The Journal of Abnormal Psychology and Social Psychology (Volume 16) (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1921. Excerpt: ... ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY VOL. XVI DECEMBER, 1921-MARCH, 1922 NUMBERS 5 and 6 ORIGINAL ARTICLES THE USE AND ABUSE OF INSTINCT IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BY WILLIAM MC DOUGALL HARVARD UNIVERSITY DISCUSSIONS of Instinct in Man have appeared so frequently of late in the journals as well as in books that many readers are, no doubt, tired of the topic and would like to see it strictly barred for ten or twenty years. Yet the discussion must go on until we can arrive at something like a consensus of expert opinion. For no one can deny the importance of the questions at issue. Until the psychologists can achieve such a consensus, the students ofhe social sciences must continue to build on most unstable foundations. Recent years have seen the publication of many books and papers the main theme of which has been the application of the notion of human instincts to the advancement of the various branches of social science. Still more recently these efforts have provoked a violent reaction, and hardly a week passes without the appearance of some article which attacks these attempts, pours scorn or ridicule upon them, and proposes to repudiate completely the notion of Instinct in Man, or at least complains in severe terms of the abuse or excessive use of the notion by the social scientists. In most of these articles my 'Social Psychology' is pointed to as a main source of the trouble. I have no wish to repudiate the responsibility which is thus laid upon me. Since ceasing to be wholly absorbed in the tasks demanded by the war, and especially since coming to this country, I have been gratified to find that my little book has exerted a very considerable influence. The mere fact that the publishers have found it necessary to reprint it rather oftener than once a...