Outlines of psychology, with special reference to the theory of education

Front matter

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Preface

Psychology seems about to share with Educational Theory, Method and History in a substantial revival fein the regard and studies of the teaching profession. The work of which this volume is an abridgment was upon its first appearance recognized as a most lucid, systematic, and popular exposition of the general facts of mind. In addition it was, as the title page states, written with special reference to the Theory of Education. The original edition was voluminous and exhaustive, and there was a demand for an abridgment which should serve as a hand-book of the Science of Mind for students of educational science, and which should emphasize the connection between pedagogics and psychology.

This edition has therefore been prepared with reference to the needs of students of pedagogics in general, teachers-in-training in Normal Schools, and members of Teachers' Reading Circles. All discussions not bearing on educational processes have been eliminated, the voluminous notes and citations of authorities have been abridged, and the remainder of the treatise presented in the form of the original edition.

VI PREFACE.

A Brief Appendix has been added to each chapter, with the special design of facilitating the study of the connection between Psychology and Educational Science. This appendix includes:

1. Suggestions for Students of Psychology.

2. Review, Test and Examination Questions.

3. Applications of Psychology to the Theory: and Practice of Teaching; and

4. Pedagogical References to Standard Works on Education, read by Teachers' Reading Circles.

The ' Suggestions ' will, it is believed be found helpful to those reading the text. The 'Review, Test and Examination Questions' may be used as an expeditious review of the general argument of each chapter, and as frequently pointing out the educational aspects of the discussions. kThe I /Applications of Psychology to Teaching ' are mainly in the nature of an exposition of the [logical relations between the principles of psychology and the maxims of theory and method in education. In the course of this exposition numerous quotations are made from the best authorities on educational procedure, which are of great value when viewed in their logical connection with the teachers of mental science.

The c Pedagogical References to Standard Educatioual Works ' are so arranged that the principles of psychology may be compared with, and studied in con-

INDEX. Vll

nection with the related pedagogical doctrines and methods described in such works as Parker's Talks on Teaching, Quick's Educational Reformers, Payne's Lectures on Education, Page's Theory and Practice, Fitch's Lectures on Teaching, Tate's Philosophy of Education, Spencer's Education, Johonnot's Principles and Practice of Education, etc.

These references are available with any edition of the works above mentioned in general use in this country. Where there is more than one edition, as of Payne or Tate, reference is made to the author's divisions and sub-divisions and often to the specific part of the sub-divisions of the lecture on chapter, etc. The pages given for these two authorities are those of Bardeen's editions. J. A. K.

Paterson, N". J., January, 1886.

Chapter I. Introductory

SCOPE AND METHOD OF PSYCHOLOGY.

What is meant by Psychology. Psychology or Mental Science is our general knowledge of Mind reduced to an accurate and systematic form.

Relation of Psychology to the Science of Education. A knowledge of Psychology, the science of mind, is an essential part of the mental outfit of every student of Education. In connection with Ethics, the science of Duty, and with Logic, the science of the conditions under which the mind can know, Psychology furnishes a very large part of those truths or data upon which as a basis the science of Pedagogics rests. In a large sense of the word, Psychology may be said to include both Ethics and Logic. This would give emphasis to the apparent intimate relations between Psychology and Pedagogics. The latter must have a body of general truths or principles. These are to a very great extent deduced from our knowledge of mind. The principles of Pedagogics, i. e., the Science of Education, are not necessarily identical with the laws of mind. But they are either (1) Laws of mind established by the sciences of Psychology, Ethics and Logic, or, (2) principles readily to be deduced from these laws, or, finally, (3) they are principles established inductively by the concurrent experience and observation of the great body of teachers of ancient and modern times.

What is meant by Mind. We familiarly talk about minds. All men have minds, and many of the lower animals are commonly supposed to have them. Human minds are, however, those which are of chief interest here.

We distinguish between a mind as a unity, or a substance, and the several phenomena or states of this mind. What mind is in itself, as a substance, is a question that lies outside psychology, and belongs to philosophy. As a science psychology is concerned only with the phenomena of mind, with mental states, psychical facts, or whatever else we choose to call them.

