Introduction
Prior to the 1950s, the majority of prevalent personality inventories tested for the “negative and maladaptive aspects of personality” (Gibby & Zickar, 2008). Emotional instability and a lack of emotional control were considered characteristic of a maladaptive personality (Pressey S. L. & Pressey L. W., 1919). Hence, the interest in research on adjustment, in the United States, began in the 1920s with the increasing popularity of personality tests and their use to weed out “problem employees.” It was believed that hiring individuals whose personality traits indicated good adjustment would prevent and eliminate social and emotional issues at work, thereby increasing productivity (Mayo, 1923; Zickar, 2001).
A larger societal trend of the time was the elimination and lessening acceptability of the expression of such emotions as guilt, anger, and fear. It was believed that these emotions can disrupt the rhythm of the workplace and are signs of maladjustment. Woodworth’s test...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
APA. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.
Calhoun, J. F., & Acocella, J. R. (1990). Psychology of adjustment and human relationships (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Mcgraw-Hill Book.
Einsle, F., Köllner, V., Dannemann, S., & Maercker, A. (2010). Development and validation of a self-report for the assessment of adjustment disorders. Psychology, Health & Medicine, 15(5), 584–595.
Gibby, R. E., & Zickar, M. J. (2008). A history of the early days of personality testing in American industry: An obsession with adjustment. History of Psychology, 11(3), 164–184.
Hamama-Raz, Y. (2012). Does psychological adjustment of melanoma survivors differs between genders? Psycho-Oncology, 21(3), 255–263.
Lee, G. E. (2010). Predictors of adjustment to nursing home life of elderly residents: A cross-sectional survey. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 47(8), 957–964.
Lin, Y., Lai, M., & Gau, S. S. (2012). Youths with ADHD with and without tic disorders: Comorbid psychopathology, executive function and social adjustment. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 33(3), 951–963.
Maercker, A., Einsle, F., & Köllner, V. (2007). Adjustment disorder – A new concept of diagnosing. Psychopathology, 40, 135–146.
Mayo, E. (1923). The irrational factor in human behavior. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 110, 117–130.
Pressey, S. L., & Pressey, L. W. (1919). Cross-out tests with suggestions as to a group scale of the emotions; Studies from the psychological laboratory of Indiana University. The Journal of Applied Psychology, 3(2), 138–150.
Strain, J. J., & Diefenbacher, A. (2008). The adjustment disorders: The conundrums of the diagnoses. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 49(2), 121–130.
White, W. A. (1917). The principles of mental hygiene. Oxford, UK: Macmillan.
Zautra, A., & Beier, E. (1978). The effects of life crisis on psychological adjustment. American Journal of Community Psychology, 6(2), 125–135.
Zickar, M. J. (2001). Using personality inventories to identify thugs and agitators: Applied psychology’s contribution to the war against labor. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 59(1), 149–164.
Online Resources
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this entry
Cite this entry
Korosteliov, A. (2014). Adjustment, Overview. In: Teo, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5583-7_646
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5583-7_646
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5582-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5583-7
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Sciences