We at The Career Project begin our series with the founding father for industrial-organizational (IO) psychology. Hugo Munsterberg (1863-1916) was a German-American psychologist who sought to improve the lives of workers through his gift for writing in science. Munsterberg was raised in an artistic family, where he spent his childhood writing poetry and playing the violin. When his mother passed away, his personality changed drastically. He became serious and sombre, which led him to dive nose-deep in his research. His paper Psychology and the Market, published in 1909, detailed the applications of psychology in many sectors. Some topics include: management, …

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Walter Dill Scott (1869-1955) was an American professor who taught psychology at Northwestern University. In 1903, he wrote The Psychology of Adversting, Theory and Practice. It’s one of the oldest copywriting books in print—a gem in the industry. His finesse with words and personal charisma drove sales and won him many business partners over his life. His contributions to the field of industrial-organizational (IO) psychology focused upon personnel selection and has influenced modern-day human resources (HR). He saw a future with a kinder, more tolerant workplace filled with peace and productivity. His egalitarian viewpoint earns the admiration from IO psychologists …

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Engineering and psychology? How in the world is there any overlap between the two? For mechanical engineer Frederick Taylor (1856-1915) turned industrial psychologist, the answer lied in worker motivation. Taylor believed that all workers were motivated by their wages and monetary gain. Interestingly, in 1881, he won the tournament in doubles tennis at the U.S. National Championship (now “Open”). He conducted a study which showed that, with planned breaks in-between work, employees were more productive. His umbrella term for thinking is referred to as Taylorism. “In the past the man has been first; in the future the system must be …

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Lillian Gilbreth (1878-1972) was a successful doctorate and remarkable jill of all trades—the first woman to become a professor of engineering at Purdue University, in 1935! She was born in Oakland, California, in 1878 and was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in Industrial Psychology from Brown University in 1915. Gilbreth was a pioneer in applying the principles of psychology to industrial management, particularly in the areas of time and motion studies, workplace efficiency, and human factors engineering. Gilbreth was particularly interested in the way that motion and time interacted in the workplace, and she developed new methods for …

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James McKeen Cattell (1860-1944), the first professor of psychology in the United States, taught at the University of Pennsylvania. His experimental methods were famously objective and focused on data and statistics. In his spare time, he also wrote for and edited numerous scientific journals, including Popular Science and Psychological Review.  Cattell is known for his work in the areas of mental testing, individual differences, and psychometrics, and he played a key role in establishing psychology as a distinct field of study in the United States. He founded the Vocational Bureau of Boston, which provided career guidance and counseling services to …

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