" (-1.1
.. t.
Perhaps You Have a Hard Time,
Getting your Self-Starter W orkmg
on “Bloc Monday Yea Are
“Just Right” by Mid-Week and by
the End of the W ee/e You Have ,
Tapered Off to the Lowest Scale of
EffiCIeney—Saence Proves It
1
By Charles G. Reinhart
0 YOU ever get the "Blue Monday
Blues"?
When the first workday of the week
drags around do you find the mental
gears stiff, and “General Ability” hit-
ting on only three cylinders?
Yes? Well, don’t let it worry you!
For. psychology, that omniscient and
comforting science,,says most of us are
naturally that way. 70!: Monday—if
you resemble 112 students whose rela-
tive performances have been’ closely
studied—you’ re only about 91 per cent
efiicient.
If you have a dificult job to do, tackle.
it on Wednesday, preferably at 8 o’clock’
in the morning. .’You re at your peak of
perfozmance then. You’ vs touched 100
per cent on mefital production.
But-«if you’ré like the students—MW
day isn’t yourtlowest day Milne...”
nrday and Sunday are still worse; so
far as performance goes.- Briefly; the
:ests-on the 112 'showed a-gradual' in-'
crease in performance during th’e‘first
’sur days of the Week, with a marked
decline on Thursday which was not
altered to any great extent until Tues—
day. WTbursday Friday, fiatur’day and
Sunday were, in fact, the actual low
days for the undergraduates studied as '
agroup.
Dr. .W. Fernberger, assistant pro-
fessors in the psychology department,
University of Pennsylvania, and an ad-
visory editor of the Journal of. Experi-n
mental Psychology, which announced the
results of the tests, believes the findings
may be applied to individual perform-
ance in industry and business, as well
as to the work of students.
IN HIS olfice at College Hall, Dr. Fern-
berger explained. the importance of
the charts b1, nhich the daily records
have been plesented.
“They represent,” he said, .“a fur-
ther deVe! opmeut in the Study of in-
dividual productiw c ability. Earlier
workers haw published the results of 7
reseaiclx into camparative mental and
physical ability according to the hours "
of the day. but heretofore there has been
‘ little authoritatixe research into difior- 7
c1.ccs in performance according to the
days of .he week '
“The actual objecto of the experiments
was to determine at what hour of the
day and on what day of. the week the
student’s mind functions most produc-
lively. '
apply to every in ividual, but they rep-
resent an average attained by 112 nor,
the] students nuclei careful observation.”
The tests was made and the report
piepared by Dr. Donald ,A Laird,‘:o
the. Colgate Psychological Laboratory-f.
He divided the students into squads of
sixteen and conducted the experiment
for six weeks. To avoid any self-con-
sciousness which might affect the result,
the subjects Were led to béli
experiments», h use:
of temperature 1c 11 . . .
The tests subin‘i tted by Dr ird in
cluded: Idmr‘ne'd so
iionsrea
tions whé tiénslly
her; two unit: ddition; substitution
single colu dditiini; part 3111.»
retention of: ac
After 47Q4 test l
It”! ‘11‘m_
2B, 000- all
.. records.
Naturallv the findings do not 7
7 ed' in .our:,group ,results.
had to do with the study”
.3“;
Thorndike, EntethencB Test. and delayed
" ,. 9' a slight
W orles Out That W ay
able to announce the following results:
' Considering Wednesday, whefi the
highest general average was reached,
as a 100 per cent performance, the
average student was 89 per. cent‘cfilcient
on Sunday; 91'per cent on onday;
97 per cent on Tuesday, 100 per cent
on Wednesday, 88 per cent on Thurs.
day, 88 per cent on Friday, and 87 per
cent on Saturday. ~
THIS aummary-represents a cartels.
tion of all the tested
the separate 1, tests‘ show . an‘ interesting
variation from the‘general conclusion.
In discussing this phase of his experi-
ments Dy. Laird says: . 1
“Examination of the performance
curves shawls a general agreement in
rise toward the middle of the week.
“The peak for the Mormons in the
.comprchensionv test is on Monday. In
terms of thehverage day’ a pantomime.
“the difl'erence between Sunday and Mon-
* day in this particular task is 20 per
cent.‘
‘ “The high point in performance in
the addition tests is found Tuesday—a
day lat'er than for ‘comprehension.’
