General psychology

Front matter

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Preface

As an experiment, the authors of General Psychology for Professional Students decided to use that text for one year in their regular college courses in general psychology, with the result that they have been using it ever since. They discovered that the very features of that book which fitted it to the needs of professional students — namely, its emphasis on practical applications of the principles of psychology and its avoidance of protracted discussions of theory — appealed to other stu¬ dents as well.

This new edition of their earlier work contains numerous changes suggested by their classroom experience with it, and other changes suggested by the advance in psychological knowledge during the past few years. Certain sections of the original book have been expanded; others have been elimi¬ nated ; new material has been added at various points; and the order of presentation of a few topics has been changed. In its new form the book both retains its usefulness for professional students and meets more exactly the requirements of other stu¬ dents in elementary courses in general psychology.

A. R. GILLILAND J. J. B. MORGAN S. N. STEVENS

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Table Of Contents

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Preface . iii

CHAPTER

Chapter I

I. Historical Background of Modern Psychology

Scientific research has a long and interesting history. Its roots go deeply into the past and its origins are to be found in the earliest strivings of men to understand the nature of the world in which they lived and to acquire some control over the forces of nature. It is only natural that man should have re¬ flected concerning his own inner nature as well as meditated upon the nature of things which he experienced outside his own being. As man’s convictions concerning himself and his fellows crystallized into somewhat definite systems of thought, psychology as a subject matter came into being.

It has been said that psychology is one of the youngest of the sciences. This is true. However, as a subject matter about which men have thought and written, it is very old. A science is distinguished from a subject matter largely in terms of the methods by which facts are derived and laws established. It was not until the middle of the nineteenth century that men began to study the behavior and experience of human beings in an experimental fashion, under controlled laboratory con¬ ditions. This is why we say that psychology as a science is young. However, like every other science, the origins of psy¬ chology are to be found in the reflective processes of even the earliest human beings who, in so far as they possessed the abil¬ ity to do so, generalized on the basis of inductive reasoning concerning the cause-effect relationship in the world of their experience.

cause and effect, while the mind, having an existence of its own, was independently subject to its own causation. Psychi¬ cal cause and effect ruled the realm of the mind, while physical cause and effect dominated the body processes.

Closely related to Descartes was a group of French and English physiologists who discovered much about the structure and functions of the human body. One of the outstanding dis¬ coveries of this period was the fact that the blood flows from the heart through the arteries and capillaries and then back to the heart by way of the veins. It was William Harvey, an English physiologist, who made this important discovery in 1628. Other physiologists investigated the structure of the sense organs, nerves, muscles, and glands. Upon the basis of their findings much of our present knowledge of anatomy, medi¬ cine, and psychology is founded.

Modern Psychology. Although modern psychology draws much from the earlier sources about which we have spoken, the great impetus which has led psychology to the place it now holds among the sciences began about the middle of the nine¬ teenth century. Several men, such as Helmholtz, Weber, and Fechner, made important contributions, but to Wilhelm Wundt, a student of Helmholtz, the principal credit belongs. In 1879 Wundt established the first psychological laboratory at the Uni¬ versity of Leipzig. He made many important contributions to psychological knowledge. Many men who later became the leaders in the development of psychology as a science, both in Europe and the United States, were attracted to Leipzig by Wundt’s work and received from him the inspiration and guid¬ ance which later bore such satisfactory results.

William James, who later became a professor of psychology at Harvard, was one of these students of Wundt. In the last dec¬ ade of the nineteenth century James published his monumental work known as The Principles of Psychology , in two volumes. This summary of psychological principles has become a classic in the literature, and James himself, because of his great influ¬ ence and insight, has become known as the father of American psychology.

Edward Bradford Titchener also studied under Wundt. Al¬ though an Englishman by birth, he spent the productive years of his life in the United States. At Cornell University he es¬ tablished one of the great psychological laboratories in this country. By means of an experimental technique known as in¬ trospection, Titchener and his students attempted to analyze complex mental states into the simpler mental elements of which they were composed. He attempted to study the structure of mental life.

In many respects directly in contrast with the point of view of the introspectionists is that of the objectivists or behaviorists as they are more often called. While later in development than the other, this point of view has had a profound influence upon psychological thought in America. It emphasizes the impor¬ tance of behavior as the subject of study and minimizes or denies the importance of consciousness as a subject for study in psychology. This point of view was first systematized and popularized by John B. Watson.

