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THESIS

This is to certify that the

thesis entitled

Fatigue as a Function of Situational

Variables--An Experimental Study of Some

Non-Energistio Factors in the Pnenomenon
of Tiring

presented bg
Robert S. Ramsay

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

_£llD__ degree in m0 gy

W:

Major professor

Date Mala“ ~l‘15‘b.
r

0-169

 

 

FATIGUE AS A FUNCTION OF SITUATIONAL VARIABLES
--AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF SOME NON-ENERGISTIC
FACTORS IN THE PHENOMENON OF TIRING

By
Robert S. Ramsay

Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Michigan
State College of Agriculture and Applied Science
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Psychology

Year 1955

 

THL-lsiéi

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was carried out under the super-
vision of Dr. S. Howard Bartley who gave unreservedly
of his energies and faith. The author wishes to humbly
acknowledge Prefessor Bartley's uncounted contributions.

He would also acknowledge the helpful criticisms
of Dr. Donald M. Johnson and the other members of the
guidance committee, Drs. Dietze, Marshall, and Lawson.

To Dr. William D. Baten for mathematical counsel
and Dr. Donald Hayworth for the use of the facilities
of his plastics plant, the writer is also indebted.

The subjects for this study were secured through
the gracious cooperation of Dr. Walter R. Fee and that
of two of his staff members, Drs. Kidd, and Hendrickson.
To them, the investigator would like to extend his
thanks.

Prof. Charles Norford, Mr. Nolan Bishop, Mr.
Tracy Halsey, Mr. Larry Bernstein, and others of the
audio-visual staff were characteristically kind, and
helpful.

IndisPensable assistance in producing tables
and photographic illustrations came from Mr. William
Carver, Mr. David Krupka, and Mr. Thomas Andrews. To
them, and to the others who aided but are not mentioned
here, the writer extends his thanks.

This work is dedicated to two persons,--the
author's wife, Ruth Ann Ramsay, who helped in ways too
numerous to recall, and for whom the precise and care-
ful typing was the labor of love-~and his daughter,
Mary Louise Ramsay, whose patient waiting was a
continuing source of motivation.

ii

annqrv

Robert S. Ramsay
candidate for the degree of

Doctor of PhilOSOphy

Final examination, May 6, 1955, 8:00 A. M., Room 11
Psychology Building

Dissertation: Fatigue as a Function of Situational
Variables-~An Experimental Study of
Some Non-Energistic Factors in the
Phenomenon of Tiring

Outline of Studies

Major subject: Psychology
Minor subject: Philosophy

Biographical Items
Born, April 5, 1920, Amsterdam, Ohio
Undergraduate Studies, Muskingum College, 1939-42

Graduate Studies, University of Kansas, 1946-1948,
Michigan State College, 1951-55

Experience: USAAF, 1942-45
Instructor in Psychology, Anderson College,
1948-49, 1950-51
Instructor in Psychology, Michigan State
College, 1954-55
Senior Resident Advisor, West Shaw Hall,
Michigan State College, 1951-55

iii

FATIGUE AS A FUNCTION OF SITUATIONAL VARIABLES
;—AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF SOME NON-ENERGISTIC
FACTORS IN THE PHENOMENON OF TIRING

By
Robert S. Ramsay

AN ABSTRACT

Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Michigan
State College of Agriculture and Applied Science
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Psychology
Year 1955

 

A. PROBLEM

Individuals can feel tired and worn out without
seriously exerting themselves. In other circumstances
they may expend considerable energy and not feel tired.
Obviously tiredness may result from muscle-impairing
work, but it would appear that it may also occur under
conditions of little or no energy expenditure. This
study explores the development of fatigue in situations
designed to keep the tiredness of muscle impairment at

a minimum.
B. APPARATUS, PROCEDURE, AND DATA

Thirty-two subjects were individually employed
in the following context. The seated male subject made
appropriate verbal responses to simple rectilinear
figures which were projected onto a screen ten feet
before him.

The stimulus figure changed every three seconds.
This fact was recorded kymographically by way of im-
pulses from the projector's sound track. A similar
record was kept of the subject's reSponses by way of
an adapted carbon throat-microphone and the same relay
system. The latencies thus acquired were hand measured

and all of the standard statistics derived from them.

 

The subjects were divided into eight eXperi-'
mental groups, each of which was distinctively
"aligned" to a task which all groups performed in
common. This task consisted of responding verbally
to simple but meaningful geometric figures as one
displaced another on the screen at three-second
intervals. The task was designed to command attention,
provide opportunity for break-down of integrated effort,
and to consume little energy. Each subject was stopped
after 400 responses which constituted four times
through the endless film loop. He then provided a
retrospection on his tiredness at different stages of
the task. A mechanical "tiredness reporter" made it
possible for him to report tiredness during the test.
Observations were also available from the experimenter
and an assistant.

Numerous controls were established to under-
score and stabilize the effect of three non-energistic
independent variables: 1) the intensity of need to
do well on the task, 2) apparent distance in time
and energy to the proposed goal, and 5) degree of
knowledge of "appr0priate" mediating behaviors. These
variables were dichotomously presented as implied by
the 2x2x2 factorial design. The resulting experi-
mental groups represented various shadings of

favorable and unfavorable work-alignment.

vi

C. RESULTS

The need factor, whether or not significance
was attached to the individual's performance, had no
effect on the speed at which the subject worked or on
the error tendency of his work. It did, however,
significantly affect his reported tiredness, low need
producing greater feelings of tiredness. The distance
factor, the subject's estimate of the "cost" of the
task to himself, slowed up and scattered performance
significantly when the distance was remote. It also
contributed significantly to felt tiredness. The
definition factor, the structuring of mediating path-
ways, produced significantly slower responses and
greater dispersion and increased reported tiredness,
when presented unfavorably. Interaction between the
independent variables was conspicuously small.

Independent of experimental grouping, there
was a highly significant correlation between impover-
ished performance and reported tiredness. Those who
maintained relatively high effectiveness under adverse
task orientation often showed compensatory behaviors.
Subjective states seemed systematically affected by

the work situations.

vii

II.

III.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITIE PAGE C O C O O O O O O O O O O C O O O 1
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii

VITA O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 iii

ABSTRACT I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . viii

LIST OF TABLES O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 ix
LIST OF FIGURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

TOPIC OF THE RESEARCH . . . . . . . . . . . l

l. Generalized Statement of Aims . . l
2. Theoretical and Systematic Background . . l
5. More Specific Statement of Aims . . . . . l5
4. Antecedent and Contemporaneous Cognate

work 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 O 14

BODY OF THE EXPERIMENT . . . . . . . . . . . 21
l. Evolving an Experimental Treatment of the

Pr0blem O O O O O O O C O O O O O O O O 21
2. Instrumentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
5. Experimental Design . . . . . . . . . . . 52
4. Carrying out the Experiment . . . . . . . 41
5. Measurement of the Obtained Data . . . . 6O
6. Analysis of the Data . . . . . . . 65
7. Conclusions Based on the Experiment . . . 89

SUMMARY AND CRITIQUE OF THE EXPERIMENT . . . 92
1. That Which is Pointedly Indicated . . . . 92

2. Less Conclusive Results . . . . . 95
5. Qualitative Conclusions and Suggested
Results . . . .95
4. Critical Evaluation of Total Experiments 96
5. Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . 106
FOOTNOTES 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 112
BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ll4

viii

Table

Table

Table

Table

Table

Table

Table

Table

Table

Table

Table

II.

III.

IV.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

XI.

LIST OF TABLES

Design showing integrated origin

of eight factors accounted for in

the experiment . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Description of groups in relation

to experimental variables . . . . . . . 55
Some correlations between retrospective
and behavioral fatigue criteria . . . . 64

Frequency distribution of the response
latencies of 52 subjects . . . . . .66-67

Summary of responses to questions

about tiredness appearing on subjects'
retrospective reports . . . . . . . . . 68
Summary of basic measures derived
from analysis of reaction latency
data of 52 subjects . . . . . . . . . . 69
Median response times of eight groups
of subjects who performed the same
physical task under different in-
structional sets. . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Complete analysis of variance of
median response times of eight

groups of subjects who performed

the same physical task under

different instructional sets. . . . . .

7O

_ F-ratios obtained from analysis of

variance of objective measures shown
in columnar headings. . . . . . . . . . 71
F-ratios obtained from analysis of
variance of retrospective measures
shown in columnar headings . . . . .,. 71
Descriptive summary of use of two-

key tiredness reporter by 52 subjects

relative to instructional sets . . . . 80

ix

Table XII.

List of Tables (con-)

Number of subjects reporting various
conscious experiences relative to
experimental group . . . . . . . . . . 82

Table XIII. Average estimated mental wandering

of subjects receiving different in-
structional sets . . . . . . . . . . . 85

 

Figure

Figure

Figure

Figure

Figure

Figure

Figure

Figure

Figure

LIST OF FIGURES

Posed subject facing screen with
projection apparatus and throat
microphone in place . . . . . . . . .

Posed picture showing recording
apparatus in foreground, and
listener in background . . . . . . .

Visual targets projected onto.
screen as stimulus objects . . . . .

Example of Listener's Report . . . .

Report filled out by each subject
immediately following his per—
formance . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Plexiglass template used in measuring
subjects' re3ponse latencies . . . .

Work-sheet of recorded reSponse
latencies of one subject . . . . . .

"Variance analyzer" helpful in
determining between groups
variance . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Two-key tiredness reporter used
by subjects to record variations
in experienced tiredness . . . . . .

xi

24

25

28

55

56

61

62

73

78

I. THE TOPIC OF THE RESEARCH

l. Generalized Statement of Aims

The hypotheses projected and the experimenta-
tion reported in the work which is to follow have as
their aim the directed exploration of the broad human
problem--the onset and growth of the tiredness exper-
ience. This exploration will endeavor to show that
the tiredness experience can be a function of one's
personal orientation to his task rather than the
necessary result of the expenditure of significant
amounts of energy.

Prior to the formulation of more Specific
aims, a theoretical and systematic background needs
to be presented. Once this has been done the reader
will be in a better position to understand the more
narrowly defined hypotheses and the manner in which

the experimentation brings evidence to bear on them.

2. Theoretical and Systematic Background
In 1947 McGraw-Hill published a source-book
titled Fatigue and Impairment in Man. (1) It was
written by S. Howard Bartley and Eloise Chute working
on a grant from the Dartmouth Eye Institute. Many of
the basic suppositions underlying the research to be

subsequently presented are contained in this volume.

 

The book has as its primary purpose the draw-
ing of a utilizable distinction between fatigue and
impairment. It is hoped that workers in these fields
will thereby be aided in the avoidance of the confusion
which is said to result from the failure to make this
distinction. In the pursuit of this aim it brings
together a wealth of cognate research materials which
are intended to facilitate and guide research in this
area.

For a clear understanding of what is intended
by the terms "fatigue" and "impairment" let us turn to
the original work:.

'Fatigue as an unpleasant experience
has entered into the life of everyone.
For the one who is tired, the feelings
experienced are the fatigue. In spite
of this, the experience is taken as
merely incidental when attempts are made
to analyze and understand what is called
"fatigue." The very individual who ex-
periences fatigue and regulates his life
with it changes his whole outlook when he
steps into the laboratory, supposedly to
study fatigue. He forgets what he knows
about fatigue from personal experience
and attempts to measure human activity
solely as a roduct of a physiochemic
machine.’ (2§

By "impairment" is intended the notion that
exercise temporarily debilitates the muscles thereby
impairing their response potential.

'Perhaps the commonest notion is

that fatigue is closely related to exer-
tion. It is then simply attributed to

too much exertion or to the Lack of rest
or sleep. Fatigue is also taken as a
warning against supposed physiological
damage in the event of further energy
expenditure.‘ (5)

Yet another excerpt from Fatigue and

 

Impairment in Man will help to make clear the

 

distinction:

'Although it is known that
individuals seldom come near reaching
their energistic limits under any con-
ditions, it has not been systematically
recognized that the explanation of be-
havior must therefore lie in other than
energistic terms. Apparently it has not
been taken into account in theoretical
formulations that human activity is both
initiated and limited in accordance with
the demands the person puts upon him-
self. Thus in the consideration of
fatigue there has been a failure to see
that the individual's activity depends
upon his organization.‘ (4)

From theforegoing it may be summarily stated:
that the term 'fatigue' is used to denote a conscious
experience of tiredness which is likely to have
manifest effects upon one's behavior; that impair-
ment, on the other hand, is the temporary using up
of a muscle's reactive potential; and finally, that
fatigue can and does come to pass within an individual
at times when impairment is a palpable impossibility.
It is within the framework created by such a distinc—
tion that this thesis has been developed. It is in

the fact that a great deal of.tiredness develops

-4-

under conditions inappropriate to produce impairment
that this research finds its point of origin.

It is acknowledged by the authors of Fatigue
and Impairment in Man that their carefully drawn
opposition between fatigue and impairment flies in the
face of the ban on arm—chairing:

. . .The concept of fatigue that we have

developed arose from a broad, theoretical

view of the organism, which might be termed

"over-all" or "holistic." The course of

our thinking necessarily led us to formu-

lations that still await experimental

corroboration. It is our h0pe that the
systematic presentation we have made will

both inspire and direct empirical investi-
gation. (5)

It should be clearly understood by the reader
that this dissertation does not represent an effort
to defend the manifold nuances unfolded in Fatigue
and Impairment in Man. Rather, it is the reporting
of a study which was conceived and developed within
the basic framework of Bartley's views as expressed
in the above—named handbook. So that the reader who
has not yet acquainted himself with the content and
flavor of Fatigue and Impairment in Man may gain a
more direct sense of comprehension, a portion of it
is reproduced below. The function of the excerpt is
well explained in its first paragraph.

'The following items, in stating what

fatigue is and is not, are intended as
ways of defining the term, and also, by

implication, as ways of stating the errors
or shortcomings of the more conventional
viewpoints. In many cases, our affirmative
assertions imply that the negative is
customarily taken for granted, and our
negatives imply the existence of the
affirmative in prevalent opinion.

1. Fatigue and impairment are not
identical. When both exist at once, tHey
can be separated. An individual may be
fatigued withofit being impaired and im-
paired without being fatigued. There is
no need to deduce impairment to account
for fatigue. The necessity for distinguish-
ing between fatigue and impairment has never
been fully recognized. Various patterns of
emphasis of either one or the other appear
in the literature, but the two have remained
indistinguishably intertwined. The failure
to make this distinction has perhaps been
primary in precluding a complete systematic
treatment of fatigue.

