Set up and electrotyped. Published July, 1896. Reprinted March. November, 1897; September, 1898. Revised and enlarged edition printed October, 1899; October, 1900; October, 1901; January, 1905; March, 1906; April, October, 1907; March, 1908.
Russian translation, 1898. Italian translation, 1902.
Revised edition under new title By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and electrntvped Published June, 1909. Reprinted October, 1909. Enlarged edition print:<1 September, 1910; January, 1911; De- cember. 1911. September. IQ12; March. 1913. June, 1914 July, 1916. February, October, 1916. German translation, 191c , o I LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA . J. SANTA BARBARA TO THE MEMORY OF JOHN SCOTT BURDON SANDERSON PREFACE The present work has been written to take the place of my Outline of Psychology. The Outline, which was stereo- typed in 1896, had long passed beyond the possibility of revision, and the continued demand for it showed that there was still room in the science for a text-book which set experimental methods and experimental results in the forefront of discussion. I should have preferred, however ungratefully, to let the book die its natural death; for I feared that it would be impossible to recover the freshness and vigour of the first writing, and I knew that another issue would lay an oppressive tax upon future time and energy. But colleagues and pupils and publisher were insistent, and I finally decided to rewrite. A first part, containing approximately half of the new work, appeared in 1909. For the benefit of those who have purchased this installment, the second part is now issued in sepa- rate form. Both parts are comprised in the present volume.
It was the intention of author and publisher that, on the completion of the Text-book, the Outline should be with- drawn from the market. They look forward to this with- drawal in the near future; meanwhile, so long as the steady demand for the book is kept up, the last edition of the Outline will be held on sale. — vii viii Preface It is, I think, unnecessary to apologise for the increase in size. If psychology is to be taken seriously, its prob- lems must nowadays be treated in some detail. Besides, the Text-book aims, within its limits and upon the elemen- tary level, at systematic completeness; it is not a digest or redaction of a larger work, to which the student may be referred for further information. I could wish, remem- bering some of the criticism called forth by the Outline, that I had a fully elaborated Systematic Psychology to fall back upon; but I am inclined to believe that, from the student's point of view, a text written expressly for the class-room is more satisfactory than the simplified version of a book written primarily for psychologists.
The Text-book follows, in general, the lines laid down in the Outline. The only point that calls for special men- tion here is, perhaps, the scant space accorded to nervous physiology. Readers of the Introduction, and especially of § 9, will acquit me of any desire to minimise the importance of this subject. But I have always held that the student should get his elementary knowledge of the nervous system, not from the psychologist, but from the physiologist; the teacher of psychology needs all the time at his disposal for his own science. It is true that psy- chology, if it is to be explanatory, must supplement the description of mental processes by a statement of their physiological conditions. But then it is also true, unfortu- nately, that any such statement, in the present condition of our knowledge, must be largely hypothetical. In a comprehensive work, discussion of the various physiologi- cal theories, for instance, of feeling and attention would be altogether in place; to discuss them with beginners strikes me, I confess, as a sheer waste of time. My own Preface ix Preface ix plan is to show, by reference to the theory that appeals to me at the moment as the most plausible, how in principle an explanation is to be worked out. But I am careful to say that the theory itself is simply guess-work, that many other guesses have been made, and that there is a great gulf fixed between established physiological fact and the secondary constructions of physiological psychology.
A special feature of the Outline was the paragraph, entitled " Method," in which I showed how the reader might test for himself the statements made in the Section to which it was appended. Some of the methods thus described had been worked out only in my own laboratory; their technique was crude and their range of application restricted. Now, after fourteen years, the variety and refinement of method are so great that an adequate treat- ment, within text-book limits, is out of the question. Never- theless, it is important that the student be instructed in method. And if I might offer a suggestion to teachers of psychology who propose to use this book in the class- room, it would be that they go behind my discussion, now and again, to the original sources. A topical lecture, that gives a critical account of the plan, method and results of some single investigation, is not less interesting and may sometimes be more valuable than a logically proportioned review of the entire subject-matter of a Section.
