Need_]

And the man or woman that you need in any department of your business
is that one _whose mind works swiftly in the particular way required
for your business_.

How rapidly does your mind work? How fast do your thoughts come,
compared to the average man in your field of activity?

How fast does your stenographer think? Your clerk? Your chauffeur?
Are they up to the average of those engaged in similar work? If not,
you had best make a change.

[Sidenote: _Tests for Different Mental Traits_]

A large number of tests and mechanical devices, some of them most
complicated, have been scientifically formulated or invented to
measure the quickness of different kinds of mental operations in the
individual.

One very simple test which we give merely to illustrate the principle
is called the "Test of Uncontrolled Association." All the materials
needed for this test are a stop-watch and a blank form containing
numbered spaces for one hundred words.

[Sidenote: _Test of Uncontrolled Associations_]

Give these instructions to the person you are examining: "When I say
'Now!' I want you to start in with some word, any one you like, and
keep on saying words as fast as you can until you have given a hundred
different words. You may give any words you like, but they must not
be in sentences. I will tell you when to stop." You then start your
stop-watch with the command "Now!" and write the words on the blank
form as fast as they are spoken. Mere abbreviations or shorthand will
suffice. When the hundredth word is reached, stop the watch and note
the time.

The average time for lists of words written in this fashion is about
308 seconds.

[Sidenote: _Test for Quick Thinking_]

This is a fair test of the rapidity of the associative processes
of the mind. It will reveal many strange and characteristic
idiosyncrasies. On the other hand, considering the vast number of
words available, it is remarkable to note the degree of community to
be found in the words that will be given by a number of persons. Thus,
"in fifty lists (5,000 words) only 2,024 words were different, only
1,266 occurred but once, while the one hundred most frequent words
made up three-tenths of the whole number."

Professor Jastrow, of Wisconsin University, has found also that the
"class to which women contribute most largely is that of articles of
dress, one word in every eleven belonging to this class. The inference
from this, that dress is the predom