Human behavior

Front matter

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Preface

The study of psychology has for a long time been looked upon as an essential phase of the professional preparation of the teacher. The following chapters represent an attempt to formulate psychological principles in terms of conduct or behavior. The authors believe that this " functional " point of view in psychology offers a helpful perspective upon the problems of classroom teaching, explaining many of the phenomena with which every teacher must deal, and which, unexplained, tend to irritate and confuse ; and providing at least a few guiding principles that may be directly appHed to the solution of troublesome problems in instruction and management.

It is hoped that the book may prove useful to the large numbers of young men and young women who each year enter the service of the public schools. It has, indeed, been written with a distinct recognition of the immaturity and inexperience which these beginning teachers represent. Every effort has been made (i) to select the topics that are most closely related to the work of teaching; (2) to treat these topics concretely, enforcing each principle with a wealth of illustration drawn partly from classroom practice, and partly from the affairs of everyday life; and ( -() to simplify the

VI PREFACE

terminology, without, at the same time, sacrificing accuracy of statement.

The materials have been organized somewhat upon the " spiral " plan. The first chapter embodies a concrete case of human behavior, described in non-technical language, and illustrating the various factors that condition behavior and control conduct both in customary and in unusual situations. Thus an initial " bird'seye " view of the treatment is given at the outset. The remaining chapters of Part I are also general in their nature, treating upon a simpler and more primitive plane the topics that are later analyzed more minutely. This plan of organization obviously involves a certain amount of repetition ; but the repetition, it is believed, will serve a useful purpose in impressing upon the student the fundamental fact that the higher and more complicated forms of behavior have grown out of the simpler forms, and involve these simpler forms as indispensable elements.

The authors have emphasized certain phases of psychology that have hitherto been treated very briefly in textbooks for teachers. Among these are instinct, habit, feeling and emotion, memory, and the economical methods of learning. The treatment of sensation is much briefer than in many other texts, and the discussion of the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system has been Umited to the facts of structure and function that are essential to an understanding of the mechanical modes of behavior.

PREFACE Vll

The " Questions and Exercises " appended to each chapter have been constructed chiefly for the purpose of encouraging the student to study behavior in the concrete, and especially to observe the factors that operate in determining his own conduct.

The authors are deeply indebted to Mr. W. S. Miller, Secretary of the School of Education, University of Illinois, for assistance rendered in revising the manuscript.

The authors further desire to express their thanks to

E. B. Titchener, to Dr. L. F. Barker, and to Henry Holt

and Company for permission to use various illustrations

accompanying the text.

S. S. C.

W. C. B.

February 1, 1913.

Chapter I Page

Psychology the science of consciousness — Meaning of the term " consciousness " — The service of consciousness in controlling action — Illustration of a typical set of conscious activities — Important characteristics of consciousness: (a) It varies with varying purposes — (d) Attention and interest determine its changes — (c) Affection or feeling is essential

— (d) Consciousness is at a low ebb when acts are mechanical — (e) Sensation is basal to consciousness — [/) Sensation with meaning attached is perception — (g) Imagination as reconstructed experience — (//) Memory and association

— («) Conception, judgment, and reasoning — Summary — Relation between consciousness and behavior — Consciousness is at its maximum in a thought crisis — The problem of psychology — Definitions and explanation of technical terms

— Questions and exercises.

Chapter II

New situations make learning necessary — Learning signifies a modification of behavior — Methods of learning: (a) Trial and error — (d) Imitation — (<:) "Free" ideas — Definitions and explanation of technical terms — Questions and exercises.

CONTENTS

Chapter III Pagb

Problem of the chapter — "Unlearned" behavior and its significance — Play as a type of instinctive behavior — The value of play as a preparation for later life : Groos's theory of play — Imitative and instinctive plays: Hall's theory — The limitations of play as an educative agency — Curiosity as an aid in learning — -Definitions and explanation of technical terms — Questions and exercises.

