By Shaun Honan (Student ID:2011659)
Walter Dill Scott (1869-1955) was an early Psychologist, a former President of the American Psychological Association, the president of North Western University and even an Officer of the Legion of France (Scott, Walter Dill, n.d.). Along with Munsterberg, Cattell, and Bingham, Scott is considered to be one of four key figures who developed Industrial Psychology but it was through chance that Scott started his famous work on Advertising and Psychology.
Scott initially wanted to become a missionary in China (Jacobson, 1951; as cited in Landy, 1997) but fortunately for Psychology, it wasn’t meant to be and instead Scott studied Psychology in Germany with Wilhelm Wundt and then learnt how to create a Psychological Laboratory with E. B. Titchener.
Although heavily influenced by Wundt and Titchener, Scott was interested in a more practical application of Psychology as influenced by his former teacher and future boss George A. Coe who was passionate about applying psychology to business (Lynch, 1968)
Scott and advertising
As mentioned above it was only by chance that Scott started his work on Psychology and advertising. A businessman approached Scott’s peers Hugo Munsterberg and Edward L. Thorndike to deliver a lecture on how Psychology can support Advertising but both declined due to not wanting to apply their ideas to business practice (Lynch, 1968). George A. Coe was also approached and also declined, but recommended Scott.
Influenced by Harlow Gale, Sir Francis Galton and others (Lynch, 1968), Scott delivered several lectures on Advertising and Psychology and in 1903 wrote a book called ‘The Theory of Advertising’ which was one of the first books to apply psychology to business (Kuna, 1974; as sited in Landy, 1997).
Scott was skilled in linking Psychological Principles to advertising, an example being his recommendation of full-page advertisements because of a study showing that the average person cannot retain information with more than four images on one page. (Lynch, 1968).
Industrial Psychology & World War One (WW1)
When the United States entered WW1 in 1917, Scott and Bingham offered their Industrial Psychology knowledge to support the war effort. One such measure was used to rate ‘five essential qualities’ (Lynch, 1968) namely a soldiers personality, intelligence, physical ability, leadership skills and overall value to the armed services.
The impact of this even led to many saying that the testing culture in the US army wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for Scott (Landy, 1997) and as a result of his (and others) efforts, over 1 million men were tested.
Scott’s influence on Modern Psychology
Although Scott’s work was important at the time, his influence on Modern Psychology is open to debate. Some believe that Industrial Psychology, in general, was too narrowly focused (Vinchur, 2008) and therefore its influence on modern psychology is limited.
Scotts’ work on psychology and advertising and testing during WW1 had a significant direct impact on the growth of Industrial/Occupational Psychology (Landy, 1997). Some (Biddix & Schwartz, 2012) say that Scott’s legacy is his influence through other psychologists like M. Viteles and H. Burtt (Landy, 1997) and translating Psychology so it could be understood and used by advertisers (Sandage, 1961).
Overall, I think that Scotts’ influence can be best measured by being one of the fathers of Industrial/Occupational Psychology and whose legacy lives on through the paths he helped to lay.
Word count 510 Words (Student ID:2011659)
References
Biddix, J. P., & Schwartz, R. A. (2012). Walter Dill Scott and the Student Personnel Movement. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 49(3), 285–298. https://doi.org/10.1515/jsarp-2012-6325
Landy, F. J. (1997). Early Influences on the Development of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82(4), 467–477. https://doi-org.ezproxy.rgu.ac.uk/10.1037/0021-9010.82.4.467
Lynch, E. (1968). Walter Dill Scott: Pioneer Industrial Psychologist. The Business History Review, 42(2), 149-170. Retrieved October 19, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3112213
Sandage, C. H. (1961). A PIONEER IN MARKETING: Walter Dill Scott. Journal of Marketing, 25(5), 74–75. https://doi-org.ezproxy.rgu.ac.uk/10.2307/1248967
Scott, Walter Dill, 1869-1955. (n.d.). NorthWestern. Retrieved October 19, 2020, from https://findingaids.library.northwestern.edu/agents/people/1586
Vinchur, A.J. (2008), Early Industrial Psychology: A Very Brief and Highly Selective History. Sociology Compass, 2: 122-138. doi:10.1111/j.1751-9020.2007.00067.x
Psychologyish 