The Science of Human Nature

he sensory nerves and sets up an excitation in the brain. This excitation in the brain gives us sensation. We see if the eye is stimulated. We hear if the ear is

s, as we have seen, known as memory. An idea, then, is a bit of revived experience. A perception is a bit of immediate or primary experience. I am said to perceive a chair if the chair is present before me, if the light reflected from the chair is act

word down, and then write down other words that come to mind. Write them in the order in which they come to mind. Do this for three or four minutes, and try the experim

"bridle" suggest "saddle"? Is there something in the nature of ideas that couples them with certain other ideas and makes them always suggest the other ideas? No, there is not. Ideas become coupled together in our experience, and the coupling is in accordance with our experience. Things that

hould also think "clover." I sometimes see a horse running when a train whistles, so "whistle" and "horse" should be coupled in my mind. A horse once kicked me on the shoulder, so "horse" and "shoulder" should be connected in my mind. And so they are. The very fact that these various experiences come ba

tly or indirectly. Now, in any given case, what idea will actually come first after I have the idea "horse"? This depends upon the tendencies established in the nervous system. The brain process underlying the idea "horse" has connections wi

ength, across the years, in spite of other associations and connections established later. Just now there comes to mind my first experience with a certain famous scientist. It was many years ago. I was a student in an eastern university. This man gave a public lecture at the opening of the session. I remember many details of the

of first experiences are likely to persist, then these connections should be desirable ones. They should not be useless connections, nor should they, ordinarily, be connections that will have to be radi

him was some days or months ago, the idea-connection of the last meeting has no great value. Of course, circumstances always alter the matter. Perhaps we should say in the last instance that, other things being equal, the last experience has no special value. If the last experience was an unusual one, such as a death or a marriage, then it has a value due t

the dominant factor in association. Most of the strength of first connections is due to repetitions in memory later. The first experience passes through the mind again and again as memory, and thereby becomes strengthened. The fact that repetition of connections establishes these connections is, of course, the justification of drill and review in school s

of a railroad wreck, I think of one in which I participated. The experience was vivid, intense, and aroused my emotions. I hardly knew whether I was dead or alive. Then, secondly, I usually think

ms, pictures and drawings, and abundant oral illustration. We must be sure that the one taught understands, that the ideas become focal in consciousness and take hold of the individual. This is the main factor in what is known as "interest." An inter

t one has just been doing, are always factors that determine the direction of association. One often notices the effects of mental set in reading newspapers. If one's mind has been deeply occupied with some subject and one then starts to read a newspaper, one may actually mi

dical, a pessimist, an optimist, etc., by continuity of similar experiences and similar reactions to these experiences. Germans, French, Irish, Italians, Chinese, have characteristic sets or ways of reacti

fact that one has headache, or indigestion, or is in a hurry, or is angry, or is hungry, or is emotion

o a definite and typical situation. This habitual way is strengthened by repetition, so that set or attitude finally, after years of repetition, becomes a part of our nature. Our prejudices become as strong, seemingly, as our instinctive tendencies. After a man has thought in a particular groove for years, it is about as sure that he will come to certain de

accordance with the laws of association above discussed. The order in which the ideas come is

ideas, of memories. The child lives in the present, in a world of perceptions. A man is not so much tied down to the present; he lives in memory and anticipation. He thinks more than does the child. A man is content to sit down in his chair a

ustration, I see a letter on the table, a letter from my brother. I then have a visual image of my brother. I think of him as I saw him last. I think of what he said. I think of his children, of his home, of his boyhood, and our early life together. Then I think of our mother

rds "think of." I might have said instead, "there came to mind ideas of Athen

e described and illustrated, no immediate ends of the person are served; while in reasoning some end is always sought. In reasoning, the flow of ideas must reach some particular idea t

ch one is thrown by the situation which confronts one. The set puts certain nerve-tracts into readiness to conduct, or in other words, makes certain groups of ideas come into mind, and makes one satisfied only if the right ideas come. As long as ideas come that do n

conclusion is right. Or, in more scientific terms, that the conclusion is in harmony with our past experience, as it has been organized and made available through association. There is

experience and the present situation. The boy pauses, looks about, and sees on the bank a pole and several large stones. He has walked on poles and on fences, he therefore sees himself putting the pole across the stream and walking on it. This may be in actual visual imagery, or it may be in words. He may merely say, "I will put the pole acr

e different forms. The imagery may take any form

stions as there are pupils. Ask whether it is ever right to steal, whether it is ever right to lie, whether it is ever right to fight, whether it is ever right to disobey a parent or teacher, whether oak is stronger than maple, whether iron expands more when heated than does copper, whether

welded together in a definite way. Association between certain groups of ideas becomes well fixed. Later situations involving these groups of ideas set up definite tr