 

 

2. Fatigue is not to be measured_gy
measuring impairment. ince the two are
not identical, the closest relation they
might have is that of a one-to-one corres-
pondence. Such a simple relation, however,
does not exist. No fatigue can be deduced
or imputed from a measure of impairment.
Customary thinking has failed to recognize
the discreteness of the two terms.

 

Frequently, either of two assumptions
underlies studies of fatigue: (1) that
fatigue is impairment as we defined it, or
(2) that the impairment is a sign of fatigue.
That fatigue is not impairment has already
been shown. It is equally wrong to assume
that impairment is a sign of fatigue. Even
if it were, the two items would have to have
a fixed relation for the sign to be of use,
and this is not the case.

5. Unlike impairment, fatigue is always
directly experienced--i.e., it is an
experience.

4. Fatigue is a part of the individual's
stance wiffi reference to activity, whether

the activity is vigorous exertion, the
assumption of an attitude toward a prOposi-
tion, the maintenance of posture, or merely
the need for staying awake, etc. Fatigue
involves aversion and a feeling of unwilling-
ness and inadequacy for activity. This
aversion, when analyzed, can be seen to

arise out of personal conflict and to be an
expression of frustration.

5. Fatigue is a manifestation of
personal continuity. The immediate situation
does not contain all the origins of the
fatigue of a given moment. The conditions
for present fatigue can be traced to previous
occasions in which circumstances were more
crucial and evoked responses that have led
to the specific ways of acting exemplified
in the present. Habit formation accounts
in part for the character of present re-
actions, including not only the unpleasant
experiential components, but also the systemic
bodily reactions.

 

 

6. Fatigue is personal. Fatigue per-
tains to the individual as a whole. Fatigue
is consistent with the individual's ideals,
goals, etc., and with his evaluation of
himself. Conditions for fatigue are unique
to the individual. The dynamics of fatigue
cannot be adequately described in other than
personal terms.

7. Fatigue is an outcome of confligp.
The organization of the individual is net so
simple as to constitute singleness of desire
or tendency. Conflicts are constantly de-
veloping, and at any one time many conflicts
exist in an individual. Conflict cannot be
avoided in active situations, and conflict
thwarts action. Many conflicts find resolu-
tion in appropriate action, others are very
poorly resolved, and still others fail to
find resolution at all. Pervasive bodily
discomfort is one of the most frequent
outcomes. Following its onset the individual
becomes increasingly certain of the
appropriateness of changing his present
behavior. When relief of bodily discomfort
is prevented and action is thwarted, fatigue
commonly develops.

At the termination of specific activity,
fatigue may disappear suddenly or slowly.
Whether or not the overt termination of
activity represents the actual abandonment of
the task determines the outcome. When
fatigue has been induced, certain bodily
readjustments are required in order that
comfort be regained. If, while this transi-
tion is in progress, the individual remains
concerned with the task, the fatigue remains.
On the other hand, to the degree that the
individual can forget the task and feel free
of obligation to do anything requiring effort,
the bodily feelings will not be experienced
as inadequacies.

8. Fatigue is not to be confused with
boredom. “Frequently when fatigue is used
synonymously with impairment, the experi-
ential aspect of the individual's response
to certain situations is termed "boredom."
Introspection reveals that a bored individual
attributes his state to environmental events,
whereas a fatigued individual lays the blame
for his condition on himself. It is felt
that merely escaping the situation will
alleviate boredom and that it is therefore
more transient than fatigue. It might be
said that both boredom, and fatigue are
stances taken by the individual toward
situations confronted. Fatigue, however, is
by far the broader term. While boredom may
form a part of the fatigue picture, the
reverse is not possible.

9. Fatigue is cumulative. Fatigue
arises at a level of organization which must
be dealt with in terms that reach beyond the
immediate situation. Fatigue developed on
one occasion is likely to be revived when a
similar occasion arises.

lO. Fatigue's onset and recover ma be
sudden. While impairment is a condi¥ion tEat
Is more or less gradually reached and recovered
from, this is not always the case with fatigue.
It is common knowledge that individuals do
suddenly feel tired and quite as quickly ex-
perience release from fatigue. Fatigue can
come and go nearly as rapidly as an individual
is able to shift from one frame of mind to a

different one.

11. The concept of fatigue pertains to
organization. What the organism does orifhils
to‘do can be largely accounted for on the
basis of the principles of its organization.
Fatigue is a kind of behavior of the organism
which is to be understood primarily in terms
of organization. One purpose of the analysis
of fatigue is to further the understanding of
the relations of different organismic functions
to each other and to the environment. The
factor of organization is particularly critical
in the study of fatigue, since this stance
always involves internal contradiction.

12. Fatigue does not crucially de end
upon energy expenditure. Confusion o a igue
with impairment, and the common practice of
comparing men and machines, have contributed
to the perpetuation of the energy idea of
fatigue. Fatigue, contrary to the usual under-
standing of it, is not to be considered in
terms of energy. Energy of course is involved,
but the crucial determinant of fatigue is
organization.

15. Fati ue is never specific to a given
bod member. It, in other words, is never
IocaIIzed, but is general. Bodily sensations,
such as feelings of discomfort, can, of course,

be localized, but it is only the individual as
such that can experience fatigue.

14. Fatigue is not to be defined or analyz-

ed in terms 0 s suppose origins, nor on e
Basis of function involved. Ittis very common
for fatigue to be classified as "mental fatigue,"
"nervous fatigue," "muscular fatigue," "combat
fatigue," "operational fatigue," "convoy fatigue"
etc. These terms connote the situations under
which fatigue is supposed to have developed, or
the function or both that are supposedly over-
worked.

Occasions for the production of fatigue
are, of course, endless, but fatigue produced
in one situation has an essential similarity
with fatigue produced in any other. Fatigue
cannot be defined in terms of diversity of
external situations in which it occurs.

Although fatigue may arise in the course of
many different kinds of activity, it retains
its own unique identity. Fatigue occurring
during muscular activity is essentially
similar to fatigue occurring in the course of
mental activity. Classification in terms of
part function of the individual not only
‘ denies the unity of the organism, but also

throws little if any light on the nature of

fatigue.‘ (6)

What are the implications of such a distinc-
tion for experimentation? What demands would have to
be met and experimental conditions contrived in order
to address a study to a maximal number of pertinent
issues?

First it might be opined that the subjects of
such an experiment should be asked to $2 something.
This thing to do, the task, should be so manipulable
as to assure the essential equation of energy expendi—
ture from subject to subject while permitting the
ready control of such experimental variables as
emphasize, for example, personal organization and task
orientation, and which depend upon energy expenditure
not primarily but only incidentally and in a non-
crucial manner. A specific example of what is more
fully connoted by this is to be found on pages 21—22
in the section titled "Evolving and experimental
treatment of the problem."

The topic to be taken up at this immediate

point is a Lewinian conception of motivation. It

-10-

is a moot issue in the mind of the writer whether the

ideational content of Fatigue and Impairment in Man,

 

or the train of thought found in the views to be
presented herewith, is primarily responsible for the
form which the present experiment has taken.

Lewin, who died in 1947 while serving as
professor of psychology in the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, will be recognized by those conversant
with the field as a "topologist" who spoke in terms
of "life-space" and who cherished a long time ambition
which called for the develOpment of a "vector psy-
chology." Lewin was an early Gestalt psychologist
with a penchant for the discovery and creation of new
ways of thinking and of approaching old and hard-to-
handle problems. It will not call for anything like
a full introduction to the Lewinian position in order
to communicate that aSpect of his thinking which is
applicable to the problem of fatigue as it is here
approached. It should also be noted that the ration-
ale of "motivation" about to be presented comes in-
directly by way of Roger G. Barker, a student of
Lewinian methods and interests. (7,8)

A motive is a particular need—goal combination.
Such an assertion, flatly made and left undevelOped,

would remain indeed oracular. Let us examine what

-11-

the topologist making such a proposition intends.

The need component of a motive refers to the
pressing disposition of an individual to respond
selectively and directionally to sensible objects
or events in his life-space. Needs may have apparent
biological bases and may be thought of crudely as
resulting from departures from a biologically defined
homeostatic equilibrium. Needs may also be learned,
as evidenced by the divergency of the powerful con-
formity needs which all of us acquire by virtue of
our contacts with society. Still other needs are
acquired by the individual in the course of his life
which are so unique to his own experience as to be
very difficult for other people to understand. These
last two classes of needs are not easy to explain in
terms of the biological mechanisms which mediate them
and give them behavior-determining potency. It is
speculative but plausible, to assume that the facts
of the neurophysiology of learning are their "thing
level" correlates.

A 5221 is any object, event, or set of con-
ditions, which bears such a relationship to an
individual's need structure as will elicit some
directional re3ponse, i.e. some sort of psychological
locomotion orientated to the attainment of the goal.

It is held that the reaching of the goal reduces the

-12-

urgency of the need. Goals are points in psychological
time-space toward which one "moves" according to prin-
ciples laid down by his need constitution.

The acting out of particular need-goal combin-
ations involves the traversing of pagh_. Put into less
picturesque language this means that motives are
enacted by means of distinctive bits of behavior.

There are numerous different paths which may be
followed in the acting out of any motive. To say that
only one course of action is appropriate would probably
be an unimaginative error in almost any behavioral
context.

These three foregoing concepts are necessary
to the understanding of the behavior of the motivated
individual. Deepite all of the many ways in which one
picture of motivation differs from another, this
remains the crucial common core: an organism possessed
of a given need, sets about the task of reaching by way
of a certain course of action, a goal which is in some
way suited to that need. This is a most basic general—
ization. It is easy to see how manipulation of needs,
the goals, and the pathways might affect the behavior
and feelings of the goal—seeking organism.

The reader should now be in a position to
understand why this conceptual framework is suited for

the manipulation of variables which are more related

-15-

to personal organization and task orientation than
they are to exertion factors. The precise form which
such "non-energistic" factors take is more fully and
specifically elaborated on pages 55-54 and again on
page 44, at which points the broad picture of the

conceptual plan of the experiment is developed.

5. More Specific Statement of Aims

In the light of the foregoing background
material it is now possible to more clearly state the
aims of this research. The primary objective is the
experimental demonstration of the essentially non-
energistic nature of fatigue. This will entail the
setting up of experimental conditions which will
amplify the impact of situational variables while
holding as constant as possible the influence of
factors rooted in the utilization of energy.

A secondary objective, directed more to
matters of theory, is to demonstrate the suitability
of Lewinian constructs for this study, and thus, by
intimation, for others like it.

Related to this secondary objective is the
wish to show that variables capable of achieving
marked significance may sometimes require expression
in abstract form.

Another second-order objective is the indica-

tion of a degree of identification between subjective

-14-

and objective fatigue criteria. By this is intended

the notion that if fatigue is a conscious experience

having behavioral concomitants, one should be able to
find a significant relationship between dependent

variables expressed in both of these modalities.

4. Antecedent and Contemporaneous Cognate Work

At this point, the dissertation digresses
briefly to present to the reader a representation of
related research. The course of such a deviation
should illustrate why the Bartley-Chute distinction
has been made, and should point to why the present
research was undertaken.

The lack of unique meaning of the term
"fatigue" has long been an object of concern to care-
ful workers and critical thinkers. Muscio's well
known objections appeared thirty-four years ago. (9)
The book, Fatigue and Impairment in Man, made an
issue of retrieving generic univocality for the term.

That was in 1947 and, although busy and
astute workers acknowledge the text and make some of
its pronouncements their own, its precepts have not
yet made a serious dent on experimentation. Researches
which call themselves "of fatigue" appear on many
fronts and from within many disciplines, rarely
making more than an implicit and ambiguous acknowledg-

ment of the distinction between fatigue and impairment.

-15-

A British organization, the Ergonomics
Research Society, draws fatigue conclusions from the
fountainheads of tropical medicine, public health,
inanition, one's surrounds, the aging problem, hygiene,
muscular potentials, production engineering, poor
lighting. satiation, frustration, and alertness
measures also bear fatigue designations. Applied
physiologists, human anatomists, experimental psycho-
logists, medical doctors, and practical industrial
psychologists all do "fatigue" research, although
they are frequently far apart in what they mean. (10)

The foregoing paragraphs suggest that a clear
distinction between fatigue and impairment is still a
long way from being a functioning reality.

It is not the purpose of this digression to
catalogue all of the studies which are conceivably
related to its theme. By indirection the number
which might bear such relationship would reach into
the hundreds. The reader who possesses such an
interest will find a monumental effort to pull such
cognate materials together in Fatigue and Impairment
in Man. Even at that it is a selective source-book
from which numerous studies judged by the authors as
conceptually empty, non-crucial, or duplications of
better works, have been omitted. This book forms an

adequate reference up until the year of its

-16-

publication, which was 1947.

As far back as Dodge's 1917 investigation of
eye—movements the observation was made that pure
ergographic reports, the concept of work-decrement,
are inadequate and inappropriate to picture fatigue,

and that evidence of disorganized effort may be seen

 

creeping into the so—called ergographic records. (11)

A few years later Bills showed by way of his
color naming experiments that blocks, presumably
representing growing disorganization and inefficiency,
seem to characterize repetitive effort calling for
coordinated behavior. (12)

In 1957, Baker was at work showing the way
that pre-experimental set could differentially affect
overt behavior. He demonstrated that suggestions as
to the distracting potency of dance music played at
a level of 70 decibels would have a significant in-
fluence on the work done by the several experimental
groups. (l5)

Krueger, 1957, went so far as to make a pre-
experimental set issue out of the magnitude of the
task which the subject anticipated doing. He found
that people working toward near goals would work more
simple arithmetic problems per minute than those work-

ing toward remote goals. (14)

-17-

Robert Schwab of the Harvard medical school
goes him one step better in constructing a portable
ergograph which makes it possible for him to study
motivation in the measurement of fatigue. (15)

In his experiment the subject squeezes a
rubber bulb until he feels tired and stOps. This
point of stopping is unique to the individual and the
experimenter endeavors to examine three complex
variables: 1) individual differences from subject to
subject; 2) variation in the same person on different
days or under altered circumstances; 5) different
incentives or levels of motivation. The reader will
note that this experiment is cast along Bartleyan
lines. It does not, however, try to avoid exertion
as a critical issue nor does it approach fatigue from
within a consistent theoretical framework.

