Task 5. Read the text “Hugo Munsterberg” and translate it.

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 422.

Task 6. Find answers to the following questions in the text and write them down:

1. Is Hugo Munsterberg “the father of industrial psychology”?

2. What scientific degree did Hugo Munsterberg receive?

3. What were the objectives of his research?

4. What was his approach aimed at?

5. What was he interested in?

HUGO MUNSTERBERG

(1863– 1916)

Hugo Munsterberg is “the father of industrial psychology“. He studied psychology and received his Ph.D. at the University of Leipzig in 1885. He also studied medicine and received the M.D. degree at the University of Heidelberg in 1887. At the age of 29, in 1892, Munsterberg was invited to Harvard by psychologist William James to take charge of the psychological laboratory and to act as professor of experimental psychology. In 1910, his interest turned to the use of psychology in industry. In his book entitled “Psychology and Industrial Efficiency”, published in 1912, Munsterberg clarified that his objectives were to discover:

· how to find people whose mental qualities best fit them for the work they are to do;

· under what psychological conditions the greatest and most satisfactory output can be obtained from the work of every person;

· how a business can influence workers in such a way as to obtain the best possible results from them.

He was interested in the reciprocity of interests between managers and workers. He stressed that his approach was even more strongly aimed at workers and that with the help of it he hoped to decrease their working time, increase their wages and raise their “level of life”.