Chapter IV

Problem of the chapter — Definition of attention — Kinds of attention : passive, active, secondary passive — Laws of passive attention — Value of passive attention — Law of active attention — The rise of secondary passive attention — • The rhythmic character of attention — Variety in unity the secret of sustained attention — Attention and fatigue — The conditions of effective work — ^The span or range of attention

— Attention and behavior — The bodily attitude in attention

— Definitions and explanation of technical terms — Questions and exercises.

Chapter V

Problem of the chapter — The nature of feeling or affection — Affection as a conscious element — The function of the unpleasant and of the agreeable — Affection and efficiency — Complex forms of affection : the emotions — Characteristics of an emotion — The James-Lange theory of the emotions — Behavior and the emotions — Confused thought and abortive behavior accompany a typical emotion — Clear thought and definite action kill the emotion — Situations suddenly presented may give rise to emotions — Emotions may be aroused by imagined situations — Summary : definition of emotion — A mood as the residuum of an emotional storm — Temperament — Definitions and explanation of technical terms — Questions and exercises.

CONTENTS XI

Chapter VI Page

The Practical Significance of the Affective Life . . 89

Problem of the chapter — Affection and attention — The importance of insuring pleasurable outcomes — ■ Pleasure accompanies instinctive and habitual activities — The practical significance of the emotions — The value of the emotion must be sought in its outcome — Emotions induce new modes of behavior — The theory of consequences holds for all emotions — The affective element in teaching — The emotional element in teaching — The emotional element in religious education — Moods and their use in education — Should the teacher show emotion ? — Questions and exercises.

CHAPTER VII ^ The Nervous System as the Organ of Behavior . . 106

Problem of the chapter — The nervous system and behavior—The simplest type of behavior: the amoeba — Complex behavior requires complicated structures — ^The simplest form of nervous system — Complex nervous systems — Preferred paths of conduction in the nervous system — The neurone as the unit structure of the nervous system — The synapse as the mode of conduction between neurones — Classes of neurones: sensory, associative, motor — The central nervous system in man — The functions of the central nervous system : {a) The spinal cord — (d) The cerebral cortex — Consciousness. correlated with cerebral activity — Inhibition and facilitation as functions of neural activity — ■ Definitions and explanation of technical terms — Questions and exercises.

Xll CONTENTS

Chapter VIII Page

Problem of the chapter — Reflex movement as a type of behavior — Instinctive behavior as a combination of reflexes

— Characteristics of instinctive behavior : conscious accompaniment, reflex constituents, mechanical control, dependence upon inherited neural connections, aiTective quality — Types of instinctive behavior: the adaptive instincts — The individualistic instincts — -The sex and parental instincts — The social instincts — The religious and aesthetic instincts — Summary and table of human instincts, with the corresponding expressions, feelings, and emotions — Definitions and explanation of technical terms — Questions and exercises.

CHAPTER IX ' The Value of the Human Instincts 140

Problem of the chapter — The value of the adaptive instincts — The value of the individualistic instincts — The value of the social instincts — The value of the religious instincts — Questions and exercises.

Chapter X

Problem of the chapter — All education must begin with instinct — The modification of instinct: {a) The attachment of another feeling and its appropriate response to an object which naturally arouses an undesirable instinct — The significance of the unpleasant in education — The doctrine of natural punishments — Pleasure vs. unpleasantness in learning

— The modification of instinct : [b) The attachment of another response to an object and the feeling that the object instinctively arouses — The modification of instinct: (c) The detachment of a feeling from its natural object and response, and its attachment to other objects and responses — The relation of attention to the modification of instincts — Ideals in relation to instincts — -Definitions and explanation of tech- ■ nical terms — Questions and exercises.