Barmack, 1957, the boredom worker, identifies
his phenomenon with "inadequate motivation." (16)
The reader will note in the pages to come how the
present experimenter elaborates the notion of motiva-
tion in this connection.
‘ Earlier boredom workers, Wyatt, Fraser, and
Stock made similar assertions about improper motiva-
tion in 1929. (17)

Cassell and Dallenbach showed that one's

"attitude" was capable of affecting simple sensory

-18..

reactions. (18)

George Wald, a member of the 1959 Symposium
of Visual Fatigue, in summarizing the research brought
to the fore in that context said, in part, ". . . a
subject's simple statement that he is fatigued is a
primary datum, and very much more reliable than any
measurement yet suggested in this symposium." (19)

With the exception of Schwab these references
have been to work and thought produced prior to 1947.
The reader can see that some interest had developed
in the direction of the manipulation of situational
variables.

Since 1947 the direction of research in
fatigue has changed but little if at all. The notion
that fatigue is directly and necessarily bound up in
energy expenditure is deeply imbedded in our culture.
Schwab's research emphasizing individual differences
was atypical.

More traditional and in line with common
interest is the article by Bartlett which acts as
the keynote for the volume containing the 1952
Symposium on Fatigue sponsored by the Ergonomics
Research Society at the College of Aeronautics in
Cranfield, England. In this article fatigue-impair-
ment distinctions are either esoterically or generally

alluded to in such a way as to leave with one the

-19-

. reductionistic suggestion that there are no real
qualitative differences between the two. (20)

Other contributors to the same symposium,
Eagles, Halliday, and Redfearn, utilize the distinc-
tion.

. . As emphasized by Bartley and Chute

(1947), the use of the word "fatigue"

plunges both author and reader into a

semantic morass. It is not our present

intention to write a disputation in
philOSOphy, but to report the outcome

of certain experiments as simply as

possible. We shall therefore . . .
and they go on to explain that their research is a
study of the effects of exertion and sleep depriva-
tion on tremor. (21)

In fairly recent times several workers have
stressed in a theoretical, structuring way the sorts
of ideas advanced in Fatigue and Impairment in Man.
There is no need to give them detailed treatment in
this dissertation.

Carmichael suggests a re-evaluation of the
relationship between work, fatigue, and socially
determined motivation. He says, in effect, that all
life-space variables need to be included in the full
fatigue picture. (22) This is in harmony with the
tenets of Fatigue and Impairment in Man. His implicit
approach to the matter however is shown by some of his

recent researches having in them, for example: six

hours continuous reading, three days of tracking with

-20-

brief and irregular rest periods, testing reaction and
steadiness after fifty sleepless hours, organizational
failure with three days sleep deficit. (25) Experi-
ments such as these are scarcely designed to keep
impairment a non-crucial issue.

Shanda, et a1. (1952), whose interest in
fatigue is clinically orientated, asserts that ". . .
fatigue is a danger signal closely related to anxiety;
the behavior indicated by the signal, fatigue, is that
of desisting." (24) Those familiar with the content
of Fatigue and Impairment in Man will recognize such
a sentiment if not almost the terminology.

From the material just presented it is clear
that, although most so-called fatigue research is
postulated upon notions of exertion, spasmodic
attention has been given throughout the years to the
way in which the individual is aligned to his task.
The present research, to which the attention of the
reader will be redirected in a moment, has as its
purpose the making of a lucid theoretical issue out

of this factor of personal task alignment.

II. BODY OF THE EXPERIMENT

l. Evolving an Experimental Treatment of the
Problem
It is clear that if the conditions are to be
met which are implied by the intention of the experi-
ment, numerous demands, some of which may be very hard
to meet, will be made of the vehicle constructed for
the purpose of providing the critical data. This
leaves the investigator with a pressing question:
What is an optimal task for these purposes? How
would it meet the demands implied by its intended use?
First, the context should suggest limited
impairment so that the onset of fatigue might appear
feasible, i.e. be suggested as a likely outgrowth of
the activity. However, the physical demands of the
task should be so slight as to keep actual impairment
at a minimum.
The task should be of middle range difficulty
so that it will remain a psychologically real task.

Excesses in the direction of ease or difficulty might

cause subjects to becOme involved in the implicit

manipulation of problems other than those which the

experiment has set upon them.

-22....

It must be conceptually rich and flexible
enough to permit ready manipulation.

It must not permit the appreciable presence
of factors leading to fatigue distortions such as
boredom, satiation, or excessive anxiety. In the
subsequent descriptions of the task situation which
has been evolved, these and other conditions will be
shown in the form of the precautions taken either to
insure or avoid them, as the case demands.

The task situation, or the experimental con-
text, is one in which carefully chosen subjects, being
processed individually, are asked to make appropriate
verbal responses to geometric figures as they appear
bradyscopically on a screen which is comfortably
situated in the frontal plane. These figures number
ten, and they appear one at a time in a "randomized"
sequence until a film loop of 100 targets has been
run through.

The required performance is one of super—
ficially simple visual-vocal coordination which calls
for a "selective reaction". In actuality it is not so
simple. The opportunities for disorganized and in-

effective performance are high and continually

pressing.

-25-

2. Instrumentation

Turning to the pictures on pages 24 and 25
one sees in the first instance a male subject seated
comfortably, back to the camera, facing a small screen
situated at the end of a narrow room. To his left and
slightly behind him is a movie projector. It is
apparent that this projector is not equipped with
conventional reels. The film feeds off of, and then
back onto, a single spool. To the subject's throat
is attached a carbon micrOphone of World War II vintage.

All of that which appears in Figure 2 is
arranged behind and to the right of the subject. In
it an observer is seen keeping a running account of
both the general and specific behaviors of the subject.
In the foreground is a battery box, the various
elements of which provide the power boosts required
to activate the styli which are attached to the
clearly visible kymograph. .In the background, in
addition to the free-running device which releases
the waxed marking paper, there is a voice-activated
relay system. Thus the global picture is one of
visual targets being presented on a screen, a sub-
ject responding to them, and a reaction latency being
kymographically recorded under the watchful super-

vision of the experimenter and another observer.

-34-

 

Fig. l. Tosed subject facing screen with projection
apparatus and throat microphone in place

-25-

 

Fig. 2. IOSed picture showing recording apparatus
in foreground, and listener in background

-26-

The following is an orderly and detailed
rendition of the instrumentation of the experiment.
The first part considers the problems involved in the
presentation of the stimulus. On page 28 the reader
will find a pictorial representation of the visual
targets used. Each target was drawn on 8 x 11 white
semi-matte paper using black India ink. Each target
was designed to subtend approximately equal retinal
areas. Each had to lend itself to being aptly
designated by a single-syllable abrupt word so as to
facilitate the recording of the response. The absence
of curvilinear components will also be noticed.
Beyond these considerations the selection of targets
for photographing was somewhat arbitrary. An effort
was made to keep them sufficiently dissimilar to
control excessive tendencies toward stimulus
generalization.

Having decided upon what the ten stimulus
objects should be, they were arranged in a staggered
sequence so that each would be presented ten times
in the course of one hundred stimulus presentations.

Given the following number-word equivalents
l-tree, 2-box, 5-wedge, 4-hat, 5-flag, 64book, 7-house,
8-bow, 9-pot, lO-cross, the endless film-loop
presented the visual targets in the following

sequence which should be read left to right:

-27-

1 2 5 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2 4 _ 6 8 10 1 3 5 7 9
5 6 9 2 5 8 1 4 7 10
4 8 2 6 10 5 7 l 5 9
5 10 6 1 7 2 s 3 9 4
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 5 2 1
9 7 5 5 1 10 8 6 4 2
10 7 4 l 8 5 2 9 6 5
9 5 4 7 5 10 6 2 8 4
9 5 8 2 7 1 6 10 5

It will be seen that no symbol precedes one symbol
more than any other. This precaution was taken to
control opportunities for learning by way of associa-
tive reinforcement.

Placing the targets one at a time in a photo
easel, forty-eight single-frame exposures were taken
of each one in the order previously described. When
this film was processed and printed there was a
length of film extending through 4800 frames. One
end was securely Spliced to the other so as to create
an endless film loop.

The endless film loop makes possible the
repetitive showing of any sequence of film without
the necessity of rewinding. It also eliminates the

need for stopping and lends itself thereby to

-28-

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-29-

experimental situations in which such features are
desirable.

The projector was run at silent speed, 16
frames per second, so that a single run through the
film loop required five minutes.

So that the time of onset of each new stimulus
would be accurately recorded, the sound track of the
film was put to use in the following manner. Twenty-
six frames before each change of pattern a flattened
V-shaped opening was cut longitudinally into the
sound track. Over an acoustic system such a device
results in the emission of "blooP"-like sounds. The
practice is in fact called "blooping" by commercial
photographers. Fed into a "voice-key" this electrical
impulse serves to indicate the onset of each new
stimulus. This impulse was transmitted by way of the
stylus to the kymographic paper.

Now that the stimulus has been accounted for,
and the fact of its occurrence recorded on paper, let
us turn to the making of the response.

Each subject was instructed to make a distinct
verbal response to each of the stimuli. The responses
required of some of the subjects are found on page 28.

A throat microphone, neatly and comfortably
adjusted to the thyroid cartilage, was activated by

the reverberation of each verbal response. These

-50-

impulses were, in a manner similar to the impulses
from the sound track, channeled through the voice-
activated relay and finally onto the kymographic
paper, thus providing the second element of a reaction
latency.

Crystal microphones were tried but were found
to be unsatisfactory in that they picked up too many
room noises which made for erratic and unreliable
latency records. The carbon microphone presented
yet another problem since its impedance was so low
in comparison to that of the voice-key. This was
circumvented by way of the interjection of a small
transformer and a single dry cell between the
microphone and the voice-key.

Having presented the significant aspects of
stimulus and response, the next issue to be consider-
ed is a more detailed account of how both were
recorded.

Central to the recording of both stimulus and
response was the voice-activated relay, or "voice-
key." The physical correlates of both stimulus and
response were transmitted to the kymographic record
by way of it. These impulses were fed in at a common
input jack by way of a "mini-mixer". This tiny
instrument is clearly visible in the picture on

page 25.

-31-

One of the input jacks on the mini-mixer
was directly connected to the audio-system of the
projector. It would be well to note at this point
that since the exciter-lamp of the modern Bell and
Howell is automatically shut off at silent speed, it
required a slight rewiring of the projector before
this could be done. The other input jack belonged
to the carbon-microphone response system.

The voice relay was of local manufacture
having been constructed in recent years by the school
of electrical engineering for the purpose of carry-
,ing out psychological experiments.

Control of amplification of the input was
possible at the mini-mixer and in the voice-key. It
was also possible to control the output from the
projector. This made it possible to run through the
numerous subjects and rarely miss the recording of
either a stimulus or a response.

The Phipps and Bird continuous-feed kymograph
drew the wax-surfaced paper under the styli at a
rate of slightly more than seventeen millimeters per
second, which is the approximate equivalent of fifty-
one millimeters from stimulus to stimulus.

The onsets of both stimulus and response
were recorded by the stylus toward the center of the

picture, page 25. The other two styli were connected

-52-

to a small black box, a tiredness reporter, which
was situated before the subject. By means of this
two-key system he was able to report perceived
changes in tiredness as the experiment progressed.
This will be described in greater detail in sections
four and five of Part II.

In addition to the materials thus far
described considerable use was found for various
paper forms. They were used to establish set,
gather subjective data, trace the progress of the
subject during the actual experiment, and record
necessary quantitative materials. These forms will

be introduced and illustrated at appropriate times.

5. Experimental Design

Under this general heading it becomes
necessary to distinguish two different ideas, that
of conceptual design as contrasted with statistical
design.

The conceptual design behind this experiment
was cast in the mold of the motivational theory
presented a few pages earlier and is attuned to the
issues theorized upon in Fatigue and Impairment in
Map.

The reader will recall that the behavior of

the motivated organism is contingent upon given

-53-

needs, goals appropriate to these needs, and path-
ways which must be traversed in the achievement of
the goals. This means that it is possible for a
worker who wishes to experimentally manipulate these
abstractions to list gggg variables, mediational
variables, and ggal variables. The table on page 54
portrays in simplified form, eight potential variables
from within the general areas of need, mediation, and
goal. Each of these specific variables is capable of
making a motivational difference. The reader will
note that motivation thus conceived is considerably
more of an integrated entity than when thought of as
equatable with what is often called drive.

The general idea is that appropriate varia-
tions in any of these specific variables will modify
the effectiveness of one's goal directed activity and
affect not only one's task adequacy but one's pg;-
ception of his adequacy, as well.

Let us proceed through these variables in the
order in which they are listed, indicating which are
to be held constant and which are to be cast as
experimental variables. In the process, the query
will be considered as to why those particular ones
selected as variables were selected rather than the

others.

-34-

TABLE I

DESIGN SHOWING INTEGRATED ORIGIN
OF EIGHT FACTORS ACCOUNTED FOR
IN THE EXPERIMENT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

General Specific Role Explanation
. How strong is one's
Inten31ty var need to perform?
NEED
How long has this
Age cons need existed?
How well understood
Cognitive var are the paths to the
goal?
. Is one able to enact
MEDIATION Motoric cons the requisite behaviors?
Extra- Does anything outside
subjective cons of the person block
him?
Personal- 18 the goal unusually
adaptedness cons meaningful to the in-
dividual?
ICan one tell when and
GOAL Clarity cons if the goal has been
reached?
How far is it in time
Distance var and energy expenditure
to the goal?

 

 

 

-55-

The first one, need intensity, is to this
theoretical position what drive (D) is to Hull.
Although it is quantifiable in terms of "more than"
and "less than" it does not lend itself to neat
additive formulation. Unlike white rats, the human
organism is most driven, short of concentration-camp
type varieties of deprivation, by needs arising from
social pressures and self-conceptions.

Thus, since need intensity has been selected
as one of the experimental variables, the plan is to
create in some subjects a considerably higher need to
perform the task than in others.

The age of the need may also be important.
Old and fixed personality needs might well drive
behavior more persistently than needs recently im-
posed by a shop foreman, or a school teacher. This
variable would be most readily discerned as critical
to motivation in instances where one man's history,
relative to the task, differed uniquely from that of
another. Thus the only way out in the present experi—
ment was to introduce all of the subjects to a new
neutral and impersonal kind of task in which the need
to do well would be minimally conditioned by previous
experience. This decision, in as much as it tends to

control elements which might otherwise operate random-

ly in the need context makes of need-age a constant--

-55-

even if an imperfect one. The reason for contriving
this and other constants lies in the fact that all
variation stemming from uncontrolled sources serves to
mask and conceal the variance deriving from the ex-
perimental variables.

