Historical Roots of Applied Experimental Psychology 653Psychology. Of course, not everyone will agree on what con-
stitutes an applied or an experimental study, so our estimates
are subjective, but we considered roughly 10% of the 62 arti-
cles (not counting discussions) published in the first two
volumes of theJournal of Experimental Psychologyto be
applied in the sense that the authors appeared to have been
motivated, at least in part, by an interest in some practical
problem and discussed how their results might be applied to
it. The majority of articles lack any explicit mention of the rel-
evance of the findings to any practical ends; this is not to sug-
gest that the investigators had no interest in practical issues,
but only to note that they did not emphasize them in reporting
their experiments. Examples of studies we classified as ap-
plied for purposes of this exercise are shown in Table 24.1.
“Experimental” was given a relatively broad connotation
for determining appropriateness for the Journal of Experi-
mental Psychology. Many of the articles in the first two vol-
umes of the journal did not report experimentation in the
strict sense of involving controlled manipulation of variables,
use of control groups, and so on. Several of the reported ex-
periments were relatively informal. About one quarter of the
articles focused on methodology; some described puzzles
designed for testing purposes; and several others involved
mental testing.
Of 67 articles published in the first two volumes of the
Journal of Applied Psychology,a large majority would not be
considered experimental in the narrowest sense of the term
(but as we have noted, many of the articles appearing in the
early issues of theJournal of Experimental Psychologyprob-
ably would not pass that test either). We estimate that not
more than 10% would be considered experimental in a sense
that would make them appropriate for any of theJournals of
Experimental Psychologytoday. Articles included observa-
tional studies, anecdotal reports, essays, position papers, and
descriptions of tests, training courses, and research plans.
Examples of studies that we consider most likely to be
judged by experimentalists to be experimental are shown in
Table 24.2.Experimental Psychology in World War IIControlled experimentation was being used to investigate the
effects of various situational factors on human performance
before World War II—examples of this work include studies
by McFarland (1932) on the effects of oxygen deprivation
and those by Fletcher and Munson (1933, 1937) on the mask-
ing properties of auditory noise—but the war presented a
need for many more studies of these sorts, and research ef-
forts were mobilized on both sides of the Atlantic. In Great
Britain well-known experimental psychologists, including
Sir Frederic Bartlett, Norman Mackworth, and J. K. W.
(Kenneth) Craik, played leading roles in this effort. The main
centers of activity were first at Cambridge University, under
Bartlett, and later at the newly established Applied Psychol-
ogy Research Unit (APRU) of the Medical Research Council,TABLE 24.1 Examples of Articles with an Emphasis on Applications
in the First Two Volumes of the Journal of Experimental Psychology
(1916–1917)
Author Title Subject
Kent (1916) A graded series of Evaluation of geometric
geometric puzzles. puzzles for use in a
nonverbal test of
intelligence.
Haines Relative values of Exploration of the utility of a
(1916) point-scale and year-scale modified Binet-Simon
measurements of 1,000 intelligence test for
minor delinquents. identifying mental
deficiency among
delinquent minors.
Burtt The effect of uniform and Evaluation of safety
(1916) nonuniform illumination implications of an
upon attention and experimental street lighting
reaction times, with system in the field and in
special reference to street the laboratory, as indexed
illumination. by reaction time to an
auditory stimulus.
H. F. Adams The memory value of mixed Investigation of dependence
(1917) sizes of advertisements. of memorability of ad on
its size and one’s frequency
of exposure to it.
Marston Systolic blood pressure Investigation of effects on
(1917) symptoms of deception. systolic blood pressure of
“lying” or telling the truth
in an experimental
situation.
TABLE 24.2 Examples of Experimental Articles in the First Two
Volumes of the Journal of Applied Psychology(1917–1918)
Author Title Subject
Geissler Association-reactions applied Investigation of reasons
(1917a) to ideas of commercial for differential recall of
brands of familiar articles. common brand names.
Downey Handwriting disguise. Investigation of ability of
(1917) people to disguise their
handwritings and of judges
to match disguised and
undisguised hands.
Stevenson Correlation between different Study of correspondence
(1918) forms of sensory between judgments of
discrimination. tactile pressure, line
length, auditory intensity,
and brightness.
Wembridge Obscurities in voting upon Demonstration of ease with
(1918) measures due to double- which expressions using
negative. double or complex
negatives are
misinterpreted.