My thanks are due to my wife, and to my colleague, Pro- fessor Madison Bentley, for constant advice and assistance during the preparation of the Text-book. I dedicated the third edition of the Outline to the Regius Professor of Medicine in my old university; it was he who, in 1890, suggested the writing of the book. Sir John Burdon x Preface Sanderson has now laid down a life full of years and honours. I owe him — as who of his pupils does not? — ■ a heavy debt of gratitude; and I dedicate the Text-book to his memory.
Cornell Heights, Ithaca, N.Y., CONTENTS SUBJECT-MATTER, METHOD AND PROBLEM OF PSYCHOLOGY VAGI § I. Science and Experience I § 3. The Common-sense View of Mind 9 § 5. Mental Process, Consciousness and Mind 15 § 6. The Method of Psychology 19 § 7. The Scope of Psychology 25 § 8. The Use of Analogy in Psychology 30 § 9. The Problem of Psychology 36 References for Further Reading 42 Note on the Classification of Psychology 43 SENSATION § 10. The Elementary Mental Processes 46 §11. Elements and Attributes 49 § 12. The Attributes of Sensation 52 § 13. The Classification of Sensations 55 References for Further Reading. 57 The Quality of Sensation: Vision § 14. The Visual Qualities 59 § 15. Visual Stimulus and Visual Sensation.64 § 16. The Dependence of Visual Sensation upon Wave-length and Energy of Light 65 § 17. The Dependence of Visual Sensation upon Composition of Light 67 § 18. The Dependence of Visual Sensation upon the Time and Space Relations of Stimulus • 71 xii Contents PAGE § 19. Daylight and Twilight Vision 78 § 20. Indirect Vision and Colour Blindness 80 § 22. Theories of Vision 87 References for Further Reading...92 Audition § 23. The Auditory Qualities 93 § 24. The Dependence of Auditory Sensation upon Wave-number of § 25. The Dependence of Auditory Sensation upon Composition of § 26. Beats and Intermediate Tones 103 § 28. Theory of Audition 109 References for Further Reading 113 Smell § 29. Sight and Hearing, Taste and Smell 1 14 §30. The Olfactory Qualities 117 §31. Olfactory Sensation and Olfactory Stimulus 119 § 32. The Dependence of Olfactory Sensation upon the Composition and Time-relations of Stimulus 121 § ^ Theory of Smell 125 References for Further Reading 1 28 Taste § 34. The Gustatory Qualities 129 § 35. Gustatory Sensation and Gustatory Stimulus...131 § 36. Mixtures and Adaptations 133 §37. Theory of Taste *38 References for Further Reading *42 Cutaneous Senses § 38. The Skin and its Senses 143 § 39. The Pressure Sense '4^ Contents xiii PAGE § 41. The Pain Sense 152 §42. Theory of the Cutaneous Senses...155 § 43. Tickle and Itch 157 References for Further Reading 159 Kinesthetic Senses § 44. The Kincesthetic Senses 160 § 45. The Muscular Sense 162 § 46. The Tendinous Sense 163 § 47. The Articular Sense. 164 § 48. Movement and Position, Resistance and Weight...166 § 49. The Alleged Sensation of Innervation...,.169 § 50. Some Touch-blends..171 References for Further Reading 172 §51. The Kinaesthetic Organs of the Internal Ear...173 § 52. The Ampullar Sense 174 §53. Theory of the Ampullar Sense 176 § 54. The Vestibular Sense 178 §55. Theory of the Vestibular Sense 180 References for Further Reading 182 Other Organic Sensations § 56. The Sensitivity of the Abdominal Organs...§ 57. The Sensations of the Digestive and Urinary Systems. § 58. The Sensations of the Circulatory and Respiratory Systems § 59. The Sensations of the Genital System...References for Further Reading Synaesthesia References for Further Reading 200 The Intensity of Sensation § 62. The Intensity of Sensation 201 XIV Contents §64. Liminal and Terminal Stimuli 210 § 65. The Just Noticeable Difference as the Unit of Measurement. 213 §67. Theory of Weber's Law 221 References for Further Reading 224 AFFECTION § 68. Feeling and Affection § 69. Affection and Sensation.
