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THE MIND AND ITS EDUCATION
by
GEORGE HERBERT BETTS, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology in Cornell College
Revised and Enlarged Edition
New York
D. Appleton And Company
Copyright, 1906, 1916, by
D. Appleton and Company
Printed in the United States of America
PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION
Authors, no doubt, are always gratified when their works find favorable
acceptance. The writer of this text has been doubly gratified, however,
at the cordial reception and widespread use accorded to the present
volume. This feeling does not arise from any narrow personal pride or
selfish interest, but rather from the fact that the warm approval of the
educational public has proved an important point; namely, that the
fundamental truths of psychology, when put simply and concretely, can be
made of interest and value to students of all ages from high school
juniors up, and to the general public as well. More encouraging still,
it has been demonstrated that the teachings of psychology can become
immediately helpful, not only in study or teaching, but also in business
or profession, in the control and guidance of the personal life, and in
the problems met in the routine of the day's work or its play.
In effecting the present revision, the salient features of the original
edition have been kept. The truths presented are the most fundamental
and important in the field of psychology. Disputed theories and
unsettled opinions are excluded. The subject matter is made concrete and
practical by the use of many illustrations and through application to
real problems. The style has been kept easy and familiar to facilitate
the reading. In short, there has been, while seeking to improve the
volume, a conscious purpose to omit none of the characteristics which
secured acceptance for the former edition.
On the other hand, certain changes and additions have been made which,
it is believed, will add to the strength of the work. First of all, the
later psychological studies and investigations have been drawn upon to
insure that the matter shall at all points be abreast of the times in
scientific accuracy. Because of the wide use of the text in the training
of teachers, a more specific educational application to schoolroom
problems has been made in various chapters. Exercises for the guidance
of observation work and personal introspection are freely used. The
chapter on Sensation and Perception has been separated into two
chapters, and each subject given more extensive treatment. A new chapter
has been added on Association. The various chapters have been subdivided
into numbered sections, and cut-in paragraph topics have been used to
facilitate the study and teaching of the text. Minor changes and
additions occur throughout the volume, thus adding some forty pages to
the number in the original edition.
Many of the modifications made in the revision are due to valuable
suggestions and kindly criticisms received from many teachers of the
text in various types of schools. To all who have thus helped so
generously by freely giving the author the fruits of their judgment and
experience he gladly renders grateful thanks.
CORNELL COLLEGE,
IOWA.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
THE MIND, OR CONSCIOUSNESS PAGE
1. How the mind is to be known: Personal character of
consciousness--Introspection the only means of discovering nature of
consciousness--How we introspect--Studying mental states of others
through expression--Learning to interpret expression. 2. The nature of
consciousness: Inner nature of the mind not revealed by introspection
--Consciousness as a process or stream--Consciousness likened to a
field--The "piling up" of consciousness is attention. 3. Content of
the mental stream: Why we need minds--Content of consciousness
determined by function--Three fundamental phases of consciousness.
4. Where consciousness resides: Consciousness works through the nervous
system. 5. Problems in observation and introspection . . . . . . . . . . 1
CHAPTER II
ATTENTION
1. Nature of attention: The nature of attention--Normal consciousness
always in a state of attention. 2. The effects of attention: Attention
makes its object clear and definite--Attention measures mental
efficiency. 3. How we attend: Attention a relating activity--The rhythms
of attention. 4. Points of failure in attention: Lack of
concentration--Mental wandering. 5. Types of attention: The three types
of attention--Interest and nonvoluntary attention--The will and
voluntary attention--Not really different kinds of attention--Making
different kinds of attention reënforce each other--The habit of
attention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
CHAPTER III
THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM
1. The relations of mind and brain: Interaction of mind and brain--The
brain as the mind's machine. 2. The mind's dependence on the external
world: The mind at birth--The work of the senses. 3. Structural elements
of the nervous system: The neurone--Neurone
fibers--Neuroglia--Complexity of the brain--"Gray" and "white" matter.
4. Gross structure of the nervous system: Divisions of the nervous
system--The central system--The cerebellum--The cerebrum--The
cortex--The spinal cord. 5. Localization of function in the nervous
system: Division of labor--Division of labor in the cortex. 6. Forms of
sensory stimuli: The end-organs and their response to
stimuli--Dependence of the mind on the senses . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
CHAPTER IV
MENTAL DEVELOPMENT AND MOTOR TRAINING
1. Factors determining the efficiency of the nervous system: Development
and nutrition--Undeveloped cells--Development of nerve fibers. 2.