The cognitive mediational variable addresses
by its nature the fact that a person may either possess
or lack a knowledge of how to enact the procedures
leading to the attainment of the goal. The pathways
may be very well or very poorly structured, or
structured to any degree lying between these two
extremes. In the present experiment this, too, is an
experimental variable. Some subjects are clearly
instructed as to what behaviors are expected of them
along the way; others are left in such a position
that the pathways are not well defined.

The precise form which all of these variables
take in the experiment, which is to say, their opera-
tional definition, appears mid-way through Part II,
Section 4.

The motoric mediational variable alludes to
the notion that it is possible to be obstructed in
one's goal—directed activity by inabilities to enact
the requisite behaviors. This is a constant for the
purposes of our experiment and is acknowledged by the

experimenter‘s refusal to accept subjects having

-57-

speech impediments or vision not corrected to 20-20.

Of lesser threat to the integrity of the pre-
dominantly visual-vocal task are such factors as age
and sex. However, only male subjects between the
ages of 17 and 25 were accepted.

Extra-subjgctive mediational variables are
potentially unlimited in number since the concept
refers to the possible presence of forces outside of
and beyond the subject which might block his progress
to the goal. Naturally, this factor is held constant
in our experiment. No barrier of any kind is present
in the experimental environs which will block the
performance of any member or element of the group.

Moving now to goal variables let us consider
the adaptedness of specific goals to specific subjects.
It seems apparent that what is a proper and meaningful
goal for one man need not be for another. It seems
unlikely that a task can ever be completely imposed
from without, with the certain knowledge that the
person assigned it is doing that which the assigner
intended. A task that is too simple will induce
distractibility which, with its orientation to other
peripheral non-specified tasks, will cause the
emergence of artifacts in behavioral measures and a

corollary fluctuation in subjective feelings.

-58-

Making a task too difficult has the same
effect, although an overlay of anxiety would be more
likely to occur in the latter context if the need to
achieve were intense.

Therefore, although it is a laboratory con-
dition which one rarely finds in naturalistic settings,
this factor has been made into a constant. A task had
to be contrived which was of middle-range difficulty,
so easy that any normal person could do it accurately
and yet hard enough that mental wandering as a
possible adjustive reaction would be very seriously
curtailed.

Also, since the task should tap no deep well
of personal significance, it had to be prosaic
though somewhat interesting at the same time.

The clarity of the goal is the next factor
listed. Here is pointed up the possibly existent
condition of the individual's not knowing if he has
or has not completed the task set for him. The
person who has no clear picture of what constitutes
reaching the point of task completion is in a con-
spicuously different situation than one who has this
structure. For the purposes of this experiment task-
completion was plainly spelled out for all subjects

so that it became a constant factor.

_59-

The last factor in the motivational complex
developed here is concerned with the perceived
distance to the goal. How much, in time and/or
energy, is it going to cost the organism to achieve
task completion? Is the cost too much, or is it well F1}
within the reach of the individual? It was assumed r I

in this experiment that these questions are being

 

asked either implicitly or explicitly at all times

.vA

1’ 1. A

by goal-orientated peOple. In the present experiment-
al context this was made into a variable with some
subjects being started toward goals that were much
more remote than the goals of other subjects.

Thus, the experimental picture was one of
three variables played in dual roles, being steadied
and accentuated by the relative fixedness of five
constants. The factor of need intensity will at
times hereafter be simply designated Need or (N);
the cognitive factor will be called definition or
(d) because the pathways to the goal are defined to
different degrees of precision; the goal factor of
distance will be called Distance or (D).

The reader is again reminded that the exact
Operational definitions of these variables are to
come in the next section.

The general hypothesis was that the factors of

high need, clear definition, and near distance would

-40-

1egislate to make the worker feel adequate and
actually perform more efficiently whether he was
explicitly aware of their presence or not. Conversely,
it was supposed that operating under low need, or with
ambiguous definition of pathways, or toward remote
goals, would diminish a person's adequacy, both real
and felt, and would legislate to lessen feeling tone

and affect behavioral concomitants adversely.

\
’-

It would likewise appear, on the surface of
things, that these factors working together in
systematically varied combinations might produce
effects jointly which they might not produce inde-
pendently.

The form which the experimental variables
have taken provides the clue to the nature of the
primary statistical tool employed. A 2x2x2 factorial
design was employed with Need, Distance, and defini-
tion as the independent variables. Entered for
analysis were such dependent variables as mean
reaction times, dispersion indices, subjective
ratings, etc.

A more specific statement of the hypothesis
would take the form of a prediction that variables
N, D, and d,dichotomized as they are, will each
produce significant F-ratios when both behavioral and

introspective data are analyzed. Section 6 of Part II

makes heavy use of this form of analysis.

4. Carrying out the Experiment
Having surveyed the area to be more differ-
entially explored, and having decided upon the
assumptions to be made and procedures to be acted
out, as well as likely means of analysis, the problem

of actualizing the hypothetical remained.

The data for this research were secured during

the summer months of 1954. The problem of selecting
a suitable population was no insignificant one. The
desirability of visual and vocal competence, and of
age and sex control, has already been mentioned.
There was also the ajudged need for a communality of
social and educational back-grounds, attitudes, and
interests. A naive, unjaded body of subjects was
deemed desirable.

The first procedure followed was the review-
ing of the summer class lists at the office of the
registrar. Here a sufficiently large, homogeneous
group was found in the form of the constituency of
Social Science Basic.

Obtaining clearance to solicit subjects from
within the group was done through the departmental
head and the particular instructors.

At a regular class session, before the daily

lecture was undertaken, the experimenter was

 

 

 

-42-

introduced to the class. He spoke to them following
this outline:

l. Acknowledge kindness of department and
instructor;

2. Explain that some research cannot be done
on white rats and that human subjects are
essential;

5. Speak of the significance of making a
contribution;

4. Talk about number of subjects needed and
your willingness to meet them at any time
during the day;

. Specify limiting conditions;
6. Pass out sign-up sheets;
7. Thank class, instructor, and leave.

The appointment sheets were made up to cover

a two-week period minus Sundays. Each day was divided

into two-hour intervals and the prospective subjects
were asked to sign at whatever place would be conven-
ient to them. Thirty-five students in all signed up.
Each had been instructed that a two-hour stint might
be expected of him and that he should not sign up
unless he could afford to devote two hours to the
study.

On the next day the subjects started partici-
pating in the experiment. The experimentation
continued through sixteen days until all subjects
had been processed. To guarantee a smooth-running
operation the procedure of contacting the subject the
day before by telephone, or card, was carried out.

No subject was absent nor even seriously late.

 

u. --

-45-

When the subject appeared at the experimental
room he would be greeted politely with neither ex-
cessive friendliness nor reserve. Routinely he would
step into the room, look curiously about, and make a
comment or two about the experimental set-up which he
saw. These comments were politely but non-committally
acknowledged and the subject was asked to sit down at
once in the chair facing the motion picture screen.

First, he was told that his instructions
throughout the experiment were to be presented to him
in typewritten form, so that the experimenter could
be sure that all subjects 'were getting the same
instructions.‘

The first task orientation received by the
subject consisted of being shown the hand-drawn
figures he was later to respond to in projected form
on the screen. As the figures were presented the
subject was instructed to call them by the names the
reader sees associated with them on page 28. The
experimenter, holding a manila folder containing the
hand-drawn stimulus objects, would expose one after
another of them to the subject, saying to him, for
example: house, bow, hat, flag, etc. About three
seconds were spent viewing each stimulus object. It
was of course explained to him that these were the

objects to appear later on the screen. A second run

:3

in

‘!"A_".‘U 1 “mm — 9f ~V 1.

through the stimulus objects at the same tempo re-
quired the subject to repeat the names designated by
the experimenter during the initial exposure which had
been completed only fifteen to thirty seconds earlier.
In every instance the subject was able to perfectly
reproduce at first try the names proposed by the ex-
perimenter.

Half of the subjects employed in the experi-
ment received slightly different introductions to the
situation. They too were given two leafings through
the portfolio of stimulus objects, but they were told
only to make "an appropriate verbal reaponse" to each
symbol.

The following is a reproduction of the content
of the first manila folder used by the experimenter
(not handed to the subject) in establishing the eight
separate situational contexts into which the subjects
were grouped and within which they worked:

'Clear introduction—-Subjects are made

acquainted with drawn figures. The name

of each figure is given. When each can

be called promptly, start 5 minute run

which is in every respect like the ex-

perimental run. The subjects call the

symbols their given names.

Ambiguous introduction-~Subjects are

shown the drawn figures and instructed

that these will be the figures later

to be seen on the screen. No inclina-

tion toward naming them is to be shown

by the experimenter. They are told
merely to make an appropriate verbal

F1

 

-45-

response to each symbol. Requests on

the part of the subject that the pro-

cedure be further structured meet with

passive and polite refusal.’

During this initial orientation the folder
full of stimulus objects was resting on a small knee-

1

level table which sat directly in front of and slightly FF)
between the subject's partially spread knees.

When the familiarization with the targets had

been completed the folder was closed and placed on a

1.:-

 

table along with the other three folders employed in
the establishment of the experimental climate for
that particular subject.

In anticipation of the five-minute warm-up run
a military-type throat microphone was then produced
and fastened comfortably about the neck of the subject.
On the small table, which had been left where it was,
a small black tiredness reporter was placed. The
reader will find a picture of this on page 78.

Then, while the film loop was put in place
and the various sources of input properly pre-heated
and regulated, the subject was reading the contents
of another manila folder (the first one he has handled
personally) on the outside of which was written simply
"technical instructions".

'Reporting tirimg: The black box next to you

is to be used by you to report any noticeable
change in your level of tiredness.

-46-

If your experience of tiredness
increases, you are to press the
key to the righ .
If you wish to report a lessening
of tiredness, you are to press the
key to the left.
Pressing both keys simultaneously
indicates that a period of time
has gone by with no noticeable
change in either direction.
There is no time schedule to follow in
pressing these keys. You are to press
them whenever you feel that you should.
Situate the box comfortably so that you

can conveniently press the keys. Are
there any questions?

The throat mike: The microphone you are
wearing on your throat is particularly
sensitive. It should be worn high on the

Adam's apple. Contact should be firm but

not tight. Speak clearly and distinctly.‘

The next element of the sequence was the five
minute warm-up run during which time the subject made
his first 100 responses.

To designate this preliminary run as "warm-up"
is quite pr0per, but it does not fully connote the
significance of this period. Not only did the "warm-
up" run permit the firm establishment of response
tendencies and take care of the so-called "warm—up
effect", but it also gave the subject task perspective.

By this is meant that in order for the distance factor,

and perhaps to some extent the definition factor, to

 

 

-47-

have full impact from the beginning of the subsequent
experimental run the subject had to know what the task
was going to be like.

As soon as the run of 100 was completed the
projector was turned off, the audio portion of the
projector and the voice key were left on, and the
overhead lights turned on.

The experimenter would then address the
subject in the following words, "Well, that's what
it's like. I'm going to make a few last-minute checks
on the apparatus, then I'll give you your instructions
and we'll begin. In the meantime, here is an explana-
tion of the background of the research we are doing.

I want you to read it."

The subject was handed at this point the
following "Explanation and background" if he were in
the high need group.

'In this research we are studying the

effects of repeated visual stimulation

on "selective reaction time". A number

of visual targets will appear on the

screen. They will appear at the rate

of one every three seconds. Your task

is to respond appropriately by naming

each one. Having already made 100

responses during the five minute warm-

up period, you are familiar with what

the task is like.

The use of these devices and techniques

in the measurement of reaction time is

still in its develOpmental or exploratory

stage. In the past few years experimenters
working with tasks similar to this one

 

 

-48-

have shown that good performance correlates
quite highly with general intelligence, and
to a considerable extent with emotional
stability. What else it indicates remains
to be discovered.

We realize that most of you who have kindly
agreed to act as subjects will wish to know
how you did on the test. Therefore, you will u
not be left in the dark with respect to your 1“
performance. Several students who are not
participating as subjects are analyzing the
data as they are accumulated and, before the
term is over, a mimeographed sheet will be
circulated to all of those who did participate
from which you may judge how well you per-
formed.

 

Any participant wishing to learn more about
the experiment and its purpose should feel
free to consult the experimenter personally
at any time.’

Those subjects who were to carry low need into
the experimental run read this "Explanation and back-

ground".

'In this research we are studying the effects
of repeated visual stimulation on "selective
reaction-time". A number of visual targets
will appear on the screen. They will appear
at the rate of one every three seconds. Your
task is to respond appropriately by naming
each one. Having already made 100 responses
during the five minute warm-up period, you
are familiar with what the task is like.

Do not worry about how well you perform
individually on this task for that is of no
importance at all. After each of the
subjects has been run, all of the data will
be lumped together and used in that form.

We are interested only in the average of the
group and not in the performance of any
person. For this reason you will not be
informed as to the outcome of your perfor-
mance.'

-49-

Each subject was given as much time to read
the foregoing as he seemed to require, the typical
one requiring one to two minutes.

When the subject made a move to put aside
the "Explanation and background" the experimenter
extended his hand to receive the folder and said,
"And here are the instructions for this experiment."

At this point a third manila folder was
handed to the subject. The subject received one of
the four different "Experimental Instructions",
depending upon the experimental group to which he had
been assigned.

Those who were going to undertake the task
with the thought in mind that completion was near at
hand, and with a clear knowledge of the mediating
behaviors required of them, read the following:

'The experimental instructions are few,
simple, and direct:

You are to respond appropriately
to exactly 500 of these targets
as they appear on the screen.
This will require 25 minutes.
An appropriate response consists of
calling the targets by the names you
learned during your warm-up session.’
The reader will note the contrast between the

foregoing "Near-Clear" instructions and the following

"Near-Ambiguous":

-50-

'The experimental instructions are few and
simple, but they are of necessity ambiguous:

You are to respond appropriately to
exactly 500 of these targets as they
appear on the screen.

This will require 25 minutes.

It is up to you to determine what is "an

appropriate response."'

Those who were to perform under conditions of

"Remote-Clear" goal orientation were "set" by these

instructions:

'The experimental instructions are few,
simple, and direct:

You are to respond apprOpriately to
exactly 2100 of these targets as they
appear on the screen.
This will require 1 hour and 45 minutes.
An appropriate response consists of calling
the targets by the names you learned during
your warm-up session.‘

_The last set of instructions reads:

'The experimental instructions are few and
simple, but they are of necessity ambiguous:

You are to respond appropriately to
exactly 2100 of these targets as
they appear on the screen.
This will require 1 hour and 45 minutes.
It is up to you to determine what is "an
appr0priate response."'

