The integration of psychology into human resources began in the early 20th century as psychology experts started exploring how psychological principles could enhance workplace practices. Early efforts focused on applying scientific methods to employee selection, training and advertising.
Publications from this era formed the basis for industrial psychology, which addressed effective ways to identify and develop talent and how psychological factors influence business outcomes. The use of mental ability and occupational tests (e.g., the Army Beta test) became widespread during wartime, and this helped set a precedent for modern hiring and employee development practices.
As research progressed into the late 1920s and early 1930s, psychological studies expanded from individual hiring to understanding the broader organizational management, relations and motivation. Researchers also explored how these factors could affect productivity and employee retention. This marked the beginning of organizational psychology.
Additionally, researchers developed the human factors psychology field, which explored how redesigning the workplace (e.g., increased breaks) could boost company output and employee wages.