What mental phenomena are. How, now, shall we mark off these psychical facts from other phenomena? We cannot define such phenomena by resolving them into something simpler. They have nothing in common beyond the fact of being mental states. Hence we can only use some equivalent phrase, as when we say that a mental phenomenon is a part of our conscious life, or a state of our consciousness. 1 Or again we may enumerate the chief varieties of these mental phenomena and say that mind is the sum of our processes of knowing, our feelings of pleasure and pain, and our voluntary doings. Popularly, mind is apt to be identified with knowing or intelligence. A man of mind is a man of intellect. But though intelligence is perhaps the most important part of mind, it is not the whole. In mental science we must reckon the pain of a bruise as part of mind. Or finally we may set mind in antithesis to what is not mind. Mind is non-material, has no existence in space as material bodies have. We cannot touch a thought or a

i This is a rough popular way of speaking. The question whether there are any mental phenomena which are unconscious, that is, which do not enter into our conscious life or experience, is a subtle and muchdisputed point in psychology.

HOW TVE STUDY MIND. 3

feeling, and one feeling does not lie outside of another in space. These phenomena occur in time only.

Mind and Body. While it is important thus to set mind in strong opposition to material things, we must keep in view the close connection between the two. What we call a human being is made up of a bodily organism and a mind. Our personality or " self " is a mind connected with or embodied in a material frame-work. More particularly all mental processes or operations are connected with actions of the nervous system. The most abstract thought is accompanied by some mode of activity in the brain-centres. Hence, while we must be careful not to confuse the mental and the material, the psychical and the physical, as though they were of the same kind (homogeneous), we cannot exclude the latter from view in dealing with mind. We must always think of mind as attended by, and in some inexplicable way, related to, the living organism, and more particularly the nervous system and its actions.

How we Observe and Study Mind: Subjective Method: Introspection. There are two distinct ways of knowing mind. The first is the direct, internal, or subjective way. By this method we direct attention to what is going on in our own mind at the time of its occurrence, or afterwards. 1 We have the power of turning the attention inwards on the phenomena of mind. Thus I can attend to a particular feeling, say admiration for a

i Strictly speaking we never observe a mental phenomenon at the exact instant of its occurrence. All introspection is retrospection. But we distinguish broadly between studying an Immediately antecedent mental state, and one which occurred some time before. (See my work on Illusions, Chap. VIII. , p. 1 ( J0 n.)

beautiful object, in order to see what its nature is, of what elementary parts it consists, how it is affected by the circumstances of the moment, and so on. This method of internal or subjective observation is known as introspection (" looking within ").

Objective Method. In the second place we may stndy mental phenomena not only in our own individual mind but as they present themselves externally in other minds. This is the indirect, external, or objective way of studying mental phenomena. Thus we note the manifestations of others' feelings in looks, gestures, etc. We arrive at a knowledge of their thoughts by their speech, and observe their inclinations and motives by noting their actions.

This objective observation embraces not only the mental phenomena of the individuals who are personally known to us, old and young, but those of others of whom we hear or read of in biography, etc. Also it includes the study of minds in masses or aggregates, as they present themselves in national sentiments and actions, and in the events of history. It includes too a comparative study of mind by observing its agreements and differences among different races, and even among different grades of animal life.

The study of the simpler phases' of mind in the child, in backward and uncivilized races, and in the lower animals, is especially valuable for understanding the growth of the mature or fully-developed human mind.

Finally, the external or objective method includes the study of mental phenomena in connection with bodily and, more particularly, nervous processes. All external

THE TWO METHODS MUST BE COMBINED. 5

observation of mental phenomena takes place by noting some of their bodily accompaniments (movements of expression, vocal actions, and so on). In addition to this, psychology seeks to study the connection between different modes or phases of mind and special kinds of nervous activity. The nature of these enquiries will be indicated presently.

