How the Industrial Fatigue (later Health) Research Board Developed Psychology, 1919 – 1939

Abstract

Implications of the Industrial Fatigue (later Health) Research Board for the development of British occupational psychology are examined using archival material. The Board arose from research in the Ministry of Munitions during the First World War. From 1921 it was responsible to the Medical Research Council. The Board set up a small scientific committee for Industrial Psychology, of which C. L. Burt, T. H. Pear, C. S. Sherrington and F. C. Bartlett were long-serving members, influencing the funding and evaluation of research. Studies of vocational guidance were encouraged, during the 1920s in conjunction with the National Institute of Industrial Psychology. Other interests included accident proneness, neurosis in industry, rest pauses and noise. Results were published in a series of Government reports. In the 1930s, funded research increasingly emphasised theory and was based in universities, including Bartlett’s Psychological Laboratory at Cambridge. Weakening of links with employers and labour interests after the 1921 re-organization was a less fortunate development.