The Science of Human Nature: A Psychology for BeginnersPyle, William Henry
Science
The Science of Human Nature: A Psychology for Beginners
Pyle, William Henry
Educational psychology; Psychology
=Medicine.= In the first place, there is a department of medicine which
deals with nervous diseases, such as insanity, double personality,
severe nervous shock, hallucination, etc. This entire aspect of medicine
is wholly psychological. But psychology can be of service to the general
practitioner both in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. A thorough
psychological knowledge of human nature will assist a physician in
diagnosis. Often the best way to find out what ails a patient's body is
through the patient's mind, and the doctor must know how to get the
truth from the patient's mind even in those cases in which the patient
is actually trying to conceal the truth. A profound practical knowledge
of human nature is necessary,--a knowledge which can be obtained only
by long and careful technical study as well as practice and experience.
Psychology can be of service in the treatment of disease. The physician
must understand the peculiar mental characteristics of his patient in
order to know how to deal with him. In some cases, hypnotism is a
valuable aid in treatment, and in many cases, ordinary normal suggestion
can be of considerable service. The state of mind of a sick person has
much to do with his recovery. The physician must know this and must know
how to induce the desired state of mind. Indeed, a patient's trouble is
often imaginary, exists in the mind only; in such cases, the treatment
should be wholly mental, _i.e._ through suggestion. Of course, the best
physicians know these facts and make use of them in their practice, but
preparation for this aspect of their work should be a regular part of
their medical education. They should not be left to learn these facts
from their practice as best they may, any more than they should be
expected to learn their physiology and anatomy in this way.
=Law.= The service of psychology to law can be very great, but owing to
the necessary conservatism of the courts, it will be a long time before
they will make much use of psychological knowledge. Perhaps the greatest
service will be in determining the credibility of evidence. Psychology
can now give the general principles in this matter. Witnesses go on the
stand and swear to all sorts of things as to what they heard and saw and
did, often months and even years previously. The expert clinical
psychologist can tell the court the probability of such evidence being
true. Experiments have shown that there is a large percentage of error
in such evidence. The additional value that comes from the oath has been
measured. The oath increases the liability of truth only a small
percentage.
Experiments have also shown that one's feeling of certainty is no
guarantee of truth. Sometimes the point we feel surest about is the one
farthest from the truth. In fact, feeling sure of a thing is no
guarantee of truth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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