William James' Talks to Teachers on Psychology

8/8/2019 William James' Talks to Teachers on Psychology

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Jl'orks by 11-fLLIA1/ J A MfiS , MD., h. dL iiJt.D.,LL D. orresjondent of the Indi-tuft of France; Professm of P?IiZoso$?Iy afIIaruard Uniuersify.

The Prlnclples of Psychology. z vols. 8v0.New York: IIenry IIolt & Co. 189.3.

Psychology : Driefer Course. rzmo. NewYork: Henry Holt & Co. 1892.

1 The Will to Believe, and Other Essays laPopular Philosophy. New York: Long-mans, Green t o. 1$7.

I Is Life Worth Livlng ? r8mo. Philadelphia:1 S. B. Weston , 1305 Arch Stree t. 1896.1 Human Immortality :Two Supposed Objec-tions to the Doctrine. 16mo. Boston:1 Itoughton, Mifiin & Co. 158.!, The Literary Remains of Henry Jam es.! Edited, with an Introduction, by W I L L ~ A ~Ja br ~s . Wit11 Portrait. Crown avo. 1885.

TALKS TO TEACHERSON P S Y C H O L O G Y : A N D T OS T UDE NT S ON SOME O F LIFE'SIDE AL S . By W I L L I A M J A M E S

NEW YORKHENRY HOLT AND COMPANY1899


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:OPY R I GI :I ''599

r :u \ i I I . I . I A ?l JAMES

CEO. H.ELLI3, PR I N T ER , 11 2 CONGRESS ST.. ROSTOU.

lN 1892 1 was a sk ed l ~ yi ic l larrari l Col . l ,orat ionto give 2 few publ ic lectures on psychology to t l icCambridge t eachers. Th e t a lks non- ~)r i n t e t l o rm thesubstance of th at co urse, which has since tlieli beendel ivered at various places to various teacher-nucl i -ences. I have found hy exper i ence t ha t what m yhearers seen1 least to rel ish is analyt ical technical i ty,and what they most care for i s concrete pract icalapplication. S o I have gradual ly weeded out t l lcformer, and left th e lat te r rul reduced ; and , now tha tI have a t l as t wr i t t en out t ho l cc turcs , t hey conta ina minimum of wh at is deernetl 'scientific' in psy-chology, and are prnc.tical n~id popular ir i t h e e s -treme.

Some of my colleagues tiiiy possi1)ly shake theirheads a t t h i s ; bu t i n t ak ing m y cue fl-on~ hat 11:lsseemed to me to be t h e fee l i ng of the nutliences 1 bc -l ieve tha t I am &aping my hook so as to sat isfy themore genuine publ ic need.Teachers, of course, will miss the minute tlivieions,subdivisions, and definitions, the letter ed anti num -bered headings, the variat ions of type, and al l t h e


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iv PREFACE PREFACE Vother mc1chanic:ll artifices on which they are accus-tomed to pro]) tlieir ~ilinds. But my main desire hasbeen to makc them conceive, a n d , if possible, re-produce sympathetically in their imagination, themental life of the ir pupil as the sort of active unitywhich he himself feel s it to be. H e doesn't chopllimself into clistinct processes and compartments;and it would have frus trated this deeper purpose ofnly book t o inake it look, when printed, like a Bae-deker's handbook of travel or a text-book of arithme-tic. So far as books printed like this book force thefluidity of t he f acts npon th e xoung teacher's atten-tion, so far I aln sure they tend t o do his intellecta service, even thongh they may leave unsatisfieda craving (not altogether wit l~ou t its legitimateground s) for inore nomenclaturc, head-lince, andsubdivisions.

Iteaders acquainted with 111~- arger books on Psy-chology will meet much familiar l~hrascolog v. In thecl~npte rs on habit and memory I have even copiedseveral pages vcrb:itim, but I (10 not lrnow thatapology is needed for snch plagiarism :IS tllis.

Tlic talks t o studilnts, ~vl~ic.l ionclude tile volume,wcre xoritte~i in rcsllonse to illvitations to deliver'addresses' to students : ~ t omen's colleges. Tllefi;.st one was to tlie gr :~< lua ting lass of tlle Boston\;ol.mal School of G! mn:tstics. I'ro~erly, it contin-

ues the series of talks to teachers. The second a ndthe third address belong together, a nd continue an -other line of thought.

I wish I were able to make the second, '011a Cer-tain Blindness in Iluman Beings,' more impressive.~t is more than the mere piece of sentimentalismwhich it may seem to some readers. It connectsihelf with a definite view of the world an d of o urmoral relations to the same. Those who have doneme the houor of reading my volume of pllilosophicessays will recognize that I mean the pluralistic orindividualistic philosophy. According to th at philos-ophy, the truth is too great for any one actual mind,even though that mind be dubbed the Absolute,' toknow the whole of it. Th e facts and wortlis of lifeneed many cognizers to take then1 in. The re is nopoint of view absolute ly public and nniversal. Pr i-vate and uncorumunicable percepti ons always remaillover, :tnd the worst of it is that tliose who look forthem from tlic outside never k n o ~zohere.

The practic:tl consequence of suc l~ I 1,hilosophy isthe well-known cleniocratic respect for the sacretinessof individuality,-is, at any rate, the outwa rd tolerarlceof whatever is not itself intolerant. These phrasesare so familiar that they sourid now r;ither d ead inOur ears. Once the y had n passionate inner meaning.

a passion:lte inne r nlc:~ning the y ,nay easily


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vi PREFACEncqnire again if the pretension of our nation to inflictits own inner ideals and institutions v i et armis uponOrientals shonld meet wi th a resistance as obdurat e asso far it has been gallant and spirited. Religiouslyand philos~ghicall~,ur ancient national doctrine oflive and let live rnny prove to have a far deepermeaning than ou r 1)rople now seem to imagine it to~)ossesS.

TALKS TO 'L'EACHERS.PAGEI. PSYCHOLOGYtv n THE TEA ( ~H INGI L , ~ . 3

The American educational organization, ::--What teachers may expect from psychology, .i-Teaching methods must agree with psychology,but cannot be immediately deduced the refrom, 7-The science of teaching and th e science of war,9- he educational uses of psychology defined.1 0- lic tcaclier's duty toward child-stutly, 11'.

Our niental life is a suc:ccssion of consci ousfields,' 1.5-They Ilave a fvcus and a margin,

18 -This description contrasted with the theoryof ' ideas,' 20 - ~'undt's conclnsiona. Yr), not(,.

111. THECIIILI )is A BEHAVIS , :RC;ASISM . 22Mind as pure reason ;tntl ~nirid as prsctienl

guide, 22 -The latter vic.w thc rnorc fasl~ionnblrone to-day, 2:i-It will be adopted in t!iis w ork ,24-Wliy sn? 25 -Th e tcncher's function is totrain pupils to bcl~ario r, s .

IV. EDUCA ~ ~ I O NND I ~ E H ~ Y \ . I O ~ ~. . . . 29Education defined, 29- onduct is alwaya its

outcome, 30- ifferent national itleals : Germanyand England, 31 .


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...Vll l CONTENTSPAGE

V. THENECESSITYF I~EACTIONS. . . 33No impression without expression, 33 -Verbal

reproduction, 34 -Manual training, 35- upilsshould know their ' marks,' 37.

VI. NATIVEAS^ ACQUIREL)EACTIONS . 38The acquired reactions must be preceded by

native ones, 38 -Illustration : teaching child toask instead of snatching, 39- an has more in-stincts than other mammals, 4::.

VII. WHA~I.HE NATIVE EACTIONSI ~ E . . 45Pear and love, 45- uriosity, 45- mitation,

18 Emulation, 49 -Forbid den by Kousseau, 51-His error, 53 -Ambition, pugnacity, and pride.Soft pedagogics and the fighting impulse, 54-Ownership, 55 - ts educational uses, 56 - on-~t-;uctiveness, 8- anual teaching, 5!1- Transi-torincss in instincts, 60- hcir order of succes-s i on , 61.

TH ELAWS F IIAI:IT . . . . . . . 64Good and bad habits, 6-C- abit due to plasti-

city of org anic tissucs, ri.5- The aim of educationis to make useful habits automatic, GG -Maxinisrelative to habit-forming : 1. Strong initiative, G i- 2 . No exception, 6 d- . Seize first opportunityto act, (;!) - . Don't prcacl~,71- arwin andpoetry: without ex erc is~ n r capacities decay, 71- lic habit of n ~e nt al nd nluscular relaxation,;C-Fifth maxim, keep the faculty of efforttrained, 75- udden conversions con~patiblewithi : ~ w s f habit, 7( i- iomentous influeuce of habitson character, 77 .

TX.A case of habit, 79 -Th e two laws, contiguity

and similarity, 80 -Th e teacher has to build upuseful systems of association, 83- abitual asso-ciations determine character, 84 -1ndeterminate-ness of our trains of association, 83-We cantrace them backward, but not foretell them, AG -Intere st deflects, 87- repotent parts of the field,9 8 -I n teaching, IIIultiply cues, 8:).

