Introduction of Hugo Munster Berg's Role

Hugomunsterberg (1863 ~1916) was born in a Jewish family in Danzig, eastern Germany. My father is a timber merchant, my mother is an artist, and I have three brothers. Munster Berg had a happy childhood. Influenced by the relaxed and artistic family atmosphere, he is interested in writing, cello, archaeology, Greek and Arabic. Unfortunately, his parents died when he was less than 20 years old, which greatly changed his life.

Chinese name: hugo munsterberg.

Mbth: HugoMunsterberg

Nationality: Germany

Ethnic group: Jews

Place of birth: Germany

Date of birth: 1863

Date of death: 19 16

Occupation: psychologist

Graduate school: Leipzig University

Masterpiece: Psychology and Economic Life

General comment on characters

As the founder of industrial psychology and the pioneer of behavioral science, hugo munsterberg's experience is somewhat emotional. He made great achievements before his death, and his works had a great influence, and his theory was also widely valued. However, when he died, he was left out in the cold. When he died, there was not even a memorial eulogy in the academic circles. Such a huge gap is not because of academic level, nor because of personality and conduct, but only because of his nationality and identity.

life experience

1882, Munster Berg graduated from Danzig University, entered Geneva University to study French and literature, and transferred to Leipzig University six months later, which laid the academic direction of his life. 1883, Munster Berg, who just arrived in Leipzig, was immediately attracted by Wilhelm Wundt's lecture and decided to devote himself to psychology. From then on, he studied under Feng Te and joined the increasingly famous Leipzig laboratory on 1885. Here, Munster Berg received formal training in experimental psychology, which greatly influenced his academic attainments in the future.

relevant knowledge

When it comes to psychology, we can't help mentioning the famous William Feng Te (1832 ~ 1920). 1879, Feng Te established the world's first psychology laboratory-Leipzig laboratory. Its establishment marks that psychology has become an independent and real science, and Feng Te has also become the first scholar to turn psychology into an independent science, and is praised by psychologists as the father of experimental psychology. Although Feng Te is not a management scientist, his achievements in psychology have great influence on management. You know, since ancient Greece and Egypt, scholars have paid great attention to people's psychological phenomena. However, Feng Te's so-called psychological "theory" before is either an unverifiable genius conjecture or a nonsense of ghosts and gods. Therefore, some scholars believe that before Feng Te, the so-called psychology was pseudoscience. Even the great philosopher Kant once asserted that psychology cannot be a real science. Because of the domination of this understanding, many people who advocate science will leave a non-scientific territory for psychology very generously. Take Emerson for example, he advocated science very much during the period of scientific management and was called "the high priest of efficiency". In the consulting company he runs, the "experts" he hired to select and evaluate personnel rely on physiognomy, phrenology and graphology, similar to the fortune teller we see now. Katherine Blackford, a personnel expert at Emerson Company, also used a special chapter in Work, People and Bosses published by 19 16 to demonstrate the method of selecting employees, emphasizing the study of people's face, hair color, nose shape, head bump ratio, and paying special attention to handwriting and pronunciation. She thinks all these show people's character. Even Emerson, which advocates science, is still like this, and other places can be imagined. Feng Te's research completely subverts these viewpoints of traditional psychology, making psychology an experimental science comparable to natural science. From then on, psychology began to enter the society with a scientific attitude. Munster Berg was the first person to introduce this scientific psychology into the field of management.

Mü nster Berg received his Ph.D. in Leipzig, but he was not satisfied with it. In view of the close relationship between psychology and medicine, he continued to study medicine at the University of Heidelberg, and obtained his doctorate in medicine from 65438 to 0887. Since then, he has been a lecturer and assistant professor at the University of Freiburg, teaching medicine and philosophy. However, due to research needs, he used his spare time to teach psychology privately, and built a psychology laboratory at his own expense in his residence to conduct research on time, perception, attention, learning and memory, which attracted many international students.

1889, at the first international conference on psychology in Paris, Munster Berg hit it off with WilliamJames (1842 ~ 19 10), a professor of psychology at Harvard University in the United States, and established a profound friendship with each other. James is also a famous figure. He is regarded as an advocate of pragmatic philosophy and the founder of functional psychology. Some people call him "the father of American psychology". From 65438 to 0892, Munster Berg was invited by James to be a visiting professor of experimental psychology at Harvard University for three years, and then he continued to teach at the University of Freiburg. Two years later, due to repeated invitations, Munster Berg returned to Harvard University as a psychology professor, took over the psychology laboratory founded by James, and became the heir of James' functional school. During the 19 years at Harvard University, Munster Berg's outstanding talent was widely recognized by Americans. As one of the most famous psychologists in America at that time, he attracted the attention of the whole world. 1898 was elected president of the American Psychological Association. 1908 was elected president of the American Philosophical Society. 19 10 was sent to Berlin by Harvard University as an exchange professor to participate in the establishment of the "Virtue Association" in Berlin. He was also selected as a special researcher in American College of Arts and Sciences, and was once rated as a psychological celebrity after James by American Scientist.

In order to popularize his theory, Munster Berg went to Washington to meet with President Wilson, and lobbied Secretary of Commerce redfield and Secretary of Labor W·B· Wilson for the government to set up a department whose basic task is to apply psychological research to industry and society. Although his goal has not been achieved, it has attracted the attention of the society. The external influence of Mü nster Berg was formed. His industrial psychology failed to enter the "palace" of the government, but spread to the "rivers and lakes" of society. Since then, both enterprises and governments have begun to use Munster Berg's method to evaluate employees' psychology.

