The new psychology and the teacher

Front matter

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT

BY

H. CRICHTON MILLER

Contents

CHAP. PAGE

I Introductory 13

II Authority and Suggestibility . . 23

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY The New Psychology and Psycho-Analysis

In What Sense Is It "New?"

Not in the sense of conflicting with all pre-, existing theories.

The Contribution of Clinical Psychology to Educational Problems.

What has the New Psychology to Offer the Teacher?

Not a magical solution.

Analysis not applicable to the normal child.

Analysis and self-knowledge.

Test of its Value:

Power to give the child spiritual freedom. Power to help the child in three ways.

Purpose and Limitations of the Book.

INTRODUCTORY

^nr^HE title of this book needs a brief expla- ■*- nation. To some people it will suggest a disingenuous evasion of the word "psycho-analysis." The term has been avoided out of respect for the limits to its application laid down by the Freudian School, who hold that "The Freudian theory and technique, and these alone, constitute psycho-analysis." ^ While recognizing the infinite debt which psychologists owe to the pioneer work of Freud, in discovering and applying the psycho-analytic method, the writer is unable to accept all the conclusions of the Freudian theory, and finds himself therefore debarred from using the term in its technical sense.

Some critics will suggest that the principles discussed in this book ought not to be labelled "new." The psychological method which is outlined will seem to them merely an elaborate way of arriving at familiar conclusions. It should therefore be stated at the outset that this psychology is not "new" in the sense of

^ Psycho-analysis J by Barbara Low. George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1920. p. 10.

IS conflicting with all pre-existing theories. On the contrary its conclusions have often reaffirmed those which the experience of mankind has long ago evolved and treasured. It is undeniable that analytical psychology repeats a good deal of the wisdom of the nursery; many of the dictates of common sense that "continuous experience of the real" ; and it often follows with slow feet to a goal which the insight of poets and prophets reached at a bound. But if it is not always revolutionary, its method is sufficiently distinct from that of the academic psychology to justify and demand the use of the word "new." No one who has studied its conceptions can fail to realize that they introduce a fresh era into psychological thought. Lastly, we may perhaps borrow a reflection from an exponent of "the new discipline," and take refuge in the thought that "The people who seek to prove that things are not new are usually those who have not the smallest intention of making use of them, whether new or old."^

While it is true that the outlook of analytical psychology does not invariably lead to

^ The Child's Path to Freedom, by Norman MacMunn. G. Bell & Sons, Ltd., 1 921. p. 52.

Introductory

new conclusions, it certainly leads to some which are sharply opposed to accepted theories, and educational methods have been heavily criticized from the standpoint of clinical psychology. In defence of the clinical psychologist's intrusion into educational ques- ' tions, it must be pointed out that he has to deal with many of the products of educational failure: they constitute a more effective criticism than any he could invent. And if it is argued that the study of psycho-pathology unfits one for the understanding of normal types, it must be pointed out that while psychology remained with its attention fixed upon normal mental processes, it made no startling advance; and that the infusion of new life into it came from the medical psychologist's investigation of the phenomena of abnormality.

We pass on to ask what it is that the new psychology has to ofifer to the teacher. What are they looking for — these people who flock to meetings on psycho-analysis, and invest in books on the new psychology? Some of them are unmistakably in search of a swift and magical solution of educational problems. The burden of their profession weighs heavily upon them, and the word has gone round that the new knowledge has an answer to all it&

The New Psychology aod the Teacher

difficulties. This is of course a vain quest. There is no magical and external solution to such problems as confront the teacher, and no formula that will suddenly make him master of the intricacies of the child's mind.

Some approach the new psychology mainly with the idea of analysing the children they teach. The writer is convinced that this should not be the purpose of its study. The analysis of the child and of the adolescent is the most delicate task that can be assayed. It is not required in the case of the normal child ; and the abnormal child should never be exposed to amateur analysis. There is a symbol which constantly occurs in dreams — the symbol of the tooth. It represents the individual's equipment for life, and especially his mental equipment, of which a small part is visible, and the greater part unseen and rooted in the unconscious. We may make use of it to emphasize our present point. The child's teeth represent only a temporary adjustment to life, but the dentist knows that they need to be handled with extraordinary care; otherwise the permanent teeth that should follow will be impaired. The mental adjustment of the child or the adolescent needs to be treated with equal caution.

