ABSTRACT
THERE was one type of personal situation encountered in the interviewing program which particularly interested the investigators. This type of situation manifested itself in an exaggerated and morbid form of response, more particularly with regard to persons than with regard to things. For some employees a reprimand from a supervisor became the object of a great deal of morbid reflection. It would be only a matter of time before such an incident was elaborated in the employee’s private thinking to such a degree that the supervisor took on all the aspects of a “fiend” whose sole purpose was to torment him. A supervisor of a rather strict demeanor became in the eyes of some timid employee an “ogre” constantly watching him, ready to pounce in case he made a mistake. Comments on supervision, more than those in any other area, could not be taken at their face value. It was not that these comments were completely fabricated; part of the story was probably correct. A supervisor may have been unduly severe; the employee may have been unjustly reprimanded. The interesting thing, however, was the way in which certain events grew to have such a distorted emotional significance for the employee that his capacity for effective discrimination was greatly reduced.
