Some years ago I had a need for an attorney
to perform for me a petty service. Just
at that critical moment I met a friend who was
a lawyer. I employed him forthwith. At a
later time I needed a lawyer again, recalled my
<p 294>
former experience, and called up the same
attorney. This employing him the second
time was clearly a practical judgment. If I
have frequent need for an attorney, I shall
probably make use of my preformed practical
judgment and employ this same attorney.
This act will never become a habit, but it will
approximate more and more a habitual action,
and will seem to be performed intuitively, and
will be an illustration of an expert judgment.
This morning I was asked to find a cook and
man of general utility for an outing camp. I
had no preformed practical judgment which I
could apply to the case and did not even possess
a remembrance of any experience upon
which I might base a practical experience. In
such a case therefore I am not only not an
expert but I do not possess the necessary preliminary
experiences for developing such ability.
During the last decade I have given much
thought to this question: Does the efficiency
of one's thinking depend at all upon the clearness
and distinctness of the mental image used
<p 295>
in the thinking? I settled the question in the
negative. The formation of this principle
(clear thinking does not depend upon clear
visual image) was an act of reflective judgment.
But now the application of this preformed
judgment has developed into an expert judgment.
Recently I was given the manuscript
of a course in psychology and asked to appraise
it. One of the chief points of the author was
to advise all business men to develop clear
visual images. In fact he asserted that clearness
of thinking was in proportion to clearness
of the visual image with which the thinking is
carried on. Without again weighing the evidence
for my principle, I applied my preformed
judgment and by means of this expert judgment
condemned the course.
A man is expert only in those fields in which
he has developed the appropriate habits, the
necessary, practical, and reflective judgments,
and has had some practice in applying these
judgments.
We find that four classes of experiences are
valuable, _i.e_. such experiences as result in the
<p 296>
formation of habits; such as result in practical
judgments, in reflective judgments, and in
expert judgments. Our final task is to consider
methods for increasing the probabilities
that such experiences may be secured and
utilized.
SECURING AND UTILIZING THESE MOST
VALUABLE EXPERIENCES
The conditions best adapted for procuring
and utilizing one class of these most valuable
experiences may not be the best for the other
three classes. Our final problem must therefore
be subdivided into four parts corresponding
to the four classes of valuable experience.
_Special Conditions Favorable to Habit Formation_
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