PSYCHOLOGY AND INDUSTRY

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 296, 13 September 1927, Page 13

PSYCHOLOGY AND INDUSTRY

THE HUMAN ELEMENT LECTURE BY PROFESSOR T. A. HUNTER The Red Cross Hall, Dixon Street, was well filled ou Saturday night when Professor T. A. Hunter, of Victoria University College, continued his series of short course lectures for the W.E.A. and spoke on the subject of ‘‘Psychology and Industry.” . “If we compare the beginning ot the twentieth century with the beginning of the nineteenth century in economics,” said the lecturer, "the thing that strikes the student most profoundly is the importance of the human factor in industry. The nineteenth century was a period of immense material advance and during the first three-quarters of it economic doctrine was cut off from the rest of life. Cairnes, a typical economist, fairly represents the spirit of his age when he writes: ‘Political economy is merely descriptive and does not enjoin any kind of conduct.’ Man had discovered hew physical forces and all his energy was directed towards grappling with these powers and subduing them to his needs. Machinery was the problem of this period, and man did not count. Carlisle and Ruskin were continually pointing out the need to consider the human point of view and striving to improve the conditions of people living in such a commercial state of society. The late Professor Marshall was led to admit ‘that ethical forces are among those of which the economist has to take account—on one side economics is a study of wealth, on tho other a study of social life. Mo must consider the human element in it,’ he says, ‘and get away from the material viewpoint.’ Economics a Part of Social Science. “Among philosophical thinkers this- is not a new attitude, but at the beginning of this century .the economists themselves were forced to realise that economics is really only one aspect of social science, and a less important aspect in the higher life of man. This change in outlook is the outcome of the development in the social sciences, especially with regard to biology, anthropology, psychology and sociology, and the different aspects must not bo presented so as to show glaring contradictions. Whereas in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries _ physics and chemistry were the dominating influences, in tho twentieth century biology, pschology and sociology have taken the premier place, and economics is beginning to feel the change. Modern economic problems are mainly in dealing with tho human factor, whether in the form of worker, organiser, or creditor and debtor. A change in man’s attitude to the relative importance of wealth and welfare might bring about a reconstruction of our whole credit system, which is based very largely on psychological factors. Improved Working Conditions. “The development of scientific psychology has tended to influence economic practice and study in two ve’ry different ways: (1) It has exposed the very wasteful methods of dealing with human labour and shown tho ways by which it may be made more efficient. It may strike us as an amazing fact that, in the problems of production, the question of the “conditions of the efficiency of labour” had been neglected so long. C'airnes could say that “the profits of the mills of England were made after the fifteenth and sixteenth hours of labour,” but experiments have since shown quite clearly the great benefit derived from improved working conditions. (2) It has directed attention to the necessity of modifying the conditions of industry if industrialisation is to prove inimical to the best typo of life for those engaged in productioin. This is known as welfare work and it has been shown that improvements in these conditions, designed give the workers more satisfaction in their jobs, has also a beneficial influence on production. “Conceptions of Welfare.” “The conceptions of welfare are: 1. Tho psychological relations between labour and management which aim atmodifying and improving such problems as atmosphere, rest, work, and fatigue. 2. Tiie incentives to work. 3. The arrangements of the worker’s material and tho nature of the implement with which ho works. 4. The posture and movement of the worker so as to achieve the best results with the least effort. 5. The selection and training of the worker for tho typo of job to which ho is best suited. 6. The distribution of periods of .rest and work. 7. The physical environment of the worker. S. Ideological factors influencing . the sale of products: Advertising, designing, salesmanship, etc. “A Great Resentment.” “The first people to seize the results of experimental psychology and to apply them in the field of industry were the so-called scientific managers, like Taylor, Gilbreth and others. They did some good work but unfortunately the movement was animated by the old economic spirit—the desire for profit. The result, therefore, was that it raised in the minds of the workers a -treat resentment that has been one of the greatest obstacles to the introduction of real psychological principles. The scientific managers forgot that they were dealing with persons. Up to the last twenty or thirty years it was always assumed that the human being was just like a machine and this was the wrong position to work from. One of the great, evils with which wo are faced to-day. is the problem of industrial unrest, which, looked at from. a. psychological point of view, means friction. It is the business of the scientific person to try to discover what the friction is. It is no use saying that tho worker should do this or that. With the advantages which he enjoys to-dav in regard to education and improved conditions of living, it is quite unlikely that he> wi 1 be satisfied to remain merely a pawn in th pro B fe“or Hunter showed a [ number of lantern slides to illustrate the . many ex periments that been "arried out.by well-known branches followed-