‘ “The high point or the curve for sin.
glecolumn addition is. significant. In
terms of addition it means that on Tum
day the average performance of the
112 subjects studied would have enabled
them to do 369 more additions per hour
than on Sunday, assuming that the rate
of the first few minutes is continued
without change for the longer-period.
“The peak of the substitution test, the
retention tests and the test of reading
time occurs on Wednesday.
“The troughs in the curves for irrele-
vent words introduced in writing the
The results of
memory selection—Monday and Thurs- .
day and Friday—may be taken as in-
dicative of excessive verbiage at these
tilnesfl
ONDAY and Thursday and Friday,
one assumes then, should be red-
letter days for salesmen and harbors
and bridge clubs‘—-to say nothing of
Congressn .
In discussing his summary of per- 1:
formances, Dr Laird adds: ‘
“This finding is in general agreement
with the data obtained from industrial
In these latter records, how-
civer, it should be mentioned that there
are occasio'nal individual records in
u hich a superior workman increases -
' steadily in output during the week. Thus _
7 in place of the decrease after Wednes— ‘
day, these few workers studied incl-en‘s:
’7, description or a sourluhdls new:
ofataper Thisview,beaidca.being' “l.
‘worded possibly for emulate influenced. 7
a steady slump until bottom is touched
at 90 per .cent by 4 P. M. By 5 o’clock
the efiects of the student luncheon has
begun to wear OR and the performance
scale starts gradually to rise .
At 8 o’clock; P. 151., it touches 92
per cent. By 9 the evening peak is
reached at 94 per cent, as compared with
the 8 A. M. performance. At 10 o'clock
it sags again to 91 per cent and con-
tinues its steady droop until bedtime.
As in the gist: on days of .the weak,
the diurndl charts show- interesting vari-
stions when merits of the difierent tests“:
{is studied.
“ComprehenSion,” the chart indicates.
is highestfl 9 P. M" and lowest shortly
after noon. Memory, applied to imme-
diate ideas, is best at 8 A. M., and poor-
est. at 8 P. M. . Additionof both single ,
columns and double ‘columns 7is‘ at its -
peak at 11’. M. Single column addi-
tion, however, is lowest at 10 P. M.,
and double column at 4 P. M
“There is,” Dr. Laird points out, "a
steady decline in general performance,
until 4' P. M. This decline amounts to
about 10 per cent less than the perform-
ance at 8 A. M., which .is fivgvtimes the
standard deviation of the difference that
is being used. Following the evening
meal, there is a slight increase in the
performance, Which is lost again, how-
ever, inthc period from 10 until 11 P. M.
“These conclusions apply, not neces»
sarily to every individual student, but
represent accurately the average per-
formance of a large group, or the ‘typi-
cal student.‘ 11: may be perhaps that
there are individual exceptions'to these
findings as the result of habits of study -
and work. " It is doubtful if there are
variatitms. as a *result of one student
being intrinsically, and apart from habits
of ‘work, .difi'erent from others.
,"It Should be given further, emphadia
that this variability in performance does
. not necessarily represent changes in em.
ciency. Although the phrase 'rnental
C efficiency! is deftly bantered around, no
steadily: in output throughout the week.
Itcnay be that there are individual vari-
ationsof a similar nature that'ar'e mask- ~
.Tho present
'data, however, are not such that it is
possible to check this very probable aa-
f sumpt‘lon.” ' ‘ , ,
So much for the days of the week!
But Dr. Laird has gofie still seepe-
human enemy, and has evolved par-
of the day. The morning hours, he finds
b
drop;
eve that the 41111.1 the always interesting problems of
formance curves for the various hours‘
By 1.: o’clock; P. M; the fi
. fallen “other point, rating .7:
‘may be marked loss in ‘mental. efiiciency.’ 7
, eluded poets and novelists, prefez-g to
work in the early morning and at: 7
' suite; at all tests that show performance '
at difi'erantihoolra 0'! the. day ind night;f
o’clock, A. M.‘, is the .. peak hour.
' purposes of comparison it may be
ted at 100 per cent; Ten ofclock new. 7
Performance is about
3 sideration.
one has.
study of mental cfliciehcy.
varying conditions. The input is still to
be measured, and until that is known
for each of the different performances,
no one can say which is the more elli-
cieut time or mode.
thit conditions for maximum perform-
ance are, in fact, the least cmcient whcn
energy consumption is taken into con- '
The last year, under the
auspices obthe National Research Coun—
indicates in its present form that there
strictly speaking, yet made a‘ '
What has , ,
- been studied is. varying output under ,
It may very well be "
oil, 1 gathered data on this point, which
Do 11 On Wednesday;-
, 'at'8 A; M. ' .