Th e child's native interests, 91 -1Iow uninterest-ing things acquire an interest, 94 -Rules for theteacher, 95-'Preparation' of the mind for thelesson: the pupil must have something to attendwith, 97- ll later interests are borrowed fromoriginal ones, 99.

XI. -4~~e-v.rroh- . . . . . . . . . . 100Inter est ant1 attention are two aspects of onefact, 100 -Voluntar y attention comes in beats,

101 -Genius and attention, 102 -The subjectmust change to win attention, 103 --Mechanicalaids, I04- he physiological process, 106 -Thenew in the old is what excites interest, 108-In-terest and effort are con~patiblc, 10- Iind-wan-dering, 112- ot fatal t o mental efficiency, 114.

XII. 3 1 ~ 3 1 0 ~ ~. . . . . . . . . . . 116Due to association, Il(;- o recall without acue, 118 -Memory is due to brain-plasticity, 119-Native retentiveness, 120 -Num ber of associa-tions niay practically be its equivalent, 122 -Re-tentiveness is a fixed property of the individual,123- l e n~ory e?.s?rs ~iicmorics,124- cientific


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CONTENTS xiCONTEXTSPAGE

Bysten1 as help t o me mory , l2G- echnical mem-ories, 127- ramnling, 123- lementary menloryunimprovable, 130 -Utility of verbal memorizing,131 -Measu rement s of immediate memory, 13:: -They throw little light. IS4 -Passion is the in]-portant factor in human efficiency, 137- ye-memory, ear-memory, etc ., 137 -The rate offorgetting, Ebbinghaus's results, 139 -Influenceof the unreproducible, 142- o remember, onemust think and connect, 1i:',.

XIII. TIIE ~CQUISITIOS OF IDEAS . . . . . 144Education gives a stock of conceptions, 144-

The or der of thei r acquisition, 14(i-\Tv'nhrc ofverbal material, 149-Abstractions of differentorders : when are they assimilab l~, 1.i - alsclconc eptions of childrkmn, I

Often a mystifying idea. 1 -The process de-fined, 157-Th e law of economy, 159-Old-fogyism, 160 -How many types of apperception ?161- ew heads of classification must continuallybe invented, 163- lteration of the apperceivingmass, 163-Class-names are vhat we work by,166- ew new fundalnental conceptions acquiredafte r twenty-five, If;;.

XV. THEWILL . . . . . . . . . . . 169The word defined, lti9- 11 consciousncss tendsto action, l i 0- deo-motor action, 17 1 -1nliibi-tion, 172- he process of deliberation, 174-

Why so few of our ideas result in acts, 176-The associationist account of t he will, 177- Abalance of impulses an d inhibitions, 178 -Th e

PAGEover-impul sive and the over-obstruc ted t ype, 1711--'I'lle perfe ct type, 180- T!ic balliy \rill, 181-What character-building consists in, 164- iightaction depends on right a pperception of the case,1s; -Effo rt of will is effort of att ent ion : thcdrunkard's dilemma, 187- ital irnportarlce ofvoluntary attention, 189-Its amoun t may be it:-determinate, 191- iErnlationof f rm -n ll, I!):! -Two type s of inhibition , 1113- pinozs on inhibi-tion by a h i~ ll er ooil, 1!)4- onclusion, I!);

iTHE GOSPEL OV i.lELAASATIOX . . 199

111.WHAT MAlilCS LI FE SIGNII{'ICAST : . . . . 265


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TALKS 'LO TEACHERS


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PSYCI3OLOGY AND TH E TEACHING A RT

IN he general activity and uprising of ideal in-terests which every one with an eye for fact candiscern all about us in American life, there is per-haps no more promising feature than the ferinen-tatioil which for a dozen years or lnore has beengoing on among the teachers. In whatever sphereof education their functions may lie, there is tobe seen among them a really inspiring arnouilt ofsearching of the heart a bout the highest concernsof thei r profession. Tlie of nationsbegins always at the top, among the reflectivemembers of t he Stake, and spreads slowly outwardand downward. The teachers of this country,one may say, have its fut ure in their hands. Theearnestness which they at present show in strivingto enlighten and strengthen themselves is an indexof the nation's probabilities of advance in all idealdirections. Th e outward organization of educa-tion which we have in our United States is per-


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4 TALKS TO TEACHERS pSpCHOLOGP AND THlC TEACHING ART 5haps, on the whole, the best organization thatexists in any country. Tlie Stat e school systemsgive a diversity an d flexibility, all opportunity forexperimen t and keenness of competition, nowhereelse to be fouild on such an important scale. Theindependence of so mairy of the colleges and uni-versities; the give and take of students and in-structors between them a ll; tlieir emulation, andtheir happy organic relations to the lower schools ;the traditions of instructioll i l l them, evolved fromthe older Atnerican recitation-method (and sot~voiding on the one l lt~ nd he pure lecture-sys-tein prevalent in Ciermany and Scotland, mhicllconsiders too little the individual student, ancl yetliot inv olv ir~ g he sacrifice of the inst ructor t o theiilclividual student, ivhicli t,he English tutorial sys-tein mould seem too often to entail),-all thesethings (to say nothing of t hat coeducation of th e.exes in whose beirefits so niany of us heartilyhelieve), all these things, I say, are most happyfeatures of our scholastic: life, and from them the~u os t anguine auguries inay Le drawn.

Havirlg so favorable an organization, all weneed is to impregnate it with gcninses, to getsuperior men and moinelr working nlore an d morrabundantly in it :~nd or it and at it, and in ;I

or two Aiiierica lilay well lead theeducation of the world. I must say that 1 lookforwsrtl ith no litt le conficlence to the day wllellthat shall be an accol~lplishecl act.N~ one has profited lilore I)y the i'ermentatiol~of which I speak, in pedagogical circles, than nrepsychologists. Tlie desire of tlle sclloolteaclrersfor a completer professional training, an d their

toward the ' professio~lul spirit ill their.work, have lecl theni more alicl illore to turn to usfor light on fu~lcia~ nelital~rinoiples. And ill tliesefew hours wl~icli ive ar e to speu ( l together yolllook to me, I am sm.e, for illforli~iztion onceni il~ gthe mind's olreratiolls, wlricll li ~a y nable you t ,!labor more easily and efyectively ill the sever;tlschoolrooms over mhiull you preside.

Fa r be it from me to discli~il~ior 1jsycholoM i l l ]title to sucli hopes. l'syahology ought cer t~ in l?to give the teacher radical llrll). And yet I con-fess that, scqoaillted I nlu ivitlr th e height ofsome of your expectations, 1 feel a little anxiou,and ' s tan d ing ' and o the r re tu rns of re su l t a reconcealed, the pupil is f rust rated of this natura!termination of the cycle of his activities, and of tellsuffers from the sense of inconlpleteness an d u ~ l -ce r ta in ty ; and the re a re pe rsons who de fend th issystem as en cou ragi ng th e pu pil to worlc for thrhwork 's sake , and no t fo r ex tra~ ieou s eward. 01course, here as elsewhere, concrete experiencemust prevail over psychological deduction. Bu t ,so far as our pspchological tleduction goes, itwould sugg est tha t the pupil 's cagei31iess o kilo\\how well he does is in the line of his normalcompleteness of functioli, a n d sllonlcl never bebalked except for very definite reasons indeed.

Ac qu ain t them , tlierefol-e, wit11 tlieir ma rks n:illstalldin g ant1 l)rospects , unless in tlie indix,ridualcase yo11 have some speci'd ;:rn;tioc~l reaL,on fo rllot so doi~~g;.


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sztbstitutiort or complicntiot~, tnd success in tJLr. , . fpre.supposes n .~;ympatJletic nccl~ cainta~ ~cc:t-it l , I ,rreactive tentfencies nativrZy t h p r p .1-1.

w i t h o u t a n e q u i p m e n t of native reactions 01 1NATIVE KEACTIOXS AN )ACQUIRED RE - the ch i ld' s pa r t , the teacher ~~rou lc lave no holtlACTIOSS whatever upon the child 's a ttention or conduct.

WE a re by th is t ime fu l ly launched upon the1,iological conception. 3Lan is an organism forreacting on ilnpressions: his mind is the re tolrcllr determine lris re:~ctiolrs,a~ i d he purpose ofhis educatioil is to make then1 numerous and per-fe ct. Ozrr v,lwoatio,z vzen?Ls, in short, little morei i ~ n , ~mass oif'possibilitdes o f reaction, acquired athome, at school. or in the traini ng of affairs. Th eteacher 's ta sk is tha t of superv is ing the acqu ir ingprocess.

This being the case, I wil l i i~ lmedia te ly ta te a~ ~ , i n c i p l olric l~ ullderlies the whole process ofi~cqu is i t iou nd governs the en t i re act iv i ty of theteacher. It is this :-

Everg .rcquirid reaction is, as a ?ale, either a~ .on~pl icn t io~zrafteil on a n a tb r ~ e n c t io n ,or a sub-stitute jTor r nrctioo retcction, toJ~ich he sanze ot iectnriginally tended t o provoke.

