How psychology can facilitate military training—a concrete example

Abstract

The author reviews a post-armistice experiment on training so-called "hopeless" riflemen. The data were submitted to the General Staff, but nothing came of it. The following explanations are offered of the fact that the psychologist is not working on more problems to improve military efficiency. (1) The psychologist has not the answers to military problems, but only the method of work to find those answers. Therefore military commanders are forced to accept the services of the psychologist somewhat on faith. Furthermore the psychologist must use soldiers and sailors who are in actual training, since it is impossible to isolate such problems in the laboratory. (2) The psychologist has no confidence in his ability to make improvements in a practical situation. He should be confident, not necessarily in determining a new truth, but in his ability to render an improvement, as was demonstrated in the rifle-shooting experiment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)