Problems In Observation And Introspection
One should always keep in mind that psychology is essentially a
laboratory science, and not a text-book subject. The laboratory material
is to be found in ourselves and in those about us. While the text should
be thoroughly mastered, its statements should always be verified by
reference to one's own experience, and observation of others. Especially
should prospective teachers constantly correlate the lessons of the book
suggested for observation and introspection will, if mastered, do much
to render practical and helpful the truths of psychology.
1. Think of your home as you last left it. Can you see vividly just how
it looked, the color of the paint on the outside, with the familiar form
of the roof and all; can you recall the perfume in some old drawer, the
taste of a favorite dish, the sound of a familiar voice in farewell?
2. What illustrations have you observed where the mental content of the
moment seemed chiefly thinking (knowledge process); chiefly emotion
(feeling process); chiefly choosing, or self-compulsion (willing
process)?
3. When you say that you remember a circumstance that occurred
yesterday, how do you remember it? That is, do you see in your mind
things just as they were, and hear again sounds which occurred, or feel
again movements which you performed? Do you experience once more the
emotions you then felt?
4. What forms of expression most commonly reveal thought; what reveal
emotions? (i.e., can you tell what a child is thinking about by the
expression on his face? Can you tell whether he is angry,
frightened, sorry, by his face? Is speech as necessary in expressing
feeling as in expressing thought?)
5. Try occasionally during the next twenty-four hours to turn quickly
about mentally and see whether you can observe your thinking, feeling,
or willing in the very act of taking place.
6. What becomes of our mind or consciousness while we are asleep? How
are we able to wake up at a certain hour previously determined? Can a
person have absolutely nothing in his mind?
7. Have you noticed any children especially adept in expression? Have
you noticed any very backward? If so, in what form of expression in each
case?
8. Have you observed any instances of expression which you were at a
loss to interpret (remember that expression includes every form of
physical action, voice, speech, face, form, hand, etc.)?
More
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Different Types Of Thinking
The term think, or thinking, is employed in so many different senses that it will be well first of all to come to an understanding as to its various uses. Four different types of thinking which we shall note are:[5] (1) chance, or idle, thinking; (2... Direct And Indirect Interest
We may have an interest either (1) in the doing of an act, or (2) in the end sought through the doing. In the first instance we call the interest immediate or direct; in the second instance, mediate or indirect. INTEREST IN THE END VERSUS INTERES... Education And The Training Of The Nervous System
Fortunately, many of the best opportunities for sensory and motor training do not depend on schools or courses of study. The world is full of stimuli to our senses and to our social natures; and our common lives are made up of the responses we make ... Educational Use Of Expression
The educational significance of the truths illustrated in the diagram and the discussion has been somewhat slow in taking hold in our schools. This has been due not alone to the slowness of the educational world to grasp a new idea, but also to the ... Emotions As Motives
Emotion is always dynamic, and our feelings constitute our strongest motives to action and achievement. HOW OUR EMOTIONS COMPEL US.--Love has often done in the reformation of a fallen life what strength of will was not able to accomplish; it has ... Factors Determining The Efficiency Of The Nervous System
DEVELOPMENT AND NUTRITION.--Ignoring the native differences in nervous systems through the influence of heredity, the efficiency of a nervous system is largely dependent on two factors: (1) The development of the cells and fibers of which it is comp... Fear
Probably in no instinct more than in that of fear can we find the reflections of all the past ages of life in the world with its manifold changes, its dangers, its tragedies, its sufferings, and its deaths. FEAR HEREDITY.--The fears of childhood a... Forms Of Sensory Stimuli
Let us next inquire how this mechanism of the nervous system is acted upon in such a way as to give us sensations. In order to understand this, we must first know that all forms of matter are composed of minute atoms which are in constant motion, an... Freedom Of The Will Or The Extent Of Its Control
We have seen in this discussion that will is a mode of control--control of our thoughts and, through our thoughts, of our actions. Will may be looked upon, then, as the culmination of the mental life, the highest form of directive agent within us. B... Gross Structure Of The Nervous System
DIVISIONS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.--The nervous system may be considered in two divisions: (1) The central system, which consists of the brain and spinal cord, and (2) the peripheral system, which comprises the sensory and motor neurones connecting th... Habit-forming A Part Of Education
It follows from the importance of habit in our lives that no small part of education should be concerned with the development of serviceable habits. Says James, Could the young but realize how soon they will become mere walking bundles of habits, th... How Mind Is To Be Known
