Autobiographical Sketch

Chance has been the primary determinant of entry into the field of industrial and organizational psychology, at least among "older" I-O psychologists. This was a conclusion reached by Ross Stagner in a1981 article in the American Psychologist, in which he summarized the autobiographies of 13 former presidents of APA's Division 14. Chance certainly accounted for my entry into this profession. I had never heard the field until I served as a flight Instructor in the U.S. Navy during World War II. At several of the naval bases where I was stationed, psychologists were conducting rcscarch on the selection and training of aviators. I became interested in their work because I had felt that the accepted approach to teaching cadets to fly could certainly not be the most effective approach. Almost all instructors used only aversive reinforcement. They seemed determined to instill in the mind of each trainee that he was probably the stupidest and most uncoordinated person who ever entered flight training.