops. A long recording lever (one meter) writes on
the drum with a lead pencil. This lever is moved by the person to
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 109
be tested in the endeavor to keep a hair line in the sighting tele-
scope, which is mounted on the recording lever, on the center of
the target. The reaction latency of the person to be tested is
shown by the distance that the target and drum move before the
recording lever starts. His accuracy is shown by the approxima-
tion of his record to a normal line which is recorded when the lever
which carries the target is temporarily clamped to the recording
lever. The moment of firing is indicated by the perforation of the
record by a jump spark.
"The practical utilization of this instrument remained con-
fined to the U. S. S. Georgia and U. S. S. Pennsylvania where
it was tried out. It never got by the Office of Gunnery Exer-
cises. Considerably later, I submitted a plan for a robust
training model of this instrument to Captain E. L. Bennett
of the Training Section of the Bureau of Navigation. The
instrument was intended for shore training to offset the lack
of dotter equipment in the naval training stations. Construc-
ted by authority and at the expense of the Committee on
Classification of Personnel, this instrument was set up in the
Armed Guard Camp of the New York Navy Yard. It proved
an instant success. Its use was developed to greatest effi-
ciency at this place under Lieutenant Norton. Under orders
from the Bureau of Navigation a number of replicas were
built by the Armed Guard Camp of the New York Navy Yard
for other training stations.
"The instrument consists of a battery of four skeleton
guns, with training or pointing gear, a mechanism for giving
the targets a series of harmonic wave motions of great variety
and complexity, a recording device, that shows each move-
ment of the target and the corresponding movements of the
gun as the pointer or trainer tries to follow It, and a firing
device, that not only Indicates the accuracy of the pointing
but also the effect of the effort to fire on the pointing coord-
inations.
"The object of the Instrument is to furnish land conditions
for teaching a recruit the coordinations of hand and eye essen-
tial to pointing and firing at a moving target at sea. It was
designed as a robust practice Instrument which could be repro-
no REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
duced In any desired quantity at relatively small expense,
and without demanding the services of expert machinists for
construction. The graphic record was added to show the
pointer and his Instructor the relative adequacy of the point-
ing at each moment. The movements of the target, the
sights, and the training mechanism were designed to dupli-
cate actual service conditions as closely as practicable in
simple construction.
"Successive records of the same recruit furnish a record
of his progress in acquiring the coordinations necessary for
gun-pointing. Gross incapacity or natural aptitude will be
apparent In such a series. The instrument thus serves the
double purpose of a shore-training device and a test by which
marked natural inaptitude may be discovered with a minimum
loss of time.
"Since the instrument is quite robust it is practicable for
interested recruits to practice gun-pointing with it at odd
times by themselves and without supervision. Experience
with the instrument shows that the recruits do take an inter-
est in It and use it practically continuously when permitted
to do so.
"The base of the apparatus consists of a rectangular pipe frame-
work, four feet high, six feet long, and two and one half feet wide.
Each corner post carries an adjustable seat for the gun-pointer,
and a skeleton gun. The latter is really a peep sight built Into an
iron pipe. This may be trained by a two-handed belt gear. At
its muzzle end each skeleton gun carries a light but rigid recording
lever, armed on its distal end with a soft lead pencil for making the
records.
"The targets for the four guns are carried on a platform that
moves across their line of action. The device for giving the tar-
gets an Irregular series of harmonic wave motions corresponding to
the movements of a floating gun-platform consists of a motor which
drives a set of three wooden pulleys. The first pulley serves merely
as a reducing gear. The second and third pulleys carry eccentric
attachments to pull the target platform a greater or shorter dis-
tance, at greater or less velocity, according as they work together
or in more or less complete opposition. The slack of the eccentrics
is taken up by a long spring, which is attached to the target plat-
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL m
form and works in opposition to the pull of the motor. As it worked
out, this series of wave motions has been commented on most favor-
ably by all the experienced pointers who have observed it. With-
out exception they have said that it was the best artificial target
motion that they had ever seen on a dotter. By shifting the driv-
ing belt on the reducing pulleys, it is possible to imitate the move-
ments of a slowly moving gun-platform or a rapidly moving one at
will. Observers of experience name these speeds battleship roll,
merchantman roll, and destroyer roll.
"Instead of moving the target platform directly across the
frame, the track on which it moves is laid at an angle of forty-five
degrees to the main frame. This makes the target travel the hypot-
enuse of a right isosceles triangle, of which the transverse leg would
give the apparent displacement of the target from the standpoint of
the trainer. The other leg in the direction of the axis of the gun
furnishes the conditions for the record of correlated movements of
target and gun. Thus a line traced by the recording lever which is
attached to each gun and writes on a sheet of paper laid on the tar-
get platform, will represent point for point each movement of the
target and the gun. If the gun remains stationary while the target
moves, this record line will be an oblique line at an angle of forty-
five degrees to the gun axis. If the gun moves while the target is
stationary, the record will show a straight line transverse to the
axis of the gun. If the gun moves exactly with the target, that is,
if absolutely accurate pointing is maintained throughout the move-
ment of the target, the record will be a straight line in the axis of
the gun. This latter is an impossible ideal of perfect pointing.
All the records show a greater or less number of irregularities inci-
dent to the reaction time of the pointer and the imperfections of
his coordinations. Improvement of the pointer in the essentials
shows itself in the gradual reduction of the lateral displacements
of the record from the theoretically perfect record of a single
straight line. The record of each performance may be analyzed for
the benefit of the recruit immediately after each trial. For this
purpose, it is probably expedient not to have the practice records
too long. Short records are less complicated and may be more
easily analyzed. Moreover, the recruit can remember better what
he did if the record is not too long.
"Following the recommendations of Lieutenant Norton,
U. S. N., the instrument was adapted so that the targets
could be given a vertical motion for practice In pointing as
112 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
well as a horizontal motion for training. This was done
optically by introducing a total reflection prism into the eye
pieces of two of the skeleton guns. To reproduce for the
gun-pointer the errors of his training mate, so that he could
get practice in watching the vertical wire while firing, an
artificial training error was introduced mechanically at fixed
points of the motion of the target platform. At first thought
this would seem to give the training error such a mechanical
constancy that it could be predicted and therefore ignored.
This is absolutely not the case. It follows the non-predict-
able character of the main displacement of the target, be-
cause the arbitrary training error will appear at every phase
of the more or less extended movements of the targets, while
on the records they will appear only in homologous parts of
the curves.
"Firing records are introduced in the pointing records by
pressing an electric button, which closes a circuit operating a
small electric bell, only instead of hitting the bell, the buzzing
armature hits the pencil holder. This makes a dot on the
records when the gun is standing still, and a waved line in-
stead of a simple line when the gun is moving. The firing
will be perfect only when these dots and waves appear on a
straight line along the theoretically perfect pointing line, at
those parts of the record that are free from the artificial train-
ing errors.
"The artificial training error is produced by placing irreg-
ularities on the track of the target platform, over which a
friction wheel glides. This is attached to a series of levers
that add a vertical motion to the main horizontal movements
of the targets. Since the optical system transforms the hori-
zontal motion into a vertical one for the pointer, it transforms
these slight vertical movements of the target into errors of
training.
"The actual uses of the pointing instrument will probably
vary according to the needs and inclinations of the groups for
which they are available. Quite tentatively, I suggested the
following: Entirely raw recruits should probably be intro-
duced only to the training mechanisms, without recording all
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 113
their trials. The instructor can see all the main features of
the training errors. Occasional regular records should be
taken at this stage only to show the rate of progress or as the
mechanical proof of the judgment of the instructor that the
recruit was or was not fitted to go on. Probably the men who
make the best progress, or some proportion of them, should
then be introduced to the firing pointer's more complex co-
ordinations. Each group should be encouraged to practice
by themselves without records. The formal records of each
group should be posted to stimulate competition. Each rec-
ord should have the benefit of individual criticism. The rec-
ords of the trainers will show if the recruit's attention lapsed;
if he got mixed up in the manipulation of his gears; if he
started too slowly; if he tried to beat the roll; if he was irreg-
ular and jerky — as well as the accuracy of his training. The
records of the pointers will show similar faults in the pointing
coordinations, and in addition, if he fired when the vertical
wire was ofi"; if he stopped pointing to press the firing button;
if he failed to fire when on; if he fired off"; as well as whether
he failed to "follow through" sufficiently long after pressing
his firing key.
"Undoubtedly others besides raw recruits would profit by
occasional graphic records and their criticism, especially those
whose work at actual target practice failed to give evidence
of adequate coordinations.
"The following letter from Rear Admiral L. C. Palmer
was a very welcome summary of the naval estimate of the
instrument:
Navy Department,
Bureau of Navigation,
Washington, D. C, March 4, 1918
My dear Professor Dodge: This Bureau is in receipt of an offi-
cial report from the Commanding Officer of the Armed Draft De-
tail at the Navy Yard, New York, containing a description of an
instrument devised by you for the primary purpose of selecting
from among recruits those who are naturally fitted for training as
gun-pointers.
