(7) Sir Walter Scott tells the tale of a boy, always at the top of
his class, who, when asked a question, “fumbled with his fingers at a
particular button in the lower part of his waistcoat”; Scott cut the
button off, and the boy came down from his place of leadership (J. G.
Lockhart, Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, i., 1837, 94). What
is the psychology of the incident?
(8) Write a psychological criticism of the following statement:
“Alike in conflict, rivalry, sense of liability to punishment or
vengeance, etc., the truth is continually being borne in upon the mind
of an animal that it is a separate individuality; and this though it
be conceded that the animal is never able, even in the most shadowy
manner, to think about itself as such. In this way there arises a sort
of ‘outward self-consciousness,’ which differs from true or inward
self-consciousness only in the absence of any attention being directed
upon the inward mental states as such” (G. J. Romanes, Mental Evolution
in Man, 1888, 198 f.).
(9) Among the facts which have led to the hypothesis of a subconscious
are (_a_) the existence of blind strivings, organic tendencies,
etc., for which no conscious antecedent can be discovered; (_b_) the
mechanisation of complicated movements, such as piano-playing; (_c_)
the appearance in ‘memory’ of ideas which seem to have cropped up of
themselves, _i.e._, have no assignable physical or mental condition;
(_d_) the phenomena of secondary personality (Dictionary of Philosophy
and Psychology, ii., 1902, 606). How does the hypothesis help in such
cases? and how does the psychology of this book take account of the
facts?
(10) Consider any case of remedial suggestion, of what is popularly
called faith-cure, that you happen to know at first-hand. Show how the
hypothesis of subconscious agency might naturally occur to one who
tries to ‘explain’ the facts, and show how science might deal with them
apart from that hypothesis.
(11) (_a_) Satisfy yourself, by the collection of phrases, that
the words ‘conscious,’ ‘subconscious,’ ‘unconscious,’ are used in
very various meanings. (_b_) What does the word ‘conscious’ mean by
derivation? How did it originate?
(12) The complaint is often made that scientific men do not popularise
their results. What do you take to be the great stumbling-block in the
way of popularisation?
References
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