Development of nervous system through use: Importance of stimulus and
response--Effect of sensory stimuli--Necessity for motor
activity--Development of the association centers--The factors involved
in a simple action. 3. Education and the training of the nervous
system: Education to supply opportunities for stimulus and
response--Order of development in the nervous system. 4. Importance of
health and vigor of the nervous system: The influence of fatigue--The
effects of worry--The factors in good nutrition. 5. Problems for
introspection and observation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
CHAPTER V
HABIT
1. The nature of habit: The physical basis of habit--All living tissue
plastic--Habit a modification of brain tissue--We must form habits. 2.
The place of habit in the economy of our lives: Habit increases skill
and efficiency--Habit saves effort and fatigue--Habit economizes moral
effort--The habit of attention--Habit enables us to meet the
disagreeable--Habit the foundation of personality--Habit saves worry and
rebellion. 3. The tyranny of habit: Even good habits need to be
modified--The tendency of "ruts." 4. Habit-forming a part of education:
Youth the time for habit-forming--The habit of achievement. 5. Rules for
habit-forming: James's three maxims for habit-forming--The preponderance
of good habits over bad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
CHAPTER VI
SENSATION
1. How we come to know the external world: Knowledge through the
senses--The unity of sensory experience--The sensory processes to be
explained--The qualities of objects exist in the mind--The three sets of
factors. 2. The nature of sensation: Sensation gives us our world of
qualities--The attributes of sensation. 3. Sensory qualities and their
end-organs: Sight--Hearing--Taste--Smell--Various sensations from the
skin--The kinæsthetic senses--The organic senses. 4. Problems in
observation and retrospection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
CHAPTER VII
PERCEPTION
1. The function of perception: Need of knowing the material world--The
problem which confronts the child. 2. The nature of perception: How a
percept is formed--The percept involves all relations of the object--The
content of the percept--The accuracy of percepts depends on
experience--Not definitions, but first-hand contact. 3. The perception
of space: The perceiving of distance--The perceiving of direction. 4.
The perception of time: Nature of the time sense--No perception of empty
time. 5. The training of perception: Perception needs to be
trained--School training in perception. 6. Problems in observation and
introspection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
CHAPTER VIII
MENTAL IMAGES AND IDEAS
1. The part played by past experience: Present thinking depends on past
experience--The present interpreted by the past--The future also depends
on the past--Rank determined by ability to utilize past experience. 2.
How past experience is conserved: Past experience conserved in both
mental and physical terms--The image and the idea--All our past
experience potentially at our command. 3. Individual differences in
imagery: Images to be viewed by introspection--The varied imagery
suggested by one's dining table--Power of imagery varies in different
people--Imagery types. 4. The function of images: Images supply material
for imagination and memory--Imagery in the thought processes--The use of
imagery in literature--Points where images are of greatest service. 5.
The cultivation of imagery: Images depend on sensory stimuli--The
influence of frequent recall--The reconstruction of our images. 6.
Problems in introspection and observation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
CHAPTER IX
IMAGINATION
1. The place of imagination in mental economy: Practical nature of
imagination--Imagination in the interpretation of history, literature,
and art--Imagination and science--Everyday uses of imagination--The
building of ideals and plans--Imagination and conduct--Imagination and
thinking. 2. The material used by imagination: Images the stuff of
imagination--The two factors in imagination--Imagination limited by
stock of images--Limited also by our constructive ability--The need of a
purpose. 3. Types of imagination: Reproductive imagination--Creative
imagination. 4. Training the imagination: Gathering of material for
imagination--We must not fail to build--We should carry our ideals into
action. 5. Problems for observation and introspection . . . . . . . . 127
CHAPTER X
ASSOCIATION
1. The nature of association: The neural basis of
association--Association the basis of memory--Factors determining
direction of recall--Association in thinking--Association and action.
2. The types of association: Fundamental law of association--Association
by contiguity--At the mercy of our associations--Association by
similarity and contrast--Partial, or selective, association--The remedy.