The report indicates that in addition to fulfilling its primary
purpose, the instrument has proven of great value as a device for
114 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
training selected men, both as gun pointers and gun trainers. In
this connection the report says in part:
'This instrument has been in constant use now for over a month.
During this time it has been found to be of great value, not only for
classification of pointers, but further, for their actual training. De-
spite the almost constant use of this machine by different persons,
no parts have become worn out or broken. It further has the most
important advantage of being popular with the personnel who are
being trained, and it has been found that the enlisted personnel
make use of this instrument upon their own volition outside of
drill periods. The motion of the target, derived by the design of
this instrument, is by far the best the Commanding Officer has
ever seen, and this opinion is supported by various other officers
who have experimented with it. The diagram which is obtained
from each pointer or trainer tells precisely how close to the target
the man has kept during his period and further whether or not he
fired when on. The records of these pointers or trainers are kept
from day to day and one is soon able to tell whether or not the in-
dividuals will ever pick up the necessary requisites for efficiency as
such.'
You may be further interested to know that the Bureau has
taken steps to have the experimental instrument reproduced and
furnished as a standard training device for recruits at all large
training camps.
I beg to take advantage of this opportunity to express to you
our sincere appreciation of the value of what you have done and are
doing to assist in the very heavy burden imposed upon the Bureau
In the present emergency; and I may add that we are also deeply
sensible of your spirit of unselfish devotion to the cause which we
all have so deeply at heart. You have given us most freely of your
valuable time and have, I suspect, made other personal sacrifices
of moment, and have declined to consider any method of compen-
sation. I hope that this wholly unsolicited expression of the Bu-
reau's gratitude will not be quite unwelcome.
I am taking the liberty of sending a copy of this letter to the
President of Wesleyan University.
Again thanking you, I am
Sincerely yours,
(Signed) Leigh C. Palmer,
Rear Admiral, U. S. Navy,
Chief of Bureau
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 115
"While we were trying out our instrument for testing gun-
pointers it became increasingly evident that the problem of
picking prospective gun-pointers was regarded by most naval
officers with whom I came in contact as only one of a group
of interrelated problems of picking the most suitable men for
the various tasks of the Navy. This was first emphasized
by Lieutenant Mayo of the U. S. S. Georgia; then by Captain
Plunkett of the Office of Gunnery Exercises, and by Com-
manders Bingham and McClintic, and Lieutenant Shannon
of the U. S. S. Pennsylvania.
"In view of these reiterated suggestions, and in view of
the wide scope of the permission granted me by the Honor-
able Secretary of the Navy to visit the fleet for analysis of
the naval tasks, I undertook to do for the plotting room what
I had done for gun-pointing. After observing the various
tasks of the plotting room, I tried to reduce them to their
simplest psychological terms, then to devise corresponding
test methods, and finally to combine them in a single form or
blank that would disclose at a glance, without elaborate com-
putation, the relative fitness of the several recruits for plot-
ting room service.
"The tests finally recommended were: the ability to re-
peat clearly by telephone a series of ordinary commands that
were received by telephone, the ability to remember and re-
peat numerals, to read a circular scale, to read a plotting
scale and to lay off distances to scale, together with neatness
and accuracy in drawing and subdividing simple geometrical
figures. All these data, except the telephone test were ar-
ranged on a single blank which could be estimated at a glance
as good, medium, and poor.
"It proved impracticable to follow the history of this test,
to work up the correlations between test and performance,
or to modify the test according to experience. I was informed
later that the tests, substantially as originally submitted,
were adopted throughout the Atlantic Fleet for the selection
of men for the plotting room, and that they were saving a
great deal of time and trouble.
"A plan was submitted at the same time for a more ex-
Ii6 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
haustlve series of tests for a considerable variety of naval
tasks based on an analysis of the tasks. This plan would
probably have been carried out to some degree at least, if
the armistice had not cut short our naval 'career.'
"The connection between the subcommittee on vision and
the Listeners' School is not altogether clear even to myself.
But we were not fastidious in the selection of tasks provided
they would help win the war.
"One of the minor but necessary tasks of the Training
Section of the Bureau of Navigation was to find properly
equipped men for the new Listeners' School without robbing
other training schools of their regular quotas. It was a rela-
tively simple problem in the economy of human material and
personnel, but one for which no data were available. At the
request of Captain Bennett, U. S. N., Chief of the Training
Section, I analyzed the requirements of the Listeners' School.
"On the basis of that analysis, I elaborated a series of
tests for candidates for the Listeners' School and was sent to
various training stations to pick students from the enlisted
personnel. After correcting the tests from the school ex-
perience with the first few quotas, I was able to make a de-
tailed recommendation for the examination of candidates.
With the cordial assistance of Naval medical officers in the
several Districts, these tests afforded the Listeners' School a
selected student personnel from which 80 per cent, to 95 per
cent, of each class passed the course, all without seriously
affecting the supply of suitable men for other naval schools.
"Without divulging anything that might be regarded as
a military secret, the general plan of the tests is indicated in
the following statement which has already been published by
authority of the Bureau of Navigation.
I. Candidates for the Listeners' School were selected by the
following processes:
{a) Their Navy record in the Training Station.
{b) Their education (or other indication of intelligence).
(c) A special medical examination.
{d) A group elimination examination.
(<f) An individual stethoscope test.
(/) A final compensator test.
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 117
2. All candidates for examination are selected by their officers.
Candidates must have:
{a) The general training of a seaman, especially military dis-
cipline, care of a seaman's belongings and person, and the
ability to handle firearms effectively,
{h) General intelligence sufficient to profit by an intensive
course of school work.
(c) Loyalty to and interest in Naval work.
{d) Enough self-reliance and initiative to carry the responsi-
bility of the Listeners' task.
(if) Enough team -spirit to make him livable in cramped quarters.
3. In the absence of other clear indications of the requisite gen-
eral intelligence to profit by the intensive course of school training
required of Listeners (2^), it is required that candidates have at
least two years of high school. Other indications of superior in-
telligence would be a record of success at some electrical trade, or
some business where the candidate had given evidence of superior
mental ability.
4. The medical examination of candidates emphasizes the integ-
rity and normal functioning of the auditory apparatus, with less
emphasis on the visual equipment.
5. The group elimination examination aims to eliminate from
the group selected by their officer those men who are least fitted
for the special tasks of the listener.
The ideal examination would probablv be to try out every can-
didate with the special apparatus used under the actual conditions
of service. Since that seems to be impracticable, a set of tests had
to be developed that would correspond to those tasks as closely as
possible. After a considerable experience with the men selected
by these tests, consequent to which the tests have been checked and
corrected, it seems important to give them as uniformly as possible
in all Naval Districts, and to make no intentional change either in
substance or method until that change has been fully considered by
the Bureau of Navigation and checked by correlation with the ac-
tual work of the men at the school.
6. The mental test consists of four parts.
{a) The memory span for 4-, 5-, and 6-place digits.
{b) The ability to read a circular scale to an error of one degree.
(c) The ability to locate the source of sounds from behind a
long horizontal screen.
{d) The ability to discriminate between softly spoken or whis-
pered syllables and nonsense words.
Ii8 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
7. Candidates who reach a grade of 75 per cent, in this elimina-
tion test are given an individual examination in their ability to
discriminate phase difference, with a stethoscope attached to a
rubber tube. This individual test also serves the following pur-
poses: (a) To check other sources of information covering the can-
didate's personal qualifications, (b) To estimate the quickness
and certainty of his reactions.
8. The final process in the selection of candidates for the Lis-
teners' School was conducted by myself. In this examination It is
assumed that all candidates have the minimum qualifications de-
tailed above. No regular effort is made to check these qualifica-
tions except in the matter of schooling. Before examining a candi-
date a brief typewritten statement of instructions Is given to him.
Failure to understand or to follow these Instructions leads to a more
careful review of the candidate's general intelligence.
9. The purposes of the final examination are:
(a) To serve as a check on the preliminary elimination In the
several Naval Districts and to standardize the results.
That Is: It sometimes happens that in filling its required
quota one District Is compelled to include some men of a
relatively low grade. By comparison of all the candidates
at one place it is possible to apply a common standard
Irrespective of the Naval Station from which they came.
(b) To estimate a number of factors that could not easily be
tested without special training and apparatus.