, we are determining the way we shall in the future reason about things. We are each day getting the material for the solution of the problems that will be presented to us by future situat

a is another idea or group of ideas that are very closely associated with it. When there comes to mind an idea that has arisen out of repeated experience, there come almost immediately with it other ideas, perhaps vivid images which have been connected with the same experience. Suppose the idea i

lly condensed vapor. The sun is a round thing in the sky that shines by day. A river is water flowing along in a low place through the land. Justice is giving to p

e idea in question. Now, since the most important aspect of a thing is what we can do with it, what use it can be to us, usually meaning centers about use. A chair

eas, and these ideas do center about what we have done with these men and events in our thinking. "C?sar was a warrior. Homer was a writer of epics. Edison is an inventor," etc. These men and events have been presente

in one situation, may come to mind as a thing to sit in; in another situation, as a thing to stand in the corner and look pretty; in another, a thing to stand on

ly that it is a plant, or it is a small plant. We touch it and it pricks us, and it at once has more meaning. It is a plant that pricks. We bite into it and find it bitter. It is then a plant that is bitter, etc. In such a way, objects come to have meaning. They acquire meaning according to the connections

ay we experience them in the first place, but in accordance with the way we think them later in memory. Of course, ideas are recalled in accordance with the way we experience them, but since

ing it, strengthen these connections to the exclusion of others. Herein lies one of the greatest possibilities in thinking and reasoning, which enables us, to an extent, to be independent of original experience. We must have had

t know what connections of ideas will be most useful in the future. People who have had more experience know better and can, by dire

ervice to the pupils. They must be organized with reference to future use. This organization must come about through thinking over

hould be brought to mind and related by being thought of together. Thinking things together binds them together as ideas; and later when one idea comes, the others that have been joined with it in the past in thought, come also. Therefore, in studying the Battle of Bunker Hill

e to meaning and with reference to future use. As a result of such procedure, all the topics b

cquire those kinds of skill that will serve us best in the future, so in getting knowledge we should by repetition strengthen the connections between those ideas that we shall need to have connected in the future. All education looks forward and is preparatory. As a result of training in

shall discuss the matter more fully. There are three aspects of training in reasoning, one with reference to original experience, one with reference

perience, it can be organized in various ways, but experience there must be. Experience may be primary, with things themselves, or it may be secondary, re

h to be able to reason in the field of physics, of botany, of chemistry, of medicine, of law, or of agriculture, we must get experience in those fields. The raw material of thought comes only through experience. In such a subject as physical geography, for example, the words of the book have little meaning unless the child has had original e

y been fully explained. It was pointed out that organization consists in thinking our experience o

it of putting certain questions to oneself when a problem is presented, so that certain types of relations are called up. If one is a sc

One must form the habit of waiting a reasonable length of time for associations to run their course. If one act too soon, before his organized experience has had time to pass i

sort of test before it is put to the real test, just as one makes a model and tries out an invention on a small scale. One should not have

ints the way to action in a new situation. After the situation is repeate

proves to be a great advantage to man. But language gives us still another advantage. Without language, thinking is limited to the passing of sensory images that arise in accordance with the laws of association. But

to thinking is greater than that of any other tool. Now, one can think without language, in the sense that memory images come and go,-we have defined thinking as the flow of

justice, truth, sin, crime, heat, cold, mortal, immortal, evolution, disintegration, love, hate, envy, jealousy, possible, impossible, probable, etc. We spoke above of meanings. To meanings we give names, so that a single word comes to stand for meanings broad and signif

ovements and things. Single words come to represent a multitude of experiences. Then these words become associated and organized in accordance with the principles of association discussed above, so that it comes about that the older we are, the more

experience in accordance with facts. If our word "C?sar" does not stand for the real C?sar, then all our thinking in which C?sar enters wi

young to see the world clearly and to organize what they see in accordance with the facts and with a view to future use. Then the units of this organized experience are to be tagge

d together in memory as originally experienced. The factors of association are primacy, recency, frequency, intensity, and mental set or attitude. Reasoning is thinking to a p

EXER

the students that the basis of the association of ideas is

ve the initial idea, as sky, hate, music, clock, table, or wind. The first ten ideas coming to each student might be written o

nt write down the first idea that comes to mind in each case. After the list is finished, let each student try to find out what the determining factor was in each case, whether primacy, frequency, recency, vividness, or mental set. When the study is completed, th

ll be seen that they come from a great variety of experiences and from all parts of one's life from childhood to the present

n what kind of imagery. Let each plan a picnic in detail. How do they do it? D

your images seem to be visual, auditory, motor, or verbal? Do

bed on page 193. Repeat the experiment at least five t

association as described on page 19

rankings in

her, from genus to species, from species to genus, from verb to object, from subject to verb, etc. Do the students maintain the same ra

be performed, one to show the nature of reasoning and t

ne? Explain. Suppose corn is placed in three vessels, 1, 2, and 3. Number 1 is sealed up air tight and kept war

kept frozen. Why? Two bars of metal are riveted together. One bar is lead, the other iron. What happens when the bars are heated to 150 C? 500 C? 1000

ble to come to a conclusion at all on some questions? Why? Do the e

nd find the speed and accuracy of the students in solving them. Compare the results with thos

have their experience organized. Is their experience available? Can they c

ople, theoretical and practical. This is t

w of No. 10, compare

rk in theory, will

hapter and from the experiments, wr

the schools with reference

te outline of

S FOR CLA

Human Behavior, Cha

e Think, Par

eral and Applied, Chapters V

als of Psychology,

of Educational Psyc

er's Psychology, Ch