Claim: Personnel psychology was developed to better understand work behavior and one influential figure was German-American psychologist Hugo Munsterberg who was a pioneer in applied psychology.
Evidence: Personnel psychology is the area of industrial/organizational psychology that primarily deals with the recruitment, selection and evaluation of personnel, and other job aspects such as morale, job satisfaction, and relationships between managers and workers in the workplace. It is the field of study that concentrates on the selection and evaluation of employees; this area of psychology deals with job analysis and defines and measures job performance, performance appraisal, employment testing, employment interviews, personnel selection and employee training, and human factors and ergonomics. One influential figure in the beginning of this new area was Hugo Munsterberg, a German psychologist who was trained by Wilhelm Wundt and who also worked with William James. He was one of the pioneers in applied psychology, extending his research and theories to industrial/organizational (I/O), legal, medical, clinical, educational and business settings. Hugo Münsterberg (/ˈmʊnstərbɜːrɡ/; June 1, 1863 – December 16, 1916) was a German-American psychologist.