10. The Instrument used for making the final examination Is a
simplified compensator designed for the purpose and is constructed
as follows:
On a suitable standard two concentric wooden wheels are
mounted. One wheel facing the examinee measures thirty cm. In
diameter. This is his compensating wheel. The compensating
wheel Is operated by the examinee as though It were a real compen-
sator. The other wheel just behind the standard and hidden from
the view of the examinee measures 26 cm. The position of this
wheel determines the difference In wave phase. It carries on Its
periphery the middle third of a rubber tube which is two meters
long. The ends of the tube are carried through the hollow axis
of the wheels to a stethoscope. The exact middle of the tube Is
plainly marked on the operator's side, and the tube Is cemented
firmly in place on the wheel. The concentric wheels can be turned
independently to prevent secondary identification marks. Slight
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 119
friction in the bearings prevents any accidental lag. A noise
roughly approximating the revolution of a submarine propeller is
produced by rubbing the tube lightly with a bare lead-pencil lead.
If a circular motion is given to the lead the number of revolutions
as well as the noise quality can be imitated.
11. The candidate after reading his instructions sits at a table
opposite the operator with the simplified compensator between
them while the operator rubs the rubber tube at some arbitrary
height above the table with the naked lead of a lead pencil. The
candidate rotates his compensator wheel until the sound seems to
be dead ahead. If the localization is perfect the center of the tube
should be directly under the operator's pencil.
12. Preliminary trials must always be insisted on until the exam-
inee has a clear idea of his task. If there is any indication of fail-
ure to understand the task the candidate is verbally instructed by
the operator. But if inability to understand the task, inability to
learn the direction in which the wheel must be rotated, or if gross
faults of manipulation are persistent, the candidate is eliminated.
The practice is to permit any failing candidate to repeat his exam-
ination at any later examination period as long as he is still eager
to do so. Eagerness is a good indication. Unfortunately only
about one candidate in twenty is able to better his record mate-
rially.
13. If a candidate locates the center within an average error of
one cm., quickly, consistently, and without gross variations, he is
passed by the examiner. If there is any persistent difficulty a
static localization test is given, in which the following points are
noted in four grades of excellence:
{a) Right or left displacement of the center.
{b) Breadth of the center,
(c) Consistency of the reactions.
{d) Quickness and sureness of reaction.
If the candidate passes this test he is then given another active
compensation test.
14. A strict watch is kept by the operator for disqualifying per-
sonal qualities. No grouches, boneheads, discontented or notably
immature candidates are knowingly sent on to the School.
"The success of this selective process has a rather inter-
esting theoretical bearing. The task obviously lay outside
my proper field, as I do not pretend to know the psychology
of audition. Perhaps this was not a serious handicap since
142182
I20 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
if we had depended on our psychological traditions of the
localization of sound we would have missed the point of the
new localizing apparatus. As a matter of fact, I followed
here as elsewhere the general principle of using a replica of the
actual task for test purposes instead of any presumptively
correlated tasks. The results seemed to justify the method.
I believe that it is theoretically sound.
"In the spring of 191 8 the Chemical Warfare Service of
the Bureau of Mines made specific inquiry through the Re-
search Council as to the importance of certain visual limita-
tions of the standard production mask.^ The matter was re-
ferred to me, and after consultation with various members of
the Service, I undertook to answer the inquiry, and was ap-
pointed Consulting Psychologist. From the moment that I
put on a mask it became obvious that the visual conditions
of tenancy Interacted with various psychological and physio-
logical conditions.
"My report on the visual factors which are involved in
continuous tenancy of gas masks aimed to summarize the
relevant traditions of physiological optics, laying especial em-
phasis on the military advantages of peripheral vision, and
discussing the relative faults of various windows, with respect
to both material and position. Experimental investigation
took a more general form.
"Relative to the total complex of tenancy problems, I
suggested a combined investigation of the respiratory, meta-
bolic, neuro-muscular, visual, and psychological effects of the
gas mask. The obvious place for such an investigation was
the Nutrition Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution, Boston.
The plan met the cordial approval of the Chemical Warfare
Service. In spite of probable interference with other forms
of patriotic service, the Director of the Nutrition Laboratory
generously gave the Investigation the hospitality of the Lab-
oratory, and authorized such help as his collaborators and
assistants found it practicable to give. Very unfortunately,
as I believe, the cooperative investigation failed to get started.
^ This statement of Lieutenant Commander Dodge is supplemented by the data
in section 15, p. 141, of this report.
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL I3i
But in spite of many difficulties the psychological program
was initiated and carried through a month of intensive work.
"Throughout the investigation the subject was myself.
A number of circumstances made this somewhat questionable
procedure necessary. In the first place, I needed first hand
information of the efi'ects of the mask. Moreover, in my own
case there was available abundant data on the normal varia-
bility of my responses. So I could evaluate a few experiments
on myself better than on an unknown subject. Finally, the
lack of available assistance made it impossible to begin in
any other way.
"The observations were of two sorts: (i) A serial record
of personal impressions. While this was quite inexact and
liable to distortion by personal bias, it was the only criterion
in matters of relative comfort and discomfort. Moreover,
for an observer who is trained to avoid the commoner illusions
of self-observation, the method will give considerable insight
into the presumptive facts over a wide field. (2) In addition
to these personal impressions, quantitative measurements
were made of a group of selected processes that seemed likely
to be significant on psycho-physiological or military grounds.
"When the investigation began there was no available
tradition of the probable effects of gas-mask tenancy. Based
on the previous studies of fatigue and of the psychological
effects of alcohol, I selected the following processes for meas-
urement:
1. The duration of the pulse and respiration cycles during rest,
measured work, and the recovery after work. Pulse is the best-
known indicator of general physiological condition. Our pulse rec-
ords were electrocardiograms.
2. Visual acuity as measured by the grating test object. The
relation of visual acuity to military efficiency needs no comment.
3. Simple reaction of the hand to a visual signal. This was
undoubtedly too simple a form of reaction, but no suitable military
task seemed available on short notice.
4. Eye reactions were photographed by the usual technique.
They are involved in every adjustment of a soldier to events that
he can see. It is a more complicated form of reaction than the
simple finger reaction, is more universally practiced, and probably
more significant in its changes.
122 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
5. The velocity of eye -movement. This is also a universal
factor in adjustment to seen events. But it seemed important for
other reasons. Dependent on the nice coordination of the orbital
muscles, it is very sensitive to disturbances of the central nervous
system.
6. The speed of the oscillations of the fingers. Like the eye-
movements, it is a kind of coordination test with simple technique,
and a flat practice curve.
7. The hand dynamometer. Frankly this was a makeshift.
We expected to discard it for the Martin strength tests as soon as
Lieutenant Richmond arrived.^
8. Continuous addition, a simple form of continuous work test
with controlled association.
"The most consistent and largest effect of gas-mask ten-
ancy was decrease of visual acuity, an average of 20 per cent.
Addition was slowed 7 per cent. Eye-reactions were longer
by 9 per cent. Eye-movements were 7 per cent, slower. In
lesser degree the finger reactions, finger movements, and
dynamometer strength tests were adversely affected, three,
two, and one per cent, respectively.
Inspection of the curves for the several days shows a pro-
gressive adaptation to mask conditions that corroborates
personal impression. This adaptation was both general and
specific and seems to be of the utmost military importance.
"Of vastly greater importance than the fractional falling
off in efficiency of the various processes was the effect of im-
properly made or improperly fitted head gear. Within one
hour I had reached a degree of discomfort from an Ill-fitting
head gear where In spite of experimental Interest In the task,
in spite of patriotic sentiment, and all the scientific pride I
could muster, I could stand the punishment no longer and
simply took the mask off. The extreme military Importance
of such a condition of mind seems clear. A properly con-
structed and properly fitted mask can be worn almost indef-
initely, after adaptation.
"It was officially reported that our study and the recom-
^ This officer of the Sanitary Corps, psychological service, had been ordered to
report to Lieutenant Commander Dodge for duty as assistant in the gas-mask inves-
tigation. He received his orders too late to be of service.
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 123
mendations that grew directly out of it were of substantial
help in developing the modern mask. For military reasons
I have deleted all reference to the several types of mask and
their relative advantages as measured by our tests. I would
record in this formal way the help of my assistant, Mr. Vin-
cent B. Coffin, and the helpful counsel of Dr. Walter R. Miles.
"The last problem that was taken up concerned the con-
dition of effective anti-submarine lookout service. This was
one of the first questions that was suggested in the spring of
1917. But it was not until the fall of 191 8 that official recog-
nition of its importance made a practicable opening for tak-
ing it up seriously. When Commander Coffey, U. S. N., was
assigned to command of the Eagle Boats he requested author-
ization of a School for Lookouts in connection with the train-
ing of the officers and men of those boats. After a prelim-
inary survey a satisfactory plan was drawn up and the school
was authorized by the Bureau of Navigation. It was to
facilitate psychological work in connection with this School
that I was commissioned in the Naval Reserve Force. There
followed in succession, a first-hand analysis of the tasks of a
lookout, authorization of a plan to collect the most approved
naval practices of our own and foreign forces, organization
to investigate aspects of the task on which naval tradition
and scientific doctrine seemed least adequate, the elaboration
of a course of Instruction and the preparation of a manual on
the School of the Lookout, and the development of new train-
ing devices and apparatus. All these processes had reached
substantial development before the U-boat warfare suddenly
stopped at the signing of the armistice, and I was released
from active duty to resume my academic work. The open
publication of any of this work is obviously Impossible for
reasons of military expediency.