§ 70. Other Views of Affection...§ 71. The Methods of Investigating Affection § 72. The Tridimensional Theory of Feeling. § 73. The Dependence of Affection upon Stimulus § 74. The Bodily Conditions of Affection References for Further Reading...ATTENTION § 75. The Attentive Consciousness § 76. The Development of Attention § 77. The Two Levels of Consciousness § 78. The Kinsesthetic and the Affective Factors in the Attentive Con- sciousness...§ 79. The Experimental Investigation of Attention.
§ 80. The Range of Attention § 81. The Duration of Attention...§ 82. The Degree of Attention § 83. Accommodation and Inertia of Attention § 84. The Bodily Conditions of Attention References for Further Reading Contents xv PERCEPTION Spatial Perceptions FAGB § 85. The Sensory Attribute of Extent 303 §87. The Stereoscope 316 §88. The Perception of Space: Locality...321 § 89. The Perception of Space: Magnitude 326 § 90. Secondary Spatial Perceptions 330 § 91. Illusory Spatial Perceptions 332 § 92. Theories of Space Perception 335 References for Further Reading 338 Temporal Perceptions § 93. The Sensory Attribute of Duration 340 § 94. The Perception of Rhythm 344 § 95. Theories of Time Perception 346 References for Further Reading...347 Qualitative Perceptions § 98. Theories of Qualitative Perception 352 References for Further Reading 355 Composite Perceptions § 99. Simple and Composite Perceptions...357 § 100. The Perception of Movement 357 § 101. The Perception of Melody...360 References for Further Reading 363 The Psychology of Perception § 102. Pure and Mixed Perceptions 365 § 104. The Form of Combination...371 References for Further Reading 373 XVI Contents ASSOCIATION PAGE § 105. The Doctrine of Association...374 § 107. The Law of Association 378 § 108. The Experimental Study of Association...380 § 109. Results: The Conditions of Impression 382 § no. Results: The Conditions of Associative Tendency...384 §111. The Associative Consciousness. 389 References for Further Reading 395 MEMORY AND IMAGINATION § 112. Retention: The Course of the Image.
§113. Retention: The Process of Dissociation §114. Retention: Individual Differences..
§115. The Recognitn/e Consciousness.
§ 116. Recognition and Direct Apprehension §117. The Memory Consciousness § 118. The Memory Image and the Image of Imagination §119. The Imaginative Consciousness.
§120. Illusions of Recognition and Memory.
References for Further Reading...ACTION § 121. The Reaction Experiment 42& § 1 22. The Analysis of the Simple Reaction 432 § 125. The Genesis of Action 45° §126. The Classification of Action 45^ References for Further Reading 469 EMOTION § 1 28. The Nature of Emotion § 129. The ' James- Lange Theory' of Emotion Contents xvn PAGK §130. The ' James-Lange Theory ': Criticism and Modification.. 476 §131. The Organic Reaction as Constitutive of Emotion...481 § 132. The Organic Reaction as Expressive of Emotion...484 § 133. The Forms of Emotion 489 § 135. Mood, Passion and Temperament 497 § 136. The Nature of Sentiment 498 § 137. The Forms of Sentiment 500 References for Further Reading 503 § § § § § § § § § § § THOUGHT The Nature of Conscious Attitude The Alleged Elementary Process of Thought The Alleged Elementary Process of Relation The Analysis of Conscious Attitude Language...The Abstract Idea...Generalisation and Abstraction. Comparison and Discrimination. Expectation, Practice, Habituation, Fatigue Judgment...References for Further Reading.