The study of the unconscious mind may of i8

Introductory

course do much to quicken the teacher's power of observation and understanding of the child's mental processes; but even this is not the greatest service it can render. Its chief value lies, not in the direct light that it throws on the child, but in its application to the teacher's own psychology. It is like the indirect illumination used in microscope work: the light is not thrown on the object that is being studied, but upon a reflector, which needs ta be at the correct angle. The chief gain which the teacher may look for from his study of the subject is this kind of illumination of his own mind, a new power of self-knowledge which will give him a clearer sight and a greater freedom of action in helping the child.

The test of the value of a study of analytical psychology lies in its ability to increase the teacher's power to give the child spiritual freedom. The Freudian School of Psycho- Analysis claims to have established the fact of a ''thorough-going determinism in the mental sphere." This is not the place to examine the evidence for this view. Let us grant that the sense of spontaneity in human life may be an illusion. If this is so, it is an illusion which the writer believes that all educationalists would do well to cherish very jealously.

It seems to him an essential part of the equipment of the teacher or parent who sets out to make it possible for his children to attain to spiritual freedom. In working towards this' goal, the first service that analytical psychol- ; ogy can render is, as has been said, the freeing / of the teacher's own mental and emotional life from bias and repression. Furthermore, it can increase his power to help the child in three principal ways — in his adjustment to reality, in his adjustment to authority and to the herd, and in his sex education.

The conception outlined above of the way in which analytical psychology can be of the greatest service to the teacher sets definite limits to the scope of this book. Its purpose is to answer some of the questions of those who are asking what is implied by the analytical standpoint towards oneself, and education, and life in general. The study of analytical psychology has clearly reached a point at which it has become part of the thought of educated people; and it is no longer possible, even if it were desirable, to regard it as the exclusive concern of specialists and their patients. Any one who speaks on this subject may be sure of applause if he remarks that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. This is unquestionably true of the new psychology; but it is

Introductory

also true that a little vision is a great deal better than total blindness. Those whose business it is to study the development of the child should be least of all likely to confuse the little vision vs^ith the thorough understanding, or to underrate the intricacy of the process of analysis. This book offers no encouragement to its readers to assume the functions of the psycho-analysts. Nor is it intended to suggest that self-analysis has more than a limited value. When all is said, however, it is only a minority who will have the opportunity of being analyzed : the majority will have to create their own experience of analysis for themselves. That experience, especially if it is a rather silent process, may be of great value. It will not be entirely pleasing to the individual concerned, and those who are not serious will have no inducement to go far with it; for, unlike the more sociable and conversational methods of taking an interest in psycho-analysis, it demands hard work and perseverance. It is with the idea of assisting some such experience as this that the writer has accepted the responsibility of promoting "a little knowledge."

One further point should be mentioned. The limits of the book have made it unavoidable that some subjects should be touched upon with a misleading degree of simplicity. This is particularly true of the points at which references have been made to the therapeutic aspect of analytical psychology. For example, no mention whatever has been made to the principle of psycho-physical interaction and to the part played by the physical factor in neurosis. This omission is typical of others which are equally deliberate; but the attention of the reader should be drawn to the limitations in the scope of the book.

CHAPTER II AUTHORITY AND SUGGESTIBILITY Education

The two aspects.

Their place in educational theories —

The old regime.

Froebel.

Montessori.

The goal of education.

Urge to completeness.

Suggestibility: ^

Suggestion defined and illustrated.

Its function in childhood.

Its use and abuse in the adult.

The Child's Experience of Authority: The ultra-suggestible.

The rebel.

The unconscious motive for and against authority.

The Teacher's Exercise of Authority:

The unconscious motive for and against it.

The instinct of patronage.

The fear of being ousted.

The potter and the clay.

The use of analytical psychology.

^ The term suggestibility is used throughout this chapter in the sense distinguished by Baudouin as acceptivity, v. Suggestion and Auto-suggestion, by Charles Baudouin. Geo. Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1920.

THERE are roughly two aspects to education : the one, the transmission of racial experience; the other, the development of the individual psyche. Each makes a different demand upon the child; and, if the teacher is to get below the surface in his educational methods, it is essential that he should set himself to realize the meaning of these demands that are made by himself or others, and also to understand the nature of the child's reaction to them. These two aspects of education, the presentation of authority and the presentation of reality, will be discussed in this and the following chapter.

