The Science of Human Nature

nctions. We have seen that it is through the sense organs that the world affects us,

But how do we move, how do we act when stimulated? Why do we do one thing rather tha

e must now give a more definite account of them. It was said in the preceding chapter that when a muscle contracts, it must first receive a nerve-impulse. Now, anything which starts

complex. If one blows upon the eyelids of a baby, the lids automatically close. The blowing is the

ultaneous stimulation of several organs. In playing ball, the stimulus for the batter is the on-coming ball. The response is the stroke. This case is

ff be taken into account, but also many other things, such as sharps and flats, and various characters which give directions as to the manner i

iking of the keys in the proper order. Speaking generally, we may say that the stimulus is the force or for

opy or ideas. One can write from copy or dictation, in which the stimulus is the written or spoken word, but one can also write as one thinks of what one

e. The stimulus in this case is in the brain itself; it is the nervous activity which corresponds to the idea of meeting my friend. If we disregard the distinction between mind and body, we may say that the stimulus for a resp

n between the stimulus and response; if we ask how it has come about that a particular stimulus causes a particular response rather than some other possible response, we find two

ct near by. An infant closes its eyes the first time it feels cold wind blow upon them; it cries the first time it feels pain; it clasps its fingers together the first time a touch is felt

music. One must also learn the keys on the typewriter before he can operate a typewriter. And in the case of other habits, we find, for example, that one does not respond by say

inheritance; all others are built up and established in one's

onse bound together? A bond is a matter of greater permeability, of less resistance in one direction through the nervous system than in other direc

d response. Muscular responses that are connected with their stimuli through inherited bonds, by inherited nerve structure, are called instincts. Those

ave had to learn or to the bond which we ourselves establish between response and stimulus. In this book we shall usually mean by instinct an action depending upon inherited structure and by habit an act

t stages of the child's growth. It has already been said that a child, soon after birth, will close its eyelids when they are blown upon. The lids do not close at this time if one s

the instinctive activity has had. The most important factor, however, seems to be age. While our knowledge of the dependence of an instinct

n out of the dark room at the end of one, two, three, and four days, it was found that in a few hours they were pecking as well as those that had been pecking from birth. It seems probable, if we may judge f

ider how greatly we are influenced by anger, jealousy, love, fear, and competition. Now we do not have to learn to be jealous, to hate, to love, to be envious, to fight, or to fear. These are emotions common to all members of the human race, and their expression is an inborn te

ted to the survival of the group are called socialistic. Those individualistic tendencies growing out of periodic changes of the environment may be called environmental instincts. Those closely related to human infanc

ult to bring the instincts into the laboratory for accurate study. For our knowledge of the instincts we are dependent, for the most part, on general observation. We have had a few careful studie

such as were developed in the long period of savage life. During all of man's life in the time before civilization, he was always in danger. He had many enemies, and most of these enemies had the advantage of him in strength and natural m

e responses are shown in connection with circulation and respiration. Both of these processes are much interfered with. Sometimes the action is accelerated, at other times it is retarded, and in some cases the respiratory and circulatory organs are almost

call forth fear responses. On the whole, the evidence rather favors the idea of definite fear situations among children. It seems that certain situations do invariably arouse fear responses. To b

t. But it is certain that these and other fears are closely related to the age and development of the child. In the earlier years of infancy, certain fears are not p

had, therefore we are full of needless fears. During the early years of a child's life, wise treatment causes most of the fear tendencies to disappear because of disuse. On the other hand, unwise treatment may accentuate and perpetuate them, causing

ngered by anything that interferes with his life, with his purposes, with whatever he calls his own. We become angry if some one strikes our bodies, or attacks our beliefs, or the beliefs of our dear friends, particularly of our families. The typical responses conne

vy and jealousy and other similar emotions should be taken out of history, there would not be much left. Much of literature and art depict those actions of man which grew out of these individualistic aspects of his nature. Competition, which is an aspect of fighting, eve

tendencies. These tendencies are so deeply rooted in our natures that it is hard to get control of them. In fact, the control which we

of man. But our fighting should not be directed against our fellow man. The fighting spirit can be retained and directed against evil and other

ature, just as truly as do the selfish acts. But the socialistic tendencies are not, in general, as strong as are the individualistic ones. What society

to speak of the "gang" instinct. Human beings are pleased and content when with other human beings and not content, not satisfi

nces with animals, such as boys have on the farm. Much of the boy's day is spent in school in a kind of work not at all like what he would do by choice. There is not much home life. Usually there is not the proper parental control. Seldom do the parents interest themselves in planning for the activiti

an the social life of the children. The actual work of the school can be very much socialized. There can be much more co?peration and much more group work can be done in the school than is the ca

, and throughout the summer as well as in the winter, the people, young and old, should meet at the school for some sort of s

wo tendencies which seem to be part of the original nature

of civilization has been to overcome the inherited tendencies to roam and wander, to the extent that for the most part we live out our lives in one

be planned both for work and for play. If the child's desires and needs can be satisfied in legitimate ways, then he will not have to satisfy them illegitimately. The teaching itself can be done better by following, to some extent, the lead of the child's nature. Much early education consists in le