Other men who were stimulated by the example of Wundt attempted to explore new fields and establish new points of view in psychology. James McKeen Cattell became interested in the problems of individual differences and pioneered in the development of the field of mental tests. E. L. Thorndike of Teachers College, Columbia University, also has made impor¬ tant contributions to the psychology of individual differences, through the study of animal behavior and through the develop¬ ment of tests and measures of human variability. Equally prominent is Lewis M. Terman, professor of psychology at Leland Stanford University, whose revision of the Stanford- Binet intelligence test is one of the most widely used instru¬ ments in the measurement of mental ability.

Another important development occurred in the early twen¬ tieth century, which has become known as industrial psychol¬ ogy. Some investigators became interested in the possibilities of applying psychological technique to the solution of problems in business and industry. One of the earliest American investi¬ gators in this field was Hugo Miinsterberg, who, while he was professor of psychology at Harvard, studied the problem of the selection and training of street-car motormen. Walter Dill Scott of Northwestern University pioneered in the application of psychological principles to advertising and selling. The field of industrial psychology has greatly expanded and its techniques have been improved by numerous investigators both in this country and in Germany.

Finally, the science of psychology owes much to those men who have aided in the development of statistical techniques by means of which the complicated data derived from psychologi¬ cal experimentation are arranged, classified, and interpreted. Among the many men who have made outstanding contribu¬ tions to this phase of the science are Truman Lee Kelly of Harvard University and L. L. Thurstone of the University of Chicago.

The literature in the field of psychology is rich and varied. A number of journals exist which contain source material of both an experimental and a theoretical character. The Ameri¬ can Journal of Psychology, one of the oldest professional jour¬ nals in this field, was founded in 1887. G. Stanley Hall was its first editor. The Psychological Review was founded in 1894, and was edited by J. Mark Baldwin. These journals con¬ tain experimental and critical material. Typical of develop¬ ments in several fields are the following journals of more recent origin: Journal of Experimental Psychology, founded in 1916; Journal of Applied Psychology, begun in 1917; and Journal of General Psychology, founded in 1928.

A brief summary of some of the significant methods and points of view in psychology has been presented in the preced¬ ing paragraphs. No attempt has been made to list all the im¬ portant workers who have contributed to our psychological in¬ formation. For the sake of simplicity and brevity the review has emphasized the developments in America and has given relatively less attention to contemporary investigations in Eu¬ rope and other parts of the world. This meager account of the beginnings of modern psychology will be elaborated in later sections of the text.

II. Psychology and Life Intimately Related

As civilization advances, man must adjust himself more and more to those around him. He must know more psychology than his forefathers did. In general, the higher order of vo¬ cations requires a wider knowledge of human nature than the lower order. The professional man — the lawyer, the physi¬ cian, the teacher, the executive, the salesman, and the adver¬ tiser— will find psychology especially valuable.

As civilization becomes more complex, the adjustments of any particular individual to the society in which he lives be¬ come more and more dependent upon his understanding of hu¬ man nature. In a primitive environment man is more or less self-sufficient, but in a civilized community his activities be¬ come highly specialized; he does work which contributes to the welfare of others and his very life depends upon the work that others are doing. Each man is a highly specialized part of an intricate organization and he must recognize more and more that his very existence depends upon the degree of success he achieves in fulfilling adequately his part of the program of civilization.

In some of the more humble occupations of life, an under¬ standing of people is not so important as it is in others. One may have a menial, routine task for which he is paid a wage with which he is able to buy the things he needs. He can exist with but few social adjustments and even these few may be very faulty. But as one advances in the occupational scale, especially when one engages in a profession, the interdepend¬ ence of human beings becomes more striking. To-day every professional man feels the need of at least some practical knowledge of psychology. We shall now consider the prin¬ cipal methods by which such a knowledge may be obtained.

Methods for Acquiring a Knowledge of Psychology. A

knowledge of psychology may be gained by several methods, not all of them equally good.

1. From experience . Some professional men believe that a knowledge of psychology must be acquired by a hit-and-miss method through actual contact with people. Advocates of this theory advise young men to enter active professional life and learn by experience how other men think and act. Psychology may be studied in this manner, but it is an extremely costly method. It would be just as reasonable to urge that a child learn to avoid speeding automobiles by being left to run about in a busy section of the city. The majority of children would learn by this method, just as chickens, dogs, and cats learn to avoid being run over, but a great number would be killed in the process. Young men and women entering a professional career should be equipped with a knowledge of human be¬ havior if they are to be successful in their dealings with others.

