Citation

Whiting HF, English HB. J. Exp. Psychol. 1925; 8(1): 33-49.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1925, American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/h0067510

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The practical need for simple and accurate tests of fatigue is one that the psychologist may not ignore. This need, accordingly, constitutes the starting point of these investigations. Although there is considerable agreement that fatigue may not be defined wholly in terms of lessened efficiency for mental or physical work, it is this lessened efficiency which gives to the problem its practical interest and all fatigue tests have proceeded by measuring this work-decrement. A preliminary analysis indicates that this work-decrement may show itself in two ways: loss of speed and loss of accuracy. Cutting somewhat across these two is the relation of fatigue to difficulty. It is possible that while fatigue may not affect work of little difficulty at all, it may greatly influence more difficult tasks; that is it may raise the work threshold for either accuracy or speed. Tests for speed, accuracy, and difficulty of both mental and physical work were given to 16 Wellesley College undergraduates in the morning before college work and in the afternoon following college work. No significant differences in efficiency were found. A team of tests extending over 45 minutes of continuous work was followed without intermission by the same tests in reverse order. None of the four subjects showed any real loss of efficiency in the second period as compared with the first except in the speed of movement test. This was the only test requiring vigorous physical exertion. Nevertheless the feeling of fatigue induced by the ninety minutes of uninterrupted, high-tension work was very marked. The hypothesis is advanced that fatigue is a negative emotional appetite. As such it is to be differentiated from the physiological phenomenon of exhaustion of which it is a concomitant. As an emotion in the broader sense, fatigue is a conscious (if negative) motive to action. Fatigue does not directly cause work-decrement but raises the threshold at which work motives are effective. But if such positive motives are adequate at all, the fatigue--as distinguished from the accompanying exhaustion--has no effect upon work efficiency. This hypothesis deserves experimental investigation since it seems to explain many otherwise puzzling facts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)