Before entering upon this discussion, something must be said of the general nature of the educational process as it appears to-day. A very rough survey of the recent history of education is enough to show that even the effective recognition of the two-fold function of education is a notable advance. There still remain many traces of an era in which all the emphasis was laid on the transmission of learning and experience, the child being at best but a passive recipient of these blessings. These were the days of enforced attention, when education was primarily a matter of discipline. The liberating influence of Froebel brought in a better era: the child's interest was no longer to be forced, but to be set free; and the most successful teacher was he who was most competent in stimulating the interest of the child. Since then, yet another revolutionary change has been taking place, and the old conception of discipline has undergone a fresh transformation. The experiments of Madame Montessori have revealed the amazing rapidity and the extraordinary ease with which a child who has been allowed his freedom in a suitable environment acquires the necessary knowledge with the minimum of restraint. These changes have redressed the balance in the conception of education. It is realized now that the development of the individual psyche is a far more important thing that the mere acquisition of knowledge; that the mediate experience which has been handed on to the child with such a gesture of beneficence is really far less time-saving, and far less valuable than the immediate experience which he gains for himself, if he is put in an environment in which he can gain it fairly easily and fairly cheaply.

The two aspects of education emphasize, respectively, interest, producing self-expression; and attention, developing self-control. An educational system which is based upon the former principle amounts to a challenge to our whole outlook on the individual's life. It is useless to apply the theories of freedom and responsibility to the first years of a child's life and then to place him in an environment which demands of him first and foremost that he should submit to routine and drudgery. If a boy is to be sent to a public school with a perfectly rigid and stereotyped curriculum, and if he is afterwards to be drafted into the business or profession which has been chosen for him by his parents, it might well be argued that his education should from the first be frankly dedicated to the object of controlling his attention and ignoring his interest. But if there is any faith in the possibility of the child finding a career in which he can truly express himself, then it would appear equally logical and consistent to direct his education along lines that may possibly lead to a lesser capacity for drudgery, but an infinitely greater power of self-expression, and a greater self to express.

In contending that the primary emphasis in education should lie upon spontaneous interest, it is not necessary to underestimate the value of attention. The clinical psychologist has special opportunities of realizing the importance of this factor in the individual's equipment for life. Failure to develop adequate power of attentive control often manifests itself in later life in ill-health of body and mind, and it falls to the physician to correct it as best he may by a process of re-education. The neurotic patient is often the victim of indecision : he cannot make up his mind on any subject; he has lost all will-power. The tendency in modern psychology is to make will and attention synonymous; and it is a tendency which is supported by the experience of psychotherapists. The temperament that is sometimes contemptuously dismissed as "neurotic" is often endowed with great gifts and capabilities, which have been allowed to run to waste for lack of the necessary training. Much can be done in later life by a careful technique of re-education; but the original failure in the early training of the faculties of attentive control has been responsible for much irretrievable loss both in individual happiness and social usefulness.

In the light of these discoveriesi, how is the 28 goal of the child's development to be conceived? We may speak of it broadly as self-realization, using the term to include the complete adjustment of the individual to life in all its aspects. Towards this goal the child is impelled by an energy which is not derived from the influence of parents or teachers, or from any external source. The impulse towards growth is simply the primary biological urge to completeness which is found in every living thing. We come into the world with it, and it remains as the constant impulse towards a goal which is only attained when we reach maturity, and either express or sublimate all our instinctive ambitions and potentialities. It is not primarily spiritual, but biological, and it is largely unconscious. It follows that a great deal of the child's growth, a great many of his ambitions and aspirations, are directed towards the primary, central and perfectly unconscious motive of ultimate parenthood, because this is the essential biological expression of maturity. The human herd has become so complex and bewildering a thing that this great fact of parenthood, being the token and visible symbol of maturity, is largely obscured. Moreover, the human ideal of development is not purely biological, but has become enriched by ethical, social, and religious conceptions. In spite of this, the original, biological nature of the impulse to growth and to completeness is not to be ignored.

It is evident that, though this principle of growth is universal, it is not irresistible. It is infinitely liable to hindrance and deviation! and delay at all points. The child's development towards completeness is very easily thwarted. If the urge to maturity is primarily biological, the barriers in its way seem to be almost invariably psychological; and for these barriers parents and teachers are com-, monly responsible. We put up a barrier when\ we restrain children unnecessarily; when we' put difficulties in the way of their self-expression; when without reason we demand that they should inhibit interest and activity which seem to them to be perfectly harmless. This is the barrier of authority. The second barrier is raised when we offer to the child a world that is too harsh, too puzzling and too difficult for its powers of adjustment. This is the barrier of reality. These are the two great problems for the child ; and the test of his achievement is whether, when he reaches maturity, he has made the three great practical adjustments that life demands: the adjustment to society; the adjustment to the mate (actual or potential) ; and the adjustment to the Infinite. Failure at either of these points speaks of hindered development and the falling-short of complete self-realization.

The conception of education that has been outlined above is one that underlies the studies in this book. For the sake of clearness it seemed well to state it at the outset, though in a somewhat brief and dogmatic form. It is hoped that the rest of the book explains and amplifies it, and gives to the reader opportunities of criticizing it in a more detailed form.