CONTENTS XIU

Chapter XI Page

Habitual Behavior and the Law of Habit-building . 165

Problem of the chapter — Habitual behavior contrasted • with instinctive behavior — The affective element in habit : the propensity — The importance of habit-formation — The law of habit-building : (a) focalization ; (^) attentive repetition ; (c) permitting no exceptions — The importance of initiative in habit-building — Value of motives closely related to the child's interests — The significance of the right start — The phenomenon of interference in habit-building — The "practice curve" and its "plateaus" — The significance of plateaus in habit-building — The treatment of habit upon the plateau level — -The importance of intense effort in habit-building — Rapidity vs. accuracy in habit formation — The specific character of habits — The " transfer " of habits : (a) through identical elements — {i>) through ideals — The limitations of habit — The importance of teaching the pupil how to form habits — Definitions and explanation of technical terms — Questions and exercises.

Part III Consciously Controlled Modes Of Behavior

CHAPTER XH'

Problem of the chapter — The elements of consciousness — The organs of sensation — Definition of sensation — • "Pure" sensation an abstraction — Sensation incomplete without response — The attributes of sensation : intensity, duration, quality, clearness — Classes of sensations: (a) visual sensations — The color qualities — Contrast and adaptation — After-images — The color zones of the retina — Perception of form involves other than visual sensations — {6) Auditory sensations — Tonal sensations and their characteristics

XIV CONTENTS

PAGE

— • (c) Taste or gustatory sensations and their characteristics

— {d) Olfactory sensations and their characteristics — {e) Dermal sensations: pressure, temperature, and pain — (/) Kinassthetic sensations — (^) Organic sensations — The significance of sensory defects — Color blindness and tonal deafness

— The pl?.ce of " sense training" in education — Definitions and explanation of technical terms — Questions and exercises.

Chapter XIII

Problem of the chapter — " Meaning " as the chief mark of a perception — Meanings come from adjustment — Meanings are individual — Objective teaching as a means of developing meanings — Apperception — True and false perception — Behavior the criterion of true and false — Illusions and hallucinations — Classification of illusions — ^Hallucinations as a symptom of mental disturbances — Definitions and explanation of technical terms — Questions and exercises.

Chapter XIV

Problem of the chapter — Imagination contrasted with perception, false perception, and hallucination — Definition of imagination — Truth and falsity of imagination — Reproductive and productive imagination — Mental imagery and its significance — Concrete and symbolic imagery^ — Imaginal types — The educational significance of imagination — The child does not often confuse the real with the fancied — The world of imagery a privilege of childhood — The world of fancy must be limited — Imaginary achievement must not replace real achievement — Definitions and explanation of technical terms — ^ Questions and exercises.

CONTENTS XV

Chapter XV Page

The wider use of the term " memory " — The narrower use of the term "memory" — Recollection — Recall and recognition — Impression and association — The tests of memory and their employment in education : (a) The method of retained members — (d) The saving method — (c) The method of right associates — (d) The method of recognition — (e) The method of reconstruction — Retentiveness and its measure — The laws of forgetting and their educational applications — Faulty observation and its relation to defective memory — Distortion and confusion as sources of weakness in memory — Suggestion as a factor in distorting memory — Factors conditioning accuracy of memory — The function of forgetting — The question of improving memory' — Definitions and explanation of technical terms — Questions and exercises.

Chapter XVI

Problem of the chapter — "Simultaneous" and " successive " associations — The primary laws of association: continuity and similarity — Mental attitude or purpose determines associations — • Secondary laws of association : frequency, primacy, recency, and vividness — Mental attitude or purpose determines operation of secondary laws — Emotional congruity as a principle of association — Summary : educational applications — The importance of prejudices — Definitions and explanation of technical terms — Questions and exercises.

Chapter XVII

Problem of the chapter — Learning by wholes vs. learning by parts — Advantages and disadvantages of the "whole" method — The best length of learning periods — The importance of recall in learning — The value of the recitation — - The phenomenon of interference in learning — The value of

XVI CONTENTS

PAGE

thorough learning — Rote learning vs. rational learning — The value of mnemonic devices — The " warming up " period in learning — The most favorable rate of learning — Summary: a general rule for learning — Definitions and explanation of technical terms — Questions and exercises.