3. Training in association: The pleasure-pain motive in
association--Interest as a basis for association--Association and
methods of learning. 4. Problems in observation and introspection . . 144
CHAPTER XI
MEMORY
1. The nature of memory: What is retained--The physical basis of
memory--How we remember--Dependence of memory on brain quality. 2. The
four factors involved in memory:
Registration--Retention--Recall--Recognition. 3. The stuff of memory:
Images as the material of memory--Images vary as to type--Other memory
material. 4. Laws underlying memory: The law of association--The law of
repetition--The law of recency--The law of vividness. 5. Rules for using
the memory: Wholes versus parts--Rate of forgetting--Divided
practice--Forcing the memory to act--Not a memory, but memories. 6. What
constitutes a good memory: A good memory selects its material--A good
memory requires good thinking--Memory must be specialized. 7. Memory
devices: The effects of cramming--Remembering isolated facts--Mnemonic
devices. 8. Problems in observation and introspection . . . . . . . . 160
CHAPTER XII
THINKING
1. Different types of thinking: Chance, or idle thinking--Uncritical
belief--Assimilative thinking--Deliberative thinking. 2. The function
of thinking: Meaning depends on relations--The function of thinking is
to discover relations--Near and remote relations--Child and adult
thinking. 3. The mechanism of thinking: Sensations and percepts as
elements in thinking. 4. The concept: The concepts serve to group and
classify--Growth of a concept--Definition of concept--Language and the
concept--The necessity for growing concepts. 5. Judgment: Nature of
judgment--Judgment used in percepts and concepts--Judgment leads to
general truths--The validity of judgments. 6. Reasoning: Nature of
reasoning--How judgments function in reasoning--Deduction and the
syllogism--Induction--The necessity for broad induction--The
interrelation of induction and deduction. 7. Problems in observation and
introspection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
CHAPTER XIII
INSTINCT
1. The nature of instinct: The babe's dependence on instinct--Definition
of instinct--Unmodified instinct is blind. 2. Law of the appearance and
disappearance of instincts: Instincts appear in succession as
required--Many instincts are transitory--Seemingly useless
instincts--Instincts to be utilized when they appear--Instincts as
starting points--The more important human instincts. 3. The instinct of
imitation: Nature of imitation--Individuality in imitation--Conscious
and unconscious imitation--Influence of environment--The influence of
personality. 4. The instinct of play: The necessity for play--Play in
development and education--Work and play are complements. 5. Other
useful instincts: Curiosity--Manipulation--The collecting instinct--The
dramatic instinct--The impulse to form gangs and clubs. 6. Fear: Fear
heredity--Fear of the dark--Fear of being left alone. 7. Other
undesirable instincts: Selfishness--Pugnacity, or the fighting impulse.
8. Problems in observation and introspection . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
CHAPTER XIV
FEELING AND ITS FUNCTIONS
1. The nature of feeling: The different feeling qualities--Feeling
always present in mental content--The seeming neutral feeling zone. 2.
Mood and disposition: How mood is produced--Mood colors all our
thinking--Mood influences our judgments and decisions--Mood influences
effort--Disposition a resultant of moods--Temperament. 3. Permanent
feeling attitudes, or sentiments: How sentiments develop--The effect of
experience--The influence of sentiment--Sentiments as motives. 4.
Problems in observation and introspection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
CHAPTER XV
THE EMOTIONS
1. The producing and expressing of emotion: Physiological explanation of
emotion--Origin of characteristic emotional reactions--The duration of
an emotion--Emotions accompanying crises in experience. 2. The control
of emotions: Dependence on expression--Relief through expression--Relief
does not follow if image is held before the mind--Growing tendency
toward emotional control--The emotions and enjoyment--How emotions
develop--The emotional factor in our environment--Literature and the
cultivation of the emotions--Harm in emotional overexcitement. 4.
Emotions as motives: How our emotions compel us--Emotional habits. 5.