As the reader can see, this set was intended

for those selected to respond to feelings of remoteness

J

 

l'
i

-51-

and behavioral indeterminancy.

One suggestion yet remained for those who
were to undertake the task under conditions of low
need. Each such subject was informed that since too
many subjects had signed up he had been selected by
purely impersonal devices to be one of a reserve
group of four whose performances would be kept and
ultimately measured and analyzed-~if the data provided
by the other subjects became somehow unusable.

It should be emphasized at this point and
clearly understood by the reader that the time elapsed

from the end of the warm-up run to the beginning of

the main run was never more than three or four minutes.

The various combinations of folders were dispensed to
the subjects in a quick, natural, and direct manner,
the correct set having been laid out on the table
prior to the subjects entry into the room.

To express in conversational language the
difference between the task climates of the several
groups, let us contrast the extremes in favorability
and unfavorability, HNC and LRA.

The subject led into the task by way of High-
Near-Clear route was responding, as it were, to the
following self-perceived notions. 'This is certainly
an easy task, it isn't going to cost me much work,

but it lg important for me as a person to do well.‘

IL'61
I

 

‘—.- .n— V-‘IHE‘.
.

-52-

The contrasting impact of the Low-Remote-
Ambiguous perceptual frame is apparent. 'Here I'll
be spending almost two hours doing a task that is
unimportant to me as a person and I haven't even got
a nice clear picture in mind of how to respond anyway.’
These two were the extremes. Six intermediary
combinations of favorable and unfavorable elements
were compounded to match corresponding experimental
sub-groups in accordance with the design on page 55.
The subjects were run in the following
sequence:
HRC, HRA, LNC, LNA, HNC, LRC, HRC, LNA, LRC, LNC, LRA,
HRA, HNA, LRA, HNA, LNC, HNA, LRC, LNC, HRC, HNC, LNA,
LRA, HRA, LRA, HNA, HRA, HRC, LRC, HNC, LNA, AND HNC.
The main run in which all of the experimental
variables were given full play was terminated suddenly
when the subject had gone through the film loop four
times. Thus a total of 500 response latencies were
collected for each subject, 100 for the warm-up run
and 400 for the experimental run. The cut-off point
of 400 for all subjects was decided upon for several
reasons: 1) it would lessen the chance for end-spurt
behaviors on the part of those working on 500 response
assignments; 2) it was thought long enough to permit
opportunities for differential deterioration to set

in, if such were going to occur; and 5) it would have

-55-

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-54-

the effect of generally equating the energy out-put
from subject to subject. If one subject were to
become more impaired than another in the doing of
this low-energy-demand task, it was assumed that such
differences would occur randomly and that they would r,7
neutralize one another. ‘ *1}
While the subject was making his responses,
the experimenter was watching the mechanical apparatus

for possible defects in operation and occasionally

 

T"‘

marking on the waxed paper indications that would be
of value in simplifying the eventual measurement of
the latencies.

An observer was following the response-by-
reSponse progress of the subject on a so-called
Listener's Report sheet, an example of which is found
on page 55.

At the end of the experimental run the pro-
jector was abruptly turned off, the light turned on,
and the subject handed a post-experimental report to
fill out. A copy of this may be seen on page 56.
This form was filled out by the subject immediately in
an adjoining room. The experimenter instructed each
subject to fill it out carefully and left the room,
offering no suggestions and in no way indicating what
responses the subject should make. Three or four

minutes later the experimenter would return to the

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not tiring slightly rsitrately wxi 3 very tiring

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Which target was maid-3t for y .111?

—--.“a..—_-

Erite a 100-200 wori report of hot you felt and what you
tnou ht about while tne atroriment was underway. -ut it

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-57-

room and ask the subject to write a completely open-
ended introspection on his thoughts and feelings
concerning and during the test. Each person utilized
as much time and paper as he wished for this assign-
ment.

When it became apparent that the subject
wished to write no more on this topic, the experi—
menter would again re-enter the room, read completely
the material that had been written on the sheet and
undertake some detailed questioning, for example:

Did any of the mechanical apparatus distract you?

Did you use the tiredness reporter as you felt you
should? Did you feel embarrassment at any point?

Did you resort to any escape behavior in order to
avoid carrying out the assignment? How would you rate
your need to perform on this task?

In addition to these questions, others would
be asked, if called for by the context. The purpose
of this practice was to fill out a global and re-
presentative picture of the feeling experiences of
each person.

Findings of a qualitative nature are reported
in section 5, Part II.

Even after the subject's report had been
completely written and handed in, one thing yet re-

mained to do. The turn of events made it clear for

-58-

some of the subjects that all things were not as they
had been represented in the pre-run perceptual structur-
ing. For example, those directed toward remote goals
were clearly aware of the fact that they had been
misled. At no point in the post—experimental inter-
view did any evidence appear that any of the subjects
had failed to accept the suggestions put to them. A
typical rejoinder to the inquiry as to whether or not
they had accepted the suggestions was "Boy, was I

faked out!"

In only two instances did subjects fail to
take immediately this illuminating experience in good
grace and in both of these instances the young men
were especially sensitive and eager to please. The
reader can clearly see and appreciate the need for a
terminal interview. It would be quite impossible to
have persons respond meaningfully to suggestions of
low need, remoteness, and ambiguity if they had been
coached by those who had already acted as subjects.
This interview consisted of keeping each subject in
the eXperimental room for a sufficiently long period
of time to impart a feeling for and comprehension of
the meaning and spirit of the experiment. Only when,
in the experimenter's judgment, sufficient empathic
contact had been made to guarantee the integrity of

the experiment, was the subject allowed to leave.

-59-

Each subject was ultimately quizzed as to
whether or not he had been coached or filled in on
the details of the experiment. Each one denied that
he had, although eight acknowledged making efforts to
find out about the experiment.

Toward the end of the terminal interval each
subject was informed that a party for all participants
was to be held at the home of the experimenter four
days after the subjects had been run. At this time,
in addition to a social evening, a report on the
progress of the research was to be made.

Such a party, playfully constructed around a
psychological theme, was held and was very well
attended. The rapport established by way of these
efforts to maintain maximum security still evidence
themselves seven months later.

It is the opinion of the experimenter that
the enjoining of the trust of a relatively large
group of people, an interesting psychological problem ,
in itself, can be realistically and effectively
achieved if the sufficient and efficient conditions
leading to or facilitating breech of faith are
directly addressed. Without such an approach a
whole family of prOSpectively important research is

cut off.

—60-

5. ieasurement of the Obtained Data

Two main forms of quantitative data were
obtained from each subject. The subject's self-
rating was accepted directly as written, but the
measurement of 75 feet of reaction latencies per
subject was yet another matter.

To insure an accurate and analyzable measure-
ment of these reaction latencies a plexiglass template
(see page 61) was constructed by the experimenter.
Its size would permit a quick measurement of eight
reaction latencies before the waxed paper was moved
through it and another eight measurements made. All
of these measurements were made by one person and a
recorder whose task it was to enter them into a con-
venient work-sheet, seen on page 62.

These measurements were made to the nearest
millimeter in the judgment of the measurer. Since
the waxed paper advanced at a rate of slightly better
than 51 millimeters per three seconds, the measure-
ments express temporal units of very nearly 1/17 of
a second. These measurements are utilized in their
original form and no effort has been made in this
dissertation to convert them to time-units, although

such would not be hard to do.

Possible sources of error reside in variation

of motor speeds of the projector and kymograph.

-61-

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-63—

Frequent checks were made by stop watch; the variance
stemming from this was so negligible as not to warrant

analysis.

6. Analysis of Data

First to be discussed will be the two main
dependent variables, performance in a reaction-time
situation and scaled tiredness judgments.

Lengthy retrospections of the subject's
feelings and thoughts while performing the task were
gathered after each experimental run. These will be
presented toward the end of the section along with
the limited findings gotten from the mechanical tired-
ness reporter.

Beginning with the two mutually independent
criteria of fatigue being used, one a retrospective
evaluation of feeling, the other a straight forward
reaction latency, a question obtrudes itself. What
basis exists, other than the overworked appeal to
common sense, for assuming that these two criteria
are related? Might they not vary completely inde-
pendently from one another? This is to say, might not
those who report less tiredness produce completely
unrelated reaction latencies?

The information appearing in Table III, page

64, suggests otherwise. In fact it indicates at well

-64-

TABLE III

SOME CORRELATIONS BETWEEN RETROSPECTIVE AND
BEHAVIORAL FATIGUE CRITERIA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Subject's per- Subject's Estimate of:
formance ex— _EfiH—_T—T ~ . ' a .
o est Tiringness ToEaI of KIIx
pressed in Tiredness of Test [Estimates
Mean
reaction .48“ .54*’ .59"
latency (.159) (.127) (.118)
SD of
reaction .52" .58*'
latency (.152) (.119)
Median
reaction .57’*
latency (.120)
$1!
449

r°01(3o df)‘°

-65-

beyond conventional fiducial limits that impoverished
performance in terms of slowness of response and in-
creased dispersion is predictable from a knowledge of
the subject's reported tiredness-feelings. Beyond
the raw data of the experiment which are portrayed on
pages 66, 67, 68, numerous derived measures were
obtained. These are to be found on page 69. It is
these data which have then been subjected to the
analyses presently to be reported.

The contents of tables VII and VIII on page
70 are intended to facilitate the interpretation of
the summarized analyses since they represent a picture
of the procedure followed in arriving at each of the
tabled findings.

On page 71 the reader will find a summary
statement of eleven different analyses. The first
six are of purely behavioral records. The remaining
five are of data gathered from retrospective self-
rating, i.e. the subject's Post-experimental Report.
Let us look first at the analyses of the behavioral
data.

The first numerical data analyzed were the
median response times from the second fifty responses
of each subject's warm-up run. The first fifty
responses produce a similar median in most instances,

but there were some subjects who did not settle down

-55-

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TABLE V

-68..

SUMMARY OF RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS ABOUT TIREDNESS
RETROSPECTIVE REPORTS

APPEARING ON SUBJECTS'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Subject Res onse to Qgestion: A
and group #1 ' #3 #E__[Total
:- ; 3 1 2 1%
1
HNC 5 1 5 4 5 11
4 2 5 5 3 15
5 g g 2 5 2o
6 7 14
HNA 7 6 3 6 1 16
8 1 6 6 6 19
9 2 2 4 4 12
1o 2 4 5 4 15
HRC 11 2 3 3 3 11
12 1 2 2 2 7
7 3 a 3 2 22
14 2 1
HRA 15 6 7 11 9 33
16 5 7 10 7.5 27.5
I: 1 2 2 a 12
1
LNG 19 4 4 6 6 20
20 3 3 5 5 14
s: 3 2 a a :2
LNA 23 3 4 5 6 18
24- 2 7 7 5 21
25 5 8 8 6 27
26 4 5 7 7 25
L30 2? 2 5 5 6 1e
28 1 4 5 8 18
29 7 3 1? 12.5 53.5
o 1
LEA 21 2 7 9 8 26
52 5 6 6 9 26

TABLE VI

-69-

SUMMARY OF BASIC MEASURES DERIVED FROM ANALYSIS

OF REACTION LATENCY DATA OF 52 SUBJECTS

 

 

Subject

 

 

Measurement
and

group [Number Mean Mode Median Sigma Skewness

1 7 400 16.70 11.3 14.9 5.858 .920

HNC 2 399 11.01 9.3 10.5 1.949 .861

3 400 15.99 13.1 15.0 4.052 .712

4 399 14.29 11.6 13.4 3.438 .774

5 399 15.31 11.6 14.1 4.648 .799

RNA 6 358 15.71 12.1 14.5 4.045 .895

7 387 16.49 14.3 15.7 3.678 .608

8 397 17.66 13.0 16.1 5.206 .905

9 400 20.76 15.6 19.0 5.695 .902

HRC 10 399 18.70 11.2 16.2 6.534 1.379

11 399 12.34 11.4 12.0 2.216 .440

12 395 17.52 13.2 16.1 5.063 .857

13 398 14.83 11.4 13.7 4.903 .703

ERA 14 371 20.57 15.9 19.0 5.226 .897

15 399 19.44 14.5 17.8 7.664 .649

16 398 23.93 15.8 21.2' 9.322 .872

17 400 13.18 11.3 12.5 2.856 .662

LNG 18 396 16.45 11.3 14.7 5.200 .999

19 400 15.37 12.1 14.3 4.446. .746

20 398 12.56 10.9 12.0 2.672 .626

.21 388 13.01 11.4 12.5 3.463 .454

LNA 22 395 20.67 11.2 17.5 8.956 1.055

23 400 19.30 14.2 17.6 5.717 .897

24 400 17.31 13.0 15.9 5.637 .707

2 8 18.96 12.2 16.7 6.954 .978

22 531 19.73 14.3 18.1 5.222 1.099

LEG 27 400 15.48 11.7 14.2 4.689 .810

28 400 15.00 12.5 14.2 3.326 .766

2 8 20.80 16.7 19.4 6.441 .678

38 532 22.78 20.6 22.0 4.798 .461

LEA 31 399 17.79 12.4 16.0 5.996 .893

32 397 20.44 16.1 19.0 6.474 .629

 

 

 

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-68..

