The Project Gutenberg eBook ofPsychology

The Project Gutenberg eBook ofPsychologyThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.Title: PsychologyA study of mental lifeAuthor: Robert Sessions WoodworthRelease date: February 25, 2010 [eBook #31382]Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Don Kostuch*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PSYCHOLOGY ***

This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.

Title: PsychologyA study of mental lifeAuthor: Robert Sessions WoodworthRelease date: February 25, 2010 [eBook #31382]Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Don Kostuch

Title: Psychology

A study of mental life

Author: Robert Sessions Woodworth

Author: Robert Sessions Woodworth

Release date: February 25, 2010 [eBook #31382]

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Don Kostuch

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PSYCHOLOGY ***

[Transcriber's notes]

This text is derived from an unedited version in the Internet Archive.Page numbers are indicated by numbers enclosed in curly braces, e.g. {99}. They have been located where page breaks occurred in the original book.Labels and text in a figure that are not mentioned in the figure description are included as a comma separated list, as in "(Figure text: cochlea, vestibule, 3 Canals)".Lengthy footnotes and quotations are indented.Obvious misspellings and typos are corrected but inconsistent spelling is not resolved, as in coordinate and coördinate.Here are the appearances of the heading levels.

Here are the definitions of some unfamiliar words (to me).amour propre: self-esteem; self-respect.esprit de corps: camaraderie, bonding, solidarity, fellowship.motility (motile): moving or capable of moving spontaneously.unwonted: unusual.

[End Transcribers's notes]

BYROBERT S. WOODWORTH, Ph. D.Professor of Psychology in Columbia UniversityNEW YORKHENRY HOLT AND COMPANY1921COPYRIGHT, 1921BYHENRY HOLT AND COMPANYPrinted in the U.S.A.

A few words to the reader are in order. In the first place, something like an apology is due for the free way in which the author has drawn upon the original work of many fellow-psychologists, without any mention of their names. This is practically unavoidable in a book intended for the beginner, but the reader may well be informed of the fact, and cautioned not to credit the content of the book to the writer of it. The author's task has been that of selecting from the large mass of psychological information now available, much of it new, whatever seemed most suitable for introducing the subject to the reader. The book aims to represent the present state of a very active science.

Should the book appear unduly long in prospect, the longest and most detailed chapter, that on Sensation, might perfectly well be omitted, on the first reading, without appreciably disturbing the continuity of the rest.

On the other hand should any reader desire to make this text the basis of a more extensive course of reading, the lists of references appended to the several chapters will prove of service. The books and articles there cited will be found interesting and not too technical in style.

Much advantage can be derived from the use of the "Exercises". The text, at the best, but provides raw material. Each student's finished product must be of his own making. The exercises afford opportunity for the student to work over the material and make it his own.

A first or preliminary edition of this book, in mimeographed sheets, was in use for two years in introductory classes conducted by the author and his colleagues, and was subjected to exceedingly helpful criticism from both teachers and students. The revision of that earlier edition into the present form has been very much of a coöperative enterprise, and so many have coöperated that room could scarcely be found for all their names. Professor A. T. Poffenberger, Dr. Clara F. Chassell, Dr. Georgina I. Gates, Mr. Gardner Murphy, Mr. Harold E. Jones and Mr. Paul S. Achilles have given me the advantage of their class-room experience with the mimeographed book. Dr. Christine Ladd-Franklin has very carefully gone over with me the passages dealing with color vision and with reasoning. Miss Elizabeth T. Sullivan, Miss Anna B. Copeland, Miss Helen Harper and Dr. A. H. Martin have been of great assistance in the final stages of the work. Important suggestions have come also from several other universities, where the mimeographed book was inspected.

R. S. W.Columbia UniversityAugust, 1921

Varieties of Psychology

Psychology as Related to Other Sciences

The Science of Consciousness

The Science of Behavior

Introspection

Objective Observation

General Lines of

Psychological Investigation

Summary and Attempt at a Definition

Exercises

References

The Reaction Time Experiment

Reflex Action

The Nerves in Reflex Action

Internal Construction of the Nerves and Nerve Centers

The Synapse

Coördination

Reactions in General

Exercises

References

Different Sorts of Stimuli

The Motor Centers, Lower and Higher

How the Brain Produces Muscular Movements

Facilitation and Inhibition

Super-motor Centers in the Cortex

Speech Centers

The Auditory Centers

The Visual Centers

Cortical Centers for the Other Senses

Lower Sensory Centers

The Cerebellum

Different Levels of Reaction

Exercises

References

Purposive Behavior

Organic States that Influence Behavior

Preparation for Action

Preparatory Reactions

What the Preparatory Reactions Accomplish

What a Tendency Is, in Terms of Nerve Action

Motives

Exercises

References

The Source of Native Traits

Reactions Appearing at Birth Must Be Native

Reactions That Cannot Be Learned Must Be Native

Experimental Detection of Native Reactions

Is Walking Native or Acquired?