THE PERSONAL CHARACTER OF CONSCIOUSNESS.--Mind can be observed and known. But each one can know directly only his own mind, and not another's. You and I may look into each other's face and there guess the meaning that lies back of the smile or frown... How Past Experience Is Conserved
PAST EXPERIENCE CONSERVED IN BOTH MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TERMS.--If past experience plays so important a part in our welfare, how, then, is it to be conserved so that we may secure its benefits? Here, as elsewhere, we find the mind and body working in ... How We Attend
Someone has said that if our attention is properly trained we should be able to look at the point of a cambric needle for half an hour without winking. But this is a false idea of attention. The ability to look at the point of a cambric needle for h... How We Come To Know The External World
There is a marvel about our coming to know the external world which we shall never be able fully to understand. We have come by this knowledge so gradually and unconsciously that it now appears to us as commonplace, and we take for granted many thin... Importance Of Health And Vigor Of The Nervous System
Parallel with opportunities for proper stimuli and response the nervous system must possess good tonicity, or vigor. This depends in large degree on general health and nutrition, with freedom from overfatigue. No favorableness of environment nor exc... Improving The Power Of Attention
While attention is no doubt partly a natural gift, yet there is probably no power of the mind more susceptible to training than is attention. And with attention, as with every other power of body and mind, the secret of its development lies in its u... Individual Differences In Imagery
IMAGES TO BE VIEWED BY INTROSPECTION.--The remainder of the description of images will be easier to understand, for each of you can know just what is meant in every case by appealing to your own mind. I beg of you not to think that I am presenting s... Inter-relation Of Impression And Expression
No impression without corresponding expression has become a maxim in both physiology and psychology. Inner life implies self-expression in external activities. The stream of impressions pouring in upon us hourly from our environment must have means ... Interest Fundamental In Education
Some educators have feared that in finding our occupations interesting, we shall lose all power of effort and self-direction; that the will, not being called sufficiently into requisition, must suffer from non-use; that we shall come to do the inter... Judgment
But in the building up of percepts and concepts, as well as in making use of them after they are formed, another process of thinking enters; namely, the process of judging. NATURE OF JUDGMENT.--Judging enters more or less into all our thinking, f... Law Of The Appearance And Disappearance Of Instincts
No child is born with all its instincts ripe and ready for action. Yet each individual contains within his own inner nature the law which determines the order and time of their development. INSTINCTS APPEAR IN SUCCESSION AS REQUIRED.--It is not we... Laws Underlying Memory
The development of a good memory depends in no small degree on the closeness with which we follow certain well-demonstrated laws. THE LAW OF ASSOCIATION.--The law of association, as we have already seen, is fundamental. Upon it the whole structure... Localization Of Function In The Nervous System
DIVISION OF LABOR.--Division of labor is the law in the organic world as in the industrial. Animals of the lowest type, such as the amoeba, do not have separate organs for respiration, digestion, assimilation, elimination, etc., the one tissue perfo... Memory Devices
Many devices have been invented for training or using the memory, and not a few worthless systems have been imposed by conscienceless fakers upon uninformed people. All memorizing finally must go back to the fundamental laws of brain activity and th... Mood And Disposition
The sum total of all the feeling accompanying the various sensory and thought processes at any given time results in what we may call our feeling tone, or mood. HOW MOOD IS PRODUCED.--During most of our waking hours, and, indeed, during our sleep... Nature Of Attention
It is by attention that we gather and mass our mental energy upon the critical and important points in our thinking. In the last chapter we saw that consciousness is not distributed evenly over the whole field, but piled up, now on this object of th... Order Of Development Of Our Interests
The order in which our interests develop thus becomes an important question in our education. Nor is the order an arbitrary one, as might appear on first thought; for interest follows the invariable law of attaching to the activity for which the org... Other Undesirable Instincts
We are all provided by nature with some instincts which, while they may serve a good purpose in our development, need to be suppressed or at least modified when they have done their work. SELFISHNESS.--All children, and perhaps all adults, are sel... Other Useful Instincts
Many other instincts ripen during the stage of youth and play their part in the development of the individual. CURIOSITY.--It is inherent in every normal person to want to investigate and know. The child looks out with wonder and fascination on a ... Permanent Feeling Attitudes Or Sentiments
Besides the more or less transitory feeling states which we have called moods, there exists also a class of feeling attitudes, which contain more of the complex intellectual element, are withal of rather a higher nature, and much more permanent than... Points Of Failure In Attention
LACK OF CONCENTRATION.--There are two chief types of inattention whose danger threatens every person. First, we may be thinking about the right things, but not thinking hard enough. We lack mental pressure. Outside thoughts which have no relation to... Problems For Introspection And Observation