The tencl~er' .~rt coi~si.3t.s n hri~~gingbout the

You may take a horse to the water, bu t you call-no t make h im dr ink ; and so you may take a ch i l tlto the schoolroom, bu t yo11 canno t make him learilthe new th ings you wish to impart , excep t bJ-soliciting him in t he first instance b y somethingwhich natively makes him react. I le m u st t a k ethe first ste l) himself. H e mu st ($0 someth ingbefore you can get you r purchase oil him. Th atsometh ing may be someth ing good or someth ingbad. A bat1 reaction is better than no reactiorlat a ll; for, if had, you call couple i t wi th conse-quences which awake him to its badness. Bu timagine a child so life less as to react in no wayto the teacher's first appeals, and how can youpossib ly take the f i rs t s tep in h is educa t ion?

To make th is abst rac t concep t ion more con-crete, assum e the case of a young child 's tra iningin good manners. Th e child has a native ten-d e nc y to sn a t i l l w i th h i s l~ a n d s t a n y th in g tk d tattracts his curiosity ; also to draw hacl: his harltls


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when s lapped, to cry uncler tliese la t ter oonditions,to sm ile when gen t ly spo l;e :~ to , a l id to imita teone ' s gestu res .

S u p p o se 1 1 0 ~ ~ou apl)enr befo1.e thc child withnew toy irlte~lcletl as a 1)rasellt for 1;iril. N osooner does Ile see the toy tl1;~111eseclis t o s n a t c l ~it . To n sl al ) lle 11;tnd; i t i s wi t l l t l r ;~rv~i ,nd t l iechild cries. Yo11 the11 l~o ld 11) the toy , smil ingand say ing , bb Reg for it nicely,- so !" T h e c h i ldstops crying, in1it;ttes you, receives tlie toy, andcrows with p leasure ;nnd tha t l i t t le cyc le o f t ra in -in g is conlplete Y o u h a v e su b s t i t u t e d th e n e wreaction of begg ing ' fo r the na t ive reac t ion o fsna tch ing , when tha t 6 in d of in~pression omes.

Now, if the cliilc l hati no memory, the processwould iiot be educa t ive . No mat te r how of tenyou came in w i t h : toy, tlie same series of reac-t ions mould fa ta l ly occur , each ca l led fo r th by i tsow11 i~n pre ss io~ i see, sna tch : slap, c ~ y hear ,ask; receive, sliiile But , wit11 Inem oq- the re , th ech i ld , a t th e ve ry instan t of sn : t tch i iig , reca l ls t l ierest o i the ea r l ie r ex l)e r ience , th inks of t l ie slapa ~ t dh c f ru s tm t io n , r e c o ll e c ts t h e b e g g ~ n g n d th ereivarcl, irlli ibits thc slia tchirig inlpulse, su bst itut esth e ' nice ' ~ e u c t i o l l or i t , and ge t s the toy imm edi-a te ly , by e l irn i lln t ing a l l the i i i te rn ie d i~ ry teps . I f

;L c h ild 's f i r s t s~ i a t c l l i~ igln1)ulse be excessive or l l i hmemory poor, Inany repetitions of the clisciplint.may he needed before tile i ~ c q u i ~ o c leaction colliest o b e n li i ~ i g r a i ~ ~ c c !lalJit ; b u t il l ail enliilentl, .educab le ch i l t l a s ing le expe~ic l lc rwill suffice.

0 1 ie ca n e a s i l ~ * c ~ ) l s n e ~ i tlla rrholc process bybrain-cIiagranl. S u c h n cliagrarn call be l i t t l e m o rethan a syn ~bo l ic ransla t iol l o f the immedia te ex -p e ri e nc e i n t o s l ~ a t ~ n le rm s : ye t i t may be use fu l ,s o I sub jo in i t .

CENTi tLS 01 ' JIC:\IORY AX l ) WILL.

see - snatch slap -


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gether, represent the processes of memory and as-sociation which the reactions impress upon thehigher centres as they take place.


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44 TrlLI


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more in te l lec tua l fo rm, the i~ l lpu ls e oward com-pleter know ledge talies the characte r of scientificor philosophic cu rios ity. I11 1)otll its sensatio nal antiits ili te llectual form the il lsti~ ict s Inore vivacioust iu r ing c l l i ldhood an d y ou t l ~ han in af te r l i fe .Young children are possesseci by curiosity aboutevery new i inpressio il t ha t a ssai ls them. It mouldbe qu i te impossib le fo r a young ch i ld to l i s ten toa lec tu r e fo r more t llai l a few minu tes , a s you a renow l is ten ing t o n ie . Th e ou ts icle s igh ts andsounds mould inev i tab ly ca rry h is a t ten t ion off.And, fo r most peop le in midd le l i fe , the sor t o fintellectu al effort require d of th e average school-boy in maste r ing h is Greek o r La t in le sson , h isa lgebra or physics , would be ou t o f th e quest ion .Th e midd le -aged c i t izen a t ten ds exc lusive ly to t l ieroutine details of his business ; and i iew t ru ths ,e spec ia l ly when they requ ire invo lved t ra ins o fc lo se r e a s o n i ~ ~ g ,re no longer wi th in the scope ofhis capacity.

Th e sens ation al curiosity of childhood is ap-pea led to more pa r t icu la r ly by ce r ta in de te rmina tek inds o i ob jec ts . Mate r ia l th ings, th ing s tha tmove , l iv in g th in gs, human ac t ions nnci accountsof hurlian action, will win tllc a ttention better thananything that is 111o1.ea b s t~ n c t . H e re a g a in c om e s

ill the a dvan tage of tlie object-teaclliilg an d mnnu nl-t r a in in g m e th o d s. T l i e p u p il 's ;~ t t e n t io n s s l~ o n -trtneously lielcl by ariy problelii th at i~l vol ves liepresen ta t ion of a new mate r ia l ob jec t o r o factivity 011 any one ' s pa r t . T l ie teacher 's ea r l ie s tappeal:;, Illerefore, must be tlirougli 01)jccts shornllo r a c t s y e r fo r~ n e d r describ ed. Tlieol*etic curios-ity, cuiaiosity about the rational relatioils betweenth i llgs , ca l l ha rd ly be sa id to awake a t a l l un t i ladolescence is reached. Tlie sporaclic metaphysicalinquirie s of c liilc lren as to who made God, a iid w hythey have five fingers, tieecl liardlp be countedhere. Bu t , when the theore t ic inst inc t i s oncealive in the pupil, a il entir ely new order of peda-gogic relations begins for him. Reasons, causes,abstrac t concep t ions, sudden ly g row fu l l o f zest , afac t wi th which a l l teachers a re famil ia r. Ancl .bo th in i t s sensib le and in i t s ra t iona l deve lopments ,disinter ested curiosity inay be successfully appealedto in th e c h i ld w i th rnucli inore certainty than illthe adult, i l l who111 this i ntell ectu al inst inct hasgrown so to rp id as usua l ly never to awake un lessit e nter s into association with soiile selfish pers onalinterest. Of tliis la tt er point I wil l say moreanon .


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IMITATION AND E~IGLATIOX 40

J i ~ i t n t i o t ~ .Man llas alxvays I~eeii1.ecognizeel asthe i in i ta t ive an imal p a r e x c e l l ~nc c . Ancl there is11xrdl~- book on psychology, lio~vever ltl , whichhas no t devo ted a t least one lmragraph t o th isfac t . Tt is stra nge, hoxvever, tl int t he full scop eancl pregnancy of the imitativ e iml ~u lse n marlhas had to wait ti l l t l ie last doze11years t o becomeadequately recognizecl. M. T:lrde lee1 tlle way inhis admirably original ~vorl;, " Les Lois tle 1 'Imita-tion " ; and ir i ou r own cou i i t ry Professors I ioyceitlicl Baldwil l have kep t the ba l l ro l l ing with a l lthe energ y th at coul(1 be desired. Each of us isin f a c t w h a t h e is t~h uos t xclusive ly by v ir tue ofliis imitativeness. W e become conscious of whatwe ourselves are by imita t ing o the rs - the con-sciousness of wlia t the others are I~reeed es- hesens e of self g rows by the sense o f pa t te rn .Th e entire accum ulated we:~ltl i of lilankinci-language s, arts, institution s, an d scienccs- spassee l on from one genera t ion to ano the r by w ha tBaldwin has called social heredity, eacli genera-t io n s im p ly im i t a t in g th e l a s t. In to th e p a r t ic u -lars of thi s most fasc inating o1lal)ter of psycho logyT have no time to go. 'J'lie inornent on e hear sTarde's 11ropositioli u t t e re d , l~ o w e v e r , n e f e e l show supr eme ly tr ue it is. Iliveritiorr, using the

term most b roadly, anel inlita tion, are t he twolegs, so to call them, on which the human raceh is to r ica l ly has wa lked .

Imita t ion shades impercep t ib ly in to emu la ti or^.Emula t ion is the impulse to imita te wha t you seeano the r do ing , in o rde r no t to appear in fe r io r ; andi t i s h a rd to d ra m a sh a rp h i e l~ e tm e e i i h e m a ni -festations of the two impulses, so inextricably dothe y mix their effects. Emulati011 is the verynerve of hu man soc ie ty. W h y a re you , lny hea r-e rs , s i t t ing he re be fore m e? If no one whom yonever hea rd of hac l a t tend ed a summ er school ' orteachers ' inst i tu te , woulci i t have occurrecl to a n jone o f you to b reak ou t in dependen t ly and do ath ing so uiiprescribecl 1)y fashion ? P ro b a b ly n o t.Nor would your pnp i ls come to xou un less thechildren of their parents' neighbors were all simul-taneously be ing sen t to school . W e wish no t tobe lonely or eccentrio, ant1 we wish not to be cutoff f rom our sha re in th ings which to our neigh-bors seem desirable privileges.