Universality as a Criterion of Native Reactions

Some Native Traits Are Far from Being Universal

Why Acquired Traits Differ from One Individual to Another

What Mental Traits Are Native?

Exercises

References

The Difference Between an Instinct and a Reflex

An Instinct Is a Native Reaction-Tendency

Fully and Partially Organized Instincts

Instincts Are Not Ancestral Habits

Instincts Not Necessarily Useful in the Struggle for Existence

The So-called Instincts of Self-preservation and of Reproduction

Exercises

References

Organic States That Are Not Usually Classed as Emotions

How These Organic States Differ from Regular Emotions

The Organic State in Anger

Glandular Responses During Emotion

The Nerves Concerned in Internal Emotional Response

The Emotional State as a Preparatory Reaction

"Expressive Movements," Another Sort of Preparatory Reactions

Do Sensations of These Various Preparatory Reactions Constitute the Conscious State of Emotion?

The James-Lange Theory of the Emotions

Emotion and Impulse

Emotion Sometimes Generates Impulse

Emotion and Instinct

The Higher Emotions

Exercises

References

Classification

Responses to Organic Needs

Instinctive Responses to Other Persons

The Play Instincts

Exercises

References

Pleasantness and Unpleasantness Are Simple Feelings

Felling-tone of Sensations

Theories of Feeling

Sources of Pleasantness and Unpleasantness

Primary Likes and Dislikes

Other Proposed Elementary Feelings

Exercises

References

The Sense Organs

Analysis of Sensations

The Skin Senses

The Sense of Taste

The Sense of Smell

Organic Sensations

The Sense of Sight

Simpler Forms of the Color Sense

Visual Sensations as Related to the Stimulus

Color Mixing

What Are the Elementary Visual Sensations?

Theories of Color Vision

Adaptation

Rod and Cone Vision

After-images

Contrast

The Sense of Hearing

Comparison of Sight and Hearing

Theory of Hearing

Senses of Bodily Movement

Exercises

References

The Stimulus, or What Attracts Attention

The Motor Reaction in Attention

The Shifting of Attention

Laws of Attention and Laws of Reaction in General

Sustained Attention

Distraction

Doing Two Things at Once

The Span of Attention

Summary of the Laws of Attention

Attention and Degree of Consciousness

The Management of Attention

Theory of Attention

Exercises

References

Intelligence Tests

Performance Tests

Group Testing

Some Results of the Intelligence Tests

Limitations of the Intelligence Tests

The Correlation of Abilities

General Factors in Intelligence

Special Aptitudes

Heredity of Intelligence and of Special Aptitudes

Intelligence and the Brain

Exercises

References

Acquired Reactions Are Modified Native Reactions

Acquired Tendencies

Animal Learning

Summary of Animal Learning

Human Learning

Human Compared with Animal Learning

Learning by Observation

The Learning of Complex Practical Performances

Higher Units and Overlapping

Moderate Skill Acquired in the Ordinary Day's Work

Habit

Exercises

References

The Process of Memorizing

Economy in Memorizing

Unintentional Learning

Retention

Recall

Recognition

Memory Training

Exercises

References

What Can Be Recalled

Memory Images

Limitations of Imagery

The Question of Non-Sensory Recall

Hallucinations

Free Association

Controlled Association

Examples of Controlled Association

Exercises

References

The Law of Exercise

The Law of Effect

Limitations of the Law of Exercise

Association by Similarity

Association by Contiguity

The Law of Combination

The Law of Combination in Recall

The Laws of Learning in Terms of the Neurones

Exercises

References

Some Definitions

The Difference Between Perception and Sensation

Perception and Image

Perception and Motor Reaction

What Sort of Response, Then, Is Perception?

Practiced Perception

Corrected Perception

Sensory Data Serving as Signs of Various Sorts of Fact

The Perception of Space

Esthetic Perception

Social Perception

Errors of Perception

Illusions

Exercises

References

Animal and Human Exploration

Reasoning Culminates in Inference

Varieties of Reasoning

Deductive and Inductive Reasoning

Psychology and Logic

Exercises

References

Beginnings of Imagination in the Child

Preliminary Definition of Imagination

Play

The Play Motives

Empathy

Worry

Day Dreams

Dreams

Freud's Theory of Dreams

Autistic Thinking

Invention and Criticism

The Enjoyment of Imaginative Art

The Psychology of Inventive Production

Imagination Considered in General

Exercises

References

Voluntary and Involuntary Action

Development of Voluntary Control

Ideomotor Action

Conflict and Decision

Obstruction and Effort

Thought and Action

Securing Action

The Influence of Suggestion

Exercises

References

Factors in Personality

The Self

Integration and Disintegration of the Personality

The Unconscious, or, the Subconscious Mind

Unconscious Wishes and Motives

Exercises

References


Back to IndexNext