MACHINES AND MEN.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20011, 20 August 1930, Page 18

MACHINES AND MEN.

PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY.

application to industry.

"The human being is very much more important than the machine. If we have to have workers employed in routine work we should choose those of the lowest intelligence and then make their actual movements as simple and speedy as possible. It is a waste to put good human material in low-grade work." So remarked Dr. C. E. Beeby of Canterbury College last evening in the Public Library Hall in an address on "Some practical applications of psychology. 5 ' Until about 30 years ago nobody con-, ceived psychology as possessing any practical value, and it was regarded as purely an academic subject, said Dr. The value of psychology and its practical application was established, however, to-day. The last century was a machine age. People thought of machines and thought little of tho human being. • The human hiind was very much the same now as it bad been two or three thousand years ago, but conditions were very much different. To-day machines were built and the individual had to fit himself into their working. Psychologists were faced with the problem of fitting the man into modern conditions, and they had to study not only the thoughts of the individual, but his actions —his movements in his work. The prime object was to lessen fatigue and, incidentally, to increase output.

Dr. Beeby referred to a packing department in a certain factory which was divided into two sections. In one section every man turned out exactly the same amount of work, and in the other tbe best worker produced four times as much as the worst. It was for the psychologist to say which system was in tho greatest accordance with human nature. An important thing was the relation, of the individual to his surroundings. Lighting, temperature, and noise were all problems to be considered. Waste movements should be eliminated. About twenty-five per cent, of jobs in. the industrial world were jobs that mental defectives could quite easily perform. Pure routine work made workers lead a practically mental defective life. There was a great deal of wasted effort in almost every type of labour, even in housekeeping. In America certain steps had been taken in labour-saving. In bricklaying, for example, the number of bricks laid, by a man in a day had been increased by almost three hundred per cent, by a simple mechanical device. In every factory there were many examples of methods which could be greatly improved. The human machine worked best in rhythmical movements, and the practical application of common sense could nearly always eliminate jerky, wasteful motion. The arrangement of materials and tools was another feature in which there was room'for great improvement. In many A'ew Zealand factories the arrangement of materials was sometimes positively ludicrous. Very much the same thing was apparent in the average kitchen. Office and factory furniture should be laid out and constructs so as to eliminate waste of effort and time. Chairs should be of a height suited to the type of labour. "Many of our New Zealand manufactured goods are not up to. the standard of imported ones," said Dr. Beeby. "This is partly due to the lack of training of apprentices and workers." Employers here were faced with greater problems than elsewhere. In some countries special instructors were emjiloyed in large factories to teach young recruits. ■ The business of employing men was another application of psychology to industry. Many methods had been, and were being, tried, but most employers had no efficient system of selecting workers, and most parents had no efficient method of guiding their children. Psychology had made some attempt to go into the matter, especially •in the use of intelligence tests. Employees should not be chosen on their personal appearance. One firm had employed men solely on the colour of their hair. The speaker outlined some tests that were being used in vocational guidance in Christchurch and abroad, illustrating his talk with lantern slides.