Abstract:

This collection consists of the business records of Ernest Dichter and the several consulting firms through which he operated fully document his role as a pioneer of motivational research, from the beginnings of his career in the United States until a few months before his death.

Scope and Content: Consists of the texts of speeches, pop-psychology personality quizzes, and agendas and notes for seminars, some of which may also exist in published form.The speeches follow the trajectory of Dichter's career and generally reflect the findings and ideas one finds in the motivational studies and published writings of a given year. During the 1950s and 1960s, when the Institute was at its height, many of the speeches are those of Dichter's vice presidents and other subordinates, including Ernest Angel, Irving Gilman, John Kellogg, John Kishler, Tibor Koves, John Rimberg, and William Schlackman. In the later years, a high percentage of the speeches were delivered in German before European audiences, although English translations are often provided. In many cases the speeches exist in several drafts, sometimes with accompanying letters and notes. Dichter recycled many of the same ideas and often entire speeches for different audiences at different times. There is also some overlap between the speeches and the "Reprints," which is often noted by Dr. Dichter in the front page margins.Even before emigrating, Dr. Dichter had written psychological personality tests and quizzes for popular magazines, a practice he continued throughout his career. Many were for women's magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Family Circle and Elle, and Dichter's output logically increased in the "Me Decade" of the 1970s. In the 1980s, Dichter began numbering his quizzes as a continuation of his "Speeches" series, using Nos. 1157-1170. However, the bulk remained organized alphabetically. The earliest quiz dates from 1944 and the latest from 1985.Dr. Dichter also conducted seminars, especially in the later phases of his career. Sometimes, as in the seminars for Expressen, a Swedish newspaper, or the "Teller-Seller" seminars for motivating bank tellers, they were part of a larger motivational study. Others were offered commercially, and still others as university courses. The "Seminars" series is somewhat mixed. For some seminars, there are only publicity materials and flyers.For others, such as Dichter's standard creativity and motivation seminars and his "Top Man Tests" for managers, there are elaborate notes and tests for organizing each session. For those...