Both Methods must be combined. Scientific knowledge is characterized by certainty, exactness, and generality. We must observe carefully so as to make sure of our facts, and to note precisely what is present. And we must go on from a knowledge of the particular to a knowledge of the general. From this rough definition of what is meant by scientific knowledge we may easily see that neither the internal nor the external method is complete without the other. To begin with: since we only directly observe what is passing in our individual minds, some amount of introspection is the first condition of all certain and accurate knowledge of mental states. To try to discover mental phenomena and their laws solely by watching the external signs and effects of others' thoughts, feelings, and volitions, would plainly be absurd. For these external manifestations are, in themselves, as empty of meaning as words in an unknown tongue, and only receive their meaning by a reference to what we ourselves have thought and felt. On the other hand, an exclusive attention to the contents of our individual mind would never give us a y^w^'fl /knowledge of mind. In order to eliminate the effects of individuality we must at every step compare our own modes of thinking and feeling with those of other minds. The wider the area included in our comparison, the sounder are our generalizations likely to be.

Powers of Abstraction and Imagination must be cultivated. Each of these ways of studying mind has its characteristic difficulties. To attend closely to the events of our mental life presupposes a certain power of " abstraction." It requires at first a considerable effort to withdraw the attention from the more striking events of the external world, the sights and sounds that surround us, and to keep it fixed on the comparatively obscure events of the inner world. Even in the case of the trained psychologist, the work* is always attended with a peculiar difficulty. On the other hand there is a serious danger in reading the minds of others, due to an excess of the propensity to project our own modes of thinking and feeling into them. This danger increases with the remoteness of the mind we are observing from our own. To apprehend, for example, the sentiments and convictions of an ancient Roman, of a Hindoo, or of an uncivilized African, is a delicate operation. It implies close attention to the differences as well as the similarities of external manifestation, also an effort of imagination by which though starting from some remembered experiences of our own, we feel our way into a new set of circumstances, new experiences, and a new set of mental habits. If children could ever pass their opinion on the observations made on their feelings by adults, they would probably declare a large part of these observations to have been very wide of the mark. 1

i On the errors incident to Introspection and the interpretation of other minds, see my work on Illusions, Chaps. VIII. and IX.

SCIENCE GENERALIZES OUR KNOWLEDGE OF MIND. 7

General Knowledge of Mind. As has been observed, science consists of general knowledge, or knowledge expressed in a general form. Hence mental science seeks to generalize our knowledge of mine!. In the first place, it aims at grouping all the phenomena observed under certain heads. That is to say, it classifies the endless variety of mental states according to their resemblances. In so doing it overlooks the individual differences of minds and fixes attention on their common features.

Laios of Mind. In the secoud place, every science aims not only at ordering its phenomena, but at making certain assertions about them. There are general truths or laws which hold good of numerous varieties of phenomena. When the phenomena are occurrences in time, these laws have to do with the relation of events to other events preceding or succeeding them. That is to say, they formulate the relations of causal dependence of phenomena on other phenomena. Mental Science seeks to arrive at such truths or laws of mind. That is to say, it attempts to determine the conditions 1 on which mental phenomena depend.

Now a little attention to the subject will show that mental phenomena are related in the way of dependence, not only to other phenomena immediately preceding, but to remotely antecedent phenomena. For example, the quick response of a child to a command depends on the formation of a habit, which process may have been going on for years. Hence the consideration of relations

i A condition is any circumstance necessary to the production of a phenomenon. All the conditions of a phenomenon taken together constitute its cause.

of dependence leads on to the view of mind as a process of growth or development. The most important laws of mind are laws of mental development.

Mind and Nervous Conditions. These laws of mind include truths with respect to the dependence of mental facts on nervous conditions. As already pointed out, in saying that mental phenomena have nervous actions as their conditions, we make no assumption respecting the ultimate nature of mind and body or of their conjunction. All that is meant is that the phenomena of mental life are somehow connected with the activity of the nervous system; that variations in the latter are attended with variations in the former; and that by modifying by purely physical agencies the state of the nervous system, we can indirectly influence the mental accompaniments. 1 The study of this connection of mind and body is a valuable preparation for a systematic study of psychical phenomena. As it is the borderland between physiology and psychology, it is best taken up at the outset.