Chapter XVIII

Problem of the chapter — The thought crisis and its significance to behavior — Real thinking always involves a real difficulty — Thinking always involves past experience revived as "meaning " — Meanings vary with the problem in hand — ■ Meaning is fundamental to behavior — Why meanings attach to qualities as well as to acts — The development of symbols that stand for qualities — The value of thinking in symbols — Conceptual and perceptual attitudes — The economy of conceptual behavior — The judgment — Reasoning and the syllogism — -Both induction and deduction characterize thinking — Inductive teaching and its place in education — Educational applications : (a) The pupil should be confronted with actual problems — (b) The development of meanings is fundamental to effective reasoning — (c) General meanings or concepts the most important " resources " — (d) The tentative hypothesis : its value and its dangers — The problem of " training the power of reasoning " : {a) The importance of understanding the methods of logical thinking — (b) Ideal schemata of thinking and their development in education — (c) Developing an appreciation of the rational method of solving problems — -(d) The relation of information to reasoning abihty — Definitions and explanation of technical terms — Questions and exercises.

Chapter I Consciousness And Conduct

Psychology the Science of Consciousness. — Psychology is the study of mind. It presents the facts and laws that men have found out about mind and about the way in which mind works. We aU know something about mind, but this knowledge in itself does not make us psychologists, any more than an acquaintance with flowers and plants necessarily makes us botanists, or an acquaintance with animals, zoologists. Both the botanist and the zoologist not only know certain facts and laws in their respective fields, but they have organized these facts and laws. We cannot become psychologists until we have so arranged and organized the facts and laws of mind that we may gain a systematic idea of what these are and how they work. In this sense of an organized body of knowledge about mind, psychology is a science.

What do we mean by " mind "? At the outset we

B I may content ourselves by saying that mind is " consciousness." This is not a definition of mind ; it simply gives another word, a word which we all use in about the same sense, while the word " mind " is used in somewhat different meanings by different people. When we say that a person loses consciousness, we all know what is meant, — for we all lose consciousness when we fall into a sound sleep. When we awake we " return to consciousness," we " become conscious " of some of the things about us. Yet even when we are awake, we are " unconscious " of some of the things about us. These are not " in mind."

The Service of Consciousness in Controlling Action. — We are all of us conscious to a greater or less extent during our waking life, and we may well ask, " Of what use is this consciousness ; what good does it do us ; what service does it render? " This is the question with which we shall be chiefly concerned in this book, for while we shall try to find out what consciousness is and how it acts, we shall further inquire, " What value has it in our lives?" We might live — after a fashion — without consciousness. In deep sleep it does not appear to be a necessity. The heart still beats, we still breathe, and we sometimes make slight movements. With the first sign of returning consciousness, however, we make definite movements of some sort, and when we are wide awake, our movements become more varied and more definite. It is our general experience that movement and consciousness are closely related, and we may say here at the outset that consciousness operates primarily in directing our movements and controlling our behavior.

We may get a clearer notion of what consciousness is and what value it has in directing our acts by taking a concrete illustration of a typical set of conscious states, or " consciousnesses," as they follow one another in a day's experience.

Illustration of a Tjrpical Set of Conscious Activities. — During a recent summer's vacation, I took a day's sailing trip with a companion down Narragansett Bay to Newport. Because of a continuous head wind, we arrived late in the afternoon, and were forced to make the return trip to Providence after sunset. Soon darkness overtook us, but with a brisk breeze blowing and with a full moon shining from a cloudless sky, this fact gave us little concern. However, although we were quite famiUar with the bay as it looked in daylight, it was not so easy a matter to steer our course at night, guided only by the various lights that dotted the shore, or marked some dangerous reef or shoal. And so it happened that we " picked up " the wrong light and left our course, sailing in close to a ledge of rocks, which, with their jagged teeth, projected at the half-tide just a few feet above the surface of the tumbling and surging sea,

I was at the helm of the small catboat, which was sailing easily, the breeze filling her bellying sail. Clear consciousness was at a low ebb. I " sensed " the tug

4 HXJMAN BEHAVIOR

of the wind and the pressure of the tiller and drank in the beauties of the August evening, — the glistening of the waves in the glorious moonlight, the dancing of the lights on the shore, the toll of a near-by bell buoy and the weird cries of sea birds. It all might have been an exquisite dream, as the moments ghded by and as under the splendor of the sky and on the shining sea the small craft rose and fell with steady monotonous motion.