"By request of members of the National Research Council
or Naval officers, memoranda were prepared on: (i) the rela-
tive advantages of binocular and monocular glasses for look-
outs; (2) differences in the vulnerability of different kinds of
firing reactions to emotional disturbance; (3) an examination
for the admission of candidates to the Pay Officers' School;
124 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
(4) the training of college men for the Naval Reserve Force,
and other topics."
7. Committee on Pedagogical and Psychological Problems of
Military Training and Discipline. — When this committee was
authorized by the Council of the Psychological Association.
Charles H. Judd was designated as chairman. He subse-
quently resigned, without organizing the committee, and on
request of the Psychology Committee of the Research Council,
William C. Bagley accepted the chairmanship. He secured
the cooperation of A. Caswell Ellis and C. H. Judd as members
of the committee.
In March, 191 8, Bagley obtained from the Carnegie Foun-
dation a grant of five hundred dollars for the study of condi-
tions and methods of military training in typical camps. Tru-
man L. Kelley and William R. Harper assisted the chairman
in the conduct of this initial survey.
Preliminary reports from two camps indicated the desir-
ability of scientific observation and practical assistance in
connection with military training. It was thereupon ar-
ranged that Major Karl T. Waugh, psychologist at Camp
Gordon, Georgia, should cooperate with the committee in
an attempt to improve the procedure of military training and
discipline. His work led directly to practical results, since
officers of the line appreciated the existence of psychological
and pedagogical problems and the value of expert advice for
the improvement of training.
Unfortunately the work of this committee was so long de-
layed by failure to achieve satisfactory cooperative relations
with the War Department and to obtain adequate financial
support, that nothing was accomplished aside from the obser-
vational work in the above mentioned training camps and the
holding of two conferences which proved to be of notable
importance to the work of physical and mental reconstruction.
By request, Major M. E. Haggerty has prepared an ac-
count of these conferences as a part of his summary report on
psychological service in reconstruction, which is printed below.
"In February, 191 8, Major Haggerty reported to the Sur-
geon General for duty and was assigned to the Division of
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 125
Special Hospitals and Physical Reconstruction to organize
psychological service for the reeducation of disabled soldiers.
"At his request W. C. Bagley arranged a conference on
psychological problems of reconstruction, under the auspices
of the National Research Council. The conference, which
was held March 11 to 16, was attended by W. C. Bagley, J.
W. Baird, B. T. Baldwin, Mabel R. Fernald, S. I. Franz, F.
N. Freeman, M. E. Haggerty, E. K. Strong, Jr., R. M. Yerkes,
and Helen T. Woolley.
"To this conference Major Haggerty presented a mem-
orandum on psychological problems in the reeducation of dis-
abled men. The principal problems designated were: {a)
the problem of mental attitude; {h) the problem of functional
reeducation; (c) problems Involving social, vocational, edu-
cational adjustment; and {d) general problems of learning in-
volved in educational work for disabled men. These groups
of problems were assigned to subcommittees, with the under-
standing that reports should be submitted promptly. The
reports proved valuable for the organization and develop-
ment of psychological work in reconstruction.
"For further discussion of the problems of mental attitude
a second conference was called by Chairman Bagley at the
National Research Council April 8 to 11. The members of
the conference were W. C. Bagley, J. W. Baird, Ida Cannon,
B. T. Baldwin, T. H. Haines, M. E. Haggerty, E. G. Brackett,
and Kendall Emerson.
"As a result of these two conferences a program was for-
mulated and presented to the Surgeon General. This led
directly to the authorization by the Surgeon General of the
assignment of a psychologist to the Walter Reed General
Hospital. Major B. T. Baldwin reported for duty at that
hospital April 17, 1918.
"This was the beginning of psychological service in mili-
tary hospitals. In the course of work at Walter Reed and
other General and Base Hospitals where psychologists have
since been assigned, the original program formulated in the
conferences has been considerably altered. One of the most
important developments is the organization of the psycho-
126 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
logical service as an integral part of the educational work of
the hospital. This new organization, known as the Educa-
tional Service of Military Hospitals, includes practically all
extra-medical and extra-surgical activities carried on in the
institution for the benefit of patients. In many Instances
even civilian agencies, such as the Red Cross, work through
the Education Department.
"As now definitely organized, the Educational Service
includes a Psychological and Statistical Division. The per-
sonnel of this division in most instances consists of from one
to four commissioned officers, from two to ten enlisted men,
and one or more reconstruction aides. The functions of the
psychological service as defined by the Educational Officer's
Handbook are as follows: (i) to have primary responsibility
for psychological and educational surveys of individual pa-
tients; (2) to cooperate with other educational and medical
oflftcers in the study of special learning problems encountered
under the curative workshop schedule; (3) to have cooper-
ative responsibility for all measures Intended primarily to
direct and control the mental attitude of patients; (4) to have
responsibility for all statistical studies of procedure under the
curative workshop schedule; (5) to have cooperative respon-
sibility for professional training and advancement of educa-
tional staff" and of teachers in training.
"There are at present engaged In this service in forty-
three different hospitals, 66 officers of the Sanitary Corps,
72 enlisted men and approximately 10 reconstruction aides.
Twenty-one of the commissioned officers are serving as Chief
Educational Officers.
"Thus far the greater part of the work of this personnel
has been the Interviewing of patients who are subjects for the
educational work of the hospitals. The facts obtained in
these interviews are made the basis of all educational work
prescribed for patients. They are reported on the Physical
Reconstruction Register known as Form 58, which is trans-
mitted to the Office of the Surgeon General on discharge of
the patient.
"The essential features of this register are as follow: {a)
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 127
diagnosis of patient's ability and a medical officer's prescrip-
tion for curative work; (b) educational and occupational his-
tory of the patient; (c) psychological examination covering
general intelligence, special aptitudes, mental attitude and
ability to learn; (d) the interviewer's recommendation as to
future occupation and immediate training; (e) assignments to
curative work and data on the progress of the case.
"The program for practical work on mental attitudes as
formulated in conference has been developed and modified in
accordance with the following scheme, the characteristics of
which are indicated below by the principal lines of endeavor:
(i) development of objective attitude, (2) development of
attitude of self-confidence, (3) development of the attitude of
individual responsibility, (4) development of the attitude of
social acceptability, and (5) developing the rationalizing atti-
tude.
"As matters have developed, the most important single
agency for the direction and control of the mental attitude of
hospital patients has been the Reconstruction Aide in Occu-
pational Therapy. Approximately one thousand of these
aides, all of whom are women, are now engaged in domestic
and overseas hospitals.
"Originally the occupational aides devoted themselves
to teaching handicrafts and the work began with what seemed
to many individuals trivial forms of occupation, but as it
progressed, new forms have been developed and important
changes have occurred. The following is a list of the chief
groups of craft work now taught in military hospitals: (i)
work with textile materials, as, for example, in weaving, knit-
ting, crocheting, netting, knotting, embroidery, and rug mak-
ing; (2) reed, cane and fiber work, as in basketry, chair caning,
etc.; (3) woodworking, as in carving, toy making, joinery,
etc.; (4) cardboard construction and binding, as in book-
binding, novelty box work, paper folding and pasting, etc.;
(5) work in applied pattern; (6) metal work; (7) work in
plastic materials; (8) leather work; and (9) work in drawing,
lettering and designing.
"Reconstruction aides are now engaged, in addition to
128 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
the teaching of crafts work, as teachers of commercial arith-
metic and technical subjects. The chief value of the crafts
work in military hospitals is psychological. The other sub-
jects have strictly educational values.
"In this connection there should be mentioned the ser-
vices of psychologists in measuring the progress of improve-
ment in voluntary movement of disabled joints. This work,
which was initiated originally at the Walter Reed General
Hospital under the immediate direction of the late Professor
Baird, has been introduced in several other military hospitals.
"A recent addition to the personnel of the Educational
Service is the medical social worker, who has been brought
into the hospital through the Psychological Division as a
direct result of the second conference called by Chairman Bag-
ley. The position of the social worker is now definitely estab-
lished and her duties defined by a circular letter of instruc-
tions issued by the Surgeon General on January i8, 1919.