I n th e sc l~oo lroon l , mita t ion an d emula t ion p layabso lu te ly v i ta l pa r ts . Ev ery teacher knows t l ieadvan tage of hav ing ce r ta in th ings pe rfo rm ed bywhole bancls of children a t a time. Th e teacherwho mee ts wi th most success is the teacher whose


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50 TALKS 'CO TEACHERSo w n ways are the most imitable. A teachersllould never try to nlalre the pupils do a thingmhicll slle caullot do herself. Come and le t meshow you how " is an inconlparably better stimu-lus than "Go and do it as the book directs."Childre11 adinire a teacher who has skill. Wh athe does se e~lls asy, and they wish to emulate it.I t is useless for a dull and devitalized teacher toexhort her pupils to wake up and take an interest.She must first take one herself; then her exampleis effective as no exhortation can possibly be.

Every school has its tone, moral and intellect-ual. And this tone is a mere tradition kept up byimitation, due in the first instance to the exampleset by teachers and by previous pupils of an ag-gressive and dominating type, copied by theothers, and passed on from year to year, so thatthe new pupils take the cue almost immediately.Snch a tone changes very slowly, if at all; andthen always under the modifying influence of newpersonalities aggressive enough in character to setnew patterns and not merely to copy the old.Th e classic example of this sort of toile is theoften quoted case of Rugby under Dr. Arnold'sadministration. He impressed his own characteras a model on t he imagination of the oldest boys,

who in turn were expected and required to im-press theirs upon the younger set. The conta-giousness of Arnold's genius was such that aRugby man was said to be recognizable allthrough life by a peculiar turn of character whichhe acquired at school. I t is obvious tha t psychol-ogy as such can give in this field no precepts ofdetail. As in so many othe r fields of teaching,success depends mainly on the native genius ofthe teacher, the sympathy, tact, and perceptionwhich enable him to seize the right moment andto set the right example.

Among the recent modern reforms of teachingmethods, a certain disparagement of emulat ion, asa laudable spring of action in the schoolroom, hasoften made itself hearcl. More than a century

/ago, Rousseau, in his ' Emile,' branded rivalry be-tween one pupil and another as too base a pas-sion to play a part in an ideal education. "L etdmile," he said, 66 never be led to compare himselfto other children. No rivalries, not even in run-ning, as soon as he begins to have the power ofreason. It were a hundred ti ~n es etter that heshould not learn at all what he could only learnthrough jealousy or vanity. Bu t I would markout every year the progress he may have made,


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52 TALKS TO TEACHERS ITS USEFULNESS I N THE SCHOOTAROO~I 53

and 1would compare it with the progress of thefollowing years. I would say to him : ' You arenow grown so many inches taller; there is theditch which you jumped over, there is the burdenwhich you raised. There is the distance to whichyou could throw a pebble, there the distance youcould ruli over without losing breath. See howmuch more you can do now ! Thus I should ex-cite him wi thout making h im jealous of any one.He ~vouldwish to surpass himself. I can see noinconvenience in this emulation with his formerself."

Unquestionably, emulation with one's formerself is a noble form of t he passion of rivalry, andhas a wide scope in the train ing of the young.Bu t to veto and taboo all possible rivalry of oneyouth with another, because such rivalry maydegenerate into greedy and selfish excess, doesseem to savor somewhat of sentimentality, or evenof fanaticism. The feeling of rivalry lies a t thevery basis of our being, all social improvementbeing largely due to it. There is a noble andgenerous kind of rivalry, as well as a spiteful andgreedy kind ; and the noble ancl generous form isparticularly common in childhood. All games owethe zest which they bring with thein to th e fact

that they are rooted in the emulous passion, yetthey are the chief means of training in fairness andmagnanimity. Can the teacher afford to throwsuch an ally awa y? Ought we seriously to hopethat marks, distinctions, prizes, and other goals ofeffort, based on the pursuit of recognized superior-ity, should be forever banished from our schools ?As a psychologist, obliged to notice the deep andpervasive character of the emulous passion, I mustconfess my doubts.

The wise teacher will use this instinct as heuses others, reaping its advantages, and appealingto it in such a way as to reap a maximum ofbenefit with a minimum of ha rm; for, after all, wemust confess, with a French critic of Rousseau'sdoctrine, tha t the deepest spring of action in us i:;the sight of action in another. The spectacle ofeffort is what awakens and sustains our own ef-fort. No runner running all alone on a race-trackwill find in his own will the power of stimulatiorlwhich his rivalry with other runners incites, whenhe feels them at his heels, about to pass. When :ttrotting horse is 'speeded,' a running horse mustgo beside liim to keep him to the pace.


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54 TALICS TO TEACHERSAs irni tatio~l licles illto enlulation, so eillulation

slides into Awrbi t io?~;and ambition coililects itselfclosely \~ it li r ~ g s a c i t ym~il r i d e . Consequently,these five instinctive tenclencies form an inter-col~nectecl roup of factors, hard to separate in the(let e~mination of a great deal of ou r conduct.Th e Ambitious InzpuZses would perhaps be thebest name for the whole group.

Prid e ailcl pugnacity have of ten been considereduilworthy passions to appeal to in the young.But in their more refined and noble forms theyplay a great part in the schoolroom and in educa-tion generally, being in some characters most po-tent spurs to effort. Pugnacity need not bethought of merely in the form of physical com-bativeness. I t can be taken in the sense of a gen-eral ~uiwillil lgness o be beaten by any kind ofdifficulty. I t is what makes us feel ' stu mped 'and challenged by arduous achievements, and isessential to a spirited and enterprising character.W e have of la te been hea ring nlucli of thephilosophy of tenderness i11 education ; interest 'mus t be assicluously awakened in eve rything, diffi-culties must be smootl~eclaway. S o f t pedagogicshave taken the place of the old steep and rockypath to learning. But from this lukewarm air the

bracing oxygen of effort is left out. I t is nonse~lseto suppose that every stell in education can be in-teresting. The fighting impulse inust often be ap-pealed to. Make the pupil feel ashamed of beingscared at fractions, of being ' downed ' by the lamof fa lling bodies; rouse his pugnacity and pride,and he will rush at the difficult places with a sortof inner wrath a t himself that is one of his bestmoral faculties. A victory scored under such con-ditions becomes a turning-point and crisis of hischaracter. It represents the high-water mark ofhis powers, and serves thereafter as an ideal pat-tern for his self-imitation. The teacher who neverrouses this sort of pugnacious exc itement in hispupils falls shor t of one of his best forms of use-fulness.

b

The next instinct which I shall mention is thatof OwnersT~ip , lso one of the radical endomnientsof the race. It often is the antagonist of imita-tion. Wheth er social progress is due more tothe passion for keeping old tl~i ilg s ncl habits or tothe passion of imi tating and acquiring nenT cjilesmay in some cases be a difficult tlliilg to decide.The sense of ownershi l~ egins ill the secoild yearof life. Anlong the first words ~v hic han infant


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56 TALKS TO TEACHERSUTILITY OF THE COLLECTIXG IMPULSE 57

learns to utter are the words my' and t mine,'and Tyoe to th e parents of twins who fail to pro-~ i d e heir gifts in duplicate. The depth andljriniitiveness of this ins tinc t would seem to casta sort of psychological discredit in advance uponall radical forms of communistic utopia. Pri vateproprietorship caililot be practically abolished un-til hulnan na ture is changed. It seems essentialto mental health that the individual should havesomething beyond the bare clothes on his back towhich he can assert exclusive possession, andwhich he may defend adversely against the world.Even those religious orders who make the moststringent vows of poverty have found it necessaryto relax the rule a little in favor of the humanIleart made unhappy by reduction to too disinter-estecl terms. The monk must have his books:the nun must have her little garden, and theimages and pictures in her room.

111 education, the instinct of ownership is f un-clamental, ancl can be appealed to in many ways.I11 the house, training in order and neatness be-gills with the arrangement of the child's ownbpe~sonalpossessions. 111 the school, ownershipis particularly important in connection with oneof it s specin1 fornls of ac tivi ty, the collecting im-

pulse. An object possibly not very interestingin itself, like a shell, a postage stamp, or a singlemap or drami~lg,mill acquire an interest if it fillsa gap in a collection or helps to complete a series.Much of the scholarly work of the worlcl, so faras it is inere bibliography, memory, and erudition(ancl this l ies at the basis of all our human scholar-ship), ~vould een1 to owe its interest rather to theway in which it gratifies the accumulating and col-lecting instinct thail t o any special appeal whichit makes to our cravings after rationality. Amail wishes a complete collection of information,wishes to know more about a subject than any-body else, much as another may wish to ownmore dollars or more early editions or more en-gravings before the letter than anybody else.