WEDNESDAY is -thc
day of the week to put_
cording to psychologists
After expcf'mcntlng filth
a group of 112 students,
Dr.’lDOnald A Laird, of
Colgate University, has dc-
‘ :Dr.‘ S.
' most productively. ,
of the
\V. 5 Fernbcrger,
fifids the chart applicable
to men and women in
dents. Here is the Weekly
calendar:
-Sunday, 89 per Cent. 7
(blonday, 9i per cent.
Tuesday, 97 per cent.
f Wednesday, 100 per cent.
Thursday, 88 per cent.
Friday, 88 per cent.
= Saturday, 87 per cent.
7According to testsmadc
by Dr.. Laird, 'Monday,
Thursday and Friday
should be good days fur
clubs—and Congress!
Morning hours are best
o "clock in‘ the morning :is
the high peak. Four p m.
is “low water mark” with
climb to 94. per cent. -at
9 p m. llll
over your best work, ac-~~
terminedwhat day of’thc 3
‘wcek‘the mind functions _
University of Pennsylvania, 1
[industry as well as to stu-'
salesmen, harbors, bridge I
' for .mcntal work. ..‘Eight .
90 per cent, and then you .-
P. M.; that nine, 6 per cent, composed
best betu een midnight and 6 A M. There
were, however, twenty-seven, 17 per cent,
who uorked throughout the day, from
6 A. M. to 7 P. M.;'six, 4 per cent, who
, worked in the morning and the‘night;
.tol'ian;
vHolmes, poet and humorist;
four, 3 per cent, who labored during the
afternoon and night, and thirty-seven, 23
per ‘,cent who were evenly facile through—
out the day and night,- that is ifom 8
A. M. until 12 P. M.
MGNG ,tlis morning workers were
John Addison, maybe: Charlotte
fionte, novelist and poet; Charles Dick.
ens, novelist; John Dryden, poet; Ralph
Waldo Emerson, essayist; E. Gibbon, 1111‘-
Goethe, poet; . Oliver Wendell
William
' Dean Howells,.noV‘ellst; Victor Hugo,
. novelist: Kant, philosopher: Macaulay,
essayist;
Sir Walter ‘ScOtt, novelist;
' Frank R. Stockton, novelist; Daniel Web.
‘41'
star, statesman.
1n the afternoon group were S. O.
Jewett, American story writer, and A.
'I‘raeger, German poet. 7
Among the night workers (some of
whom would compose during the day
also) were Blake, poet; Bonner, story
writer and novelist; Thomas Hardy. nov-
elist; J. C. Harris, humorist and journal-
ist; Thomas Hood, poet; Samuel Johnson,
essayist and lexicographer; R. B Sherl-
dan, playwright.
John Burroughs, the naturalist, wrote
~ during both the morning and afternoon.
So did T. W. Eigginson, novelist: Thomas
Moore, poet; E. P. Roe, novelist, and
John G.Whittie1.
Bobbie Burns composed his inspired
works during the morning or the night
hours.
other writer who seldom labored at his
. craft during the afternoon. ,
Those authors who wrote indifi‘erent
of the hour include Louisa M. Alcott,
novelist; H. H. Bancroft, historian; Bul-
wer-Dytton, novelist and poet; Wilkio
Collins, journalist; John Flake. historian;
John Keats, poet: Henry W. Longfellow,
poet; Petrarch, ecclesiast and poet; W.
'H. Prescott, historian; James Whitcomb
‘Itiley, poet, and William‘ Wordsworth,
poet."
“‘Numerically, " points .out Dr March,
“morning stands easily in the lead among
the diligent groups, and this precedence
. might..be emphasized if those persons
3 could be segregated from the later
-7 groups who were obliged by financial
' necessity or social custom to scatter their
work ’over such extensive periods of the
although the performance remains the
lime, or may actually moi-cued: . ,
eio'f eminent psychologists. .' ‘ ' 1
In} studying the beat ours: for
"position fey men ewho wrl
exhaustive treatise on the subject
, Howard M. Marsh was made pub. ‘
rid the f‘l’ntellective Clary? .. com
- advanced by mime-
7 fit for P
the gored its birth to the sun’s light! 7,
‘ , , 7 ,, 7-:prapared to carry the peak me it the
one: It’s a pleasant idea to toy With;
:11: this hnguorous Spring .