But suddenly all this is changed! Just over the bow appears a dark object, lying low and extending many feet on either side. In a moment the beauties of the night are lost from consciousness, and there stands out in the mind one insistent question, — " What is it? Perhaps a fisherman's net ? No, it looks too bulky for that. Then a watch boat of the oystermen ? " Rapidly various possibilities come into mind, and then as the boat sails nearer there is an end to this silent debate. The waves are seen foaming white as they break upon the reef, for this it is that stands in our course. Now we are almost on the rocks, and quickly the attention is fixed on the boat, as mechanically I tug at the sheet and jam the tiller hard over, in a fruitless attempt to pass to the windward of the peril. No, this cannot be done ; we cannot sail around the rocks, and soon we shall be thumping on them ! There is another moment of rapid debate. Shall I take the boat hook and run to the bow and try to ward the boat off the reef? No, we are sailing too rapidly for that. There is just one chance left of saving ourselves from wreck; it is to check the speed of the boat by letting the sail run out, so that the breeze will not fill it, at the same time trusting to the wind to blow us away from our danger. In a flash these possibilities run through my mind. Then out goes the sail until it flaps in the wind, the boat loses head, but there is scarcely an inch to spare as her bow drifts away from the reef and she passes out of danger.

Some Important Facts about Consciousness, (a) It constantly Changes in Terms of Purpose. — In this example of an actual situation we find on examination a very complex set of conscious states, that well illustrate the problems with which this book is to deal. It will, therefore, be worth our while carefully to analyze the elements and find what they show in regard to the nature of consciousness and the way in which it aids us to direct our actions. As far as the nature of consciousness is concerned, we may observe in the first place that it is in a state of continual fluctuation and change. Yet, in spite of this fact, it is always moving on in a more or less definite direction. It is going somewhere. These changes and shifts in our consciousness mark various phases of attention, as it now turns to one aspect of experience and now to another. The moving on of consciousness in a more or less definite direction indicates the general aim or end of the whole thought process. We invariably " think about " something, and it is this something that we have clearly or vaguely in mind that decides in just what direction our thoughts shall move.

In the example just cited, the consciousness of those in the boat moves in the direction that the purpose of the trip and the interests centered around it suggest. It is not anything or everything that comes into consciousness. The parts that compose it at any one moment have a definite relation to the total thought. Nothing comes in a haphazard fashion. Into my mind at one moment come the lights on the shcre, for by them I am steering, and my main purpose is to sail the boat safely to its mooring. Or again I listen to the sound of the bell buoy, for that too has a significance in relation to the sailing of the boat. So, also, objects on the water catch my attention and hold it, because they have a meaning. I notice the red light of a passing motor boat and fix it in attention sufficiently to alter my course so that there will be no danger of a collision. And since my general purpose is not merely sailing the boat, but getting my fill of enjoyment out of the day's outing as well, there also come into my mind many things that have but Uttle to do with the actual sailing of the boat. So I drink in the beauties of the evening and enjoy to the fullest extent the exhilaration of the surroundings.

(6) Attention and Interest Determine these Changes. — Thus my attention and my interests determine the elements that enter into my consciousness, the manner in which they work together, and the course that they take.

Further, as has been said, the attention varies with each succeeding change and fixes the character of these changes. I am now looking at the Hghts on the shore ; now I recognize the cry of the sea bird ; again I feel the dash of the spray in my face and now the tug of the tiller. There are brief periods of relative inattention between these shifts from one aspect of the scene before me to another. Here the mental processes "let up " for a moment, so to speak, before they grasp another phase of the experience.

