Review of Workers' Emotions in Shop and Home

Abstract

Reviews the book, Workers' Emotions in Shop and Home by Rexford B. Hersey (1932). This book is an account of a very interesting study of a group of typical normal workmen, in their natural setting, with reference to their emotional life and its relation to their industrial performance. The writer spent a year interviewing each man four times a day. He first observed the worker and tried to estimate his emotional condition from his behavior and then questioned him about it. The workers were informed as to the purpose of the project and cooperated adequately in introspecting on numerous occasions. Data are available on 29 subjects, although many more were studied in less extensive fashion. The subjects were workers in the Pennsylvania Railroad shops. Part II is the most extensive portion of the work and gives ten exhaustive case studies. The third part of the book generalizes somewhat on the basis of the individual cases. The appendix gives in more detail the actual technique of interviewing and observing test results and further tabular material for individual workers. The book represents a difficult and careful piece of experimental work and is commended to those interested in the worker's efficiency and happiness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)