.- but—on- , 31¢,
79'
Don'texpectthebnsstoseem... 1‘; '
7.11;!th the best .time ;.for oi-i'glnal
7 day
"While the theory fill.“ nicht flir-
position is thus at least. strongly 1mg.
'; it seems lacking in ground to
sure extreme vidwa" as have been
De: thnce .is up
he statement, ‘No
' tests in reverse order.
Nathaniel ' Hawthorne was 7 an- ,
jyou’rasnSA. M.
only by his own actual praético in regard :_
to night wor
Modern life has been compared to a
struggle in which the fittest alone can/
survive the fierce competition between
individuals,' corporations, com
and nations. ’
so distinct has been the trend Mud. '
methods that increase production by both
men and machines that an org
7 known as the Efficiency Society has been
formed :11 this country. More than 1000
commercial
persons, prominent in many
and scientific activities, joined this organ.
nation when it was formed to forward
the idea that persistent. systematic study
and comparisons of experiments and u- 7
patience might promote that tendency.
Along with the study of methods pro-
moting emcisncy scientists have sought
the causes and the effects of it! may.
fatigue. ‘
Recently there were held at Walla-lay
College tests for speed, accuracy and dif-
ficulty bf both mental and physical work.
Sixteen girl undergraduates snbrnlttld
to the tests in the morning before college
work and in the afternoon, following the
last of their classes. *
The tests in themselves were W1.
ing. The first was an attempt .to do“:-
mine the efi'ect of fatigue upon the ace
curacy of physical work by considering
its effect upon the movement 0! the an
The blindfolded subject drew her pencil
along a straight edge for a. standard
length as determined by a stop and im-
mediately reproduced this length with
the stop removed.
The second test was d to man-2‘
are the efi‘ect of fatigue on mental ac-
curacy. The subject was required to
divide four lines into halves andthlrda
,by estimating with the eye.
._ The third was designed to indicate the
effect of fatigue upon speed a! mental
Work. Addition tests were used as. a
check here. The 8m were
to add for “thirty minutes. 8 was
'ltressed. .
Thefourth tested the efioctofhfignl
upon the difficulty of Physical work. '1'!"
subject was required to hold I metallic
pencil steadily in a certain position to:
a definite length of time. ‘
The fifth test was planned to show ill
efiect of fatigue on the dlficulty of men-
tal work. Ten multiplication problems
of increasing difiiculty were presented
and the subject was asked to solve than!
without perfcil and paper.
In the sixth test the undergraduate
was required to top as fast as pomlfi' I
upon a metal plate with a metal stylus.
The frequency of the taps was neordd
electrically.
HELEN FRANCIS WRITING and
Dr. Horace Bidwell English, of the
Psychology Laboratory, who conducted
the tests, report their results in the pay-
chology journal, along with Dr. Laird?
study, as follows:
“A team of tests extending over forty-
live minutes of continuous work was fol-
lowed without intermission by tho-sans
7 None of the sub-
jects showed any loss of cadency in tlfl
l
ems“
second period as compared withtho first s.
except in a test for speed of movement,
This was the only test requiring vigor»
one physical exertion. Nevertheless,“ ‘
7 feeling of fatigue induced by ninety
utes of uninterrupted, higlhtcnsion war
was very marked. '
“The hypothesis is advanced that;
fatigue is a. negative emotional appoint:
As such it should be diflerenfiated 1:01.?
the physiological phenomenon of ex.
haustion of which it is a conclmdtant.
As an emotion in the broader sense.
fatigue is a conscious, if negative, motive
to action. Fatigue does not
cause work-decrement, but was this,
threshold at which work motives are a
efl'ective. But if such posifivo motives
are adequate at all, the define—u d1:-
tinguished from the occurs: a,
bastion-has no dice: upon work of.
ficicucy.”
,2
gTHUS RUNS the evidence on chrenui
Marin,
wanker,
oragaixx,youmaybeaty'ourbestat.,9
P. M. on Thursday: I‘onibly it would bi
logical andaially my.
Wednesday
Camaething for youtodnotefrlhy
_'Saturday and Sunday to fishing, and to
V'alrow up at 11 o’clock every
weather,
omnwauwamcamm
Norwalk Chronicler