Problems in observation and introspection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
CHAPTER XVI
INTEREST
1. The nature of interest: Interest a selective agent--Interest supplies
a subjective scale of values--Interest dynamic--Habit antagonistic to
interest. 2. Direct and indirect interest: Interest in the end versus
interest in the activity--Indirect interest as a motive--Indirect
interest alone insufficient. 3. Transitoriness of certain interests:
Interests must be utilized when they appear--The value of a strong
interest. 4. Selection among our interests: The mistake of following too
many interests--Interests may be too narrow--Specialization should not
come too early--A proper balance to be sought. 5. Interest fundamental
in education: Interest not antagonistic to effort--Interest and
character. 6. Order of development of our interests: The interests of
early childhood--The interests of later childhood--The interests of
adolescence. 7. Problems in observation and introspection . . . . . . 254
CHAPTER XVII
THE WILL
1. The nature of the will: The content of the will--The function of the
will--How the will exerts its compulsion. 2. The extent of voluntary
control over our acts: Simple reflex acts--Instinctive acts--Automatic,
or spontaneous acts--The cycle from volitional to automatic--Volitional
action--Volition acts in the making of decisions--Types of decision--The
reasonable type--Accidental type: External motives--Accidental type:
Subjective motives--Decision under effort. 3. Strong and weak wills: Not
a will, but wills--Objective tests a false measure of will power. 4.
Volitional types: The impulsive type--The obstructed will--The normal
will. 5. Training the will: Will to be trained in common round of
duties--School work and will-training. 6. Freedom of the will, or the
extent of its control: Limitations of the will--These limitations and
conditions of freedom. 7. Problems in observation and introspection. . 271
CHAPTER XVIII
SELF-EXPRESSION AND DEVELOPMENT
1. Interrelation of impression and expression: The many sources of
impressions--All impressions lead toward expression--Limitations of
expression. 2. The place of expression in development: Intellectual value
of expression--Moral value of expression--Religious value of
expression--Social value of expression. 3. Educational use of
expression: Easier to provide for the impression side of education--The
school to take up the handicrafts--Expression and character--Two lines
of development. 4. Problems in introspection and observation . . . . . 294
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
THE MIND AND ITS EDUCATION
CHAPTER I
THE MIND, OR CONSCIOUSNESS
We are to study the mind and its education; but how? It is easy to
understand how we may investigate the great world of material things
about us; for we can see it, touch it, weigh it, or measure it. But how
are we to discover the nature of the mind, or come to know the processes
by which consciousness works? For mind is intangible; we cannot see it,
feel it, taste it, or handle it. Mind belongs not to the realm of matter
which is known to the senses, but to the realm of _spirit_, which the
senses can never grasp. And yet the mind can be known and studied as
truly and as scientifically as can the world of matter. Let us first of
all see how this can be done.
1. 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 or flash of the eye, and
so read something of the mind's activity. But neither directly meets the
other's mind. I may learn to recognize your features, know your voice,
respond to the clasp of your hand; but the mind, the consciousness,
which does your thinking and feels your joys and sorrows, I can never
know completely. Indeed I can never know your mind at all except through
your bodily acts and expressions. Nor is there any way in which you can
reveal your mind, your spiritual self, to me except through these means.
It follows therefore that only _you_ can ever know _you_ and only _I_
can ever know _I_ in any first-hand and immediate way. Between your
consciousness and mine there exists a wide gap that cannot be bridged.
Each of us lives apart. We are like ships that pass and hail each other
in passing but do not touch. We may work together, live together, come
to love or hate each other, and yet our inmost selves forever stand
alone. They must live their own lives, think their own thoughts, and
arrive at their own destiny.
INTROSPECTION THE ONLY MEANS OF DISCOVERING NATURE OF
CONSCIOUSNESS.--What, then, is mind? What is the thing that we call
consciousness? No mere definition can ever make it clearer than it is at
this moment to each of us. The only way to know what mind is, is to look
in upon our own consciousness and observe what is transpiring there. In
the language of the psychologist, we must _introspect_. For one can
never come to understand the nature of mind and its laws of working by
listening to lectures or reading text books alone. There is no
_psychology_ in the text, but only in your living, flowing stream of
thought and mine. True, the lecture and the book may tell us what to
look for when we introspect, and how to understand what we find. But the
statements and descriptions about our minds must be verified by our own
observation and experience before they become vital truth to us.
HOW WE INTROSPECT.--Introspection is something of an art; it has to be
learned. Some master it easily, some with more difficulty, and some, it
is to be feared, never become skilled in its use. In order to introspect
one must catch himself unawares, so to speak, in the very act of
thinking, remembering, deciding, loving, hating, and all the rest. These
fleeting phases of consciousness are ever on the wing; they never pause
in their restless flight and we must catch them as they go. This is not
so easy as it appears; for the moment we turn to look in upon the mind,
that moment consciousness changes. The thing we meant to examine is
gone, and something else has taken its place. All that is left us then
is to view the mental object while it is still fresh in the memory, or
to catch it again when it returns.
