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Profile of the Mechanical Engineer II. Interests
Author(s) -
HARRISON ROSS,
HUNT WINSLOW,
JACKSON THEODORE A.
Publication year - 1955
Publication title -
personnel psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.076
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1744-6570
pISSN - 0031-5826
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-6570.1955.tb01210.x
Subject(s) - blank , scope (computer science) , vocational education , politics , psychology , sociology , engineering ethics , social psychology , epistemology , law , engineering , political science , pedagogy , mechanical engineering , computer science , philosophy , programming language
Summary T he interests of mechanical engineers were studied by means of the Strong Vocational Interest Blank, selected items from a personal history form, and an interview. The data indicate the following interest pattern: Mechanical engineers are extremely fond of sports and active outdoor pursuits. Their strong mechanical and technical interests tend toward immediate application rather than toward basic science and research. They are, in a sense, more technologists than scientists. There were suggestions in the tabular data that mechanical engineers are social conformists and show close rapport with commonly accepted beliefs and practices. Though they have been shown to have superior verbal problem‐solving ability, they are primarily non‐verbalists. They are basically more interested in things than in people. Their values are conspicuously masculine. Engineers as a whole have few cultural or esthetic interests. Although highly intelligent, they are no more intellectuals than they are political extremists or bohemians. The scope of their interests, relative to their intellectual potentialities, may be described as constricted.