From this letter the following sentences are quoted to indi-
cate the scope of her service: 'It is thought that Reconstruc-
tion Aides operating as medical social workers may be avail-
able: (i) in assisting to coordinate the various educational
and related activities within the hospital so that they may
serve a larger number of patients more efficiently; (2) by
bringing to the attention of outside agencies, such as the Home
Service of the Red Cross, the Y. M. C. A., the Knights of
Columbus, the Jewish Welfare Association, the Federal Board,
etc., the cases of soldiers who are in need of the types of ser-
vice which these agencies are prepared to render; (3) in assist-
ing medical officers as desired to secure such personal and
social data about the patient as will assist in accurate diag-
nosis; and (4) in rendering such other services as may be
assigned to them . . . '"
8. Committee on Psychological Problems of Incapacity^ in-
cluding those of Shell-shock and Reeducation. — The Council
of the American Psychological Association originally author-
ized this committee under the chairmanship of S. I. Franz,
and also a Committee on "Psychological problems of voca-
tional characteristics and vocational advice" with J. B. Wat-
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 129
son as chairman. By request of the chairmen, these two
committees were combined under the above title and the fol-
lowing membership was arranged: K. S. Lashley, J. B. Wat-
son, and S. I. Franz, chairman.
The activities of the committee continued to August 4,
1918, when it was reorganized with the same membership as
a subcommittee on "Problems of Reeducation."
Assistance was afforded the War Department by this com-
mittee in the following directions: {a) Systematic instruction
of neuro-psychiatric groups in the work of rehabilitation by
Franz at St. Elizabeths Hospital; {h) the development and
application of methods for the reeducation of aphasics and
paralytics (report on this subject Is being prepared for publi-
cation by Franz); {c) conduct of investigations on the effect
of Injury to the brain, with special reference to the relation of
experiments on monkeys to cerebral war injuries; {d) arrange-
ment with the Medical Department of the Army for the prep-
aration of motion pictures of animal and human subjects to
illustrate varieties of Incapacity; {e) preparation of a program
for reconstructional experimentation which was subsequently
presented to the Chief of the Division of Special Hospitals,
Office of the Surgeon General; (/) Cooperation with Major
Haggerty of the Division of Special Hospitals in the formula-
tion of plans and the preparation of methods for psychologi-
cal service in reeducation; {g) Lashley of the committee ex-
tended Franz's reeducational studies to crippled children and
also conducted Investigations on animal reeducation after
cerebral extirpation and the reacquisltion of muscular con-
trol after cerebral lesions.
No one of the above lines of service or research can be
adequately reported here, but it is understood that suitable
accounts of the work will be published In scientific periodicals.
9. Committee on Problems of Emotional Stability ^ Fear and
Self-control. — As originally organized this committee of the
American Psychological Association consisted of W. B. Can-
non, G. S. Hall, J. B. Morgan, J. F. Shepard, and R. S. Wood-
worth, chairman. In August, 1918, It was reorganized as the
subcommittee on problems of emotional fitness with the fol-
ISO REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
lowing membership: E. G. Boring, H. L. HoUingworth, and
R. S. Woodworth, chairman. Important assistance was ren-
dered the committee by Captain A. T. Poffenberger, Major
J. W. Hayes, and Dr. Josephine Curtis Foster.
This committee set itself the peculiarly difficult task of
devising means which should aid in the prompt discovery and
segregation of recruits whose emotional characteristics indi-
cated unfitness for military service. A Personal Data Ques-
tionary was devised. Subjects, examined in large groups,
were required to answer by "yes" or "no" a series of per-
sonal questions intended to disclose psychopathic or neuro-
pathic tendencies and such emotional instability as might re-
sult in breakdown under the strain of warfare. Men answer-
ing a considerable number of these questions in the atypical
way were to be referred for intensive neuro-psychiatric ex-
amination. No single unusual answer to the questionary
was to be interpreted as indicative of psychoneurosis or neu-
rosis, since each manifestation inquired about is reported by an
appreciable proportion of presumably normal individuals.
But the larger the number of such manifestations the more
probable would it be that the individual has serious neurotic
tendencies.
The correctness of this initial assumption was established
by careful trial of the preliminary form of the questionary.
One hundred and sixteen questions of the original list sur-
vived a thoroughgoing inquiry by a joint conference of psy-
chiatrists and psychologists who passed on the statistical
validity and genuine practicability and value of each question
as shown in the preliminary trial on one thousand men at
Camp Upton and on various groups of psychoneurotic and
psychotic subjects. For example, any question was elimi-
nated on the ground of doubtful significance which failed to
separate individuals into a large majority, presumably of
normals, and a small minority of atypicals, insofar as the char-
acteristic under consideration was concerned. Judged by
this criterion the following questions were among those found
significant: Do you feel sad or low-spirited most of the time?
Are you ever bothered with the feeling that people are read-
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 131
ing your thoughts? Did you ever walk in your sleep? And
the following were for like reason rejected: As a child, did
you have dreams that frightened you? Have you ever been
engaged to a girl? Do you like to be the leader in whatever
is going on ?
The conference of psychiatrists and psychologists, at
which the questionary was revised, authorized the printing
of twelve thousand copies which were to have been placed in
immediate use at several camps. Cancellation of drafts and
the termination of psychological service in the field prevented
the complete execution of this plan. Important results were
obtained from the examination of five hundred negro re-
cruits, from about five hundred soldiers invalided home from
overseas for nervous disturbances and examined at General
Hospital number 30, and from neuro-circulatory asthenics at
Camp Upton, as well as from normal subjects.
Work on the Personal Data Questionary will continue, at
first in the direction of determination of norms, since the
method undoubtedly possesses considerable value as a means
of discovering and segregating subjects who should be given
special neuro-psychiatric examinations. The chairman of the
subcommittee, who has been chiefly responsible for this work,
will prepare an adequate account of the method and its re-
sults for publication in a suitable periodical.
10. Committee on "Propaganda Behind the German Lines "
— This subcommittee, consisting of Scott and Angell, chair-
man, was appointed in December, 1917, by the Psychology
Committee of the Research Council on motion of Dodge.
This action followed urgent requests of Hall of the Psychology
Committee that psychological assistance be rendered the
War Department in connection with problems of military
and civilian morale.
Prior arrangements of the War Department rendered it
impossible for the subcommittee to accomplish anything in
the direction originally indicated by the committee's dis-
cussion of needs, but subsequently members of the Psychology
Committee were able to focus the attention of various officers
of the General Staff" on psychological aspects of the morale
problem.
132 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
The first noteworthy event in the control of militar/
morale traceable indirectly to the influence of psychology in
the army, was the preparation in March, 1918, by Colonel
E. L. Munson, of the Medical Corps, of a memorandum en-
titled "Need for a systematic plan for the psychological
stimulation of troops in promoting fighting efficiency." This
memorandum, which was prepared for the Surgeon General,
was referred to the Division of Psychology, and after endorse-
ment by that Division forwarded to the General Staff for
consideration.
While Colonel Munson's memorandum was under advise-
ment, representatives of the Psychology Committee were
able to further the Interests of psychological morale through
numerous conferences with Interested army officers and
through the organizing at the suggestion of Dr. F. H. Keppel,
Third Assistant Secretary of War, of two group conferences
for the discussion of the morale problem and of ways of meet-
ing the military need for enhanced morale.
These conferences were followed by favorable action with
reference to Colonel Munson's recommendations, and there
was ultimately established in the War Department the Morale
Branch of the General Staff with Brigadier General E. L.
Munson in charge.
Thus Indirectly the Psychology Committee succeeded In
stimulating military interest and in acquainting the War De-
partment with morale needs to a degree which shortly led to
most important official action.
In August, 191 8, the Psychology Committee voted to
organize a subcommittee on Morale under the chairmanship
of G. Stanley Hall. Unfortunately he was unable to assume
this responsibility and the committee was never appointed.
A considerable number of men trained in military psychol-
ogy were also trained at the Medical Department Training
Camp, Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, for practical work in mili-
tary morale. Conspicuously important among the officers
engaged in this work were Major William S. Foster, Captain
Elliot P. Frost, and Lieutenant H. D. Fryer. At various
times as many as twenty-five trained psychologists were en-
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 133
gaged In this type of work. Still later several psychologists
were placed on duty with the Morale Branch of the General
Staff. Major Foster and Captain Frost rendered important
service in this connection by organizing morale work in vari-
ous camps. Major Foster also directed the study of mili-
tary offences from the psychological standpoint, with a view
to discovering their chief causes In order that appropriate
steps might be taken by the War Department to eliminate
or control them.
Morale is one of the subjects in which several members of
the Psychology Committee, notably Hall and Dodge, were
keenly interested from the onset of the military emergency.
It is also a field of service in which the direct outcome of
committee action Is seemingly of trivial Importance. Indi-
rectly, however, the Committee through the interest aroused
in War Department officials has achieved important service.