STUDYING MENTAL STATES OF OTHERS THROUGH EXPRESSION.--Although I can
meet only my own mind face to face, I am, nevertheless, under the
necessity of judging your mental states and knowing what is taking place
in your consciousness. For in order to work successfully with you, in
order to teach you, understand you, control you or obey you, be your
friend or enemy, or associate with you in any other way, I must _know_
you. But the real you that I must know is hidden behind the physical
mask that we call the body. I must, therefore, be able to understand
your states of consciousness as they are reflected in your bodily
expressions. Your face, form, gesture, speech, the tone of voice,
laughter and tears, the poise of attention, the droop of grief, the
tenseness of anger and start of fear,--all these tell the story of the
mental state that lies behind the senses. These various expressions are
the pictures on the screen by which your mind reveals itself to others;
they are the language by which the inner self speaks to the world
without.
LEARNING TO INTERPRET EXPRESSION.--If I would understand the workings of
your mind I must therefore learn to read the language of physical
expression. I must study human nature and learn to observe others. I
must apply the information found in the texts to an interpretation of
those about me. This study of others may be _uncritical_, as in the mere
intelligent observation of those I meet; or it may be _scientific_, as
when I conduct carefully planned psychological experiments. But in
either case it consists in judging the inner states of consciousness by
their physical manifestations.
The three methods by which mind may be studied are, then: (1) text-book
_description and explanation_; (2) _introspection_ of my own conscious
processes; and (3) _observation_ of others, either uncritical or
scientific.
2. 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 another. We study the dynamo, the
motor, and the conductors through which electricity manifests itself. We
observe its effects in light, heat, and mechanical power, and so learn
the laws which govern its operations. But we are almost as far from
understanding its true nature as were the ancients who knew nothing of
its uses. The dynamo does not create the electricity, but only furnishes
the conditions which make it possible for electricity to manifest
itself in doing the world's work. Likewise the brain or nervous system
does not create the mind, but it furnishes the machine through which the
mind works. We may study the nervous system and learn something of the
conditions and limitations under which the mind operates, but this is
not studying the mind itself. As in the case of electricity, what we
know about the mind we must learn through the activities in which it
manifests itself--these we can know, for they are in the experience of
all. It is, then, only by studying these processes of consciousness that
we come to know the laws which govern the mind and its development.
_What_ it is that thinks and feels and wills in us is too hard a problem
for us here--indeed, has been too hard a problem for the philosophers
through the ages. But the thinking and feeling and willing we can watch
as they occur, and hence come to know.
CONSCIOUSNESS AS A PROCESS OR STREAM.--In looking in upon the mind we
must expect to discover, then, not a _thing_, but a _process_. The
_thing_ forever eludes us, but the process is always present.
Consciousness is like a stream, which, so far as we are concerned with
it in a psychological discussion, has its rise at the cradle and its end
at the grave. It begins with the babe's first faint gropings after light
in his new world as he enters it, and ends with the man's last blind
gropings after light in his old world as he leaves it. The stream is
very narrow at first, only as wide as the few sensations which come to
the babe when it sees the light or hears the sound; it grows wider as
the mind develops, and is at last measured by the grand sum total of
life's experience.
This mental stream is irresistible. No power outside of us can stop it
while life lasts. We cannot stop it ourselves. When we try to stop
thinking, the stream but changes its direction and flows on. While we
wake and while we sleep, while we are unconscious under an anæsthetic,
even, some sort of mental process continues. Sometimes the stream flows
slowly, and our thoughts lag--we "feel slow"; again the stream flows
faster, and we are lively and our thoughts come with a rush; or a fever
seizes us and delirium comes on; then the stream runs wildly onward,
defying our control, and a mad jargon of thoughts takes the place of our
usual orderly array. In different persons, also, the mental stream moves
at different rates, some minds being naturally slow-moving and some
naturally quick in their operations.
Consciousness resembles a stream also in other particulars. A stream is
an unbroken whole from its source to its mouth, and an observer
stationed at one point cannot see all of it at once. He sees but the one
little section which happens to be passing his station point at the
time. The current may look much the same from moment to moment, but the
component particles which constitute the stream are constantly changing.
So it is with our thought. Its stream is continuous from birth till
death, but we cannot see any considerable portion of it at one time.
