Munsterberg's Industrial/Organizational Psychology

 

Munsterberg's work in Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology was experimentally based. He studied problems with monotony, physical/social influences on the working power, attention and fatigue, the effects of advertising, and the future development of economic psychology. He felt that it was unimportant whether or not the results of his experiments stood up to further experimental investigations. His results should only reflect what he had accomplished and should encourage continuous effort. Dr. Munsterberg felt that the future work of I/O psychology would have to be a work of cooperation. For this to be true, his experiments would require a large number of subjects. He wrote that in most experimental studies, a normal number of participants in the experimental condition was not important. However, in his work in applied psychology he advocated that these numbers were extremely important. In 1913, Munsterberg's work in I/O psychology was presented in his book, Psychology and Industrial Efficiency.

 

The book was divided into three main sections: "The best possible man for the job", "the best possible work", and "the the best possible effect." "The best possible man for the job" dealt with selection of workers, "the best possible work", discussed factors affecting worker efficiency, and "the best possible effect" discussed sales, marketing, and advertising techniques.

 

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