II. Committee on Acoustic Problems of Military Impor-
tance, consisting of R. M. Ogden, C. A. Ruckmich, Daniel
Starch, Raymond Dodge, and C. E. Seashore, chairman, was
not called upon to perform war work through committee or-
ganization. The chairman reports as follows:
"Immediately after the outbreak of the war, the chair-
man Interviewed the officers in charge of the Training School
for Listeners at New London and observed the types of acous-
tic instruments In use, the methods of using these Instruments
in locating submarines, and the method of selecting listeners
for the training school. On the basis of these observations,
a report was made to the Psychology Committee embodying
suggestions for improving certain Instruments then In use and
for modifying methods and means of selecting listeners. The
chairman later presented, through the Psychology Committee,
a report upon preliminary experiments for the various methods
that had been recommended for use in the selecting of lis-
teners and submitted instruments which have been adapted
for this service. One of these Instruments was an audiometer
designed in cooperation with Professor A. H. Ford. Two re-
search assistants, Mr. H. M. Halverson and Mr. C. C. Bunch,
were employed in the laboratory of the chairman for the dura-
134 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
tion of the war, devoting their attention largely to these
problems.
''Perhaps the most significant contribution is an instru-
ment and a method of measuring acuity of hearing at all
pitch levels very quickly and accurately. This is a problem
on which Mr. Bunch was working in cooperation with the
chairman, Dr. L. W. Dean, and Professor A. H. Ford. A
report on this instrument was transmitted by the chairman
of the Psychology Committee to the Surgeon General of the
Army.
"Another problem undertaken in cooperation with Pro-
fessor Ford, in charge of the school for radio-telegraphers, was
the development of a series of tests to diagnose fitness for the
radio service before the training of the cadet was undertaken.
A report showing the operation of these tests was submitted
to the Psychology Committee.
"The chairman has worked in close cooperation with Pro-
fessor G. W. Stewart, who has presented a report to the Re-
search Council on the selection of listeners for the detection
of aeroplanes."
12. Committee on Tests for Deception. — John F. Shepard,
chairman, assisted by H. W. Crane and Mabel Goudge. This
subcommittee was appointed to make inquiry concerning the
reliability and practicability of certain procedures proposed
by William M. Marston for the detection of deception.
By invitation of the chairman, Marston presented to the
Psychology Committee a summary report on his methods and
the results obtained in laboratory experiments. The pur-
pose of his report appears in the initial sentence: "I respect-
fully submit that three psycho-physiological deception tests
(association-reaction, breathing, and blood pressure) are of
sufficient proven value to warrant practical application."
In response to request by Marston that the Committee
arrange for adequate trial of his methods, either by the War
Department or by the Department of Justice, he was asked
to make application of his methods to a number of cases of
actual crime, and to report the results to the Committee.
This was promptly done, with positive results, and the Com-
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 135
mittee thereupon appointed a subcommittee consisting of
Angell and Yerkes to attempt to make provision for the ten-
tative application of the Marston procedures by the Depart-
ment of Military Intelligence.
Initial efforts to effect suitable arrangements through the
War Department failed. Thereupon attention was directed
to the Department of Justice, but early favorable response
failed to lead to definite arrangements.
Finally Marston was commissioned in the Sanitary Corps
for psychological service and while in training at Camp Green-
leaf, Georgia, was able still further to supplement his earlier
laboratory and court observations. The method involves
the measurement of blood pressure during systematic cross
examining. Ordinarily the Tycos sphygmometer is used and
accurate record Is kept of the subject's verbal responses so
that variations In blood pressure as read at Intervals or as
recorded continuously may be studied in relation to the
verbal responses.
The percentage of correct judgments, with reference to
guilt or innocence, reported by Marston is extremely high.
Thus in the case of the Greenleaf experiments, of thirty-five
men tested, nineteen without knowledge of the examiner had
chosen to steal, while sixteen were innocent and told the
truth under cross examination. On the basis of blood pres-
sure curves, Marston made thirty-four correct judgments, a
percentage of 97.1. These findings are supported by those
of previous carefully controlled laboratory experiments and
of several Instances of actual crime.
The subcommittee appointed to thoroughly Investigate
the Marston procedures has not been able to complete Its
task and no report Is available for summary or publication.
The deception tests, because of their applicational his-
tory, did not command the confidence of all members of the
Psychology Committee. To this fact may be attributed the
conservative position taken, which Involved first the desire
for trial under the conditions of real life, as contrasted with
the experimental laboratory setting, and finally, the recom-
mendation of tentative trial by the Government. It Is ex-
13^ REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
tremely regrettable that such trial could not have been made,
for the high percentage of correct judgments reported by
Marston strongly suggests the probability of the practical
serviceableness of blood pressure tests in connection with
trial for military offence,
13. Committee on Adaptation of Psychological Instruction
to Military Educational Needs. — Late in August, 191 8, the
Chairman of the Psychology Committee received information
from the Chairman of the Section on Relations with Educa-
tional Institutions that psychology would be listed as an
"allied subject" of instruction in the Students' Army Train-
ing Corps. This information carried with it the suggestion
that a training course in psychology suitable for use in the
S. A. T. C. be prepared.
Following a conference on this subject, attended by mem-
bers of the Committee on Education and Special Training of
the War Department, members of the Psychology Committee
of the National Research Council, and representatives of the
American Psychological Association, the Chairman of the
Psychology Committee appointed the following subcommittee
to prepare appropriate methods for the Committee on Edu-
cation and Special Training: J. W. Baird, E. K. Strong, Jr.,
L. M. Terman, E. L. Thorndike, G. M. Whipple, and Ray-
mond Dodge, chairman.
This committee faced the task of arranging immediately
for a training course in psychology which should conform to
the general policies of the War Department committee.
Members of this subcommittee were promptly summoned
to Washington for conference and it was decided to recom-
mend the following three courses: I. The study of human ac-
tion; II. Educational psychology; III. The psychology of
reason. Each course was planned for a term of twelve weeks
with three recitations and six hours of study per week.
The course entitled the "Study of human action" was
carefully planned by the Committee in accordance with the
experience and opinions concerning military needs set forth
below.
It is believed that the psychological principles which
((
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 137
underlie established military practice as well as the principles
on which the recent mental examinations and tests are based,
should be brought together In a course in the study of human
action for the S. A. T. C. and made available for all pros-
pective officers Including those who will spend only one quar-
ter year in college. That is the Idea of Course I.
"It Is consequently recommended that the elementary
course in *the study of human action' be given in institutions
which have the necessary equipment, omitting as far as pos-
sible all questions of a purely speculative or theoretical nature
and concentrating on the relevant questions of applied psy-
chology.
"While it Is desired to leave each instructor the greatest
freedom for personal initiative, it is recommended that read-
ing assignments, formal reports, and recitation discussions
be used rather than lectures, and that wherever practicable
concrete military problems be used for Illustration.
"It is further recommended that in contrast with the
common plan of elementary courses in psychology, the emo-
tions and the will be emphasized Instead of the Intellectual
processes, and that the course be applied psychology rather
than systematic.
"The subjects which are regarded as essential to such an
elementary course in human action may be outlined under
six sections.
1. The general characteristics of personal action and the con-
ditions of effective reaction to new situations.
2. Individual differences and their military exploitation.
3. The learning process. General characteristics of habit for-
mation. Plasticity. Fluctuation. Improvement and
its limits. Fatigue.
4. Motivation and morale.
5. Principles of leadership.
6. The sources and critical estimate of information. The
psychology of observation and report."
An arrangement was further made that materials for a
fundamental course In human action as outlined above be
prepared and made available for teachers in the Students'
138 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
Army Training Corps as promptly as possible. The sections
of this course were assigned as follows: Section i, Dodge;
Section 2, Thorndike, Terman, and Strong; Section 3, Strong,
Section 4, Hall; Section 5, Lindley; Section 6, Whipple. The
editor of the Psychological Bulletin agreed to publish this
text-book material. Sections i, 2, and 6 have already ap-
peared. It is planned to complete the preparation of this
material and, if the demand justifies it, to reprint the entire
course as a volume.
The plans and materials for this course represent in a most
interesting and valuable way the results of contact with psy-
chological military problems and the attempt of psycholo-
gists to adapt themselves to a new and unexpected practical
demand.
14. Psychological Service Rendered the Division of Military
Intelligence. — Request for psychological assistance in the se-
lection and training of scouts and observers was received both
by the Division of Psychology and also by Whipple of the
Psychology Committee from the Chief Intelligence Officer of
an Army Division. In response to this request, advice and
definite suggestions concerning methods were offered by Whip-
ple, and the chairman of the Psychology Committee conferred
with the intelligence officers of the War Department in order
to formulate the chief psychological problems of the Division
and arrange for their solution.
The Division of Military Intelligence later requested the
assignment of a psychologist, in the military service, to pre-
pare training tests to be used in the schools for intelligence
officers. Major Watson and Captain Bentley were assigned
to the task. They jointly prepared special tests which have
been fully described in a chapter of the "Combat Intelligence
Manual" of the War Department.
The materials of this chapter, including the tests, were
selected and arranged for general instruction, special training,
and as a basis for selection. The purpose of the several exer-
cises presented is to test and develop visual, aural, and men-
tal acuity.
The first few paragraphs of this chapter will serve to indl-
OF TEE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 139
cate both the scope and the purpose of the psychological
labors undertaken by Watson and Bentley.