When we turn about quickly and look in upon our minds, we see but the
little present moment. That of a few seconds ago is gone and will never
return. The thought which occupied us a moment since can no more be
recalled, just as it was, than can the particles composing a stream be
re-collected and made to pass a given point in its course in precisely
the same order and relation to one another as before. This means, then,
that we can never have precisely the same mental state twice; that the
thought of the moment cannot have the same associates that it had the
first time; that the thought of this moment will never be ours again;
that all we can know of our minds at any one time is the part of the
process present in consciousness at that moment.
[Illustration: FIG. 1]
[Illustration: FIG. 2]
THE WAVE IN THE STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS.--The surface of our mental
stream is not level, but is broken by a wave which stands above the
rest; which is but another way of saying that some one thing is always
more prominent in our thought than the rest. Only when we are in a
sleepy reverie, or not thinking about much of anything, does the stream
approximate a level. At all other times some one object occupies the
highest point in our thought, to the more or less complete exclusion of
other things which we might think about. A thousand and one objects are
possible to our thought at any moment, but all except one thing occupy a
secondary place, or are not present to our consciousness at all. They
exist on the margin, or else are clear off the edge of consciousness,
while the one thing occupies the center. We may be reading a fascinating
book late at night in a cold room. The charm of the writer, the beauty
of the heroine, or the bravery of the hero so occupies the mind that the
weary eyes and chattering teeth are unnoticed. Consciousness has piled
up in a high wave on the points of interest in the book, and the bodily
sensations are for the moment on a much lower level. But let the book
grow dull for a moment, and the make-up of the stream changes in a
flash. Hero, heroine, or literary style no longer occupies the wave.
They forfeit their place, the wave is taken by the bodily sensations,
and we are conscious of the smarting eyes and shivering body, while
these in turn give way to the next object which occupies the wave. Figs.
1-3 illustrate these changes.
[Illustration: FIG. 3]
CONSCIOUSNESS LIKENED TO A FIELD.--The consciousness of any moment has
been less happily likened to a field, in the center of which there is an
elevation higher than the surrounding level. This center is where
consciousness is piled up on the object which is for the moment foremost
in our thought. The other objects of our consciousness are on the margin
of the field for the time being, but any of them may the next moment
claim the center and drive the former object to the margin, or it may
drop entirely out of consciousness. This moment a noble resolve may
occupy the center of the field, while a troublesome tooth begets
sensations of discomfort which linger dimly on the outskirts of our
consciousness; but a shooting pain from the tooth or a random thought
crossing the mind, and lo! the tooth holds sway, and the resolve dimly
fades to the margin of our consciousness and is gone.
THE "PILING UP" OF CONSCIOUSNESS IS ATTENTION.--This figure is not so
true as the one which likens our mind to a stream with its ever onward
current answering to the flow of our thought; but whichever figure we
employ, the truth remains the same. Our mental energy is always piled up
higher at one point than at others. Either because our interest leads
us, or because the will dictates, the mind is withdrawn from the
thousand and one things we might think about, and directed to this one
thing, which for the time occupies chief place. In other words, we
_attend_; for this piling up of consciousness is nothing, after all, but
attention.
3. CONTENT OF THE MENTAL STREAM
We have seen that our mental life may be likened to a stream flowing now
faster, now slower, ever shifting, never ceasing. We have yet to inquire
what constitutes the material of the stream, or what is the stuff that
makes up the current of our thought--what is the _content_ of
consciousness? The question cannot be fully answered at this point, but
a general notion can be gained which will be of service.
WHY WE NEED MINDS.--Let us first of all ask what mind is for, why do
animals, including men, have minds? The biologist would say, in order
that they may _adapt_ themselves to their environment. Each individual
from mollusc to man needs the amount and type of mind that serves to
fit its possessor into its particular world of activity. Too little mind
leaves the animal helpless in the struggle for existence. On the other
hand a mind far above its possessor's station would prove useless if not
a handicap; a mollusc could not use the mind of a man.
CONTENT OF CONSCIOUSNESS DETERMINED BY FUNCTION.--How much mind does man
need? What range and type of consciousness will best serve to adjust us
to our world of opportunity and responsibility? First of all we must
_know_ our world, hence, our mind must be capable of gathering
knowledge. Second, we must be able to _feel_ its values and respond to
the great motives for action arising from the emotions. Third, we must
have the power to exert self-compulsion, which is to say that we possess
a _will_ to control our acts. These three sets of processes, _knowing_,
_feeling_, and _willing_, we shall, therefore, expect to find making up
the content of our mental stream.