1. Estimate the mental progress made by the child during the first five years and compare with that made during the second five years of its life. To do this make a list, so far as you are able, of the acquisitions of each period. What do you conclu... Problems For Observation And Introspection
1. Explain the cause and the remedy in the case of such errors as the following: Children who defined mountain as land 1,000 or more feet in height said that the factory smokestack was higher than the mountain because it went straight... Problems In Introspection And Observation
1. Observe a reading class and try to determine whether the pupils picture the scenes and events they read about. How can you tell? 2. Similarly observe a history class. Do the pupils realize the events as actually happening, and the personages as... Problems In Introspection And Observation
1. Do you find that you understand better some difficult point or problem after you have succeeded in stating it? Do you remember better what you have expressed? 2. In which particular ones of your studies do you think you could have done better ... Problems In Observation And Introspection
One should always keep in mind that psychology is essentially a laboratory science, and not a text-book subject. The laboratory material is to be found in ourselves and in those about us. While the text should be thoroughly mastered, its statements ... Problems In Observation And Introspection
1. Which fatigues you more, to give attention of the nonvoluntary type, or the voluntary? Which can you maintain longer? Which is the more pleasant and agreeable to give? Under which can you accomplish more? What bearing have these facts on teaching... Problems In Observation And Introspection
1. Select some act which you have recently begun to perform and watch it grow more and more habitual. Notice carefully for a week and see whether you do not discover some habits which you did not know you had. Make a catalog of your bad habits; of t... Problems In Observation And Introspection
1. Observe a schoolroom of children at work with the aim of discovering any that show defects of vision or hearing. What are the symptoms? What is the effect of inability to hear or see well upon interest and attention? 2. Talk with your teacher ... Problems In Observation And Introspection
1. Test your power of observation by walking rapidly past a well-filled store window and then seeing how many of the objects you can name. 2. Suppose a tailor, a bootblack, a physician, and a detective are standing on the street corner as you pass... Problems In Observation And Introspection
1. Test the uncontrolled associations of a group of pupils by pronouncing to the class some word, as blue, and having the members write down 20 words in succession as rapidly as they can, taking in each instance the first word that occurs to them. T... Problems In Observation And Introspection
1. Carefully consider your own powers of memory and see whether you can decide which of the four types of brain you have. Apply similar tests to your classmates or a group of school children whom you have a chance to observe. Be sure to take into ac... Problems In Observation And Introspection
1. Watch your own thinking for examples of each of the four types described. Observe a class of children in a recitation or at study and try to decide which type is being employed by each child. What proportion of the time supposedly given to study ... Problems In Observation And Introspection
1. What instincts have you noticed developing in children? What ones have you observed to fade away? Can you fix the age in both cases? Apply these questions to your own development as you remember it or can get it by tradition from your elders. ... Problems In Observation And Introspection
1. Are you subject to the blues, or other forms of depressed feeling? Are your moods very changeable, or rather constant? What kind of a disposition do you think you have? How did you come by it; that is, in how far is it due to hereditary temperame... Problems In Observation And Introspection
1. What are the characteristic bodily expressions by which you can recognize a state of anger? Fear? Jealousy? Hatred? Love? Grief? Do you know persons who are inclined to be too expressive emotionally? Who show too little emotional expression? How ... Problems In Observation And Introspection
1. Try making a list of your most important interests in order of their strength. Suppose you had made such a list five years ago, where would it have differed from the present list? Are you ever obliged to perform any activities in which you have l... Problems In Observation And Introspection
1. Give illustrations from your own experience of the various types of action mentioned in this discussion. From your own experience of the last hour, what examples of impulsive action can you give? Would it have been better in some cases had you st... Reasoning
All the mental processes which we have so far described find their culmination and highest utility in reasoning. Not that reasoning comes last in the list of mental activities, and cannot take place until all the others have been completed, for reas... Rules For Habit-forming
JAMES'S THREE MAXIMS FOR HABIT-FORMING.--On the forming of new habits and the leaving off of old ones, I know of no better statement than that of James, based on Bain's chapter on Moral Habits. I quote this statement at some length: In the acquisiti... Rules For Using The Memory