"An important function of a school of Military Intelli-
gence is the training of the men to be generally alert and wide
awake; to teach them to use their brains as well as their eyes
and ears; and finally to show them that, even when they are
doing their very best, they are liable to certain errors in ob-
servation, which arise partly through their own eagerness
and expectation, and partly through slight defects in the
sense organs themselves. The present simple course of train-
ing is designed to bring out these points and to give both
training in the use of the eye and the ear, and in the noting
and correct reporting of small details in observation. The
exercises are all simple to give and they require neither ex-
tensive equipment nor a burdensome amount of work on the
part of the group under instruction. The most important
thing which can be said to the instructor is that he should
thoroughly familiarize himself with such exercises before he
attempts to instruct the group. The work can then be carried
out in a dignified and impressive way. It is safe to predict
that if the men are taken through all of the exercises in any-
thing like a satisfactory way they will come out with a very
much quickened ability to observe and a very much better
estimate of their own abilities and weaknesses. They should
be then in a much better frame of mind for receiving their
more practical field instructions.
"The opening pages are devoted to some of the uses and
peculiarities of vision. The intelligence scout or observer on
duty at night depends to a great extent upon vision. It
seems only fair to acquaint him with some of the more com-
mon functions of the eye.
"After this lecture has been given the instructor may pro-
ceed as rapidly as he can with Training Tests A, B, C, and D,
which are designed both to test general alertness and to train
the men to make close and detailed observations.
"Training Test E is designed to discover and to improve
the men's ability to find their way and to keep their bearings
in the dark.
I40 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
"Training Test F deals with hearing. It is designed to
train the men to detect and localize faint sounds and to guard
them against purely imaginary sounds."
The several tests referred to above deserve characteriza-
tion:
Test for A is preliminary training in noting and naming
various combinations of colored lights. It involves the use
of a series of lamps in connection with a keyboard. The
chief purposes of the test are to cultivate alertness, accuracy,
and speed in reporting observations; to test and improve im-
mediate memory and in general those functions which are
most important in correctly observing and reporting the com-
binations of enemy rocket signals.
Test B is an adapted form of the army Picture Completion
test. It Is presented by means of lantern slides and its pur-
pose is to increase the rapidity with which men notice details
and detect obscure objects.
Test C is an adaptation of the army analogies or logical
relations test. It also is presented by means of lantern
slides and its chief purpose is to increase mental alertness.
At the same time it is supposed to improve ability to think
and to draw correct inferences.
Test D deals with estimates of numbers. Groups of men
are presented by means of lantern slides and the subject is
required to estimate quickly the number of individuals when
position, attitude, and background are varied.
Test E has to do with orientation. It is at once a measure
of the man's ability, and a means of training him to hold his
directions and to find his way under varied conditions.
Test F is planned as a measure of ability to detect and
localize sounds (whistle and whisper). It is used also to
train men to detect and localize sounds in the dark.
The services of Watson and Bentley were much appre-
ciated by the Division, and the tests constitute an interesting
contribution to the practical literature on the training of
intelligence officers. It is probable also that the test materials
will prove convenient and of value in various other types of
situation.
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 141
An additional psychological contribution to the training
of intelligence officers was made by Carl Rahn, wholly inde-
pendently of the Psychology Committee. He prepared a
series of lectures and exercises for the men in the Intelligence
Section at Camp Grant. Each of the lessons included (i)
the statement of some important psychological principle; (2)
an illustration to clinch the point; (3) a statement of appli-
cability to scout and patrol; and (4) an exercise based upon
the practical work of the detail. The officers in charge of
this course at Camp Grant were of the opinion that the psy-
chological work could be incorporated largely in the training
course for men in the Intelligence Service.
The Rahn materials were transmitted to the Psychology
Committee of the Research Council through James R. Angell
and the Chairman of the Committee forwarded them to Wat-
son, who at the time was in the service of the Division of
Military Intelligence.
15. Psychological Assistajice to the Chemical Warfare Ser-
vice.— Dodge, Baird, and Dunlap assisted the Chemical War-
fare Service by a special investigation of problems referred
by that service and the preparation of reports and recom-
mendations.
This work was initiated in response to an appeal from an
officer of the Chemical Warfare Service for assistance with
certain psychological problems connected with the tenancy
of the gas mask. The chairman of the Psychology Commit-
tee referred the matter to the subcommittee on Visual Proba-
lems. Dodge, of that committee, after preliminary analysis
of the situation, conducted certain special investigations and
submitted reports, the chief recomm.endations of which have
been embodied in the latest form of mask. The following
Introductory statements indicate the important character-
istics of the practical situation and the scope of Dodge's In-
quiry:^
"Except for a few sporadic experiments, the mental and
neuro-muscular effects of wearing a gas mask have not been
investigated. We know neither the effects of the mask as a
^ See also Dodge's account of the gas mask inquiry, p. 1 20, above.
142 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
whole nor the effects of its several parts. There are conse-
quently no traditions to guide us either in the selection of
the processes that are likely to be most affected, or in the
order of the experiments. Even military traditions are rela-
tively scant. There are no standard experiments that corre-
spond to definite military tasks. There is no way of tell-
ing whether a given experimental disturbance is or is not of
military consequence. Furthermore, there are no standard
masks, fittings, or harness. There is no adequate analysis
of the psychological and physiological problems that are in-
volved.
"A serial investigation of the neural and mental effects of
each part of the various masks now in use, or proposed for
use, would be an investigation of some magnitude. It is
doubtful if there are any available methods by which it could
be satisfactorily completed. At present such an investiga-
tion is apparently particularly impracticable. The situa-
tion demands immediate results, not exhaustive programs.
We lack available laboratory facilities and personnel as
well as time and techniques.
"In view of these considerations, I proposed and have
initiated an investigation consisting of two parts, calculated
to give the most important information in the least possible
time.
"Part I. A preliminary experimental exploration of the
effects of as many different types of mask as may be called
for, using a single observer, techniques that have proved
themselves useful in previous investigations of neuro-muscu-
lar condition, and sufficient repetition to avoid gross chance
errors.
"Such an exploration should discover: (i) the direction
of any gross disturbances; (2) the kinds of measurement and
procedure that are likely to prove useful in squad experiments;
and (3) more or less probable indications of especially desir-
able and undesirable features of the various masks.
"Part 2. From the exploration, it should be possible
with military assistance to devise definitive military group
tests of the relative satisfactoriness of available masks."
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 143
In addition to noting the effects of the mask on various
forms of reaction, Dodge made special study of head air space,
characteristics of eye pieces, ventilation of the face, adapta-
tion and tolerance, recovery of capacity after removal of the
mask, side Inspirational tubes, the relation between neuro-
muscular depression and the ability to endure the mask,
regulation of the pressure of the head-gear, gas mask sizes,
the most economical development of tolerance to gas mask
tenancy of long duration, the relative military value of differ-
ent mask types for long tenancy, and the effects of resistance
on tenancy and the performance of military tasks.
Major Knight Dunlap was assigned to duty with the
Chemical Warfare Service to continue and extend the investi-
gations on tenancy of the gas mask initiated by Dodge. His
attention was confined in the main to measurement of the
visual fields of different types of gas masks by an original
method which dispensed with the head-gears and also to the
development of a pneumatic scheme for measuring relative
pressures on the head at different parts of the mask. This
scheme, perfected technically by the Goodrich Company, was
subsequently applied to the comparison of different types of
mask. It served to show that the mask, even when
so adapted as to be leak proof, exerted less pressure, and also
showed a more even distribution of pressure, than the other
masks previously used, although the latter were not free from
leaks even with the higher pressures employed.
Just prior to the signing of the armistice, Dunlap had
perfected a procedure for determining the effects of different
types of masks on the efficiency of the wearer. He proposes
to continue this inquiry In his own laboratory in view of the
practical value of a perfected mask in certain civilian occu-
pations.
The Chemical Warfare Service further sought the ser-
vices of the Psychology Committee In connection with the
problem of camouflaging odors, and as a result of a conference
with Captain Carleton, Vice-chairman Baird of the Psychol-
ogy Committee prepared a report In which he summarized
pertinent physiological and psychological literature on the
144 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
classification of odors, relationship of odors, and the relation
between odor and chemical composition of substance.
Despite the fact that complete cancellation seemingly does
not occur, Baird concludes that the intensity of an odor is
so far reduced by compensation as to effect valuable camou-
flage. On the basis of this practical inference, he recommends
the use of the methods of fatigue and of cancellation in camou-
flaging.
The work done by Dodge, Baird, and Dunlap demonstra-
ted the existence of important psychological and physiological
problems within the Chemical Warfare Service and the abil-
ity of psychologists to speedily achieve practical solution of
such problems in the interests of military efficiency.
i6. Psychological Service to the Committee on Education and
Special Training of the War Department. — Conferences for
considering suitable methods for selecting, classifying, and
placing men for instruction in Students' Army Training Corps
institutions were attended by representatives of the Psychol-
ogy Committee, the Division of Psychology, Committee on
Education and Special Training, and the Committee on Class-
ification of Personnel. Thorndike, Terman, and Yerkes act-
ing jointly, decided to suggest to the Committee on Educa-
tion and Special Training that the army mental tests be
adapted to meet the special requirements of the Students'
Army Training Corps.