Knowledge of the Physiology of the Brain important to the teacher. It is all-important to the teacher to know how the varying state of the brain affects mental efficiency. Now owing to the present imperfect state of our know-

i It is not even implied that the nervous actions precede the mental in time. This is no doubt true in certain cases. The stimulation of a sense-organ and the propagation of the nervous actions to the brain centres precede a sensation. But do the changes in the brain precede the mental phenomena which accompany them? This question need not perhaps much concern us, as it is a disputed point whether the cause or conditions do necessarily precede an effect in time. (See J. S. Mill, Logic, Book IV, Ch. V., §6; G. H. Lewes, Problems of Life and Mind, First Series. Vol. II., Prob. V, Ch. II., p. 391.)

BRAIN EFFICIENCY AND MIND EFFICIENCY. 9

ledge respecting the particular portions of the brain concerned in particular modes of mental activity, we are not able to determine the relation between the two with scientific precision. At the same time we have certain generalizations respecting the variations of mental activity that accompany variations in the condition of the brain as a whole, which it may be useful to indicate here.

Brain Efficiency and Mind Efficiency. It is abundantly proved, alike by everyday observation and by scientific experiment, that the amount of mental activity possible at any time is limited by the quantity of disposable energy in the brain. The more vigorous the brain at any time, the greater the amount of mental expenditure possible. This applies not merely to intellectual work, but also to feeling and action. A healthy and vigorous brain is the condition of numerous and vivid feelings, and of energetic actions.

On what Efficiency of Brain Centres depends. The state of the brain, its degree of readiness for work, fluctuates with the degree of disposable energy of the nervous system as a whole. This is affected by regular or periodic causes, the changes incident to the natural alternating rhythm of waking and sleeping. It is also affected by irregular circumstances, such as changes of bodily health, and the exhaustion due to great mental agitation.

In the second place, the condition of the brain, like that of all other organs, is affected by the extent to which the particular structures have recently been exercised. After long and severe brain-work of any kind, the organ becomes fatigued and incapable of further work. On the other hand, a prolonged rest, as during a summer holiday, leaves the organ with the maximum degree of disposable energy.

So far as we are sure of the existence of special centres, we may apply the same considerations to these. The condition of any given centre, say that of vision, will vary according to the amount of work recently done. One part of the brain may in this way be much more vigorous than another. At the same time it is to be remembered that the several parts of the brain stand in the closest organic connection one with another, and that great exhaustion of any one part will affect the degree of efficiency of the other parts. It follows, too, that since (as we shall see more fully by and by) all kinds of mental work involve attention, the centres especially concerned in this activity will become fatigued in every case as the direct consequence of mental strain or effort.

Need of Brain Rest. It follows from these truths that, in order to maintain brain efficiency, we must supply the necessary conditions of repose and alternation of activity. After a certain amount of work, the brain should be allowed to repose as a whole. An approximate condition of repose is reached by play, which by calling forth the muscles into easy and familiar modes of activity relieves the higher centres of attention and thought.

Within these limits of extreme and general fatigue of the biain, efficiency can only be secured by varying the kind of work so as not to tax any one region of the brain

RELATION OF PSYCHOLOGY TO THE OTHER SCIENCES. II

overmuch. A change from manual to vocal exercise in the kindergarten may be taken as an illustration of this rule.