2. By studying theories. Another group of persons, com¬ posed largely of academic psychologists, states that the only way to learn psychology is to study all the intricate details of psychological theory, avoiding all reference to any practical application of the theory until a thorough theoretical ground¬ work has been laid. Such a procedure too often eliminates all interest in the subject, and many students are repelled, instead of becoming more fascinated, by the subject as they proceed.

Certainly no subject of study is more fascinating than that of human nature, and surely scientific approach to a subject is not in the least incompatible with interest.

3. By emphasis upon the spectacular. Other writers, appeal¬ ing to the spectacular, have produced various combinations of superstition and nonsense under the guise of psychology. In such books one can find fables, folklore, fairy tales, politics, and religion. All of these types of literature have value, but why call them psychology?

4. By interest of application combined with scientific accu¬ racy. The authors of this book believe that, without detracting from the scientific accuracy of the facts, on the one hand, or without making unwarranted generalizations, on the other, sound psychological theory can be presented in such a manner that the professional student can see how it may be utilized in his particular field. Let us illustrate from another field the principle we have in mind. One of the authors, some years ago, was studying physics in a high school. In the laboratory he constructed a microphone by placing in loose contact two pieces of carbon. When the microphone was placed in an electrical circuit, any vibration changed the resistance between the carbon contacts so that this change could be observed on a voltmeter or detected in a telephone receiver. Neither the instructor nor the textbook mentioned the application of this principle. Some years later, the author discovered that all telephone transmitters are microphones. It would not have detracted from the scientific accuracy of this laboratory ex¬ periment or decreased the students’ interest in it if the prac¬ tical applications had been explained.

This is the principle which the authors of this book plan to follow throughout. They will adhere rigidly to scientific ac¬ curacy in their presentation, but will attempt to indicate, wherever possible, how the principles apply to conduct in one’s professional contacts.

Value of Psychology for Specific Professions. Too often the young professional student finds his time so occupied with acquiring the materials directly essential to his profession that he has no time for the study of psychology. It is only when he gets into actual work that he becomes keenly aware of the need for this knowledge. Then his frantic search for some material that will help him to understand people yields but a scanty and superficial grasp of psychological principles. It would be more to his advantage to get the groundwork of psychology early in his training so that a knowledge of human behavior would be¬ come definitely related to his professional training. A survey of some of the situations in different professions where psy¬ chology is directly applicable will make this fact clearly apparent.

1. The lawyer needs psychology. Laws are formulated in a direct attempt to regulate the behavior of men in social situa¬ tions. If the laws are formulated to fit human needs, they will be obeyed by normal persons and will stand the test of time. Those which go counter to psychological principles tend toward eventual failure, as the history of law has amply demonstrated. In the application of laws, knowledge of human behavior is even more essential. This is especially true in the field of criminology. To cope with crime, it is not enough to ascertain that a crime was committed; we must know something of the psychology of the criminal; we must learn why he committed the crime and discern the motivation behind the act. If a man steals a pocketbook, it may be more important to know why he did it than to know how much money was in the pocketbook. Only in this way can we arrive at a judgment of the enormity of the offense. The old conception of punishment as a means of revenge is giving way to the new conception of punishment as a means of stopping criminality.

2. The physician needs psychology. Mental health and physical health go hand in hand, as every practitioner of mediii cine knows. The offices of medical men are crowded with per¬ sons whose bodies are perfect but whose minds are sick. The old method of dismissing such patients with a shrug and the assurance that there is nothing wrong with them, that “ it is all in their imaginations,” is giving way to an adequate under¬ standing by every practitioner of the nature of imaginary ills. Even when there is a genuine physical disease, the mental life of the patient has a direct influence on the course of that dis¬ order. Digestive disturbances may be precipitated by emo¬ tional crises. A depression may so lower the bodily tone of a person that he becomes susceptible to the ravages of disease in a way that would not be possible were he happy. The develop¬ ment of occupational therapy, whereby patients are kept busy and contented, is an acknowledgment on the part of the medical profession that contentment is a healing agent. A practitioner who knows enough of human behavior to try to convince his patient that he is doing something for him is sure to be more successful than the one who gruffly dispenses drugs without considering that he is dealing with a human being. A medical student is much better prepared for his profession by having a knowledge of psychology.

3. Education is applied psychology. The modern educator recognizes that his profession is essentially an application of psychology. We no longer arrange the subject matter of a study without a consideration of the learning process. The educator needs to be very familiar with the laws of learning. He must guide his student so that the material learned will be¬ come a part of the student’s life and will so stimulate him that after he leaves the educational institution he will continue to use not only the material, but also the methods, he was taught in school. Education has come to be focussed upon the learner rather than upon the material to be learned. The result has been a continual raising of academic standards, as is evidenced by the fact that we are now teaching high-school pupils many subjects which some years ago were restricted to courses of college grade.