TABLE V

SUMMARY OF RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS ABOUT TIREDNESS
APPEARING ON SUBJECTS' RETROSPECTIVE REPORTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Subject I Res onse to Qgestion:
and group I #1 ' —#2 #5 #fi LTotal
1 5 5 1 2 12
1
HNC 5 1 5 4 5 11
4 2 5 5 5 15
5 2 2|- 9 5 20
6 2 5 7 14
HI“ 7 6 5 6 1 16
8 1 6 6 6 19
9 2 2 4 it 1%
10 2 4 5 1
HBO 11 2 5 5 5 11
12 1 2 2 2 7
13 3 5 6 g 2?
14 2 5 5 1
HR" 15 6 7 11 9 55
16 5 7 10 7.5 27.5
12; 1 2 2 2 12
1 1
LNG 19 4 4 6 6 20
20 5 5 5 5 14
3;. a a 2 a :3
L“ 25 5 4 5 6 18
24- 2 7 7 5 21
25 5 8 8 6 27
LRC 26 4 5 7 7 25
27 2 5 5 6 18
28 1 4 5 8 18
29 7 ‘3 1? 13‘5 335
5o 1
52 5 6 6 9 26

-68-

TABLE V

SUMMARY OF RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS ABOUT TIREDNESS
APPEARING ON SUBJECTS' RETROSPECTIVE REPORTS

Subject I Res onse to Question:
and group I #1 ' #2 #3' Total

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 a 1 1 2 12
HNC 5 1 5 4 5 11
4 2 5 5 5 l5
5 2 ‘2‘ 9 3 23
6 2 5 1
RNA 7 6 5 6 1 16
8 1 6 6 6 19
9 2 2 4 z 1%
1o 2 4 5
H30 11 2 5 5 5 11
12 1 2 2 2 7
l5 5 5 6 g 2?
14 2 5 5
ERA 15 6 7 11 9 55
16 5 7 10 7.5 27.5
13 1 2 2 2 13
1 1
20 5 5 5 5 14
a: a z a a 13
LNA 25 5 4 5 6 18
24 2 7 7 5 21
25 5 8 8 6 27
LRC 26 4 5 7 7 25
27 2 5 5 6 18
28 1 4 5 8 18
29 7 8 8 10.5 55.5
50 1 7 11 11 5o
LEA 51 2 7 9 8 26
52 5 6 6 9 26

TABLE VI

-69—

SUMMARY OF BASIC MEASURES DERIVED FROM ANALYSIS

OF REACTION LATENCY DATA OF 52 SUBJECTS

 

 

Subject

 

 

Measurement
and

group[Number Mean Mode Median Sigma Skewness

1 400 16. 70 11.5 14.9 5.858 .920

HNC 2 599 11.01 9.5 10.5 1.949 .861

5 400 15.99 15.1 15.0 4.052 .712

4 599 14.29 11.6 15.4 5.458 .774

5 599 15.51 11.6 14.1 4. 648 .799

RNA 6 558 15.71 12.1 14.5 4. 045 .895

7 587 16.49 14.5 15.7 5 678 .608

8 597 17.66 15.0 16.1 5.206 .905

9 400 20.76 15.6 19.0 5. 695 .902

HRC 10 599 18.70 11.2 16.2 6. 554 1.579

11 599 12.54 11.4 12.0 2. 216 .440

12 595 17.52 15.2 16.1 5.065 .857

15 598 14.85 11.4 15.7 4.905 .705

HRA 14 571 20.57 15.9 19.0 5.226 .897

15 599 19.44 14.5 17.8 7.664 .649

16 598 25.95 15.8 21.2' 9.522 .872

17 400 15.18 11.5 12.5 2.856 .662

LNG 18 596 16.45 11.5 14.7 5. 200 .999

19 400 15.57 12.1 14.5 4. 446. .746

20 598 12.56 10.9 12.0 2. 672 .626

_21 588 15.01 11.4 12.5 5.465 .454

25 400 19.50 14. 2 17.6 5.717 .897

24 400 17.51 15. 0 15.9 5.657 .707

25 598 18.96 12.2 16.7 6.954 .978

LRC 26 591 19.75 14.5 18.1 5.222 1.099

27 400 15.48 11.7 14.2 4.689 .810

29 598 20.80 16.7 19.4 6.441 .678

LEA 50 592 22.78 20.6 22.0 4.798 .461

51 599 17.79 12.4 16.0 5.996.895

52 597 20.44 16.1 19.0 6.474.629

-70-

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-72-

to representative performance immediately.

The analysis of the pre-test data indicates
that the factor of definition alone was playing a
significant role. In order to assure poorly defined
pathways during the experimental run they (the path-
ways) were left ambiguous from the first introduction,
and this accounts for the large F-ratio in column 1
which signifies a significantly slower rate of re-
sponding for those with poorly defined pathways.

This first analysis, as well as all the sub-
sequent ones, was carried out quickly and simply by
the use of the "variance analyzer" pictured on page
75.

Columns 2, 5, and 4 give pictures similar to
one another. It will be noted that the factor of

distance which was introduced after the warm-up run

 

has achieved even greater significance than definition

as a deterrent to fast reaction-time.
The need factor shows no significance whatso-

ever. There is likewise no indication of interaction

variance.

Inspection of the distributions of the various
subjects indicates apparent skewness’ which is the
usual state of affairs for reaction-time data. It is

not surprising that the analysis of median scores

 

‘ see Table IV.

-73...

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-74-

(column 5) produces the most significant ratios, for
they (medians) are ostensibly the best indications of
central tendency for skewed data.

In addition to making some subjects vary
along an absolute time dimension the experimental
variables also had effects upon the tendency of
reaction—times to disperse. Here the effect of the
variables (column 5) is less marked, definition alone
producing a ratio significant at the 5% level.
Distance too seemed to increase the tendency toward
erratic performance. Need, once again, makes no
unique contribution to any distinctive variance
pattern. Interaction variances are again negligible.
The F-ratios recorded in column 6 tell a different
kind of story. Although each of the subjects pro~
duced a skewed array of data, none of the experimental
variables showed up as having a distinctive effect on
skewness, nor were there any significant interaction
variances.

Thus it would appear that directing subjects
toward a remote goal tended to slow them up
appreciably. Remoteness also evinced an apparent but
unreliable increase in the error factor.

The reader will remember that even in the
preliminary run the traversing of ambiguously defined

pathways significantly lengthened reaction-time.

       

-75..

This same impairment of performance carried over into
the experimental run and was present both in measures
of reaction-time and error tendency.

The effect of the experimental variables upon
reported feeling states was similar but different.
Checking the subject‘s post-experimental report (Fig.
5) will give one an indication of the form taken by
the data now being analyzed.

Each subject was asked to estimate his tired-
ness at the beginning, middle, and end of the experi-
ment. He was then asked an impersonal question.

"How would you rate the task as to its tiringness?"
The answers to question 1 reported in column I indicate,
by way of the absence of significant F-ratios, no
variance patterns being set-up by the experimental
variables singly or jointly. Had any extreme variance
shown up it would have served only to emphasize the
frailty in asking for subjective data. Indeed it is
interesting to note that those working by way of
ambiguous paths "remembered" feeling a little tireder
at the beginning than did anyone else. The ratio set
up by their skewed memories fell far short of
significance however.

But now, note column II. The midway ratings
were significantly affected by each of the independent

variables. The factor of need, whether or not the

‘76-

subject was permitted to attach any significance to
his task, looms up as very significant. Those who
worked on tasks unimportant to them reported much
more tiredness mid-way through than those who
attached importance to their work. This is in marked
contrast to the role played by need in conditioning
the behavioral data. There was still no significant
interaction variance.

Analysis of the end-of-test tiredness ratings
produced one disconcerting element. While the effects
of distance and definition remained constant, or were
enhanced slightly, the effect of the need factor
faded, so far as its importance in conditioning
remembered-tiredness was concerned. While this is
suggestive of inconsistency it might well be that
this is the way the organism works.

The fourth question on the subject's report,
"If you were to rate this task, as to its ability to
produce feelings of fatigue or tiredness, where would
you place it on the following 11 point scale?",
proved to be the most sensitive. Presumably it
permitted the subject to get some distance away from
himself as the frame-of-reference. Need, distance,
and definition all contributed heavily to the way in
which the subject estimated the difficulty of the

task. In this instance, distance interacted with

-77-

ambiguity to produce a significant increase in
reported tiredness. This was the only such interaction
variance found in the study.

It was found that by combining all of the
tiredness introspections for each subject, and then
analyzing the aggregate, the effect of each of the
variables was enhanced. The interaction between
distance and definition alone was diminished, thereby
suggesting that the significant figure occurring in
column V exists by virtue of the inclusion of the
tiringness estimate in the total estimate.

The most marked distinction manifested by the
apposition of the behavioral and retrospective
analyses is the sudden significance of the need factor
in the second instance. Although low task-significance
had no material effect on Speed or errors, it seemed
to very noticeably affect in an ulterior way the
subject's perception of his own tiredness.

On the next page the reader will find a
picture of the tiredness reporter. It was a simple
two-key device which gave the subject an opportunity
to report fluctuations of felt tiredness without
interrupting that which he was doing.

The tiredness reporter was not played up as
an important element in the instructions out of which

the situational climates were constructed. The

-78-

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Uhoooh on mpoomndm hp vows noppomon mmosnopfiu

oxnote

.m .mE

 

-79..

subject was placed under no compulsion to use the
reporter and as a result the data obtained were too
spotty to admit of careful analysis. The data are
reported on page 80. The attendant graphs may tell
somewhat of a story but no conclusiveness is claimed
for them.

The reader is reminded at this time that the
experiment was, at its onset, one which was construct-
ed so that it might possibly elicit interaction
effects. Global work-atmospheres were constructed
and joint influence of experimental variables was, if
anything, anticipated.

It would not be well to go beyond the data of
this experiment in generalizing upon the absence of
interaction. Further eXperimentation would be
required to crucially test a no-interaction, channel-
ization" hypothesis.

At the base of the customary piece of research
is a bed rock of empirical data, evidence which is
drawn impersonally and in an unbiased way from a
population which is free to vary randomly outside of
the limitations imposed by the experimenter, which
limitations should be clearly understood and
communicated.

This common denominator, conventional,

laudable, and necessary, may not lend itself to the

-80..

TABLE XI

DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY OF USE OF TWO-KEY TIREDNESS
REPORTER BY 32 SUBJECTS RELATIVE TO INSTRUCTIONAL SETS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Instructional Number of Times Subjects Reported:
Iggtgf sub- Increasing Decreasing No Change T
J Tiredness Tiredness

High need ‘14 4 10 28

Low need 50 2O 29 99

Near goal 32 18 35 85

Remote goal 32 6 4 42

Clear paths 57 13 9 59

Ambiguous paths 27 ll 30 68

~81—

capturing of the other important data. In other words,
analyzing a subject's response latencies and his
tiredness ratings will reveal certain kinds of in-
formation in an easy to interpret form, but it leaves
untouched a wealth of other processes which were
transpiring throughout the experiment and which were
in and of themselves important and instructive. It

is one of the persistent problems of the researcher

to bring the subtlty of his machinery closer to the
subtlty of that fabric which he studies.

In an effort to do just that, each subject
was required to write an introspective essay on his
feelings and thought throughout the experiment. In
addition, both the experimenter and the observer
watched the performance of the subject as closely as
possible, noting and writing down his mannerisms and
behaviors.

These steps were taken with full knowledge
that the information gained thereby would not lend
itself to neat, quantitative treatment, but with the
hope that it might provide a broader and more complete
picture. Observe the data on page 82 in which the
number of individuals in each experimental group
referring to various mental activities or feeling

states in the subject's report are listed according

to group and in order of total number of references.

TABLE XII

-82-

NUMBER OF SUBJECTS REPORTING VARIOUS CONSCIOUS
EXPERIENCES RELATIVE TO EXPERIMENTAL GROUP

 

 

Reported thinking or
feeling activity

Group

 

 

HNC HNA HRC HRA LNC LNA LRC LRA T

 

 

curiosity,
hypothesizing

tiredness

worry, anxiety
'time left'
guessing at answers
tenseness

anger, irritation
alertness
confusion

self-insufficiency,
embarrassment

resignation
rationalization
boredom, monotony
blocking
discomfort
excitement
exhaustion

yawning

Total

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17 126

 

-83..

The reliability of such coded material is of
course an issue and is no doubt far from what might
be desired. The experimenter included in this list-
ing only specific references to the attributes
mentioned by the subject and did not read between the
lines. Cheeks of the written material by several
other coders produced similar results.

The reader will note that worry and anxiety
were reported most often by those working under high
need set, that reports of guessing at correct
responses were more frequent among those under low
need set. That anger and irritation in six out of
seven instances were reported by those who had re-
ceived ambiguous sets. That five out of six of those
reporting alertness came from high need groups. Also
of note is the fact that reports of felt confusion
were limited to those who were ambiguously set; that
self-insufficiency and embarrassment were limited to
those under ambiguous conditions. Resignation in the
face of the task was reported by five members belong-
ing to two of the sub-groups both of which were
orientated toward remote goals.

Four individuals employed rationalization for
poor performance and all were ambiguously set. Only
four of the thirty-two subjects reported boredom or

monotony, and three of these came from low-need groups.

-84-

Mentions of curiosity, hypothesizing as to
the nature of the experiment, and tiredness itself,
although these were the most common themes mentioned,
did not seem to fit any differentiated pattern.

The reader will note that no contentions are
being made as to the meaning or ultimate significance
of these data. However, it might well be that they
point the way to testable hypotheses. They do seem
to suggest that orientational sets are taken and
re5ponded to according to expected routes although the
instructions are given in a casual manner.

Hypothesizing as to the nature of the experi-
ment, which was the most commonly given report,
suggests the feasibility of checking in a more precise
way for the presence of "escape behavior". By this
the writer intends the notion that the tendency to
"escape the field" might be seen to fall into some
pattern if this attribute were studied specifically.

The following procedure was set into effect.
Each subject's post-eXperimental report was read by
the experimenter at the same sitting. Each was placed
into one of three groups according to the following
plan: 1) those who described no or virtually no
efforts to avoid the task; 2) those who reported
some task-avoidant effort; and 3) those whose reports

indicated considerable or great concern with behaviors

~85-

other than those central to the task.
Using such a coarse three-category system,
and averaging the scores according to instructional

sets, the following picture was obtained:

TABLE XIII

AVERAGE ESTIMATED MENTAL WANDERING‘ OF SUBJECTS
RECEIVING DIFFERENT INSTRUCTIONAL SETS

 

 

Instructional Mental wandering as estimated b coder:

 

 

 

 

 

 

set I II III AVE
H 2.1 2.3 2.1 2.2
L 2.2 2.0 2.2 2.1
N 1.7 1.9 1.8 1.8
R 2.6 2.4 2.4 2.5
c 2.1 2.1+ 2.0 2.1
A 2.2 2.1+ 2.3 2.2

 

*Columnar scores of lano, 2=some, and 5=much
wandering
The question of reliability is pertinent at
this point. What liklihood is there that another
checker would arrive at conclusions similar to the
experimenters if he were to appraise the retrospective

reports independently?

To answer this question two other coders, as
in the case of the subjective materials reported on
page 82 , were asked to follow the same three-
category procedure in making their own evaluations of

the presence or absence of mental wandering.

-86-

The tabular material listed above represents
an average of the conclusions of the experimenter
and two other coders. There was little variation
between the judgments of the three coders, as shown
in Table XIII.