The teacher who can work this impulse intothe school tasks is fortunate. Almost all childrencollect something. A tactful teacher may getthein to take pleasure in collecting books; inkeeping a neat and orderly collection of notes ; instarting, when they are mature enough, a. cardcatalogue; in preserving every drawing or inapwhich they may make. Neatness, order, andmethod are thus instinctively gained, along withthe other benefits wliich the possession of the


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THE TRANSITOIZIXESS O F ISSTINCTS 61cupy tl ~ e upil in a way lnost congruous with thespontaneous interests of his age. The y absorblliill, and leave impressions durable and profound.Coillparecl with the youth ta ught by these methods,one brougllt u p exclusively by books carriesthrough life a certain renloteness froill reality :he stands, as i t were, out of the pale, and feelsthat he stands s o; and often suffers a kind ofmelancholy from which he might have been res-cuecl by a more real education.

There are other impulses, such as love of appro-bation or vanity, shyness and secretiveness, ofwhich a word might be sai d; but they are toofamiliar to need it . You can easily pursue thesubject by your ornil reflection. The re is onegeneral lam, however, that relates to many of ourinstinctive tendencies, and that has no little irnpor-tance in education ; and I must refer to it brieflybefore I leave the subject. I t has been called thelaw of transitoi,iness in ins tinc ts. Many of ouriinp):llsive tendencies ripen at a certain period ;and, if the appropriate objects be then and th ereprovided, habits of coi lduct toward the m are ac-quired whiclt last. But , if the objects be not forth-coming then, the impulse may die out before a

habit is formed ; and later it may be hard to teachthe creature to react appropriately in those direc-tions. The sucking instincts in mammals, thefollowing instinct in certain birds and quadrupeds,are es,tnlples of th is : they fade away shortly afterbirth.

In children we observe a lipening of impulsesand interests in a, certain determinate order.Creeping, walking, clinibing, imitating vocalsounds, constructing, drawing, calculating, pos-sess the child in succession; and in some chil-dren the possession, while it lasts, may be of asemi-frantic anci exclusive sort. Later, the inter-est in any one of these things may wholly fadeaway. Of course, the proper pedagogic momentto work skill in, and to clench the useful habit, iswhen the native impulse is rrlost ac utely present.Crowd oil the athl etic opportunities, the mentalarithmetic, the verse-learning, the drawing, thebotany, or what not, the moment you have reasonto thi nk the hour is ripe. The hour nlay not lastlong, and while it continues you may safely letall the child's other occupations take a secondplace. I n this way you economize time anddeepen skill ; for many an infant prodigy, artis-tic or mathematical, has a flowering epoch of buta few montlts.


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62 TALICS TO TEAC:HERS I;AD AND GOOD BEHAVIOR 63

Olie can draw no specific rules for all this. I tdepends on close observation in the articularcase, and parents here have a great advantageover teachers. I n fact, the law of transitorinesshas litt le chance of individualized application inthe schools.

Such is the little interested and impulsive psy-chophysical organism whose springs of action theteacher must divine, and to whose ways he mustbecome accustomed. He must sta rt with the na-tive tendencies, and enlarge the pupil's entire pas-sive and active experience. He must ply himwith new objects ancl stimuli, and make him tastethe fruits of his behavior, so that now th at wholecontext of remembered experience is what shalldetermine his conduct when he gets the stimulus,and not the bare immediate impression. As thepupil's life thus enlarges, it gets fuller and fullerof all sorts of memories and associations and sub-stitutions; but the eye accustomed to psychologi-cal analysis will discern, underneath i t all, theoutlines of our simple psychophysical scheme.

Respect then, I beg you, always the originalreactions, even when you are seeking to overcometheir connection with certain objects, and to sup-

plalit them with others that you wish to make therule. Bad behavior, from the point of view ofthe teacher's art, is as good a starting-point asgood behavior. I11 fact, l~nradoxical as it maysound to say so, i t is ofteri a better starting-pointthan good behavior woulcl be.

The acquired reactions must be made habitualwhenever they are appropriate. Therefore Habitis the next subject to which your attention isinvited.


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HAI~ ITA SECOXD NATURE 65

VIII.THE LAWS OF HABIT

IT s very important tha t teachers should realizethe importance of habit, and psychology helpsus greatly at this point. We speak, it is true, ofgood habits and of bad habit s; but, when peopleuse the word ' habit,' in the majority of instances itis a bad hitbit which they have in mind. Theytalk of the smoking-habit and the swearing-habitnncl the drinking-habit, but not of the abstention-Iiitbit or the moderation-habit or the courage-habit. Bu t the fact is tha t our virtues are habitsas much as our vices. All our life, so far as ithas definite form, is bu t a mass of habits,-prac-tical, emotional, and intellectual,- systematicallyorganized for our weal or woe, and bearing usirresistibly toward our destiny, whatever the lat-ter inay be.

Since pupils can understand this a t a compara-tively early age, and since to urlderstalld it con-tributes in no sinall measure to th eir feeling ofresponsibility, i t would be well if the teacher were

able himself t o ta lk to theill of the philosophy ofhabit in some sucli abstract terms as I an1 nowabout to talk of it to you.

I believr that we we subject to the law of habitin consequence of the fact tha t we have bodies.The plasticity of the living mat ter of our nervoussystem, in short, is th e reason why we clo a tliing

I ~ i t hifficulty the first time, but soon do it moreand more easily, and finally, with sufficient prac-

I tice, do it semi-mechanically, or with hardly anyconsciousness at all. Our nervous systems have(in Dr. Carpenter's words) yrozun to the way in1 which they have been exercised, just as a sheet of

II paper or a coat, once creased or folded, tends toI fall forever afterward into the same identical1 folds.

Habit is thus a second nature, or rather, as theDuke of Wellington said, it is 'ten times nature,'-at any rate as regards its importance in adultlife ; for the acquired liabits of our training haveby t hat time inhibited or strangled most of th enatural impulsive tendencies which were origi-nally there. Ninety-nine hundredths or, possibly,nine hundred and ninety-nine thousandths of ouractivity is purely automatic an d habitual, from ourrising in the morning to our l ying down each


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TALKS TO TEACHERS

night. Our dressiilg and undressing, our eating 1arid tlrinking, our greetings and partings, our hat-raisillgs and giving way for ladies to precede, nay,eve11 most of the forills of our conlinon speech, are 1liings of a type so fixed by repetition as almost to Ibe classed as reflex actions. To each so rt of ini- I

pression we have an automatic, ready-made re-sponse. My very words to you now are an exam-ple of what I mean ; for having already lectured Iupon habit and printed a chapter about it in abook, and read tlie latter when in print, I find mytongue inevitably falling into its old phrases andrepeating almost literally what I said before.

So far as we are thus mere bundles of habit, weare stereotyped creatures, imitators and copiers ofour past selves. And since this, under ally cir-c~uns tances, s what we always tend to become,it follows first of all that the teacher's prime con-cern should be to ingrain into the pupil tha t as-sortment of habits th at shall be most useful tohiin throughout life. Education is for behavior,and habit s are the stuff of which behavior consists.

To quote my earlier book directly, the greatth ing in all education is to malce ou,r rLerv0u.s sys-tem orcr ally instead of 0167 enemy. I t is to fundand capitalize our accyuisitioils, and live a t ease

up011 the interest of the fund. POThis zue 7122~slmake nutonlafie rlnd habitual, as early as possible,as mully lcsefi~l trctio~~rs W P C(Z?L,nd :IS carefullyguard against the growilig illto way.; that nlclikely to be tlist~dvantageons. The Inore of tlicdetai ls of our daily life we call lmnd over to theeffortless custody of automatism, the more ourhigher powers of mind will I)e set free for theirown proper work. 'I'hel-e is no n1ol.e miserablehuman being than one in ~ ~ 1 1 0 1 1 1iotliing is habit-ual but indecision, and for ~vhoni ?le lighti ng ofevery cigar, the clrinkiilg of every cup, tlie timeof rising allcl going to bed every clay, and thebeg inning of every bit of worlc are subjects ofexpress volitional deliberation. Ful l half the timeof snch a nian goes to the deciding or regre ttingof matters which ought to be so ingrained in himas practicallj- not to exist for his conscions~~esstall. If there be sucll daily cluties not yet ill-grained in any one of my hearers, let hiin beginthis very hour to set the inatter right.