It may be seen from this brief discussion that attention is an accompaniment of all states of consciousness. Without this onflowing of consciousness and its fluctuation from moment to moment, there would be no mental life, at least as we know it. We shall later discuss in a separate chapter the nature of attention and the laws that govern its manifestations. Suffice it to say for the present that attention is an invariable characteristic of mental life.

(c) Affection or Feeling is Essential to Consciousness. — My total consciousness is characterized not only by states of attention; equally fundamental to it is what is technically known as " affection." By affection the psychologist understands all states of feeling; that is, those states that we can speak of as pleasant or unpleasant, as well as more complex states that are given the name of the emotions. We not only recognize the existence of an object ; we attach some value to it. It means something to us. We like it or dislike it; we dread it, or rejoice in its presence ; and so on. I am not only conscious of the splendor of the evening, but I am thrilled by it ; I not only sense the pressure of the tiller against my thigh, but I enjoy the sensation with the impression that it gives me of my own strength and skill in steering the boat through the rough seas. I do not merely see the rocks ahead, but I have an emotional state in reference to them. They cannot be a matter of mere intellectual indifference to me, for they make a difference in the situation. They are objects to be dreaded. And so it is with the whole series of conscious states. None are totally indifferent ; all have more or less " feeling " attached to them, just as they are characterized by a greater or less intensity of attention. Affection, then, like attention, is an unvarying accompaniment of all consciousness of any degree of complexity. It, too, will be discussed in a subsequent chapter.

{d) Consciousness is at a Low Ebb when Acts are Habitual, Reflex, or Instinctive. If I consider once more the experience above outlined, I cannot fail to notice that certain aspects of it are more vividly conscious than are others. For example, I am definitely and painfully aware of the presence of the dangerous reef. It stands out in the clearest way ; but the pressure of the tiller barely enters the state of clear consciousness at all. Notwithstanding this fact, I steer the boat without difl&culty, for through many years of experience I have succeeded in doing this with very Uttle thought. Indeed, I can thoroughly enjoy the beauties of the evening and attend to the sights and sounds about me, even listening to the conversation of my companion, without letting the boat " fall off." I hold her to her course, because steering has become for me a matter of hahit. At first it required all my attention, because I did not know how ; but when we finally *' learn how " we require little or no consciousness to carry on those activities in which we are skilled. Habit is basal to all learning and weaves itself into all of our acts. Its nature and importance are to be subsequently discussed.

There are many acts, however, which are for the most part, or wholly, unconscious and which, nevertheless, are not matters of habit. For example, if I had examined the size of the pupil of my eye before nightfall and then again after darkness had set in, I should have found that it was considerably smaller in the daylight than in the night. The reason for this is to be found in the structure of the eye itself and the nervous mechanism that controls it. The change that here takes place is termed in psychology a reflex activity. It differs from a habitual activity, as will later be pointed out, in that it is inborn andT'iiot gained through experience. Like habit, it is essential to learning, and forms an important part of our activity.

When these reflex acts cease to be simple, they are often given the name instincts, especially if they are lO HUMAN BEHAVIOR

joined with a considerable element of feeling. For example, when I first recognized the dangerous shoal, I felt a shrinking and a tendency to let go of the tiller, clamber over the stern of the boat, and seek safety in the skiff we had in tow. This was due to the tendency inherited by all hving organisms to shrink away from a dangerous object. This is inborn; we may learn to control it, but we can never entirely get rid of it. The instinct to get away from danger stampedes herds of cattle, puts armies of valiant men to utter rout, and turns into a disorganized and brutal mob the passengers on the deck of a sinking vessel. Instinct weaves itself into all of our acts, and modifies our consciousness in many ways. It is sometimes manifested in intense emotional " storms." Like reflex action and habit, it is fundamental in our behavior and often determines what we shall do in a given situation. It will be fully discussed in its appropriate place.