Whether or not this indicates a relationship
between the perceived remoteness of one's goal and
the tendency toward mental wandering is a moot issue.
The writer would be content to say that such is
"suggested".

Not without significance is the peculiarity
of the performance of the isolated individual. In
the experimenter's opinion a number of such accounts
merit acknowledgment although they could not be spoken
of as hard empirical findings. Subject number twenty-
eight, who was operating under Low, Remote and Clear
conditions, performed very efficiently showing a mean
reaction time of 15.0 millimeters (15/17 of a second).
His standard deviation was very small. However, the
tiredness reported by him was out of line with his
good performance. The reason for mentioning him at
this point lies in the fact that he yawned at least
nine times which was more than any of the other
subjects. At the end of his experimental run he was

so reclined as to be almost horizontal.

-87-

Yawning was a significant problem for another
subject of Low, Remote and Ambiguous orientation,
number thirty. After making the first three hundred
responses without yawning, he yawned expansively and
prolongedly five times during the last one hundred.

Subject number twenty-seven, Low-Remote-Clear,
was an alert and energetic football player whose
eagerness to please was apparent from his first entry
into the room. His performance as measured in
response-latency, means, and dispersions, was held
at a fairly high plane. His tiredness self-evaluation
was in line with the hypothesis, and, what is of
greater note in this section, the eager, cocky
attitude had been dissipated after only ten minutes
of instructions and simple work.

Perhaps no subject in the experiment experi-
enced the manifest physical difficulties of subject
number twenty-five. His orientation to the task had
been by route of Low-Remote-Clear. He moved about
continually, leaning forward in the chair, sprawling
backwards, leaning to one side and then to the other.
Noticeably lacking was any posture-maintaining muscle
tonus. His was a strange mixture of restlessness and
atonic relaxation. Again the performance of this
subject was not outstandingly poor but his reported

tiredness was high. He even tried closing his eyes

-88..

between symbol presentations and early in the run
turned his wrist watch around on his arm so he could
not see it.

The sixth subject experienced extreme
difficulty in his efforts to resPond to one symbol
and failed to make any response throughout the test.
His task orientation had been High, Near, and Ambigu-
ous. The "hat" looked like "something upside down"
to him. He reported never really giving up in a quest
for a designation, and said that he tried to think of
something each time it appeared on the screen. This
failure did not appear to distort either his sub-
jective or response-latency data in such a way as to
make them atypical.

One other instance would seem to merit
mention. subject number twenty had been assigned to
the Low-Near-Clear experimental group. The following
is a partial quote from his own report ". . . at
several times I reminded myself that now, of all times,
I should concentrate on what I was doing. In connec-
tion with this, I remembered what my girl has told me
‘There is nothing you can't do, if you want to, if you
try hard enough, if it is right.'"

Inspection of his data reveals a picture which
might have typified that of the High-Near-Clear

subjects. Manifest failure to achieve desired need

-89~

level because of fixed ego-needs is a constant threat
to any experiment such as this one. This topic is
pursued at greater length in the last part of this
dissertation.

Interesting and possibly valuable behavior
descriptions might have been written about each
subject used in this experiment. The experiment was
not set up along these lines.

Several observations may be made about the
accounts just given. They would appear to suggest
that successfully fighting off behavioral deteriora-
tion did not eliminate felt tiredness and there was
some indication that the performance was maintained
at some cost; for example, making excessive postural
adjustments, yawning, evidencing general restlessness,

and displaying other behavioral oddities.

7. Conclusions Based on the Experiment

The dependent variables of primary concern in
this experiment took two different forms, retrospec-
tive tiredness ratings and response latencies.

The experimental, or independent, variables
were three: need, distance, and definition.

The purpose of this section is to indicate
conclusions, based upon experimental evidence, about

the roles played by the experimental variables as

-90-

conditioners of the dependent variables.

The need factor, discussed as to conceptual
and Operational significance at prior points in the
dissertation, played a turn-about role. Whether the
subjects were in high- or low-need groups made no
difference in how the subjects performed on their
reaction time task. It did make a difference however
in the subject's rating his own tiredness.

The distance factor played a very determining
role on both dependent variables. Those who were
directed toward near goals fared better in perfor-
mance and felt less tired.

The factor of definition was crucial through-

 

out. Not having a clear idea of the specific be-
haviors to be used in acting out the task had an
impoverishing effect upon performance and added notably
to the subject's scaled perception of his own tiredness.
This is noteworthy in view of the fact that those re-
ceiving ambiguous instructions rarely made responses
which were more complex than those receiving clear
instructions.

Analysis of variance frequently reveals
numerous interactions which require explanation. This
research was characterized by the lack of interaction
variance. Throughout all of the analyses which were

run, only one direct and clear-cut F-ratio appeared

 

-91-

which was traceable to interaction. This was the
interaction between distance and definition, as it
affected the subjects' estimate of the tiringness of
the task.

Conclusions of a generalizing nature which go r“ y
by extrapolation beyond the data are not presented ‘zagflwl
here but are to be found in the last few paragraphs

of the dissertation.

 

 

III. SUMMARY AND CRITIQUE OF THE EXPERIMENT

In summarizing that which has gone before, it
is well to keep in mind that all of the components of
the body of information achieved do not carry equal
weightings as to certainty and conclusiveness. It
would be well then to compartmentalize the summary

according to such a principle.

1. That Which is Pointedly Indicated

As a general assertion it can be said that
life-space, situational, or "set" factors can be con-
trived in such a way as will permit their controlled
utilization in an experiment addressed to the topic
of human tiredness.

It may be stated that these factors, although
primarily personal and task orientational and minimally
concerned with exertion, can and do make a difference
in 1) how tired a person feels and 2) how adequately
he performs when the criteria of good performance are
1) time utilized in the single performance and 2) the
variance of the performances.

More specifically it may be stated that
distance and definition significantly affect feelings

and performance, and need affects feelings only.

-95-

It also seems quite conclusive that felt
tiredness and impoverished performance vary together
even in the absence of differentiated experimental
variables. This is to say that people who feel tired,
work less effectively even though they are not
characterized as belonging to one or another experi-
mental group.

One of the significances of this research has
been the pointing out of the fact that the already
existent relationship between feelings of tiredness
and poor performance is in part under the directed
control of factors which serve to orientate a person
to his task so that one work-situation may increase

it while another diminishes it.

2. Less Conclusive Results

In this section the comments will again be
limited to the findings deriving from the subject's
post-experimental report and from the latency data.

The reader will recall that not one but four
different ratings were required of each subject. He
was asked to judge his tiredness at the beginning of
the experiment, mid-way through it, and just before
he finished. He was also asked to specify how tiring
he thought the task to be. The findings shown in

Table X indicate that, with a single exception, each

-94-

_subsequent rating was more sensitively affected by
the experimental variables than had been the rating
just before it; that is, the total tiredness estimate
produced F-ratios more significant than the tiringness
estimate, the tiringness—estimate produced larger F-
ratios than the end-estimate which was larger in turn
than the middle estimate, and so on.

That these are results to be accredited as
meaningful seems plausible. To say that they con-
clusively demonstrate a principle of cumulative effect
would be yet another thing. They do appear to demon-
strate however that a summation of self-ratings on
such a personalized matter, as feelings of tiredness
produces more reliable conclusions than does any
separate evaluation.

_Turning to the behavioral data there are
several observations which, although based upon find-
ings, could scarcely be called conclusive. One is
the insignificance of different need-levels in affect-
ing the latency and dispersion of various subjects'
resPonses. One would hardly know on the basis of this
experiment alone if this could be made into a generali—
zation. Perhaps difference in levels of need, other-
wise defined, would have had a significant effect.

The reality of the need factor as presented in the

present experiment seemed to be attested to, however,

 

 

 

-95-

by its marked influence on the variance patterns
within the subjective data.

Another apparent result lies in the almost
complete absence of interaction effects in the
analyses of the reaction latencies. Neither need,
nor distance, nor definition teamed up in any way to
distinctively modify typical performance in either

latency or dispersion.

5. Qualitative Conclusions and Suggested Results

Qualitative data by their very nature are more
summarily reported in first presentation than are
quantitative findings. Therefore to dwell at any
length, in summarizing effort, on that which has been
already expressed in general and broad terms, would
be uncalled for. The qualitative findings were re-
ported in section 6 of Part II.

It might be said in drawing conclusions from
them that high-need tended to make people anxious and
worrisome, and to report feelings of alertness. Low-
need seemed to stimulate guess-work and to be associ-
ated with what mentions of monotony were reported.
Ambiguity of pathways appeared to precipitate reports
of anger and irritation, embarrassment and inadequacy,
and rationalization.

Remoteness of goals was associated with the

theme of resignation as well as a tendency to resort

 

 

~96-

to mental wandering and escape behavior.

A research differently organized might have
stressed the accumulation of more of these kinds of
data. They are obviously filled with latent hypotheses.

Another briefly stated suggested conclusion
from the qualitative data is that widely varied be-
havioral manifestations seemed to attend working under
unfavorable task alignment and that such subjects,
even if they kept their performance on a relatively
effective plane, still reported the expected tiredness
and often showed behavior quirks as well, such as

yawning or reclining.

4. Critical Evaluation of the Experiment

The text of the dissertation has been largely
restricted to the information revealed in the course
of the experiment. It is apparent however that all
work, no matter how impersonally objective, had to
begin with the impressions and hypothesizing of the
worker. How does the experimenter view the experi-
ment now that it is done? How might a similar
assignment be better laid out and executed? What
fringe speculations might be made which, being founded
on experience, might assist another in exploring this
or related areas?

The plan for this summarizing section consists

of retracing the experimental sequence from beginning

 

 

 

-97-

to end, interpreting, criticizing, and suggesting on
the basis of what has been done. This review will
depart from compulsive objectivity wherever such a
course of action is called for.

The demands of the theoretical issues to be
tested, the contrast between fatigue and impairment,
called for the use of a task which would necessitate
little physical exertion, yet the feasibility of
tiring as a result of the work had to be present.

The task had to provide Opportunity for the
breakdown of integrated behavior. It had to be im-
personalized, i.e. not be adapted to any individual's
unique need system. It had to avoid pure and simple
repetition such as has characterized the elicitation
of satiation and boredom. The task as described in
this dissertation fulfilled these requirements quite
well.

The utilization of one subject at a time was
a function of the experimenter's conceptualization of
the mechanics of the task. Conspicuously, it is con-
ceivable that a task might be constructed which could
be performed by a number of subjects simultaneously.
Receiving the same instructional sets, they could
readily compose the membership of an entire experi-
mental group, for example, high-near-clear. In this

way a larger N could be achieved, but a competitive

 

 

 

 

—98-

element would also be added to the list of independent
variables.

The instrumentation Of the experiment is an
area which provides many Opportunities for recommenda-
tion and warning.

The use of visual targets, presented brady-
SOOpically, proved quite successful. The particular
targets used were easy to learn and to reSpond to.

The use of motion picture film with stimulus-indicat-
ing V's cut into the sound track was likewise very
effective. No more than half a dozen times in 12,800
did the apparatus fail to record the presentation of
the stimulus.

The use of an endless film loop to permit the
repetitive and unbroken presentation Of a lengthy
sequence proved in and of itself very appropriate,
but the prOper construction of a film loop is a
precise matter which can be the source of prOblems.
The Bell and Howell sixteen millimeter projector is
particularly suited to the adaptation of an inexpensive
magazine. The size of the free loop, that portion of
the film which is not tightly wrapped around the
single spool from which and back onto which the film
leads, is determined by the make of the machine and
should be carefully studied, for while an insufficient

loop draws tight and can tear the film, an excessive

 

 

 

-99..

loop can dangle uncontrolledly and do damage to the
film.

The throat microphone as an agent for initiat-
ing the response is much preferable to a crystal
microphone, although it requires bolstered impedance
before it can be fed into the normal amplification I
system. In the experiment reported in this disserta-
tion, the carbon microphone performed the task required
of it 99.2 times per one hundred responses.

The tiredness reporter proved an inadequate
way of getting at subjective tiredness evaluations.

The idea, adapted from the Classroom Reporter, used

in Pennsylvania State University research, was that

the subject would be able to make a discriminating
response with a minimum of effort, without driving

his attended task from the center of his behavioral
field. To make this idea work satisfactorily, in the
Opinion of the present writer, would requiregfib more
than the arrangement of a "forced response? context.

In a free-reSponse context, such as was employed1in
the present research, the frequency of response :7
varied from many per subject to virtually none;1there-
by giving a partial and inadequate picture.

Nothing in the present research furnishes any

direct information as to the fatigue-delivering

potency Of the five elements Of the conceptual design

 

 

~100-

which were intentionally played down, or turned into
constants, for the sake of this experiment.

In the life-situation of a typical fatigue
victim the behavior-determining factors fluctuate
freely. People pursue goals on the basis of pressing
and persistent needs which have been with them so long
as to have become integrated parts of their personali-
ties. They may need to achieve in an area in which
they are physically unable to measure up to the task.
Other people may hold the jobs they want, so that they
may be blocked by factors over which they exert no
control. They may work from day to day on a job which
is so simple and meaningless to them as to fit nowhere
in any of their larger schemes. It is not out of the
realm of the possible that the goals of their daily
behaviors may be so poorly defined that they never
experience, occupationally at least, a clear-cut goal
achievement.

In this research, its purpose being the
demonstration of situationally-perpetrated tiredness,
the variation of the above factors might well have
thoroughly confounded the results and would have
served no meaningful purpose anyway. In a clinically
or industrially centered case Of fatigue they could

well be the variables of greatest importance.

 

 

 

-101-

The 2x2x2 factorial design by way of which
the central hypotheses were tested was adequate to
the task. Upon mathematical counsel, despite the
apparent skewnesses of the separate distributions, it
was decided that analysis of variance would be a
suitable instrument to use.

In critically reviewing the carrying out of
the experiment a process of segmentation seems
straightforward and clear, hence appropriate.

The selection of a pOpulation to be sampled
is always important. In this particular experiment
the problem was the finding of summer-session courses
enrolling a sufficiently large number of students to
permit the recruitment of an adequate N even after all
of the restrictive conditions governing subject
Optimity had been met. It is the writer's Opinion
that although age and sex factors were controlled in
the research, failure to control them would have
spelled no serious difference.

One thing to be underscored about the recruit-
ment of subjects for this kind of task is the wariness
with which one should approach the notion Of acquiring
subjects by compulsion. The need factor is the source
of enough uncertainty without confounding the picture
further by the inclusion of subjects with very low

needs, or even negativistic attitudes.