Returning to the two aspects of education — the transmission of racial experience and the development of the individual psyche — we find that there are two characteristics of childhood that demand special study: the first is suggestibility, and the second is phantasy. Both have a genetic value; both are associated with development; and both, like the thymus gland, should entirely, or to a great extent, vanish by the time that the individual reaches maturity. Both tend to persist, and their persistence spells discord and inefficiency in the adult. This can generally be traced to some failure in the environment or upbringing of the individual; and since the teacher may be responsible for this, he needs to understand the function of these two characteristics. The present chapter deals with the first — suggestibility, which is concerned with the child's reaction to authority.

Suggestibility"^ may be defined as the attainment of a state of mind or the execution of an act upon an inadequate rational basis. It is, in I other words, blind acceptance of authority inl any form. We speak of the suggestibility of primitive peoples ; but a more obvious instance is our own susceptibility to the power of advertisement. The whole function of the advertisement manager, the salesman and the auctioneer, is to exploit the tendency to buy goods upon an inadequate rational basis. Equally obvious is the suggestibility of readers of the daily press, who accept opinions on politics, religion, art, or amusement, with the minimum of independent investigation. Nevertheless, in so far as we are mature, we suppose ourselves to have attained to the power of independent judgment, and to be no longer exposed to the abuses of suggestibility. There are some who are so much alive to these dangers that they would try to demand, even from the child, that his thought and action should be founded entirely upon a consciously rational basis. In so doing, they ignore an

^ V. supra, p. 24, note.' 32 important psychological distinction between the child and the adult. If the child is influenced by the injunction that he shall wait until the 'bus stops before dismounting, he is manifesting a degree of suggestibility that is entirely advantageous both to himself and to the community. Suggestibility in the child has a genetic value, which lies in the possi- 'bility of transmitting rapidly to a child a great amount of racial experience, while he is still incapable of fully apprehending the rational basis of it. It is the substitution of mediate for immediate experience. We save him from breaking his neck by remembering our own early experiments in falling off a 'bus, and all the later considerations which have taught us to seek safety first. We cannot expect the child to apprehend the significance of the law of the conservation of energy, or any other restraining thought, when he is solely engaged with the idea of leaving the 'bus at the point nearest to the Zoo. Neither can we expect the child to take into consideration the demands of the herd. If he goes from the dining-room to the nursery, his one preoccupation is to get there. He sees no reason to waste time in stopping to shut the door; he has no objection to open doors: why should grown-ups? We rightly make use of suggestion to claim from the child a compliance with the demands of the herd, for which he can realize no adequate reason. The two facts in the child's position which demand the use of suggestion are, therefore, first, his inexperience of causal relations; and secondly, his inability to apprehend the claims of the community.

Neither of these conditions should apply to the adult, but there are some who, in the latter respect, remain children all their lives. They prate about the liberty of the individual ; they whine over the income-tax; they fail at every point to visualize the reciprocal obligation of the unit and the herd. Most adults get past this stage of development, and grasp the collective aim of society. But it is only a minority that gets beyond that, to the parental view, which implies the readiness to sacrifice self-interest, not only for the social demands of this generation, but also, and still more so, for those of the next. Thus the child has to pass from an individual aim in life to a collective aim. But his judgment undergoes the reverse transformation : he begins by being subject to the opinion of the elders who constitute his environment; gradually this subjection should give way to an individual judgment in all matters that are vital. If we set ourselves primarily to fashion his conduct, we shall abuse his suggestibility, and stunt the growth of his discrimination; if we ignore behaviour, and deal exclusively with his reason, we shall waste much precious time, risk many disasters, and produce a citizen of doubtful value. It must be our aim, therefore, to bring up children so that they respect all racial experience, and at the same time learn, in due course, to challenge all authority. Authority must not be regarded as ultimately binding, nor must it be disregarded without respectful consideration.

The destiny of the child is social efficiency; the problem of the child is psychical freedom; the obstacle to the child is authority; and the test of every child's development is his final attitude towards racial experience.