4. Psychology is valuable in industry. Modern industry is replete with psychological applications. Along with the de¬ velopment of mass production and mechanical manufacturing devices goes the complex problem of training men to guide the machinery of production. Under the old regime a disgruntled laborer whose work was of the wholly unskilled type might have little direct influence upon the total efficiency of a manufac¬ turing establishment, but a careless or a sullen worker to-day can upset a whole establishment. Great stress is now placed on employee-employer relationships.

Another consequence of modern industrial organization is the distance between employer and employee. Under the old method of household production there was a close relationship between employer and employee, the employer usually work¬ ing along with his helpers. In the modern large industry there is practically no chance for any such acquaintanceship. There¬ fore the problems of hiring, placement, promotion, and dis¬ charging must be handled by others instead of by the employer himself. These are all problems of personal relations, and hence are largely psychological.

5. Selling is a problem in psychology. Most buying and selling is dependent upon the personal relationship of the sales¬ man to the prospective purchaser. The shrewd salesman care¬ fully analyzes the methods of selling. He finds that his suc¬ cess depends primarily upon three things: (1) his knowledge of the product to be sold, (2) his knowledge and control of himself as the person who is to modify the conduct of the cus¬ tomer, and (3) his knowledge of the mental processes of the customer and the steps by which the latter arrives at a de¬ cision to buy or not to buy.

The buyer, to be shrewd, should also know the laws of psy¬ chology. He should know how to interpret the behavior of the salesman and be able to analyze the influences the salesman is bringing to bear. Is he being influenced by the personal charm of the salesman, by a play upon his emotional attitudes, by em¬ phasis upon some silly detail about the product, by. fallacious arguments which have the appearance of rationality, or is he be¬ ing made familiar with a product and learning how this product will minister to his wants?

6. Psychology is used in advertising. A knowledge of hu¬ man nature is especially important in advertising. Advertisers are not content to know that a certain advertisement has pro¬ duced results; they want to know the reason for its success so that they may utilize the knowledge in forthcoming advertising campaigns. The business man probably knows as keenly as anybody the cash value of a knowledge of human psychology.

III. Necessary Assumptions

The reader is asked to accept tentatively, as a working foundation, the truth of four statements. These are: (1) Human conduct operates according to definite laws. (2) Ad¬ herence to rigid scientific procedure will enable us to discover these laws. (3) The operation of these laws in life will prob¬ ably be very complex. (4) Great individual differences will be found in all phases of human life.

An open-minded attitude on the part of the student pre¬ cludes the possibility of opinions becoming fixed before he has had an opportunity to test them. But he will find it advisable to begin with a very few tentative hypotheses which he agrees to accept as true, at least until facts have demonstrated that they are false. These hypotheses are so fundamental that it would be useless to proceed unless we assumed their truth. Al¬ though they could be proved, they are so obvious that they are axiomatic. If we accept them, they will serve as a good founda¬ tion upon which to build a psychological superstructure.

Human Conduct Is Orderly. The first principle which we need to accept is that human conduct is orderly. If there were no laws of human conduct, we could expect only endless con¬ fusion. For centuries it was believed that each individual was a law unto himself, that each man could do just as he pleased, and that any attempt to predict human conduct was totally futile. To-day it is generally accepted that mental life does follow laws, and the study of psychology includes an attempt to formulate these laws scientifically.

Mental Life Is Subject to Scientific Study. Laws in branches of knowledge other than psychology have been dis¬ covered by following a definite method which has come to be known as the scientific method. If we are to define the laws of mental life, the same method must be used. While we may be convinced in our own thinking that a certain principle is sound, we should refrain from assuming the correctness of such a principle unless it can be demonstrated by scientific method. Science does not deny things which it has not proved; it simply maintains an attitude of skepticism until such a demonstration is forthcoming. The elements of such scientific procedure we shall outline presently.