SOS CONCLUSION § 149. The Status of Psychology 550 References for Further Reading 552 Index of Names. 553 Index of Subjects 556 INDEX OF FIGURES FIGURE PAGE 2. The Colour Pyramid 63 3. Model of the Colour Pyramid 64 4. Demonstrational Colour Mixer 69 5. Adaptation Frame 73 7. Contrast Frame 76 8. Contrast of Shadows 77 9. Perimeter 81 12. The Tonal Pencil 94 13. The Series of Auditory Qualities 98 14. Weighted Wire Fork and Galton Whistle 99 16. Set of Quincke Tubes 107 19. Zwaardemaker's Olfactometer (for Liquids) 122 20. Horse-hair Point for Pressure Spots 146 21. Apparatus for Localising Warm and Cold Spots (Blix)...149 22. Map of Warm and Cold Spots (Blix)...150 23. Map of Pressure and Pain Spots (von Frey) 153 24. Exner's Model of a Semicircular Canal 177 25. Diagram of Continuous Scale of Noise Intensity...209 27. Diagram of the Relation of S to R according to Weber's Law (Wundt) 219 28. Discs for Demonstration of Weber's Law 219 xix XX Index of Figures FIGURE 29. Marey Tambour with Writing Lever 30. Clockwork Kymograph.
31. Franck's Volumetric Sphygmograph 32. The Verdin Pneumograph 34. Automatograph 36. Plethysmographic Tracing 37. von Frey's Sphygmograph 38. Diagram of the Course of a Sense-feeling (Wundt) 39. Distribution of Judgments of Unpleasantness and Tension 40. Diagram of the Attentive Consciousness 41. A Puzzle Picture (R. Gudden) 42. Demonstrational Tachistoscope 43. Masson's Disc...Simple Complication Pendulum (Stevens) Model of the Horopter. Stereoscopic Slide...Stereoscopic Slide. Wheatstone's Stereoscope Plan of Wheatstone's Stereoscope 50. Plan of Brewster's Stereoscope 51. Demonstrational Stereoscope. Stereoscopic Slide.
Plan of Binocular Colour Mixer (Hering) Diagram Illustrating Visual Acuity (Hering) 56. The Miiller-Lyer Illusion: Ebbinghaus' Swallow Figure 57. Mach's Book Figure 58. Illusion of Movement (Bourdon) 59. Artificial Waterfall (James) 60. Memory Apparatus (Ranschburg) 61. Field of Telescope.
63. Wundt's Sound Hammer.
64. Telegraph Reaction Key.
65. Figures for Abstraction of the Like (Grunbaum) A TEXT-BOOK OF PSYCHOLOGY A TEXT-BOOK OF PSYCHOLOGY SUBJECT-MATTER, METHOD AND PROBLEM OF PSYCHOLOGY § i. Science and Experience. — A science consists of a large body of observed facts, which are related to one another, and are arranged under general laws. If, for instance, you open a text-book of physics, you find that it gives the results of numerous observations, or prescribes experiments in which you are to observe for yourself; and you find that these results or experiments are grouped under certain main headings (mechanics, heat, electricity) and are made to illustrate certain comprehensive laws (Newton's laws of motion, Kirchhoff's law of radiation, Ohm's law of the strength of the electric current). All scientific text-books, whether the science is physics or chemistry, biology or psychology, philology or economics, are of the same pattern.
It is worth while, before we begin our special study of psychology, briefly to consider some of the questions which this definition of science suggests. How, we may ask, do the various sciences come into being? How are they differentiated, their several fields laid out and marked off? What do we mean when we say that the facts of any given science are related to one another? What is the nature of the relation? What precisely is a scientific B I 2 Subject-matter, Method and Problem of Psychology law? Why is it important for the progress of science that laws should be established? An answer, even a rough answer, to these questions will help us to understand the scope and aim of psychology.