Munster Berg's theory has been widely valued and applied in the United States, but he himself received a cold shoulder after the outbreak of the First World War. He has a deep affection for Germany, and he has kept his German nationality since he moved to the United States. After the war broke out, he insisted on his patriotic attitude and constantly explained and defended the war behavior of his motherland. As a result, the hatred between countries was transferred to him, and Munster Berg was suspected to be a German spy, rejected by the people around him, lost his friendship and respect, and fell into an isolated situation. 19 16 Munster Berg died of a heart attack while giving a lecture at the age of 53. Ironically, Munster Berg himself was rejected by the United States, but his theory was used as a weapon for the United States against the Germans. After the United States entered the war, the method pioneered by Munster Berg was widely used to conduct large-scale psychological tests on two million American soldiers who participated in the war. Historically, this is the first large-scale application of psychology in the field of management. It is this application that has laid a solid position in industrial psychology and made psychology an indispensable part of management science.

main work

Munster Berg's life works are extremely rich, including more than 20 kinds of monographs, involving psychology, philosophy, sociology and other aspects, which have a wide influence. The book Psychology and Economic Life, which best embodies his industrial psychology thought, was published in German in 19 12, translated in English in19/3, and the Essentials of Applied Psychology and General Psychology published in19/4. In these books, he discussed the psychological factors of personnel selection, professional ethics and job performance. In his book, he strongly appeals that in order to strengthen scientific management, psychological achievements must be better applied to improve industrial efficiency. His theories and viewpoints are essentially psychological supplements to Taylor's system. According to Munster Berg's own statement, it is: "We should never forget that it is not only in the interests of factory owners but also in the interests of employees to improve work efficiency through psychological adaptation and improvement of psychological conditions in the future; Their working hours can be shortened, their wages can be increased and their living standards can be improved. " It is not difficult for readers to see the consistency between Munster Berg and Taylor. Therefore, in the era when Taylor system was widely implemented, his theory and method of industrial psychology were highly supported and responded by American business circles.

research contents

Munster Berg's research mainly focuses on the following questions: How to identify the quality and psychological characteristics of individuals and arrange them in the most suitable jobs according to their quality and psychological characteristics? Under what psychological conditions can workers exert their greatest enthusiasm and enthusiasm, so as to obtain the greatest and most satisfactory output from each worker? How to make people's minds get the best impression that industrial activities hope to produce, that is, how to psychologically ensure the realization of people's ideals? Ryan, a management historian, summed up Munster Berg's research in three sentences, namely "the most suitable person", "the most suitable job" and "the most ideal effect". The so-called "the most suitable person" is to study the requirements of different positions for the quality of personnel, identify and evaluate the psychological quality of different personnel, and find the most suitable job for them. Therefore, various technologies have been developed and applied to personnel selection, career guidance and work arrangement through psychological experiments. The so-called "most suitable job" is to study and determine the "psychological conditions" for obtaining the maximum and most satisfactory output from everyone. Munster Berg found that learning and training are the most economical ways and means to improve work efficiency, and physical and social factors have a strong influence on work efficiency, especially it is extremely important to create "psychological conditions" suitable for relevant personnel at work. The so-called "ideal effect" is to study the necessity of influencing people's needs in line with industrial interests. He discussed the skills of sales, marketing and advertising, and called for studying the factors that maintain economic demand.

Munster Berg's theory comes from a series of investigations and experimental studies he presided over. He collected a lot of information from tram drivers, telephone operators and senior flight attendants. One of the famous examples is to study the characteristics that a tram driver should have to drive safely. He systematically investigated and studied all kinds of factors in the work of tram drivers, conducted simulation experiments, and finally concluded and inferred all kinds of qualities and skills that an excellent driver should have, and then determined the psychological conditions of being a driver. In addition, Munster Berg noticed not only physical factors but also psychological factors in fatigue research. He and his students studied the working curve of the factory many times and found the fluctuation law of daily output and weekly output. According to the daily output records, the output increased obviously at 90: 00 in the morning, decreased before lunch and resumed after lunch, but the increase rate was not as good as that at 90: 00 in the morning, and decreased obviously before going to work in the afternoon. Similarly, the weekly output shows a similar situation. The output was flat on Monday, the highest on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then gradually decreased until the lowest on Saturday. If the change of daily output is caused by physical fatigue, then the change of weekly output can no longer be explained by physical factors, and the only reasonable explanation is psychological factors. These studies have opened up a new field for industrial psychology.

Research and application

Munster Berg's research has been widely used in career choice, improvement of working methods and establishment of suitable working conditions. His thought obviously contains the industrial ethics of scientific management: (1) paying attention to individuals; (2) emphasizing efficiency; (3) Using scientific methods to obtain social benefits. So industrial psychology at this time is also subordinate to scientific management. But his concern and application of psychology undoubtedly erected a signpost for later behavioral science. Under the influence of Munster Berg, a group of scholars devoted themselves to the research of industrial psychology. These include Charles Myers, the pioneer of British industrial psychology, Walter D. Scott, who participated in the classification test of designers in World War I in the US Army, and Celsi A. Massey, who conducted the first incentive experiment. And Maurice S. Vaitlis, who wrote the textbook Bible of Industrial Psychology. Their efforts closely combined psychology with the booming scientific management at that time, paving the way for Hawthorne's later experiments.