Relation of Psychology to other Sciences. Psychology is a positive science dealing with a certain class of phenomena, and to this extent is on a level, or co-ordinate, with the special physical sciences, as chemistry, botany, and so on. Not only so, owing to the connection between nervous and mental processes, psychology enters, as we have seen, into a peculiar relation with physiology. On the other hand, psychology is above, and complementary to, the special sciences. For in considering mind, it views knowing as a mental phenomenon, as an operation or process in our mental life. Thus all knowing, whether of chemistry, botany, or physiology, inasmuch as it is the activity of some mind or knowingsubject, is a part of the subject-matter of psychology. In other words, mental science considers what goes on in the mind when we know. On the other hand, it does not enquire into the. truth or falsity of this knowing. It simply views the process of knowing on its subjective side, and leaves the consideration of knowledge on its objective side, as true or valid, to Philosophy or Theory of Knowledge which includes Logic.

Psychology and Practical Science. Psychology is a theoretic, as distinguished from a practical science. A theoretic science concerns itself about things as they are, how they happen or come to pass. A practical science concerns itself with things as they ought to be, or as we wish them to be. Practical science, though thus contrasted with theoretic, is really very closely connected with it. In order to gain our end, we must have a certain knowledge of the agencies we employ. Thus a sculptor must know something about the properties of clay and marble, a physician something about the functions of the body, and so on.

Viewed in this way, psychology forms the basis of a number of practical sciences. All the practical sciences, indeed, which aim at guiding or influencing our thoughts, feelings, or actions, have their footing in psychology. Thus the principles of oratory, of legislation, and so on, are based on a knowledge of the properties and laws of the human mind. These relations may be roughly set forth as follows: —

(A.) Psychology, as a whole, supplies the basis of Education, or the Practical Science which aims at cultivating the mind on the side of Knowing, Feeling, and Willing alike. (B.) In its special branches, psychology supplies a basis to the following practical sciences: — Psychology of Knowing — Logic, or the regulation of reasoning processes; together with the allied art, rhetoric, or the art of persuasion, and that of forming opinion. 1 Psychology of Feeling — ^Esthetics, or the regulation of feeling according to certain rules or principles, to wit, the admirable, or beautiful.

Psychology of Willing — Ethics, or the determination of the ends of action and the regulation of con-

iThat is so far as the process is a strictly intellectual one. So far however, as it involves appeals to feeling it falls under the next head.

CONNECTION OF PSYCHOLOGY AND EDUCATION. 13

duct by principles of right and wrong; together with the allied arts of politics and legislation.

General Connection of Psychology and Education. We see,, at once, from this rough scheme, the peculiarly close connection betweeu Psychology and Education. This is the only practical science which is engaged in guiding or controlling the whole of mind. The educator of the young may be said to unite in himself the functions of logician, art critic, moralist and legislator. He has to direct thought, to cultivate feeling, and to control action.

We may still further see the closeness of this connection by glancing at the dependence of Education on other sciences. As a practical science which aims at an end, Education must lean on Ethics, which seeks to determine the true ends of all action, the ultimate nature of what we call good and desirable. But this implies a limited connection only. When once the end is settled,. Education asks no more aid from Ethics. Again, as a practical science greatly concerned with the training of the thinking or reasoning powers, Education derives considerable aid from Logic. This study, by supplying rules for clear thinking and sound reasoning, and by pointing out (to some extent) the best methods of expounding knowledge, is a matter of great practical value to the teacher. The relation of Education to Psychology is, however, a closer and a more pervading relation. Being a theoretic, as distinguished from a practical science, it does not, it is true, give rules for regulating mind. But it gives us an account of mind as a whole, the way in which it operates, the laws of succession and dependence which govern mental phenomena, and lastly a theory of mental growth or development. And since Education in all its branches is engaged in producing some mental result (e. g., accurate knowledge, good feeling), it needs continually to revert to psychology. 1

Appendix To Chapter I

I. SYNOPSIS OF THE METHODS OF STUDYING

PSYCHOLOGY.

f 1. Introspection, i. e., the observation We Study Psychol- J of our own mental states, and by : ogy by J 2. External Observation, i. e., of the

[ mental phenomena of others.

Note 1. — The Method of Induction. In both of the above cases, the method of proceeding is the Inductive one, just as in chemistry or any other natural science. Observe the phenomena, and classify them. Then infer from them as many general truths as possible.

