Lucid Reviews of Industrial Psychology
Abstract
<p>T his is a collection of 17 reviews by British psychologists. Industrial psychology in Great Britain appears to be more strongly oriented toward applied experimental psychology than is true in the United States. Controlled observation and measurement of behavior in the work place and of conditions affecting performance are used more frequently than the questionnaire. This is hard science at work.</p><p>Despite the emphasis on empiricism, theory is not ignored. Several of the papers analyze experimental results in terms of relevant theoretical models. The models are kept close to the research data and tend to cover wide spectra of findings rather than small subsets of trivialities. The chapters on selection, management development, work motivation, and interpersonal relations, draw rather heavily on American research. But these familiar studies take on new meaning when discussed in fresh contexts. Skilled performance and stress, learning in practice, occupational aspects of aging, psychological aspects of man-machine systems, and decision making since the computer are reviewed in terms of theoretical models and research designs that permit one to examine these problem areas from new perspectives. The discussion by Payne and Pugh, regarding organizations as psychological environments, indicates that English researchers are bringing the soft sciences