Part 2 (1/2)

[Illustration: FIG 5]

White objects appear er than a black one It is said that cattle buyers who are soht of animals have learned to discount their estimate on white animals and increase it on black ones to make allowances for the optical illusion

[Illustration: THIS MAN AND THIS BOY ARE OF EQUAL HEIGHT, BUT assOCIATION OF IDEAS MAKES THE MAN LOOK MUCH THE LARGER]

[Sidenote: _Use of Illusions in Business_]

The dressmaker and tailor are careful not to array stout persons in checks and plaids, but try to convey an ih the use of vertical lines On the other hand, you have doubtless noticed in recent years the checkerboard and plaid-covered boxes used by certain es look larger than they really are

The advertiser who understands sensory illusions gives an iness to the picture of an article by the artful use of lines and contrasting figures If his advertiseive the iures such as those of tiny men and women so that the unknown ar, he places the cigar vertically, because he knows that it will look longer that way than if placed horizontally

[Sidenote: _Making an Article Look Big_]

A subtlenumbers on odd-shaped cards or blocks, or on any blank white space

The object or space containing the figures always appears larger than the corresponding space without the figures

This fact has been ical experiestion To perform this experiment cut bits of pasteboard into pairs of squares, circles, stars and octagons and write nuures each, say 25, 50, 34, 87, etc, upon the different pieces Tell the subject to be tested to pick out the forest The susceptible person who is not trained to discriminate closely will pick out of each pair the card that has the largest nu the Confidential Man_]

This test can beapplicants for commercial positions It can also be used to discover the weakness of certain employees, such as buyers, secretaries and others who are entrusted with secrets and coainst the deceptions practiced by salesmen, promoters and others with seductive propositions

[Sidenote: _Tests for Credulity_]

This examination can be carried still further to test the subject's credulity or power of discriinally devised by a y Take a pack of cards and shuffle the some one card, say the ace of spades, especially proestive influence of the proffered card will cause nine persons out of ten to pick out that particular card

Turning froestion, shape and size, another field of peculiar sensory illusions is found in color aberration Some colors look closer than others For instance, paint an object red and it seereen

[Sidenote: _What Colors Look Nearest_]

Aside from the obvious uses to which these sense-illusions can be put, they forical experiments to test the abilities of persons in e of attention If you desire to discover the capacity of any person to pay attention to unfaht at soreat importance, try this test Have a piece of pasteboard cut into squares, circles, triangles, halfmoons, stars and other forms Then write upon each piece some such word as hat, coat, ball or bat The objects are then placed under a cloth cover and the subject to be examined is told to concentrate his attention on the shapes alone, paying no attention to the words The cloth is lifted for five seconds and then replaced The subject is then told to draith a pencil the different shapes and such _words_ as he may chance to remember The experiment should then be repeated, with the injunction to pay no attention to the shapes but to remember as many words as possible, and write them down on such _for the Range of Attention_]

Of course, the real object is to determine whether the subject will see more than he is told, or whether he is a mere automaton The result will tell whether his attention is of the narrow or broad type If it be narrow, he will see only the forms in the first case and no words, and in the second case he will remember the words but be unable to recall the shape of the pieces of cardboard

[Sidenote: _A Guide to Occupational Selection_]

His breadth of attention will be shown by the number of correct forms and words combined which he is able to remember in both cases

In other words, this willat a ti equal, the narrow type of attention belongs to a man fitted for work as a bookkeeper or mechanic, while the broad type of attention fits one for work as a fore executive ability, for work requiring the supervision of mechanical operations widely separated in space

[Sidenote: _Test for Attention to Details_]