Note 2. — Method of Verification. The conclusions arrived at by our personal study of Mental Phenomena, whether by the Introspective or the Objective method, and those reached through reading, must be continually verified by an appeal to our own conscious experience.

II. MAXIMS OF THE STUDY OF PSYCHOLOGY.

1. The Method of Psychology demands the cooperation of Introspection with Observation. — G. H. Lewes.

il have not touched on physical education here. This plainly rests ■on physiology, just as mental education reposes on psychology.

MAXIMS OF THE STUDY OF PSYCHOLOGY. 15

2. It has often been shown that the method of Induction admits, mutatis mutandis, of an application to the study of the human mind, as well as to that of the material universe. The difference in the application lies mainly in this, that in the one case we use self-consciousness or the internal sense, whereas in the other we employ the external sense, as the organ or instrument. — James McCosh.

3. The Laws of our Rational Faculty, i.e., The Human Mind, like those of every other natural agency are only learnt by seeing the agent at work. — J. S. Mill.

4. The Order of Mental phenomena must be studied in the phenomena themselves. — J. S. Mill.

5. Psychology is only an evolution by consciousness of the facts which consciousness itself reveals. — Sir William Hamilton.

6. "Whatever is known by consciousness is known beyond possibility of question. — J. S. Mill.

7. Everything presented to our observation, whether external or internal, whether through sense or self-consciousness, is presented in complexity. Every modification of mind is a complex state. What ought I to do ? Divide et impera, divide and conquer. Analyze it into its parts, consider each separately; finally, by synthesis, view these parts in relation to each other and to the whole of which they are the constituents. — Abridged from Sir William Hamilton.

8. The fundamental procedure of psychology is Analysis. But still this is but a means to an end. We analyze only that we may comprehend. We comprehend only as we are able to reconstruct in thought the complex effects which we have analyzed into their elements. Analysis and synthesis are only the two necessary parts of one and the same method. — Sir Wm. Hamilton.

III.. SUGGESTIONS.

1. Consult some standard dictionary, or, better still, such a work as Fleming's Vocabulary of tlie Philosophical Sciences, on the words : Metlwd, Analysis, and Synthesis.

2. Fix the full import of these words in the Mind.

3. By reference to the dictionary or cyclopaedia investigate the distinction between Inductive Method and Deductive Method.

4l. Make out a scheme for studying the mental processes of those under your instruction. "What studies exercise mainly their knowing powers ? Which bring into play their Emotions? Which of their pursuits calls into activity the Will ?

5. Consult some biographical dictionary or cyclopaedia on the life, works, and authority of the authors quoted above, under Maxims of the Study of Psychology.

IV. SYNOPSIS OF THE RELATION OF PEDAGOGICS TO PSYCHOLOGY AND OTHER SCIENCES.

Some sciences are derived from a single principle or a few axioms. Mathematics is an example. Others, like Medicine, are constructed differently, the data being drawn from a number of other sciences. All the data of Medicine, however, relate to a single point, the Health of the Body. So in the case of Pedagogics: its principles are derived from a number of sciences; the dataVelate to one central point, the Mental Development of the Child. — Sold an.

1. Pedagogics, or the Science of Education, depends for its aims or ends on Ethics, the science which determines the ends of action and the regulation of Conduct.

2. Pedagogics derives its data, its aggregate of knowledges, its principles, very largely from the sciences of Psychology, Logic, and Physiology. These data are derived directly, or are deduced from the truths of these respective sciences.

3 . Besides the Deductive element in the Science of Pedagogics, there is also an Inductive one consisting of truths obtained from the observation and experience of the teachers and educators of all times.

Chapter II. Mental Operations And Their Conditions

Mental Phenomena and Operations. Matter and Aim of Mental Science. Mental Science consists, as we have seen, of a body of statements, truths, or laws with respect to mental phenomena. The aim of the Science is to establish as many general statements or propositions about mind as possible. In order to do this we have first to ascertain what our phenomena are, and to arrange them in general groups or classes, based oh fundamental points of likeness.