Human Psychology (Paperback)

Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1919. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... DIRECTIONS FOR PERFORMING THE EXERCISES The practical exercises given at the end of the chapters are intended to train the student in precise, critical observation of mental phenomena. They may be classed as follows: (1) Observation of the student's own experiences; (2) Observation of the behavior of others; (3) Critical examination of experiences; (4) Experiments, requiring exact performance; (5) Miscellaneous. (1) Self-observation. -- It is no easy matter to observe and report one's own experiences accurately. No one can do this successfully without considerable practice. If the problem is to examine the nature of your thought of a house, you are likely to include not merely the essential factors of the thought experience, but various other thoughts and images which the word suggests. Or again, let the problem be to report what you actually saw (perceived) after looking for ten seconds at a certain painting. Unless you have trained yourself in observing and reporting experiences, your report is almost sure to show important omissions, alterations, and actual additions of details. You describe a man in the picture as having his eyes open, when in point of fact the face is in profile or partly hidden so that you saw only one eye. Generally the more common and familiar the type of experience, the more liable we are to observe carelessly. In the exercises which involve observations of your own perceptions, thoughts, emotions, etc., what is wanted is an exact description of the experience in its proper relations -- not what you think it probably was, or must have been. You should caution yourself again and again to observe carefully, and report with precision. Insofar as you fail in either of these objectives the value of the report is diminished. At the same time it s...