Review of Executive ability

Abstract

Reviews the book, Executive ability, Its discovery and development by Glen U. Cleeton and Charles W. Mason (1946). The aim of the book is quite comprehensive--to define executive functions and give procedures for discovery and development of executive ability. This is a large order, especially where so much of the available material is of an a priori rather than empirical character. The authors get about as much out of this material as could be done at this juncture. The fact that there are many unsolved problems in this field is not their fault. In fact, they include some debatable questions hoping to stimulate research. Psychologists, presumably, will be most interested in the portions dealing with selection and training of executives. These sections describe such tests as are available, likewise rating scales. They give a fair amount of detail as to the techniques of constructing, administering, and validating tests. There is some consideration of selection of traits constituting executive ability by using the pooled judgment of experts. For this and other reasons the book would be worth while reading prior to undertaking research in this field. The reviewer is not sure how valuable the work will be to an actual executive or a prospective executive--probably not as much as the authors would hope. To the industrial psychologist or the student in this field, however, it is worth while to have a lot of this material brought together with adequate references. It would be helpful to anyone who is going through the literature with a view to further research in this field. One cannot help being impressed by the paucity of empirical material and the need for such further research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)