Let us proceed at once to test our conclusion by introspection. If we
are sitting at our study table puzzling over a difficult problem in
geometry, _reasoning_ forms the wave in the stream of consciousness--the
center of the field. It is the chief thing in our thinking. The fringe
of our consciousness is made up of various sensations of the light from
the lamp, the contact of our clothing, the sounds going on in the next
room, some bit of memory seeking recognition, a "tramp" thought which
comes along, and a dozen other experiences not strong enough to occupy
the center of the field.
But instead of the study table and the problem, give us a bright
fireside, an easy-chair, and nothing to do. If we are aged,
_memories_--images from out the past--will probably come thronging in
and occupy the field to such extent that the fire burns low and the room
grows cold, but still the forms from the past hold sway. If we are
young, visions of the future may crowd everything else to the margin of
the field, while the "castles in Spain" occupy the center.
Our memories may also be accompanied by emotions--sorrow, love, anger,
hate, envy, joy. And, indeed, these emotions may so completely occupy
the field that the images themselves are for the time driven to the
margin, and the mind is occupied with its sorrow, its love, or its joy.
Once more, instead of the problem or the memories or the "castles in
Spain," give us the necessity of making some decision, great or small,
where contending motives are pulling us now in this direction, now in
that, so that the question finally has to be settled by a supreme effort
summed up in the words, _I will_. This is the struggle of the will which
each one knows for himself; for who has not had a raging battle of
motives occupy the center of the field while all else, even the sense of
time, place and existence, gave way in the face of this conflict! This
struggle continues until the decision is made, when suddenly all the
stress and strain drop out and other objects may again have place in
consciousness.
THE THREE FUNDAMENTAL PHASES OF CONSCIOUSNESS.--Thus we see that if we
could cut the stream of consciousness across as we might cut a stream of
water from bank to bank with a huge knife, and then look at the cut-off
section, we should find very different constituents in the stream at
different times. We should at one time find the mind manifesting itself
in _perceiving_, _remembering_, _imagining_, _discriminating_,
_comparing_, _judging_, _reasoning_, or the acts by which we gain our
knowledge; at another in _fearing_, _loving_, _hating_, _sorrowing_,
_enjoying_, or the acts of feeling; at still another in _choosing_, or
the act of the will. These processes would make up the stream, or, in
other words, these are the acts which the mind performs in doing its
work. We should never find a time when the stream consists of but one of
the processes, or when all these modes of mental activity are not
represented. They will be found in varying proportions, now more of
knowing, now of feeling, and now of willing, but some of each is always
present in our consciousness. The nature of these different elements in
our mental stream, their relation to each other, and the manner in which
they all work together in amazing perplexity yet in perfect harmony to
produce the wonderful _mind_, will constitute the subject-matter we
shall consider together in the pages which follow.
4. WHERE CONSCIOUSNESS RESIDES
I--the conscious self--dwell somewhere in this body, but where? When my
finger tips touch the object I wish to examine, I seem to be in them.
When the brain grows weary from overstudy, I seem to be in it. When the
heart throbs, the breath comes quick, and the muscles grow tense from
noble resolve or strong emotion, I seem to be in them all. When, filled
with the buoyant life of vigorous youth, every fiber and nerve is
a-tingle with health and enthusiasm, I live in every part of my
marvelous body. Small wonder that the ancients located the soul at one
time in the heart, at another in the pineal gland of the brain, and at
another made it coextensive with the body!
CONSCIOUSNESS WORKS THROUGH THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.--Later science has
taught that the _mind resides in and works through the nervous system,
which has its central office in the brain_. And the reason why _I_ seem
to be in every part of my body is because the nervous system extends to
every part, carrying messages of sight or sound or touch to the brain,
and bearing in return orders for movements, which set the feet a-dancing
or the fingers a-tingling. But more of this later.
This partnership between mind and body is very close. Just how it
happens that spirit may inhabit matter we may not know. But certain it
is that they interact on each other. What will hinder the growth of one
will handicap the other, and what favors the development of either will
help both. The methods of their coöperation and the laws that govern
their relationship will develop as our study goes on.
5. 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
with the observation of children at work in the school. The problems
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.)?