tate of fatigue, a short conversation will bring a
certain relief and relaxation, and the words which the speaker hears
in reply will produce a general stimulation of psychical energy for
the moment. Moreover, the mere existence of the social conversational
intercourse will raise the general emotional mood, and this feeling of
social pleasure may be the source from which may spring new
psychophysical powers. Nevertheless the fundamental fact, after all,
is that any talking during the labor, so far as it is not necessary
for the work itself, surely involves a distraction of attention. Here,
too, the individual is not conscious of the effect. He feels certain
that he can perform his task just as well, and even the piece-worker,
who is anxious to earn as much as possible, is convinced that he does
not retard himself by conversation. But the experiments which have
been carried on in establishments with scientific management speak
decidedly against such a supposition. A tyrannical demand for silence
would, of course, be felt as cruelty, and no suggestion of a jail-like
discipline would be wise in the case of industrial labor, for evident
psychological reasons. But various factories in rearranging their
establishments according to the principles of scientific management
have changed the positions of the workmen so that conversations become
more difficult or impossible. The result reported seems to be
everywhere a significant increase of production. The individual
concentrates his mind on the task with an intensity which seems beyond
his reach as long as the inner attitude is adjusted to social contact.
The help which is rendered by the feeling of social cooeperation, on
the other hand, is not removed by the mere abstaining from speaking.
Interesting psychopedagogical experiments have, indeed, demonstrated
that working in a common room produces better results than isolated
activity. This is not true of the most brilliant, somewhat nervous
school children, who achieve in their own room at home more than in
the classroom. But for the average, which almost alone is in question
for life in the factory, the consciousness of common effort is a
source of psychophysical reinforcement. This evidently remains
effective when the workingmen can see one another, even if the
arrangement of the seats precludes the possibility of chatting during
the work.

However, by far the more important cause of distraction of attention
lies in those dis