This work is designed to be an introduction to abnormal psychology. The
problems considered, however, belong equally to normal psychology in
that they are problems of psycho-physiological functions and mechanisms.
I have made no attempt to develop any particular school of psychological
theory but rather, so far as may be, to gather together the knowledge
already gained and lay a foundation which can be built upon by any
school for the solution of particular problems, especially those of
special pathology. I have therefore endeavored to avoid controversial
questions although this, of course, has not been wholly possible, and
indeed so far as special pathological conditions (the psychoses) have
been considered, it has been for the purpose of providing data and
testing the principles adduced. The inductive method, alone, I believe,
as in the physical sciences, can enable us to arrive at sound
conclusions—justify the formulation of theories to explain psychological
phenomena. Because of the very difficulties of this field of
research—one of which is that of submitting to experimental conditions
complex psychological phenomena having so many factors—it is all the
more incumbent that the inductive method should be employed. To my way
of thinking we should begin at the bottom and build up bit by bit,
drawing, as we go, no wider conclusions than the facts developed
warrant; or if we do, these should be recognized clearly as working
hypotheses or speculative theories. Skyscrapers should not be erected
until the foundations have been examined to see if they will bear the
superstructure. That I have wholly succeeded in so rigorously
restricting my own endeavors I can scarcely hope. I trust, however, that
I have succeeded in consistently maintaining the distinction between
facts and their interpretations.
The present volume consists of selected lectures (with the exception of
four) from courses on abnormal psychology delivered at the Tufts College
Medical School (1908-10) and later at the University of California
(1910).[1] These again were based on a series of papers on the
Unconscious published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology (1908-9) of
which they are elaborations. Since the lectures were delivered a large
amount of new material has been incorporated and the subject matter
considered in more detail and more exhaustively than was practical
before student bodies. The four additional lectures (X, XI, XII and
XIII) appeared in abbreviated form in the same Journal (Oct., Nov.,
1912) under the title “The Meaning of Ideas as Determined by Unconscious
Settings.” The lecture form has been retained, offering as it does many
advantages where, in the exposition of a difficult subject, much that is
elemental needs to be stated.
As the subconscious and its processes are fundamentals both in the
structure of personality and in the many mechanisms through which
personality, normal and abnormal, finds expression, the first eight
lectures are devoted to its exposition. Indeed, as has been said, the
subconscious is not only the most important problem of psychology, it is
_the_ problem. The study of its phenomena must be preliminary to that of
the functioning mechanisms of both the normal mind and of those special
pathological conditions—the psycho-neuroses—which modern investigators
are tracing to its perversions.
In a recently published article M. Bergson concludes with the following
prophesy: “To explore the most sacred depths of the unconscious, to
labor in what I have just called the subsoil of consciousness, that will
be the principal task of psychology in the century which is opening. I
do not doubt that wonderful discoveries await it there, as important
perhaps as have been in the preceding centuries the discoveries of the
physical and natural sciences. That at least is the promise which I make
for it, that is the wish that in closing I have for it.”[2]
And yet one reads and hears all sorts of contradictory statements, made
by those who it is presumed should know, regarding the actuality of the
subconscious. Thus one or another writer, assuming to know, states most
positively that there is no such thing as the subconscious. Others,
equally emphatic, postulate it as an established fact rather than a
theory, or assume it as a philosophical concept or hypothesis to explain
particular phenomena. One difficulty is that the term, as commonly used,
has many meanings, and it has followed that different writers have
assumed it with respectively different meanings. Consequently the
subconscious as an actuality has been unwittingly denied when the intent
has been really to deny some particular meaning or interpretation, and
particular meanings have been subsumed which are only philosophical
concepts.
There should be no difficulty in deciding what the facts permit us to
postulate. The subconscious is a theory based upon observed facts and
formulated to explain those facts. There are many precise phenomena of
different kinds which can only be explained as due to explicitly
subconscious processes, that is, processes which do not appear in the
content of consciousness; just as the phenomena manifested by radium can
only be explained by emanations (or rays) which themselves are not
visible and cannot be made the object of conscious experience. In each
case it is the manifestations of such processes of which we become
aware. Subconscious processes and radio-activity stand on precisely the
same basis so far as the determination of their actuality is concerned.
(The latter have the advantage, of course, in that being physical they
are subject to quantitative measurement.) Such being the case it ought
to be possible to construct the theory of the subconscious by inductive
methods on the basis of facts of observation just as any theory of the
physical sciences is constructed.
This task I have set before myself as well as that of giving precision
to our conception of the theory and taking it out of the domain of
philosophical concepts. With this purpose in view I have endeavored to
apply the method of science and construct the theory by induction from
the data of observation and experiment. I dare say this has been a
somewhat ambitious and some will say, perhaps, overbold undertaking.
Undoubtedly, too, this attitude toward this and other individual
problems has not been always consistently maintained, nor perhaps is it
completely possible in the present state of the science.
Our formulations should be as precise as possible and facts and concepts
of a different order should not be included in one and the same formula.
I have, accordingly, divided the subconscious into two classes, namely
(1) the _unconscious_, or neural dispositions and processes, and (2) the
_coconscious_, or actual subconscious ideas which do not enter the
content of conscious awareness. An unconscious process and a coconscious
process are both therefore _subconscious_ processes but particular types
thereof—the one being purely neural or physical and the other
psychological or ideational.
The soundness of the conclusions reached in this work I leave to the
judgment of my critics, of whom I doubt not I shall have many. I do not
hesitate to say, however, that it is only by practical familiarity with
the phenomena of mental pathology and artificially induced phenomena
(such as those of hypnosis, suggestion, etc.), requiring a long training
in this field of research (as in other scientific fields), that we can
correctly estimate the value of data and the conclusions drawn
therefrom; and even then many of our conclusions can be regarded as only
provisional.
In these lectures I have also endeavored (Lectures XIV-XVI) to develop
the phenomena of the emotional innate dispositions which I conceive play
one of the most fundamental parts in human personality and in
determining mental and physiological behavior.
Experimental methods and the well-known clinical methods of
investigation have been employed by me as far as possible. The data made
use of have been derived for the most part from my own observations,
though confirmatory observations of others have not been neglected.
Although a large number and variety of subjects or cases have been
studied, as they have presented themselves in private and hospital
practice, the data have been to a large extent sought in intensive
studies, on particular subjects, carried on in some cases over a period
of many years. These subjects, because of the ease with which
subconscious and emotional phenomena were either spontaneously
manifested or could be experimentally evoked, were particularly suitable
for such studies and fruitful in results. It is by such intensive
studies on special subjects, rather than by casual observation of many
cases, that I believe the deepest insight into mental processes and
mechanisms can be obtained.
In conclusion I wish to express my great obligation to Mrs. William G.
Bean for the great assistance she has rendered in many ways in the
preparation of this volume. Not the least has been the transcription and
typing of my manuscript, for the most part written in a quasi shorthand,
reading the printer’s proofs, and much other assistance in the
preparation of the text for the press. For this her practical and
unusually extensive acquaintance with the phenomena has been of great
value.
I am also indebted to Mr. Lydiard Horton for kindly reading the proofs
and for many helpful suggestions in clarifying the arrangement of the
text—a most difficult task considering the colloquial form of the
original lectures.
Boston.
458 Beacon Street.