First of all, then, it is plain that all the sciences have the same sort of subject-matter; they all deal with some phase or aspect of the world of human experience. If we take a mere fragment of this world, — say, our own ex- perience during a single day, — we find it a rather hope- less mixture. Our lawn-sprinkler obeys the third law of motion, while our pleasure in possessing it is a fact for psychology; the preparation of our food is an applied chemistry, its adulteration depends upon economic condi- tions, and its effect upon health is a matter of physiology; our manner of speech is governed by phonetic laws, while the things we say reflect the moral standards of the time: in a word, one science seems to run into another science as chance may decide, without order or distinction. If, however, we look over the world as a whole, or examine historically any long period of human existence, the survey is less bewildering. The world of nature breaks up at once, as we inspect it, into living objects, the objects that change by growth, and non-living objects, the objects that change only by decay. And living objects divide, again, into objects that grow in one place, the plants, and objects that move about as they grow, the animals. Here, almost at the first glance, we have distinguished the raw materials of three different sciences: geology, botany, zoology. Now let us turn to some stage of human evolution: we may choose the social life of mankind before the dawn of civi- lisation. Primitive man was required, by the necessities of his case, to make himself weapons; to hunt animals for § i. Science and Experience 3 food; to protect himself by clothing and shelter, and to avoid eating or drinking from poisonous or tainted sources. If he ventured upon the water, he must steer his course by the stars; if he banded with his fellows, he must hold to the code of honour of the tribe. He dreamed, and told his dreams; when he was glad, or angry, or afraid, he showed his feeling in gesture or by the expression of his face. Doubtless, his daily experience, if he ever thought about it, seemed to him as chaotic as our own has just appeared to us. But we, who have a larger vision of that experience, can see that it contained the natural germs of many sciences: mechanics, zoology and physiology, — astronomy, ethics and psychology.
We are thus led to the conclusion that the world of human experience is not altogether confused and disor- derly. It shows lines of cleavage; to a certain extent, it arranges itself for us; so that the raw materials or the natural germs of what, in the higher forms of civilisation, become the separate sciences force themselves separately upon the attention. But we have not, as yet, anything more than raw materials. Science appears only when some man, taking the hint from nature, deliberately follows up a special line of enquiry throughout the whole of experience. Bridges and dwellings and weapons and furniture and tools and utensils were made long before there was a science of mechanics. The science begins when men begin to interpret the universe in mechanical terms, when the world at large is looked upon as a vast machine, working precisely as a tool or an engine works. Dreams, and the phenomena of trance, and the movements which express emotion were observed long before there was a science of psychology. The science begins when 4 Subject-matter, Method and Problem of PsycJwlogy men begin to interpret the universe in psychological terms, when the world at large is looked upon as mind, as a body of experience subject to psychological laws. In a word, every science takes up a certain attitude towards the world of human experience, or regards it from a definite point of view, and it is the business of a science to describe the world as it appears after the attitude has been taken up or the point of view adopted. What differentiates the sciences is just this difference of human interest; and what holds a science together, and brings its observations into relation, is just the fact that all the work has been done under the guidance of the same principles and from the same point of view.