In a memorandum addressed to Charles R. Mann of the
Committee on Education and Special Training, it was recom-
mended that L. M. Terman be designated to adapt methods
and to prepare plans for their administration in connection
with the S. A. T. C. It was further suggested that the army
group examination for literates (the Alpha examination) be
administered in adapted form by the Committee on Education
and Special Training with the advisory assistance of the Di-
vision of Psychology, Medical Department of the Army.
This recommendation was favorably received by the edu-
cational committee, and Terman was promptly assigned to
duty with it. He immediately prepared for A. C. Mnal,
Director of educational measurements for the Committee,
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 145
an adaptation of the Alpha examination in which, aside from
differences in directions, the principal modification was the
omission of the reading by the examiner of detailed instruc-
tions for the several tests. This lessened the time available
for each test by requiring the subject to read the directions
for himself during the period allowed in the army form of the
examination for actual performance.
Having completed the adaptation of procedure, Terman
presented army mental test methods to members of the edu-
cational committee and also discussed their practical results.
This demonstration and exposition led to the decision that
the Alpha examination should be universally used for the
examination of the members of the Students' Army Training
Corps.
It had been definitely planned and anticipated that the
introduction of the methods would be directed by a few com-
petent individuals employed by the Committee on Education,
and that the actual conduct of the tests would be left to a
member of each institution designated by the President.
Everything was in readiness for the administration of tests
to the first group of students in the Students' Army Training
Corps when the signing of the armistice interrupted the work
of the Committee.
Numerous institutions had meantime directed requests
to nearby army training camps that their examining staffs
representing the Division of Psychology, Surgeon General's
Office, make psychological examination of their men. This
was impossible because the Division of Psychology had dele-
gated responsibility for the conduct of mental tests to the
Committee on Education and Special Training.
After the signing of the armistice, because of the wide-
spread demand for further information concerning army men-
tal tests and opportunity to use them in connection with the
Students' Army Training Corps, the Committee on Education
arranged through the Division of Psychology of the Surgeon
General's Office, to supply copies of the Alpha examination
blank to such institutions as desired them. About one hun-
dred institutions signified their desire to use the examination.
146 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
Except for numerous delays, the Alpha examination would
have been administered to all members of the Students' Army-
Training Corps during the initial quarter, and thereafter either
to applicants or to students already enrolled, for assistance
in connection with classification and instruction.
The work of Terman would have been of increasing prac-
tical value had the Students' Army Training Corps continued
in existence; but despite the failure to bring the tests into
actual use, it is clear that important service was rendered by
acquainting the educational committee, many additional
army officers, and members of upwards of five hundred edu-
cational institutions, with this method of mental classification.
17. Miscellaneous Work for Various Military and Civilian
Agencies. — L. L. Thurstone of the Carnegie Institute of Tech-
nology carried on an important investigation in the selection
and training of telegraphers. At the outset two facts were
discovered which proved of far-reaching significance. First,
analysis of the progress of drafted men in Class la who were
preparing to enter the service with some knowledge of teleg-
raphy showed that many well-educated men did not succeed
in learning telegraphy as well as might have been expected
from their general intelligence and education. Second, the
converse also proved true, that some men of very modest edu-
cation and general ability found it easy to learn the tele-
graphic code. From these two facts was drawn the initial
assumption that ability to learn the telegraphic code is a
special ability. A series of tests were devised to predict the
presence or absence of this ability, in order that future selec-
tions of telegraphers might be to the best advantage of the
service and the men. A report on these tests will be pub-
lished in the Journal of Applied Psychology.
Herbert S. Langfeld, during the summer of 1918, made an
official trip to France to observe from the point of view of a
psychologist the personnel of the Y. M. C. A. His excellent
opportunities to observe American soldiers in rest and leave
areas, in training schools, and in trenches, supplied materials
for a valuable report which, on his return to America, was
transmitted to the Psychology Committee of the National
Research Council.
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 147
The principal subjects of this report are: psychological
problems of morale, the aviation service, reconstruction,
shell-shock, and camouflage. In each of these subjects Lang-
feld made interesting and important observations upon which
he bases suggestions for practical service. Thus, for example,
in connection with camouflage work, he states that one of the
most interesting problems, with important psychological as-
pects is the camouflage of motion, especially in relation to
aeroplanes. He further reports that the assistance of psy-
chologists was greatly desired by the officers engaged in cam-
ouflage.
Had the war continued, Langfeld's observation of condi-
tions and his suggestions would undoubtedly have led to im-
portant developments of psychological service overseas.
In the summer of 191 8 an American psychologist who had
observed conditions in Paris reported to the Psychology Com-
mittee that assistance might, in his judgment, be rendered
the Y. M. C. A. in selecting suitable personnel for service
overseas. The facts gathered by this observer were trans-
mitted to the Office of the Secretary of War and as a result
of careful consideration of the matter, the Y. M. C. A., in
October, 1918, introduced the army mental tests (Group
Examination Alpha) in all of its special training schools as a
supplementary means of eliminating undesirable applicants.
The Medical Department of the Army cooperated with these
training schools by supplying the necessary materials for
examinations and such standards of judgment and other in-
formation as might prove of assistance to the examining of-
ficers.
This work was instituted at such a late date that results
of statistical value could not be obtained. Psychological ex-
aminers in the army were able, however, to render assistance
to the Y. M. C. A. in training camps and also in a few of the
special Y. M. C. A. training schools. Arrangements had
been made by the New York headquarters of the Y. M. C. A.
for the conduct of psychological examination of candidates
for overseas service by Robert S. Woodworth of Columbia
University. Approximately five hundred examinations had
been made before the armistice cut short this work.
148 REPORT OF THE PSYCHOLOGY COMMITTEE
Of special interest is the fact that the executive officers
of this organization, after trying other methods of selection
to improve the Y. M. C. A. personnel, decided that the army
procedure for measuring mental alertness should be intro-
duced.
IV. Future Relations of Psychology to the National
Research Council.
The eager and effective cooperation of psychologists in
professional war work has enabled the Psychology Committee
to win the confidence and the hearty support of the several
scientific groups which together constitute the Research Coun-
cil. Largely because of the way in which it responded to
the practical demands and the opportunities of the military
emergency, psychology today occupies a place among the
natural sciences which is newly achieved, eminently desirable,
and highly gratifying to the profession. An immediate re-
sult of this improved status is the desire of the Executive
Board of the Research Council to have psychology adequately
represented in the permanent national organization.
A conference of psychologists called for the discussion of
the relations of psychology to the organization of the Re-
search Council, unanimously approved the inclusion of psy-
chology in the national organization and formulated the
following as a tentative statement of the functions of the psy-
chological section of the Council:
"i. Service, in an advisory capacity, to the Government and
its various agencies in connection, for example, with psychological
problems of education, immigration, civil service, military organi-
zation, public health, and labor.
2. The stimulation and facilitation, coordination, conduct of
psychological research.
"3. The furtherance of the international relations of psychology
and psychologists in the interests alike of research and effective
instruction.
"4. The study and improvement of the status of the relations of
psychology as science and as technology.
"5. Concern with such generally important matters of psycho-
logical personnel as the qualifications of individuals for research
tasks and measures for maintaining and improving the quality of
the professional personnel."
I
OF THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL 149
It is proposed to associate psychology with anthropology
in a Division whose chairman and vice-chairman shall be
I chosen alternately from the two sciences, a chairman from
I anthropology serving with a psychologist as vice-chairman and
|i vice versa.
I If psychology is to meet successfully the now rapidly in-
/ creasing practical demands by which it is challenged, it must
organize for cooperative endeavor in a way not thought of
prior to the war. On the one hand is the imperative need of
highly developed and specialized methods; on the other, the
^ need for largely increased and adequately trained personnel.
The war activities of the Psychology Committee have re-
vealed or created opportunities whose scientific and practical
significance cannot be estimated. Two years ago mental en-
gineering was the dream of a few visionaries. Today it is a
branch of technology, which, although created by the war, is
evidently to be perpetuated and fostered by education and
industry.
Psychology needs therefore as never before in its history
intimate association with the more exact natural sciences, as
well as with the biological sciences which are more nearly re-
lated to it. The support and cooperation of other scientists
and especially their intelligent interest, are indispensable.
For the speedy and sound development of psychology as
science and as technology, the National Research Council
should prove the most important of agencies. It is earnestly
to be desired that the psychologists of the country may unite
in their support of this national organization for the promo-
tion of scientific research, its practical applications, and the
profitable relations of sciences and of scientists.
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