Psychology : $b A study of mental life — John Shaqi
Psychology : $b A study of mental lifeWoodworth, Robert Sessions
Science
Psychology : $b A study of mental life
Woodworth, Robert Sessions
Psychology
None of these formulas is wholly satisfactory. Psychology does not
like to call itself the science of the soul, for that has a
theological tang and suggests problems that have so far not seemed
accessible to scientific investigation. Psychology does not like very
well to call itself the science {2} of the mind, as _the_ mind seems to
imply some thing or machine, and there is no such thing to be observed
(unless it be the brain and body generally), and, anyway, psychology
is distinctly a study of actions rather than of things. Psychology
does not like to limit itself to the study of consciousness, but finds
it necessary to study also unconscious actions. As to "behavior", it
would be a very suitable term, if only it had not become so closely
identified with the "behavioristic movement" in psychology, which
urges that consciousness should be entirely left out of psychology, or
at least disregarded. "Behavior psychology", as the term would be
understood to-day, means a part of the subject and not the whole.
[Footnote: A series of waggish critics has evolved the following:
"First psychology lost its soul, then it lost its mind, then it lost
consciousness; it still has behavior, of a kind."]
The best way of getting a true picture of psychology, and of reaching
an adequate definition of its subject-matter, would be to inspect the
actual work of psychologists, so as to see what kind of knowledge they
are seeking. Such a survey would reveal quite a variety of problems
under process of investigation, some of them practical problems,
others not directly practical.
Varieties of Psychology
Differential psychology.
One line of question that always interests the beginner in psychology
is as to how people differ--how different people act under the same
circumstances--and why; and if we watch the professional
psychologist, we often find him working at just this problem. He tests
a great number of individuals to see how they differ, and tries to
discover on what factors their differences depend, how far on
heredity, how far on environment. The "psychologist" in such a place
as the children's court {3} is a specialist whose duty it is to test
the delinquent children that are brought before the court, with the
special object of measuring the intelligence of each individual child
and of helping in other ways to understand the child's peculiar
conduct and attitude.
The "psychological examiner" in the Army, during the Great War, had the
same general object in view. It was desirable to measure the
intelligence of each recruit as he entered the service, since military
experience had shown that men of low intelligence made poor soldiers,
while those of high intelligence made the best officers and
non-commissioned officers, provided they also possessed good physique
and certain less measureable mental qualifications, such as courage
and leadership.
Applied psychology.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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