In Professor Bain's c11al)ter on 'T he MoralHabits' there are some admirable practical re-marks laid down. Two grea t ni:txims emergefrom the treatment. The first is tha t in the ac-quisition of a new habit, or the leaving off of rill


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68 TALKS TO TEACHECS 1old one , we n ~ u s t ake ca re to l a zcnch o~ i rse l ve*wit?' a s s t y o r ~ y ) ~ dlecitletl arb initiative as p o s s i b l ~ .Accumula te a l l the possib le c i rcun ls tances whichshall re inforce the right motives ; put yourselfassiduously ill conditions th at encourag e th e new Iway; make engagements illcompatiblc wit11 theold; take a public pledge, if the case allows; insh o r t , e nv e lo p e y o u r r e s o lu t io ~ ~ i tl i e v e ry n i c iy o u k n o w . T h i s w i l l g iv e y o u r n ew b e g in n i i~ gs u ch a ~ i ~ o m e n t u mlia t the tempta t ion to b reakdown will not occur as soon as it otherwise rnight ;and every clay dur ing which n bre akdow n is post-poned adds to t l ~ c hances of i t s no t occurr inga t a l l.I reirle lnber long ago readi ng in an A ust rian

paper the advertisement of a ce r ta in RudolphSomebody, who pronliseci fifty gulden reward toally one who xfter t1i;lt date should find hinl a tthe wine-shop of Xmbrosius So-and-so. ' T h i s Ido,' the: adver tisem ent continued , ' n consequenceof a promise which I have made my wife. ' W it hsuch a wife , ailci suc h all unde rstallding of theway in mhic li to s ta r t new hab i ts , i t would t )esa fe to s take o~le ' snloiiey on Ituciolph's u lti ma tesuccess.

T h e seconcl nlasi111 is, N e oe r s t ~ j ' e rr11, cl.ct.ceptiorr

fo occlo' till tho 11rw kts6it i x sr'(:~ir.cly ooted in yourl f i . Each lapse is lil ic the le ttin g fall of a ball ( fst r ing w hich one is ca re fu l ly win t l iag u p : L sing lcsl ip undoes more t l i: tn n g rea t many tu r ns wil lwind again. Coiitiuuity O F t l-;lining is the greatn lea i~ s f m a lc i~ ig he ne rvous syste in ac t in fa l l iblyright. A s I'rofessor Iiaiil says :-

" Tlie peculiarity of tlie inoi-a1 labits, coutrad is-t ingu ish ing t lle li l f ro rn the i i~ te l l ec tua l acqu is i -tions, is t l ie presence of tw o hostile powers, on eto be graclually nrised into the ascendant over theother. I t is llecessary above all things, in suc h asi tua t ion , never to lose a ba t t le . Ever y ga in 011the wrong side uncioes tlie effect of many C O I L -quests O I I the right. Th e essential 1)1.ecautioil.therefore, is so to regulate the two opposingp o w e rs th a t t h e n ~ le n a y h a v e ir serie:, of uniil-terrupted successes, until repetition has fortified itt o s u c h n degree as to enab le i t to cope with theopposi tion , under a l ly c i rcumstn~ices . Th is is t hetheoretically best career of 1ne11tal pvogre ss."A th ir d niaxirn inay I)e atltled to the p reced ingpair : LS'eiz~ th e L1er!/ st 2)os.~i711~~ , ~ o i . t i t n l t y~ ,c t

o n P w ry r ~ o s o l z ~ t i o ~ ~o u ~riake. lrt,ci O ) L P U P ~ J rz i i ln-t i o n a l p r o ~ i / p t i ~ / go11 vzc(y e . r p e r i ~ ~ / c ~t1 t?t,o (!ire(.-/ f ? k t / to . I t is not ill


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tlicl tnoment of their forrning, but in tlle 11lolne11tof their producing noto or effects, that resolves anda:spirations communicate the new ' set ' to thelxain.

No matter 11ow full a reservoir of lnaxirns oneIi lnj- possess. aiicl no matt er horn goocl one's senti-lnents may be, if one have not taken advantage ofevery coiicrete opportuuity to act, one's charactermay remain entirely unaffected for tlle better.With goocl intent ions, hell proverbially is paved.This is au obvious consequence of the principlesI have laid down. il cl-iaracter,' as J. S. Mill says,is a completelj- f:sshionecl will ' ; and a will, in thesense in whicli he means it, is an aggregate of

tendencies to act in a fir111 and prompt and defi-nite way upon all the principal emergencies oflife. A tendency to act only becomes effectivelyingrained in us iu proportion to the utlinterruptedfrequency wit11 which the actions actually occur,ancl the brain grows ' to their use. When a re-solve or a fiue glow of feeling is allowecl to evap-orate ~vitlloutbearing practical fruit, it is worsethan a chance lost: it worlis so as positively tollinder future resolutions and emotions from tak-i l ~ g he norlual path of discharge. There is nomore contemptible tyl) e of hulllali character thi~l l

that of the nerveless scntime:ltalist ;sntl tlreainer,who spends his life in a weltering sea of sensibil-ity, but never does ;I co nc ~et e 11;u11~-eed.

This leads to :L hurt11 luiixinl. Don't preachtoo mu ch to your. 1~~21 il .v7. ( ib0,[7r ,~I / !/oo (i trtlil" L / Lthu obstruct. Ti e ill wait rather for the practicalopportunities, be prompt to seize those as the:-pu s, :u~cl hus at one operation get your pupilsboth to think, to feel, al ~t l o do. T l ~ etrokes ofbel~trvior are what give the new set to the charac-ter , and ~ o r l illc gootl habits into its organictissue. I'~*e;iclling ant1 t:slliing too soon becoinean ineffectual bore.

There is a passage ill I ) ; L I ' R ~ ~ I ~ ' sliort auto-biography which has been often quoted, andwhich, for t,he sake of it s bearing 011 our subjectof habit, I 1ll11st now quo te again. 1)arwin says :" Up to the age of tliir ty or beyond it , poetry ofmany kinds gave me great pleasure : and even asa schoolboy I tooli intense delight ill Shakesl)eare,especially in the historical plays. I liave also saitlthat pictures formerly gave nle cotlsiderable, andmusic very great delight. I3ut ]low for Inany years1 cannot endure to read n line of poetry. I havetried lately to read Shakespeare, and found i t so


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'72 TALKS TO TE:ACHERSilltolerably dull that it nauseated nle. I have alsoalmost lost my taste for pictures or music. . . .Mymind seems to have become a kind of machine forgri ndi l~g eneral laws o ut of large collections off:~cts but why this should have caused the atrophyof t hat part of the brain alone, on which the highertastes depend, I cannot conceive. . . . If I had tolive my life again, I would have made a rule toread some poetry and listen to some music atleast once every week; for perhaps the parts ofmy brain now atrophied would thus have beenkept alive through use. The loss of these tastes isa loss of happirless, and may possibly be injuriousto the intellect, and more probably to the moralcharacter, by enfeebling the emotional part of ournature."

We all intelitl whe~iyoung to be all that maybecome a man, before the dest royer cu ts us down.We wish alld expect to enjoy poetry always, togrow more alld more intelligent about picturesand music, to keep irl toucll with spir itua l andreligious ideas, and eve11 not to let the greaterphilosophic thvughts of our time develop quitebeyond our \.iew. We lueml all this in youth, Isay; and yet ill ho~vmany middle-aged lllell ant1women is snch all l~o nes t ncl s:tngnilie e~pect at io n

fulfilled ? Surely, in comparatively few ; and thelaws of habit show us why. Some inter est in eachof these things arises in everybody at the properage ; but, if not persistently f ed with the appropri-ate matter, instead of growing into a powerful andnecessary habit, it atrophies and dies, choked bythe rival interests to which the daily food isgiven. We make ourselves into Darwiils in thisnegative respect by persistently ignoring the es-sential practical conditions of our case. W e sayabstractly: " T mean to enjoy poetry, and to ab-sorb a lot of it, of course. I fully intend to keepup my love of music, to read the books tha t shallgive new turns to the thought of my time, to keepmy higher spiritual side alive, etc." But we donot attack these things concretely, and we do notbegin to-day. We forget that every good that isworth possessing must be paid for in strokes ofdaily effort. We postpone and postpone, untilthose smiling possibilities are dead: Whereas tenminutes a day of poetry, of spiritual reading ormeditation, ant1 311 hour or two a week at music,pictures, or philosophy, provided we began no wand suffered no remission, would infallibly giveus in due time the fulness of all me desire. Byueglecting tlle l~rcessarp oncrete labor, by sparing


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ourselves the little rlaily tax, we ;Ire positilelydigging th e graves of our higher possibi l i t ies.Thi.: i i a po i l i t co i ~ce r i ~ i ~ l g:hid you teacherst:lig!lt we11 giv e a l i t t le t imely information to youroltler axid more aspiring pupils.

According as :L functio n r~ceivr: .; dai ly exerciseor lint, the ma11 become.; :t clitfel-ellt ki nd of bei ngi r ~ ate r life. ha\rc 1aiel.r llittl a nu mb er ofaccomplished Hincloo visito1.s : ~ t ambridge, whotalk ed freely of life slit1 l~h ilos oph y. More tha11onr of them has confided t o me tha t the s ight ofour faces , a l l cont rac ted as th ry are wi th the habi t -ual Am erican over-intensi ty allcl :~n xiet y f expres-s ion, and our ungraceful and di s tor ted a t t i tudesmhen si t t ing, made on him a very painful impreh-sion. " I do no t see," said one, L b how it is possiblefor you to l ive as you clo, wi thout a single m il lutein your day del iberately given to tranquil l i ty al iclmeditat ion. Tt is al l invariable part of o ur Hi l~ do olife to ret ire for a t least half an ho ur t lai ly intosi lence, to relax o ur muscles, govern ou r breathing,and medi ta te 011 eternal thi i lgs. Ev ery Hindoocliild is trained to this f1.0111 :t very early age."Th e good frui t s of such a discipl ine were obviousin the physical repose and lack of tension, andthe wol~t ler f~l lr t ~oo t l ~nes s111tl cn lm ~i essoE facial

express ion, ancl i~npe~~t i l z .ba l~iXt~-f manner ofthese Orientals. I fel t t l lst lily cou~l t r ym e i iweredepriving themselves of an essential grace of char-acter . HOWmany American childre11 ever heal. ibsaid, by parent or teacher, that they shou ld moder-ate th eir pie rci ng v oices, tlrs t t11t.1- sliolild r ela xtheir unused muscles, and as far as possible, whensi t t ing, si t quite st i l l? Not olle ixi ;t thousand,not one in f ive thousand ! Yet, fro111 its reflexinfluence on tlie inner mental states, tliis ceaselessover-tension, over-motion, and over-expression areworking on u s gr ievous i l a t io i~a l a rm.