We have now answered some of our general questions. Experience, we have seen, presents itself under different aspects. The differences are roughly outlined, but are definite enough to serve as a starting-point. These differ- ent aspects engage the attention of different men. Divi- sion of labour is necessary, if the whole of experience is to be brought within the sphere of science; and men's inter- ests are so various that every aspect of experience is sure, in the long run, to find a student. As scientific investiga- tion proceeds, and as the number of scientific men in- creases, more and more aspects of experience are revealed, and the sciences multiply. They do not exist independently, side by side, as accounts of separate portions of the world or of separate regions of experience; they overlap and coincide, describing one and the same world of experience as it appears from their special standpoints. They are not like blocks of knowledge, which when cut to the proper size and properly fitted together will give us a map of the universe; they are rather like the successive chapters of a § I. Science and Experience 5 book which discusses a large topic from every possible point of view. Some chapters are long, and some are short; some are general, and some are special: this de- pends upon the sort of attitude which a given science takes towards experience. But all the chapters, or sciences, deal with the same world under its various aspects. — We have still to enquire what science means by a law, and why it is that the advance of science depends upon the establishment of laws. The answer is simple. The longer scientific observations are continued, and the more scien- tific methods are refined, the clearer does it become that ex- perience is regular and orderly. If only the conditions of an occurrence remain the same, the occurrence will always take place in the same way. A scientific law thus expresses a regularity, an unbroken uniformity, of some aspect of ex- perience. Go to a dictionary, and look up Charles' law, and Grimm's law, and Weber's law: you will find that in all three cases — physics, philology, psychology — the laws are of this sort.
The formulation of a scientific law, therefore, means the final writing of some paragraph in some chapter of that book of the world which contains all the different sciences. No science is as yet complete: but the formulation of a law means that the science of which it holds is complete up to a certain point. The law embraces, covers, summarises a large body of observations, and also serves as a point of departure for the making of fresh observations. This is why the important dates in the history of science are the years in which scientific laws were established, and why the most honoured names in science are the names of the men who established them. It would, perhaps, make the study of science easier for the beginner if all proper names were 6 Subject-matter, Method and Problem of Psychology omitted, and we ceased to speak of the principle of Archi- medes, and Euclidean geometry, and Newton's laws of motion. But these terms serve a good purpose: they show the importance of scientific laws, and they also reinforce a conclusion at which we have already arrived, — that what differentiates the sciences is the difference of human inter- ests, and that what makes a science is some man's consistent adherence to a definite point of view.
§ 2. The Subject-matter of Psychology. — If it is true that all the sciences have the same sort of subject-matter, there can be no essential difference between the raw mate- rials of physics and the raw materials of psychology. Matter and mind, as we call them, must be fundamen- tally the same thing. Let us find out, now, whether this statement is really as paradoxical as at first thought it appears.
All human knowledge is derived from human experi- ence; there is no other source of knowledge. But human experience, as we have seen, may be considered from different points of view. Suppose that we take two points of view, as far as possible apart, and discover for ourselves what experience looks like in the two cases. First, we will regard experience as altogether independent of any particular person; we will assume that it goes on whether or not anyone is there to have it. Secondly, we will re- gard experience as altogether dependent upon the partic- ular person; we will assume that it goes on only when someone is there to have it. We shall hardly find stand- points more diverse. What are the differences in experi- ence, as viewed from them?
Take, to begin with, the three things that you first learn V about in physics: space, time and mass. Physical space, which is the space of geometry and astronomy and geol- ogy, is constant, always and everywhere the same. Its unit is i cm., and the cm. has precisely the same value wherever and whenever it is applied. Physical time is similarly constant; and its constant unit is the I sec. Physical mass is constant; its unit, the I gr., is always and everywhere the same. Here we have experience of space, time and mass con- sidered as independent of the person who ex- periences them. Change, then, to the point of view which brings the experiencing person into account. The two vertical lines in Fig. I are physically equal; they measure alike in units of i cm. To you, who see them, they are not equal. The hour that you spend in the wait- ing-room of a village station and the hour that you spend in watching an amusing play are physically equal; they measure alike in units of /\ i sec. To you, the one hour goes slowly, the ' * other quickly; they are not equal. Take two circular cardboard boxes of different diameter (say, 2 cm. and 8 cm.), and pour sand into them until they both weigh, say, 50 gr. The two FlG> x masses are physically equal; placed on the pans of a balance, they will hold the beam level. To you, as you lift them in your two hands, or raise them in turn by the same hand, the box of smaller diameter is considerably the heavier. Here we have experience of space, time and mass considered as dependent upon the experiencing person. It is the same experience that we were discussing just now. But our first point of view