Abstract
This chapter presents my translation of a text published by William Stern in 1933 in the German language Journal of Applied Psychology. Stern highlights in this text the need to distinguish between the ‘transpersonal’ objectives that are of primary concern to psychotechnicians seeking to optimize outcomes for organizations, and the genuinely personal concerns that are primary to occupational counselors seeking to direct individuals toward occupations for which their specific characteristics and life circumstances best suit them. Stern is specifically critical of the ‘harmony argument,’ according to which it is contended that recommendations formulated out of consideration for transpersonal objectives will by default also optimize personal objectives. As in other works bearing on psychological testing and psychotechnics, Stern emphasizes the need to incorporate qualitative methods.
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Notes
- 1.
TRANSLATOR NOTE: In brackets I present here what Stern included as footnote 2 in the original text: [This holds also for the program to which I introduced, in 1903, the terminology ‘psycho-technics’ in an article titled ‘Applied Psychology,’ published in Beiträge zur Psychologie der Aussage (Contributions to the Psychology of Testimony), Volume 1, pp. 4–45.
- 2.
TRANSLATOR NOTE: In brackets I present here what Stern included as footnote 3 in the original text: [See in particular: Betti Katzenstein, ‘The Ascertainment of the Character of Work from the Standpoint of Psychological Aptitude. Zeitschrift für angewandte Psychologie, 41, 69–137. Also published separately in: Writings on the Psychology of Occupational Aptitude and Economic Life, 43. 1932.].
Reference
Stern, W. (1933). Der personale Faktor in Psychotechnik und praktischer Psychologie [The personal factor in psychotechnics and practical psychology]. Zeitschrift für angewandte Psychologie, 44, 52–63.
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Lamiell, J.T. (2021). The Personal Factor in Psychotechnics and Practical Psychology. In: Uncovering Critical Personalism. Palgrave Studies in the Theory and History of Psychology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67734-3_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67734-3_8
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