Schutz Develops Practical Test To Foretell Group Compatibility

A test to determine how well people will work together has been devised by William C. Schutz, lecturer on social psychology, it was announced yesterday. Experiments with groups formed on the basis of these tests indicate that the test can predict what kinds of people will be compatible.

The test is a short questionnaire which asks the examinee to compare sample reactions to given situations with his own reactions. From their answers, Schutz classified those who took the test as "overpersonal," or always seeking approval; "personal," or thoroughly relaxed in relations with others; and "counter-personal," or not at all friendly.

From the results of the tests Schutz divided the examinees into groups of five, all of approximately the same intelligence. A combination of "personals" and "overpersonals" or a group composed solely of "counterpersonals" produced compatibility. Groups of "personal" or "overpersonal" people combined with "counterpersonals" resulted, however, in incompatible combinations.

The test proved just as accurate with a "natural" group as with artificial ones.

The groups were then asked to solve logical puzzles, build toys, or play group board games. When the groups were put under pressure, the compatible teams beat the incompatible groups 86 per cent of the time. Results of the test tabulated last April revealed that the questionnaire had accurately predicted who in these experimental groups would be compatible.

The test proved just as accurate with a "natural" group as with artificial ones. Arnold Abelow '56 last year gave the test to a street-corner gang in Boston whose acquaintance he had made the previous summer.