Walter Dill Scott: biography of this business psychologist

This researcher was a pioneer in investigating the psychological foundations of advertising.

Walter Dill Scott was an American psychologist who made many contributions to applied psychology, especially in the area of industrial psychology. As his biography shows, Dill Scott laid many of the psychological foundations of advertising and the current principles of human resources.

Below you will find the biography of Walter Dill Scott, one of the first to recognize and apply the principles of psychology in the business area. The latter in relation to advertising, as he considered the latter to be the "nervous system" of the business world.

Who was Walter Dill Scott? Biography of a pioneer in applied psychology.

Walter Dill Scott (1869-1995) was born in Cooksville, Illinois. His training at Northwestern University was in art and education. He later moved to Germany to study psychology under Wilhelm Wundt at the University of Leipzig, where he received a doctorate in philosophy in psychology and education. received a doctor of philosophy degree in psychology and education in 1900. in 1900.

With this degree he returned to the psychology faculty of Northwestern University as professor, laboratory director and later head of the department. He was also professor of advertising and applied psychology at the School of Commerce.

Along with several of his colleagues, Walter Dill Scott believed that the field of advertising had a great future. Thus, in 1903, he published, along with other authors, the first book on the subject of advertising. the first book to deal with advertising in relation to psychology: The theory and Practice of Advertising (Theory and Practice of Advertising).

From psychology to advertising

Walter Dill Scott was not only interested in psychology, but in world affairs and had a broad understanding of history. This, together with his general orientation in culture, enabled him to see the possibilities of advertising as a popular educational force, which gradually led him to define some standards of truthfulness and effectiveness.

Very soon he realized that advertising could exert changes on the mind, whereupon, the laws that govern the mind should be taken into account to determine whether an advertisement will be effective or not. In other words, he suggested that advertising has psychological components that can be exploited.

Moreover, as Dill Scott analyzed advertisements, he realized that many of them were poorly made. From there he began to ask himself how he could improve them, and one of the conclusions he reached was that the first thing to do was to select people who were properly qualified to prepare the ads.

In other words, beyond the essential qualities of effective advertising, Dill Scott began to consider the qualities necessary for a successful marketer. began to consider the qualities necessary for a salesman to be successful. Thus, he quickly became the number one authority in the field of advertising psychology and in the selection and management of human resources.

In turn, advertising and personnel management were positioned as two key elements for the business arena, thus opening a very important door for applied psychology.

Contributions to personnel management and selection

Between 1908 and 1915 Walter Dill Scott conducted a salesman selection study for the American Tobacco Company. His intention was to develop and test criteria for a systematic selection of salesmen.

To do this, he began by closely observing how the interviewees who were in charge of hiring the personnel operated. He soon realized that they used a simple "give or take" method, which he described as not giving him the information he needed.

So Scott set about directly examining and analyzing the qualities that the company's most successful salespeople had. He then discussed these qualities with his research team and the company's interviewers. This allowed him to train the interviewers on how to determine if the applicants met the desired qualities.

Finally, Scott and his team monitored the application of their approach until it was fully demonstrated that the interviewers were effectively screening salespeople. The result was very important to the company, which led to Scott acquiring more assignments in personnel assessment and management within the company, and within the same company, and subsequently in other companies.

Important works

Some of Walter Dill Scott's classic works, which were published between 1903 and 1917, are: Increasing Human Efficiency In Business: A Contribution to the Psychology of Business. (Increasing Human Efficiency In Business: A Contribution to the Psychology of Business,) Influencing Men in Business (Influencing Men in Business,) Aids in Selecting Salesmen (Aids for the selection of salespeople), and the article Psychology of Advertising (Psychology of Advertising).

Other books that were published later and have had a great impact in the field of business and advertising are in the field of business and advertising are Personnel Management (and Science and Common Sense in Working With Men (Science and Common Sense in Working With Men).

Bibliographical references:

• Northwestern University Archives (2009). Walter Dill Scott. Retrieved May 14, 2018. Available at http://exhibits.library.northwestern.edu/archives/exhibits/presidents/scott.html
• Jacobson, J.Z. (1951). Scott of Northwestern. The life of a pioneer in psychology and education. Retrieved May 14, 2018. Available at http://www.angelfire.com/biz/pottershouse/bio-w-d-scott-book001index.html