Mental Life Is Complex. To state that mental life is or¬ derly does not imply that it is simple. In fact it is so complex that it is baffling at many points and, even though we may dis¬ cover laws which operate, we must bear in mind that probably no single act is determined by a single cause, but by a complex group of causes. This fact makes it quite unlikely that we shall ever come to such a complete understanding of all the laws of mental life that we can predict exactly what will happen in the life of any single individual. But as we come to a more precise appreciation of the major laws of human conduct, we shall be able to predict with some degree of assurance that behavior will fall within a certain range. For example, psy¬ chologists have found that if a person lifts two blocks of equal weight which are apparently made of the same material but one of which is much larger than the other, the smaller one will be judged to be heavier than the larger one. Thus, we have a high degree of expectancy that a person lifting these two weights will tell us that the smaller one is heavier. But we may encounter a stubborn person who says that the larger one is heavier, or another person who knows about the illusion and states that they both weigh the same, or still another person who may be suspicious and refuse to answer at all. Hence, we cannot be absolutely certain what the reply will be unless we know all the factors operative in the response of a particular individual. But such a condition does not vitiate the principle that laws are operative; it is merely an acknowledgment of the complexity of life.

Individuals Differ. In what is ordinarily called general psychology, the aim is to discover principles of conduct which may be expected to operate with a fair degree of uniformity in all individuals. The knowledge of such laws helps us in our prediction of what individuals will do under various conditions. The more accurately such laws can be stated, the more valuable our psychology becomes. For example, we know that a person cannot perceive and remember readily more than about seven digits. If we had automobile license numbers of greater length, such as 8374928384, they would be useless. Such a number could not be used for identification unless one had time to copy it. Even such a number as 837492 is hard to grasp. Another principle helps here. If numbers are grouped, they are per¬ ceived more readily and remembered better. Consequently, if we group the number by using a hyphen, as 837-492, we have made it a symbol which becomes much more serviceable. Such general principles are most valuable.

However, a fact which must be considered is that individuals differ so widely in their mental constitutions that the laws which we discover will operate in different combinations in different i6 persons. Although this makes our problem more difficult, at the same time it furnishes one of the great fascinations of human psychology. After we have learned all we can, we must reinterpret our laws in the light of every new situation we en¬ counter. There is a tendency, after we have observed one person, to assume that another person who resembles him in one respect must also resemble him in other respects. Such an assumption will lead only to confusion. All laws need specific interpretations in concrete situations, but this is especially true in psychology.

The four assumptions discussed in this section are the guid¬ ing principles behind modern psychology. By remembering them, we may keep the aim of psychological study before us without running into the danger of making unwarranted assumptions from too few data.

IV. Psychology a Branch of Science

Every branch of science must conform to the methods of in¬ vestigation which science has found to be valid. In addition each branch must develop specific procedures, called tech¬ niques, which it alone uses. These techniques cannot violate the general principles of scientific procedure; they are merely elaborations of it. In this section we shall outline the gen¬ eral principles of scientific method, and then indicate the specific techniques which psychology uses.

Since the beginning of history men have tried to discover the laws which control the universe. Some men have guessed at them, some have stumbled upon them; but much of the knowl¬ edge we possess has come from rigid investigations. Of the theories that developed from the work, study, guesses, and good fortune of our forefathers only those have stood the test of time which can be verified by those rigid procedures which we call scientific method. What is meant by the scientific method?

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Essential Steps in Scientific Procedure. Psychology, the youngest of the sciences, should be just as rigid in conforming to the rules of scientific method as any of the older sciences. While each of the following steps is essential to scientific pro¬ cedure, we should bear in mind that not in every investigation are the steps adhered to in the exact sequence in which they are here stated; but the logical outline presented will serve to get the method of science clearly before us.

1. Awareness that a problem exists. Before there can be any scientific work, there must be at least a vague realization that there is a problem to be solved. In some instances it may be merely a dissatisfaction with things as they exist; in others there may be an acute problem calling for solution. For ex¬ ample, if people are dying because of the epidemic of an un¬ known disease, everyone is aware that physicians are con¬ fronted with a problem for scientific investigation. If sales are falling off, the business executive is confronted with a problem for study. In short, dissatisfaction with things as they exist, or as they are explained, is the stimulus for scientific study. To such dissatisfaction one might react by fear, as our superstitious forefathers did; by worry, as one may when the solution looks hopeless; by resignation, as the martyr does; or by some other attitude. The only sane method of meeting a difficulty is to attempt to discover the laws behind the situation. This at¬ tempt will lead directly to the succeeding steps in scientific procedure.

2. The accumulation of data. All scientific investigations involve the collection of data bearing on the question in hand. Great care must be exercised to insure accurate data. For this purpose instruments of precision are used wherever it is pos¬ sible to do so. We measure, weigh, count, and otherwise aug¬ ment crude observation. The scientist is not content with the statement that a loud sound was produced; he employs instru¬ ments of precision in order that sounds of the same intensity, l8 GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY