Psychological testing and the German labor market, 1925 to 1965.

Abstract

From the 1920s to the 1950s, the massive German Labor Administration used loosely standardized, pragmatic evaluations of personality to steer young people into appropriate jobs. Starting in the late 1950s, the Administration shifted to American scientific methods of trait and factor psychological testing. Behind this change lay not a change in academic psychology but a power shift in the German labor market. Originally, the Labor Administration had to appeal to employers, for whom pragmatic evaluations of personality seemed most convincing. Thanks to the Economic Miracle in the 1950s, the Administration had to gain the trust of young Germans, their parents, and the public, who, it was hoped, would be won over by science.