 

 

-102-

It is worthy of note that the large clear-cut
F—ratios Obtained in this research came from data
provided by only thirty-two subjects. A larger N
would have doubtless been better had the same controls
been exercised throughout; but a failure to consider
the issues addressed by the five constants in the
conceptual design might easily have meant that a much
larger N than thirty-two would have been unable to
produce ratios of similar significance. This experi-
ment seems to point up the value of carefully con-
trolling suspected sources of variance even though one
has not systematically established the validity of
each as a behavior—conditioner.

It is well to have a reserve of subjects for
one's best laid plans often go awry. Thirty-five
students participated as subjects whereas the data
from thirty-two were all that were ultimately used.

One subject was excluded because the film
loop broke in his experimental run and the attempted
substitution of another print was so inadequately
performed that the records became badly garbled.

Two others were excluded because of manifest
failure to achieve the low-need set. One of them,
with whom the experimenter had accidentally lunched
several days before, confided to friends that he had

never before "sat that close to a psychiatrist".

-103-

The other presented himself frequently to the experi-
menter over a four or five day period in "counsel-
seeking" roles. These young men were so conspicuously
energized that to represent their performances as
characterizing the effects Of low-need, would have
been wholly misleading. They were, by way of such
reasoning, excluded and their data were never measured
nor analyzed.

Central to the methodology of the experiment
was the creation of the situations under which each
subject worked. The procedure employed worked very
well and, even upon pointed interrogation, only one
subject admitted that he had momentarily speculated
about the sincerity Of the work orientation presented
to him.

The subject's written Post-experimental
Report is an area where more thoughtful work might
profitably have been done. Some of the factors which
cropped out in the essay portion of the report, e.g.
embarrassment and confusion, might profitably have
been represented along continua as were the first four
questions of the Post-experimental Report. This would
have made it possible to give them a more quantified
checking.

It was Observed in the main portion of the

dissertation that, if the post—experimental contacts

-lO4-

had been careless and loose, the experiment might
have been robbed of its validity. If even a small
part of a not-tOO-large experimental population had
been given reason to think that the experiment was
going to be other than as it was being represented to
them, it is probable that variables such as those
employed in this experiment would have lost their
efficacy. In the judgment of the writer this problem
was satisfactorily met.

The problems faced in measuring the Obtained
data were not insurmountable as managed by the pro-
cedures followed by the experimenter; however, there
are some issues which if pointed up, could improve the
performance of any wishing to set up similar research.

At four hundred responses per subject, plus
one hundred responses per trial run for each subject,
sixteen thousand reSponse latencies had to be measured
to the nearest observed millimeter. The frailities of
lighting, the tediousness of such close work, the sheer
weight of numbers and the oppressive tiredness which
can attend such a task, made Of the human measuring
element probably the largest single source of error
in the gathering of the data. In an effort to avoid
confusion and inconsistency, the experimenter made all
of these measurements himself, never doing more at a

single sitting than his sense Of adequacy indicated.

-105-

Instrumentation by means of which this human measur-
ing element could be eliminated would have improved
the research.

It has already been mentioned that skewness,
if not too extreme, represents no practical bar to
the use of the analysis of variance procedure. Sat-
isfactory and clear-cut findings were Obtained in this
research from the relatively small N of thirty-two.

The reader should keep in mind that this
feature is very possibly traceable to the stablizing
influence Of the five constants described earlier.

In section 6 of Part II it was observed that
submitting the introspective ratings of the tiring-
ness of the task to analysis Of variance revealed one
significant interaction in which remoteness of goal
and ambiguity of pathways interacted to make the task
seem more tiring. Conservative statistical practice
consists in employing a significant interaction F-
ratio as the error term for the ratios attributed to
the single variables contained in the interaction.

To follow this practice would throw open to doubt the
one percent level significance of distance and
definition as conditioners Of the subject's responses
to question four; viz. "If you were to rate this task
as to its ability to produce feelings Of fatigue or

tiredness, where would you place it on the following

-106-

eleven point scale?"

5. Concluding Remarks

Recalling the provisions set forth in the
first pages of this dissertation, it may be seen in
retrospect that the task asked of the subjects in this
fatigue experiment was not physically impairing, that
the Opportunity for behavioral disorganization was
present, and that the conceptual design employed was
in line with "holistic" or "over-all" notions of the
organism and its motivation.

While the writer early asserted that this
dissertation did not represent an effort to defend
the manifold nuances unfolded in Fatigue and Impair-

ment in Man, it has brought pointed evidence to bear

 

on several of the issues prominently displayed in that
book. Some examples follow. .

Assuming the validity of operationally defin-
ing fatigue as l) reportable feelings of tiredness,
and 2) impoverished performance as indicated by in-
creased reaction time and variance, it is possible to
measure fatigue without measuring impairment.

This is not to say that small differences in
energy expenditure did not occur from subject to
subject in their runs through the five hundred

responses, but, since the externally—observable vocal

-107-

work done from subject to subject varied so little,
it would appear fantastic to attribute the large
ensuing introspective and behavioral differences to
this source. In any event so little energy was
utilized in this task as to fall far short of the
thresholds implied by the concept of impairment.
This virtual independence Of energy expenditure is
another of Bartley's contentions.

The hypothesized conflictual nature of fatigue
seems to receive some support when one considers
manipulation of any Of the eight elements of the con-
ceptual design as a way of obstructing or facilitating
ready goal achievement.

Little evidence was found which would cause
one to identify the concepts of boredom and fatigue.
Only four subjects mentioned "boringness" in their
reports. Only one subject attributed his tiredness
to the "boring" task, whereas most of the subjects
spoke in terms of excitement, curiosity, interest,
and on-going speculation. If they became tired it
was attributed to late hours, excessive work, ROTC,
or some other energy-consuming prior activity.

The reader will recall that, according to
Bartley, the characteristic of boredom is the
attributing of the individual's felt tiredness to

the nature of the task being performed.

-lO8—

Bartley shows a great unwillingness to permit
fatigue to be defined in terms of the context in which

it arose. One of the quotations from Fatigue and Im-

 

pgirment in Man cited early in this dissertation
Objects to such terminological undergrowth as "mental
fatigue, nervous fatigue, combat fatigue, convoy
fatigue, etc."

In the opinion Of the writer, the present
work, i.e. that which is reported herein, can be seen
to sharpen up and clarify this principle. It is not
so much that a term like "convoy fatigue" is illicit
in and of itself so much as the fact that it is un-
parsimoniously specific. What is needed is an
abstract conceptual vehicle, rich enough to describe
the essential tiring elements in many different life
situations without necessitating the departure of the
experimenter from semi-particularized terms. On the
basis Of such a modus Operandi many superficially
different cases are seen to have much in common.

The writer suspects that the variables
specified in the eight factor conceptual design are
capable of performing such a role. The fact that
fatigue, defined as it has been in the context of
this thesis, has proven manipulable by the systematic
variation of need, distance, and definition causes

this writer to envision the eventual systematic

-109-

working-out of most of the situational variables to
which one responds by way of fatigue reactions.

Drawing the significant findings of this
research into a few summarizing paragraphs is the
goal of that which lies beyond this point.

The experimental picture was one of thirty-
two different subjects contributing to a single pool
their performances and experiences relative to a task
situation common to all. In terms of overt behavior
each subject did essentially the same task and no
subject was given the Opportunity to exert himself
materially more than another.

The extent to which the subjects faced differ-
ent task situations lay in factors which tended to
orientate various experimental groups differently to
the common task.

The concepts of need, mediation, and goal were
ramified so as to bring into focus eight different
variables, the variation of any one of which would
alter the motivation of the performing individual.

Three of these, the strength of one's need to
perform the task, how well the pathways to the goal
were understood, and how far it was in time and energy
expenditure to the goal, were played in the roles of
variables. The others were made into constants to the

limits imposed by their own natures and the imagination

 

 

-110-

of the experimenter.

Subsequent gathering and analyzing of data
showed that need intensity significantly affected
perceived tiredness but that it had no effect on
speed or variance of performance.

Knowledge of pathways produced significant
effects on both perceived tiredness and performance.
Distance, or the expected cost of the labor to the
organism, materially affected both felt-tiredness and
performance indices.

There was a noteworthy lack of interaction
between the independent variables as conditioners of
behavior and felt tiredness.

Qualitative data and conclusions of a less
general nature have been reported earlier.

It is as though the conclusions might finally
be stated in this manner. An individual's fatigue as
measured in terms of feelings and performance can be
seen as a function of his orientation to his task,
quite independent Of the absolute amount of energy
utilized in the carrying out of this task.

The concomitant manipulation of three such
organizational principles as those used as main sources
Of variance in this research is only a beginning.
These, plus some of the factors played as constants

in this experiment, plus others yet unspecified, may

-lll-

prove capable of spelling out the broad origins Of
fatigue as a crippling and inhibiting experience and

a debilitator of efficient behavior.

-ll2-

FOOTNOTES

lBartley, s. H. and E. Chute. Fati e and
Impairment in Man. lst ed. New York: McGraw-HiII
Company,'Inc. 1947, pp. ix + 429. '

21bid., p. 1.

3Ibid., p. 1.

4Ibid., p. 2.

5Ibid., p. vii.

6Ibid., pp. 55-56.

7Lewin, K. Principles of To ological Psych-
Olo . lst ed. New York: MOGraw-Hi 1 Book Company,
c. 1936, pp. ix + 231.

Lewin, K. Field Theor in Social Science.
ed. by D. Cartwright. New YorE: Harper and Brothers.
1951, PP. XX + 346.

 

8Barker, R. G., J. s. Kounin, and H. F. Wright.
Viewpoints on Science and the Ps cholo Of Motivation.
Unpub11§hed manuaI. Copyright 1952 By R. G. Barker.
47 numb. leaves. 18 figures.

9Muscio B. Is a fatigue test possible? Brit.
J. Psychol. 12 (1921-22) pp. 31-46. "“

10Floyd, W. F. and Welford, A. T., Editors.
S osium on Fati ue. London: H. K. Lewis and Co.
Egg. I953, pp. viiI + 196.

11Dodge, R. The laws of relative fatigue.
Psychol. Rev. 24 (1917) pp. 89-113.

1231115, A. G. Blocking: A new principle of
mental fatigue. Am. J. Psychol. 43 (1931) pp. 230-
243.

-115-

Footnotes (con-)

15Baker, K. H. Pre-experimental set in dis-
traction experiments. J. Gen. Psychol. 16 (1937)
pp. 471-488.

14Krueger, W. C. F. The influence of amount
limits and time limits upon the rate of work. J.
Appl. Psychol. 21 (1937) pp. 113-118.

15Floyd and Wolford. op. cit. pp. 143-149.

16Barmack, J. E. The effect of benzedrine
sulfate (benzyl methyl carbinamine) upon the report
of boredom and other factors. J. Psychol. 5 (1938)
pp. 125-133.

l7Wyatt, 5., J. A. Fraser, and F. G. L. Stock.
The effects of monotony on work. Industrial Fatigue
Research Board. Rept. 56 (1929).

lBeassel, E. E. and K. M. Dallenbach. The
effect Of auditory distraction uponthe sensory
reaction. Am. J. Psychol. 29 (1918) pp. 129-143.

19Bartley. op. cit. p. 43.

20Floyd and Wolford. Op. cit. p. l.
211bid., p. 43.
22

Eckman et. a1. Editors. Essa s in Psych-
ologgé 7D. Katz Uppsala: Almqvist an ksells. I951,
pp. "" 1.

23Carmichael, L., J. L. Kennedy, and L. c.
Mead. Some recent approaches to the experimental
study of fatigue. Science. (1949) pp. 110-445.
Abstract.

24Shands, H. C. and J. E. Finesinger. A note
on the significance of fatigue. Psychosomatic
Medicine. 14 (1952) pp. 309-514,

 

10.

11.

—114—

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Baker, K. H. Pre-experimental set in distraction
experiments. J. Gen. Psychol. 16 (1937)
pp. 471-488.

Barker, R. G., J. S. Kounin, and H. F. Wright.

ViewEoints on Science and the Psychology of
O iva ion. Unpu is e manua . Opyrig
1942 by R. G. Barker. 47 numb. leaves. 18

figures.

Barmack, J. E. The effect of benzedrine sulfate
(benzyl methyl carbinamine) upon the report
Of boredom and other factors. J. Psychol. 5

(1938) PP~ 125-155-

Bartley, S. H. and E. Chute. Fatigue and Impair-
ment in Man. lst ed. New or : c raw- 1
Company, Ific. 1947, pp. ix + 429.

Bills, A. G. Blocking: A new principle of
mental fatigue. Am. J. Psychol. 43 (1931)

Carmichael, L., J. L. Kennedy, and L. C. Mead.
Some recent approaches to the experimental
study of fatigue. Science. (1949) pp. 110-
445. Abstract.

Cassel, E. E. and K. M. Dallenbach. The effect
of auditory distraction upon the sensory
reaction. Am. J. Psychol. 29 (1918) pp.
129-143.

Dodge R. The laws of relative fatigue. Psychol.
Rev. 24 (1917) pp. 89-113.

Eckman et. a1. Editors. Essays in Ps cholo .
D. Katz Uppsala: Almqvist and' 1 se 5. 951,

pp. 65-71.

Floyd, W. F. and Welford, A. T., Editors.
S osium on Fati e. London: H. K. Lewis
ang Co. LEE. 195?, pp. viii + 196.

Krueger, W. C. F. The influence of amount limits

and time limits upon the rate of work. ‘J.
Appl. Psychol. 21 (1937) pp. 113-118.

12.

l3.

l4.

l5.

I6.

-115-

Bibliography (con-)

Iewin, K. Field Theory in Social Science. ed.
ed. by D. Cartwright. *New York: Harper and
Brothers. 1951, pp. xx + 346.

Lewin, K. Princi les of To 010 ical Ps cholo .
lst. ed. New YorE: McGraw-RiII Book Company,

Inc. 1936, pp. ix + 231.

 

Muscio, B. Is a fatigue test possible? Brit.
J. Psychol. 12 (1921-1922) pp. 31-46.

 

Shands, H. C. and J. E. Finesinger. A note on
the significance Of fatigue. Ps chosomatic
Medicine. 14 (1952) pp. 309- .

Wyatt, S., J. A. Fraser, and F. G. L. Stock.
The effects of monotony on work. Industrial
Fatigue Research Board. Rept. 56. (I929).

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