The progress of the child towards this goal may be roughly represented in a diagram. The

ffJtra SuqgestWe

SolF reaf/SBf/on soc/a/ e/yyc/e/icy febel child starts from O on his journey, and at A meets the gate of authority. If that gate is open, he passes straight on towards his goal. If it be shut, or insufficiently open, and he fails to pass through, his path deviates in one or two directions : either he becomes ultra-suggestible, and continues to accept authority in a childish way, or else he becomes the heretic, who rebels, with an equal failure of individual judgment, against all forms of authority. Whichever of these alternatives result from the clash with authority, the individual sets himself to weave a myth, the strands of which are inextricably mingled with his every thought and action. He cannot accept the truth involved in his situation, and therefore he has to explain away to himself his tendency to react too much or too little to authority. He has to satisfy himself that his undue plasticity in the face of authority is not what it seems, but a rational attitude; or that his undue resistance to every form of authority is based on the superiority of his own judgment. These two types — the ultra-suggestible and the rebel — must be perfectly familiar to every observer of human nature. The ultra-suggestible responds inevitably to the opinion of the majority, and to the ruling of fashion which is accepted by the group in which he moves. He may be led thus to become a supporter of the Established Church, and a representative of political and social decorum. This is perhaps his natural home, for he is conscious of the support of a large body of opinion among his fellow-countrymen. But people whose lot is cast among minorities and heresies may be equally influenced by suggestion to embrace these opinions. They respond to the dominant authority in their immediate surroundings, and become free-thinkers and revolutionaries from sheer orthodoxy. When they come in contact with a wider circle their views may change, and they may find what seems to them an irresistible inner conviction leading them to the stronghold of a more general orthodoxy. Behind the variation of their opinions lies the constant psychological factor of suggestibility. The reverse process is seen in the individual whose reaction to authority has taken the form of the rebel tendency. He carries with him an inward resistance to all authority as such; he must always be " agin' the Government," no matter what measure is under discussion. Minorities and lost causes are his special department. In all circumstances of life his ear is unnaturally quick to catch the Tyrant-Rebel motif. He plays many parts; and perhaps his greatest is that of Prometheus. Defiance on behalf of the whole human race in the face of

Z7 divine oppression is heresy on the grand scale.

It is clear enough that both these tendencies contain elements that are essential to the community. Kvcn in their cruder forms they may be useful instruments; and they may be transformed into motives of direct service. Our immediate concern, however, is to point to their development as a product of the unwise use of authority, and to show how they invalidate judgment. The person who has been diverted from the normal path as regards his attitude to authority is likely to fall short of the full attainment of self-realization and social efficiency. His judgments and his actions cannot be accepted at their surface value: too much allowance has to be made for emotional bias. Suggestion may be used to enforce very admirable opinions; but the person who has acquired them by this process holds them in a precarious and unsatisfactory way. Judgments that are made in virtue of the heresy tendency are equally the product of a second-rate mental mechanism.

It is probable that no one can read an account of the two types without feeling a slight bias towards one or the other: a faint suspicion that the writer has been a little hard on one type, or has let one down rather lightly; a passing reflection that at least it is better that a child should be over-sensitive to national tradition than that he should be indifferent or hostile towards it; or perhaps a slight emotional reaction to the idea of Prometheus. In so far as this is true, our own judgment is likely to be at fault.

We have been considering the effect upon the child of his experience of authority. It leads to the consideration of unconscious motives in adult life, and we find ourselves asking, not only what opinions a person holds, but also why he holds them. The same method must be applied in considering education from the point of view of the teacher. What methods do we believe in; and why do we believe in them? In so far as wc are biased towards heresy, we shall always be attracted by the new method, especially when it is most strongly opposed to the old (unless we are working under an authority so progressive that it becomes necessary to develop a heresy of reaction). It would appear a very simple matter to detect this or the opposite tendency; but it is to be remembered that what appears from without as bias, prejudice and bigotry, appears from within as rational and wellfounded conviction. If it is a simple matter of good will and intention, how shall one account for the failures of education : the children who grow up with a permanent inability for an unbiased attitude towards authority? The keepers of the gate of authority need the clearest insight into their own motives if they are to discharge their duty fairly. The teacher's own experience of authority may be the source of his strongest bias; but there are many others. The snare of patronage is always a danger to the grown-up. We enjoy being in a position to patronize the young, and in so doing believe that we are adopting the true parental attitude towards them. That this is the attitude of many parents is only too obvious; but it is the negation of the true parental outlook, because it refuses the child the essential condition of growth, namely freedom. The snare of jealousy is no less real a danger — that jealousy of the old towards the young which is seen in every gregarious species. The old wolf has enjoyed the mastery of the pack, but when he begins to feel his teeth getting loose he realizes that his days of mastery, and therefore of life, are numbered; and he develops an inordinate desire to crush the rival whom he has hitherto regarded merely as a junior. Such an idea is so far out of keeping with our conception of ourselves as educators that it may seem a remote and unreal danger: that is to say^ it is more likely to be an unconscious than a conscious motive. As such, it may exert an unsuspected influence on conduct.