Much careful and fruitful experimentation in the field of memory has taken place in recent years. The scientists are now able to give us certain simple rules which we can employ in using our memories, even if we lack the time or opportunity to follo... Selection Among Our Interests
I said early in the discussion that interest is selective among our activities, picking out those which appear to be of the most value to us. In the same manner there must be a selection among our interests themselves. THE MISTAKE OF FOLLOWING TO... Sensory Qualities And Their End-organs
All are familiar with the five senses of our elementary physiologies, sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. A more complete study of sensation reveals nearly three times this number, however. This is to say that the body is equipped with more tha... Strong And Weak Wills
Many persons will admit that their memory or imagination or power of perception is not good, but few will confess to a weak will. Strength of will is everywhere lauded as a mark of worth and character. How can we tell whether our will is strong or w... Structural Elements Of The Nervous System
It will help in understanding both the structure and the working of the nervous system to keep in mind that it contains but one fundamental unit of structure. This is the neurone. Just as the house is built up by adding brick upon brick, so brain, c... The Concept
Fortunately for our thinking, the great external world, with its millions upon millions of individual objects, is so ordered that these objects can be grouped into comparatively few great classes; and for many purposes we can deal with the class as ... The Control Of Emotions
DEPENDENCE ON EXPRESSION.--Since all emotions rest upon some form of physical or physiological expression primarily, and upon some thought back of this secondarily, it follows that the first step in controlling an emotion is to secure the removal of... The Cultivation Of Imagery
IMAGES DEPEND ON SENSORY STIMULI.--The power of imaging can be cultivated the same as any other ability. In the first place, we may put down as an absolute requisite such an environment of sensory stimuli as will tempt every sense to be awake and ... The Effects Of Attention
ATTENTION MAKES ITS OBJECT CLEAR AND DEFINITE.--Whatever attention centers upon stands out sharp and clear in consciousness. Whether it be a bit of memory, an air-castle, a sensation from an aching tooth, the reasoning on an algebraic formula, a cho... The Extent Of Voluntary Control Over Our Acts
A relatively small proportion of our acts, or responses, are controlled by volition. Nature, in her wise economy, has provided a simpler and easier method than to have all our actions performed or checked with conscious effort. CLASSES OF ACTS OR... The Four Factors Involved In Memory
Nothing is more obvious than that memory cannot return to us what has never been given into its keeping, what has not been retained, or what for any reason cannot be recalled. Further, if the facts given back by memory are not recognized as belongin... The Function Of Images
Binet says that the man who has not every type of imagery almost equally well developed is only the fraction of a man. While this no doubt puts the matter too strongly, yet images do play an important part in our thinking. IMAGES SUPPLY MATERIAL ... The Function Of Perception
NEED OF KNOWING THE MATERIAL WORLD.--It is the business of perception to give us knowledge of our world of material objects and their relations in space and time. The material world which we enter through the gateways of the senses is more marvelous... The Function Of Thinking
All true thinking is for the purpose of discovering relations between the things we think about. Imagine a world in which nothing is related to anything else; in which every object perceived, remembered, or imagined, stands absolutely by itself, ind... The Instinct Of Imitation
No individual enters the world with a large enough stock of instincts to start him doing all the things necessary for his welfare. Instinct prompts him to eat when he is hungry, but does not tell him to use a knife and fork and spoon; it prompts him... The Instinct Of Play
Small use to be a child unless one can play. Says Karl Groos: Perhaps the very existence of youth is due in part to the necessity for play; the animal does not play because he is young, but he is young because he must play. Play is a constant factor... The Material Used By Imagination
What is the material, the mental content, out of which imagination builds its structures? IMAGES THE STUFF OF IMAGINATION.--Nothing can enter the imagination the elements of which have not been in our past experience and then been conserved in th... The Mechanism Of Thinking
It is evident from the foregoing discussion that we may include under the term thinking all sorts of mental processes by which relations are apprehended between different objects of thought. Thus young children think as soon as they begin to underst... The Mind's Dependence On The External World
But can we first see how in a general way the brain and nervous system are primarily related to our thinking? Let us go back to the beginning and consider the babe when it first opens its eyes on the scenes of its new existence. What is in its mind?... The Nature Of Association
We may define association, then, as the tendency among our thoughts to form such a system of bonds with each other that the objects of consciousness are vitally connected both (1) as they exist at any given moment, and (2) as they occur in successio... The Nature Of Consciousness
INNER NATURE OF THE MIND NOT REVEALED BY INTROSPECTION.--We are not to be too greatly discouraged if, even by introspection, we cannot discover exactly what the mind is. No one knows what electricity is, though nearly everyone uses it in one form or...