I beg you teachers to thi l~lca little seriously ofth i s mat ter . Perhap s you can help our r i s ing gen-erat ion of Ainericans toward the beginning of abetter set of personal ideals.*

To go back ] low to our genera l maxims, I ma yat last , as a f if th and final pract ical maxiin abouthabits , offer something l ike this : Keep t he f acu l t yof e$ort alive in you by a l i t t le grat?slto?cs exerciseevery day. That is , be systematical ly heroic inl i t t le unnecessary points, do every day or twosomething for no other reason than i t s t l iEcul ty ,SO that , mhen the hour of dire need draw s nish , it

See the Addres~ u t l ~ e ospel of Re:arcat:(~n, ater il l this volume.


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]nay find you not unnerved and untrained to standthe test. Asceticism of this sort is like the insur-ance which a inttri pays on his house and goods.The tax does him no good at the time, and possi-My may never bring him a return. But , if the firerloes come, his haviilg paid it will be his salvatiorlfrom ruin. So with the man who llas daily inuredliimself to habits of concentrated att ention, ener -getic volition, a nd self-denial in unnecessary things.IIe will stand like a tower when everything rocksaround him, and liiri softer fellow-mortals are win-nowed like chaff ill the blast.

I have been accused, JvIlen talk ing of the sub-ject of habit, of making olcl habits appear sostrong that th e acquiring of new ones, and partic-nlarly anything like a sudden reform or conver-sion, would be made impossible by my doctrine.Of course, this would suffice to conde~nl i he l at-ter; for sudden conversions, however infrequentthey may be, uricyuestionably do occur. Bu t thereis no incompat ibility betweell the general 1an.s I!lave laid down and tht: rnost startling sudden;~lter ation s n the Ji7ajrof character. New Iinbits,*un e 1;~unched. 11;~ve xpressly saici, on co i~di -tion of t11el.e lw i~ tg 1cw stimuli allti lienr excite-

lnents. Now life abounds in these, and sometimesthey are such critical and revolutioriary experi-ences that they change ;L man's whole scale ofvalues arid sys tem of ideas. I n such cases, theold order of his habits will be ruptured; and, ifthe new motives are lasting, new habits will beformed, and build up in hini a new or regener-ate ' nature.'

All this kind of fact I fully allow. But thegeneral laws of habi t are no wise altered thereby,and the physiological study of men tal coilditionsstill remains on the whole the most powerful allyof horta tory ethics. Th e lie11 to be endured here-after, of which theology tells, is no worse than thehell we make for ourselves in this world by habit-ually fashioning our characters in the wrong way.Could the you~lg ut realize how soon they willbecome mere walking bunciles of habits , theymould give more heed to their conduct while inthe plastic state. We art: spirinirig our own fates,good or evil, and never to be ulidone. Eve rysmallest stroke of virtue or of vice leaves it snever-so-little scar. Th e drunke n Rip Va n Win-kle, in Jefferson's play, excuses liimself for everyfresh dereliction by saying, " I won't count thistime!" Well, he may not count it, and killciHeaven may not count it ; bu t i t is I~e i~ lgounted


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nolie the less. Dow11 am ong ]!is ~ ~ e l , v e - c e l l snt1fibres the rnolecules are coun ting it , registeringand sto r ing i t I I ~o be nsed against hini when thelie st temptatioli comes. Xothiilg we ever do is,i11 stric t scielitiiic litera llless, m ipetl out .

Of course, tli is has its good side as well as i tsbad one. A s we l~ecom e e r inaneu t d ru nkard s 1)yso Inany separate clria l;~,so we become saints illthe moral, and anthorities ant1 exl7erts in tliepractical and scientific spheres, by so r~ la ny e1)i-L-rate acts antl hours of work. Le t ilo you th havea l ly anx ie ty about the upsho t o f h is educat '011.whatever th e l ine of i t may bc. Tf he keep faitll-fu l ly busy each l iour c ~ f he murlcing day, he nlaysafely leave th e final result to itself. H e can wit11perfect certainty collrlt 011 ~v:~lc ing p some f i11c lm o rn in g t o find him3elf o:le of the compe ten tones of his gel~el.a tion , ill ~vh nte ver lrursuit hc.may ]lave singled ont. Silently, between all thedetails of his business, the polrfet- c!f judging il la l l t h a t C!~LSS of l i la t ter wi l l have b u i l t i t se lf ui)within liini as a 1)ossessio:1 th i ~ twill never passaway. Yoling people s l l ou ld 1~1:on- his tr ut h ill.advance. Tlle ignorance of i t has p robab ly en-gend ered more d iscourag ement ancl faint-hearted-ness in you ths em bark ing on a rduous ca ree rstharl a ll othel, causes pu t tog ether.

THE: , I S S O C I X T l O S OF IDEAS1~ my Inst ta lk , in t rea t in g o f Habit , I chiefly

had in mind our motor habits,-habits of exter nalconduc t. Bu t our th ink ing and fee l ing p rocessesa re a lso la rge ly s ub jec t to the law of hab i t , andone resu lt of t his is n pbeilomenon wliich you allk n o w u n d e r th e n a m e of ' he as sociatioil of ideas.'T o t h a t p h en o m e no n I ask you now to tu1.n.

You remember that consciousness is all ever-flowing strean1 of objects, feelings, and il~lp ulsiv etendenc ies . W e saw a lready tha t i t s phases orpulses are like so m any fields or waves, eachfield o r wave hav ing usua l ly i t s cen tra l po in t o fliveliest a tten tion, in th e shape of tlie most promi-nen t ob jec t in our thought , whi le a l l a round th islies a margin of othe r objects more dim ly realized,together w ith the lllargill of emotional an dactive tendencies which the whole entails. De-sc r ib ing the mind thu s in f lu id te rms, we c l ing asc lose as possib le to na tu re . A t f i rs t s igh t , it m ig h tseem as if, in t he fluidity of t hese sllccessive waves,


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e v e ry th in g i s i n cl e te n nin ate . B u t i n sp e c t io ~ ~shows tha t each wave has a const i tu t ion wll ic l~can be to some degree exp la ined b y the const i tu -tion of the wa ves just passed ;twity. 14i1d th isrelation of th e w ave to it s pretlecessors is expressedby the two func lamenta l ' laws of association,' so-cillled, of which the first is n a m e d th e T , i t ~ fCont igu i ty , th e second tha t o f S imila r i ty .

T h e L aw o Contiguify tells 11s that objectst l loug l l t of in the com ing wave a re such as in someprevious experience mere ~he.ct o th e ob jec ts repre-sen ted in the wave tha t i s passing away . Tl levarlishing objects were once formerly tlzeir neigh-bors in the mind . Wh e n y o u rec i t e t h e a lp h a b e to r you^ prayers, or when the s igh t o f an ob jec treminds you of i t s name , o r the name rem inds youof th e o l~ je c t , t i s t h ro ~ lg l l he 1arv of contiguitytha t the te r ins a re suggeste tl to the mill tl .

'l'lle Law o Similnritg says t l la t , when con t igu-i ty fa i ls to descr ibe w ha t happens, the comingobjects will prove to resemble the go ing ob jec ts .c lven tllougll the tw o were never experiencedtogether before. In our fliglits of fancy, ' this i yfrequently tlle case.

I f , a rrest ing ourse lves in the Aow of reverie,w e a & t l ~ e u e st io n , b I I ow came we t o l)c th ink-

T H E T W O LAWS O F ASS0CIATIC)N 81ilig of ju s t t h i s o b je c t ~ i o w ? "we can almost a l-ways t race i ts p resence to some prev ious ob jec twhich has in t roduced i t to th e mind , accord ing too ne o r t h e o t he r o f th es e 1 : ~ ~ s . h e e n t i r e ro u -tine of our memorized acquisitions, for exam ple,is a consequence of no th ing bu t the La w of Con-t igu i ty . Th e words o f :t poem, the fo rmulas o ft r igonometry , the fac ts o f h is to ry , the p ropert ie sof ma te r ia l th ings, a re a l l know n to us a s de f in itesystems or g roups o f ob jec ts w hich cohere in anorder f ixed by innnm erab le i te rat ions, and ofwhich any one pa r t reminds us o f t he o the rs . 111dry and prosa ic minds, a lmost a l l t l le menta l se -quences flow along these lines of habi tual rou-t ine repe t i tion a nd suggest ion .

