Psychology and Industrial Efficiency | Page 5

to reach an end, and must leave it to others to settle
whether the end in itself is desirable. Often the end may be a matter of
course for every reasonable being. The extreme case is presented by the
applied science of medicine, where the physician subordinates all his
technique to the end of curing the patient. Yet if we are consistent we
must acknowledge that all his medical knowledge can prescribe to him
only that he proceed in a certain way if the long life of the patient is
acknowledged as a desirable end. The application of anatomy,
physiology, and pathology may just as well be used for the opposite
end of killing a man. Whether it is wise to work toward long life, or
whether it is better to kill people, is again a problem which lies outside
the sphere of the applied sciences. Ethics or social philosophy or
religion have to solve these preliminary' questions. The physician as
such has only to deal with the means which lead toward that goal.
We must make the same discrimination in the psychotechnical field.
The psychologist may point out the methods by which an involuntary
confession can be secured from a defendant, but whether it is justifiable
to extort involuntary confessions is a problem which does not concern
the psychologist. The lawyers or the legislators must decide as to the
right or wrong, the legality or illegality, of forcing a man to show his
bidden ideas. If such an end is desirable, the psychotechnical student
can determine the right means, and that is the limit of his office. We
ought to keep in mind that the same holds true for the application of
psychology in economic life. Economic psychotechnics may serve
certain ends of commerce and industry, but whether these ends are the
best ones is not a care with which the psychologist has to be burdened.
For instance, the end may be the selection of the most efficient laborers
for particular industries. The psychologist may develop methods in his
laboratory by which this purpose can be fulfilled. But if some mills
prefer another goal,--for instance, to have not the most efficient but the
cheapest possible laborers,--entirely different means for the selection
are necessary. The psychologist is, therefore, not entangled in the
economic discussions of the day; it is not his concern to decide whether
the policy of the trusts or the policy of the trade-unions or any other

policy for the selection of laborers is the ideal one. He is confined to
the statement; if you wish this end, then you must proceed in this way;
but it is left to you to express your preference among the ends. Applied
psychology can, therefore, speak the language of an exact science in its
own field, independent of economic opinions and debatable partisan
interests. This is necessary limitation, but in this limitation lies the
strength of the new science. The psychologist may show how a special
commodity can be advertised; but whether from a social point of view
it is desirable to reinforce the sale of these goods is no problem for
psychotechnics. If a sociologist insists that it would be better if not so
many useless goods were bought, and that the aim ought rather to be to
protect the buyer than to help the seller, the psychologist would not
object. His interest would only be to find the right psychological means
to lead to this other social end. He is partisan neither of the salesman
nor of the customer, neither of the capitalist nor of the laborer, he is
neither Socialist nor anti-Socialist, neither high-tariff man nor
free-trader. Here, too, of course, there are certain goals which are
acknowledged on all sides, and which therefore hardly need any
discussion, just as in the case of the physician, where the prolongation
of life is practically acknowledged as a desirable end by every one. But
everywhere where the aim is not perfectly a matter of course, the
psychotechnical specialist fulfills his task only when he is satisfied with
demonstrating that certain psychical means serve a certain end, and that
they ought to be applied as soon as that end is accepted.
The whole system of psychotechnical knowledge might be subdivided
under either of the two aspects. Either we might start from the various
mental processes and ask for what end each mental factor can be
practically useful and important, or we can begin with studying what
significant ends are acknowledged in our society and then we can seek
the various psychological facts which are needed as means for the
realization of these ends. The first way offers many conveniences.
There we should begin with the mental states of attention, memory,
feeling, and so on, and should study how the psychological knowledge
of