, flowers, fruits, seeds, nuts, pebbles, and in fact everything that is loose or can be gotten loose. They are taken at first aimlessly, merely because they attract attention. The original, natural response of the child toward that which attracts attention is usually to get it, get possession of it and take it along. It is easy to see why such tendencies were developed

e world, but specimens should be collected so that they can be used to form a museum at the school which will represent the surrounding locality. Geological, geographica

nvironment. The collecting can often be done in such a way as to appeal to the group instincts. For example, the club could hold meetings for exhibiting and studying the specimens, and sometimes the actual collecting could be done in groups. (2) The specimens collected should be put into the school museum, and the aim of this museum should be to represent completely the local environment, the natural and physical environment, and also the industrial, civil, and social environment. The museum should be completely illustrative of the child's natural, physical, and social surroundings. The museum would therefore be educative in its making, and when it is made, it would have immense value to the community, not only to the children but to all the people. In this museum, of course, should be found the minerals, rocks, soils

of Educational Psy

eing a certain act performed does not, apart from training and experience, serve as a stimulus to make a child perform a similar act. Hearing a certain sound do

se the idea of an act, of necessity, always produces the act. It is merely a matter of the stimulus and the response becoming connected in that way as the result of experience. Our meaning is that an act can be touched off or prompted by any stimulus. Our

ulty and incomplete. If he has never performed the particular act, seeing another perform the act sets him to trying to do it and he may soon learn it. If he successfully performs an act when he sees it done by another, the act must be one which he already knows how to perform, and for whose performance the idea has already served as a stimulus. Now if imitation were instinctive in the strict sense, one co

ult men and women are successfully adjusted to their environment. Their adjustment might be better, but it is good enough to keep them alive for a time. Now, if children do as they see their parents doing, they will reach a satisfactory adjustment. We may, therefore

sting them to their environment. But in the human race it is one of the chief factors in adjustment to environment. Imita

They are the whips which keep us within the bounds of custom and conventionality. The tendency to imitate is so strong that its results are almost as certain as are those of inherited tendencies. It is almost as certain that a child will be like his parents in speech, manners, custo

arm by imitating his father, and how the girl learns to do all the housework by imitating her mother. Imitation is the basis of much of the play of children, in that t

se be. There is nothing that leads us so close to reality as action. We never completely know an act till we have done i

on in the school course, dramatic representation of the characters in literature and history is a means of getting a better conception of these characters. In geography, the study of the manners and customs and occupations of foreign

measure copied from people about us. The family and social atmosphere in which one lives is a mold in which one's mind is formed and shaped. We cannot escape the influence of this atmosphere if we would. One takes on a belief that his father has, one clings to this belief and interprets the world in th

tincts of children, and not a specific instinct itself. It is rather a sort of make-believe activity of all the instincts. Kittens

main one is that it is pleasurable. Play activity is pleasurable in itself. We do not play that we may get something else which we like, as is

we do not have to exert ourselves to get a living. Play is nature's means of giving our organs the exercise which they must have to bring them to maturity

learns himself and the world. Everything that the child sees excites him to react to it or upon it. He gets possession of it. He bites it. He pounds it. He throws it. In this w

rth while until the thing becomes play to us, until we throw our whole being into it as we do in play, until it is an expression

ecessary to growth, development, and health. The constant

ficult. Nevertheless, opportunity for play should be provided for every child, no matter what the trouble or expense, for withou

is to a large extent getting the tools of knowledge and thought and work-reading, spelling, writing, correct speech,

ldren learn the properties and structures of things. They thereby learn what things do and what can be done with them. Teachers and parents should foster these manipulative tendencies and use them for the child's good. These tendencies are an aspect of curiosity. We want to know. We are unhappy as long as a thing is before us wh

sexual or mating instincts. These inherited tendencies are to a large extent the foundation on which we build education. The educational problem

EXER

ls, such as dogs, cats, chickens. Make a list

erve. The simpler inherited responses are known as reflexes. The closing of the eyeli

xcite fear responses in all children? Each member of the class can make a list of his own fears. It may the

r shown? Do your studies and observations convince you that the fighting instinct and other inherited responses concerned with individual surviv

f the grades and find what collections the childre

the collecting instinct i

hool make a study of some specific cases

ke a list of the games that are universal for infancy, those for c

of play in education? Why shou

by watching the spontaneous play of children und

ion. What is your opinion of the plac

of grown people. Consider styles, fashions, manners

mitation a good th

in which dramatization can be

ere did you get them? What ideals did you get from your pare

s are the fundamental bases from which our ac

te outline of

S FOR CLA

man Behavior, Chapter

entals of Child Stu

logy, General and A

ntials of Psych

f Educational Psycho

inner's Psycholo