Review of An introduction to applied psychology

Abstract

Reviews the book, An introduction to applied psychology by Coleman R. Griffith (1934). As to the general style and method of presentation, the book is well written and interesting. The reader is carried along nicely and attention seldom lags. Occasionally, there is too much space consumed in introducing the new topic, with sociological and economic discussion bulking fairly large before concentrating on the psychological. This is rather important in this case, as the chapters are all fairly short and numerous, there being 40 in 661 pages, meaning only about 16 pages to a chapter. Also we might suggest that Professor Griffith's extensive research in athletics has been allowed to color the whole book, often in places where one can see virtually no connection. For example, the chapter on race differences begins with a lengthy analogy of the mixed population of the United States as presenting the same problem as that of a coach in welding together a football line of men whose reaction times in starting are similar enough to form a unit in charging. I think the analogy is so far-fetched that nothing was gained. It might have been simpler to discuss individual differences in more abstract fashion. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)