In w i t ty , im a g in a t ive m in d s , 011 the other hancl,t h e ro u t in e is b ro k e n th ro u g h w i th e a se a t a n ym o m e n t ; and one f ie ld o f menta l ob jec ts wi l l sug-gest ano the r wi th which pe rhaps in the whole h is-to ry o f human th in k ing i t hat1 never once be forebeen coupled . Th e l ink he re is usua l ly some atral-ogy be tween the ob jec ts successive ly thou ght o f, -an ana logy of ten so sub t le t l la t , a l though we fee1i t , we can w ith d iff icu l ty ana lyzz i ts g ro un d; a swhere, for example, we find so methin g m asculinein the co lor red and someth ing femin ine in the


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TALKS TO TEACHERS

color ~ m le lue , or where , of three human beings 'characters, one wil l remind us of a cat , anotherof a dog, the third p erhaps of a cow.

Psych ologists have of course gone very deeplyinto th e quest ion of wh at th e causes of associat ionmay be ; and some of them have t r ied to show tha tcont iguity a i d s imi lari ty are not two radica l lydiverse lams, but that ei ther presupposes the pres-ence of the other. I myself an1 disposecl to thin ktha t th e phenomelia of association d epen d o n o urcerebral const i tut ion, and are not immediate con-sequences of o ur being rat ional beings. In otherwords, when we &all have become disembodiedspiri ts , i t may be tha t our t rain s of consciousnesswil l fol low different laws. Thes e quest ions arediscussed in the books on psychology, and I hopethat some of you wil l be interested in fol lomii igt hem t he re . B u t I will, on the present occasion,ignore them entirely ; for, as teachers, i t is th e f a c tof associatioll that practically concerns you, leti t s grounds be spi r itua l or cerebra l or wha t theymay, and l et i ts laws be reducible, or non-reduci-ble, to one. Your pupils , whatever else they are,are at an y rate l i t t le pieces of associat ing machin-ery. Th eir etlucat ion consists i n the organiz ing

THEIR GREAT SCOPE 83within them of deterrr~ inate endencies to associateone thin g wit11 wnotl~er,- impressio ns with conse-quences, these with react ions, those with results ,an d so on indefini tely. Th e more copious tl leassociat ive systems, th e com pleter the individnal' ::tdaptations to the 1vor.ld.

Th e teacher can forn~ul rt t h i s fu~ lc t ivn o him-self the refore ill ternls of . ssociatior1 ' as well asirk terms of ' l ixt ive and ;~cclui~edeaction.' It ismainly that of b u i l t l i ? ~ p usrfr t l sy..y.\.te~~;sf ~ s s o -c i n t i o ? ~ n th e pupil 's niincl. T hi s c1esi+riptionsouncls wider than tile on e I began by giving.Bu t, whe n one think s th at ou r t rains of associa-t ion, whatever they inay be, normally issl ie in nc-cluirecl reactions or behavior, one sees that in nge~iesal ay the same Il lass of facts is covered byboth formnlas.

I t is astonish ing horn 111ally nien tal o pe rat io~ lswe can explain when Jve have once grasped theprinciples of associntion. T he gre at problenl whichassociat ion unde rtakes to solve is , T V J L ~ oes j u s tth is partic lriur JielcZ of co~~sc i ozc .v~~ess ,orzatittcted ~ I Lthis yarl icztl t rr (cay ,~ i u z ua p p e a r l)i'i'fol-c. rny milz J ?It m:Ly b e a field of obj ects iniagilie tl ; t inay beof ob jects renlemberecl or uf objects pel.ceived; itmay inclucle an action resolvecl on. JJ I ither case,


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84 TALKS TO TEACHERS I 'when tlie fie ld is analyzed into its pa rts, thosepayts car1 be sllowll to hav e yrcxeeded froin part sof fields previously before consciousness, in con-sequence of one or other of the laws of associatiorijust la id down. Those laws ru n t h e m in d : int,er-est , sh if t ing h i the r and th i the r , de f lec ts i t ; a n da t ten t ion , a s we sha l l la te r see , s tee rs i t a nd keepsi t f rom too z igzag a course.

T o grasp thcsc f;rctors clearly gives one a solida n d s im p le u n d e ~ s ta n i l i n g oC the psycholog icalmachinery. Tlie ' ia ture, ' t l ie . liaracter,' of anilldividual means really rlothiug bu t tlie habitualform oE his associations. T o brealc up bad associa-t ions o r wrong ones, to bu i ld o the rs in , to gu idetlle associative tendencies into the most fruitfulchannels, is the educator's principal task. 13uthere, as wit11 all other sirllple ~)ri~lciples,he clif-ficul ty lies ill the application. PsychoIog,y cansta te the lams : collcrete tact and talelit a lone canwork them to useful results.

&Ieanwliile it is :t iuattcr of the com mollest expe-rience th at our m inds may p ass fro111 one object toa n o th e r by vari ous intermedicdry fields of cons cious-ness. T he indetermilla ten ess of our path s of asso-ciaLioll 1~ co?~cre tos thu s a , ll~iostLS s t r ik in g a fea t-ure of them as the unilo rlnity of their abs tract

ISDETERMINATENESS OF' ASSOCIATIONS 85

form. St ar t fl-orn any itlea w hatever, ancl thee l l t ire range o f your ideas is po ten t ia l ly a t yourd i sp o sd . If we take :IS the associ;ttive startirig-point, or cue, some simple word which I pronouncebefore you, theye is no limit to the possible tliver-s i ty of suggest ions which i t may se t up i l l yourminds. Suppose 1 ay ' blue,' for example : someof you inay th ink o f the b lue sky a nd ho t we a the rfroin which we now are suffering, the n g o off onthou ghts of summ er clothing, or possibly of nleteo-ro logy a t la rge ; othe rs may th ink o f the spec tru lnand the physiology of color-vision, ancl glid e ill toX-rays allil recen t physical specula tions; othersinay think of blue ribbons, or of the b lue f lowerson a f r iend' s ha t , an d p roceeJ on l ines o f pe rsona lreminiscence. T o others, again, e tym ology an dl ingu is t ic t l~ oug hts may be sugges ted ; o r b luem a y b e & a p p e rc e iv e d ' as a syllollyln for nielan-choly, and a train of associates c o u ~ le c t e d withmorbid psychology m;ty proceed to uuroll tl lenl-selves.

I n t he same person, th e sanie word Ileal-ci a tdiffereut times mill provoke, in consequence ofthe varying marg inal preoccupations, e ither o!le ofa number of diverse possible associative secyuelices.P ro fe sso r Mu n s te rh e rg p e r fo ~ ~ n r~ c lh is experiment ;


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SOXE CUES ARE PItEPOTENT 8methodica l ly , using the sa rue words four t imesover , a t th ree -month in te rva ls , a s ' cue s ' fo r fou rdiffe rent persons who were th e snb jects of obser-va t ion . H e found a lmost no constancy in the irassoc i ;t t ions taken a t these d iffe ren t t imes. I n

s con-hort , the en t i re po ten t ia l con ten t o f onc 'sciousness is accessible from ally one of i ts points.T h i s is why we can never work the laws of asso-c ia t ion fo rward : s ta r t in g from the p resen t fie ldas a cuc, me can never cipher orrt in advance justwh at the person will be thin kin g of five minutesla te r . Th e e lements which may become prepo-te nt in the process, the pa rts of each successivefield round whicli the associations shall e llieflytur n, the possible bifu rcations of suggestioll, areso numerous and ambiguous as to be indete rmilla -b le be fore the fac t . Bu t , a l though we cannotwork the laws of association forward, tve cana lways work them backwards. W e ca l lno t saynow what we slla ll find ourselves thinking offive minutes hence ; but , wha tever i t iuay be , wesha l l then be ab le to t race i t th rough in te rmedia rylin ks of con tiguit y or sin1ila1-ity to w ha t we a reth ink in g now. W ha t so bnfaes our p rev ision isthe sh if t ing pa r t p layed by the marg in and focus-in fact, by each element by itself of the margin o rfocus -- in calling up the n ex t ideas.

For example, I am rec i t ing 'Locksley Ha l l , ' inorde r to d ive r t my in inci f rom a s ta te o f suspenset h a t I am in concern ing the wil l of a re la t ive th a tis dead . Th e wil l s ti l l remains in the menta lbackground as an ex treme ly marg ina l o r u l t ra -marginal portioii of my field of conscionslless ; b u tth e p o e m fa i r ly k e e ps m y i~ t t e n t io n ro m i t , u n t i lI come to the line, ' l I, the heir of a ll t he ages, inthe foremost files of t i:ne ." Th e words ' I , theheir, ' ilnmediately malie a11 electric connectionwith the marg ina l thought of the wil l ; tha t , intu rn , makes my hea r t bea t wi th an t ic ipa t ion o fmy possible legacy, so th at I lh row down the bookan d pace the floor excitedly with visions of myfu tu re fo r tu n e p o u r in g th ro u g h m y m ind . A n yportion of the field of consciousness tha t has morepotentialities of emotional excitement than an-o the r may thus be roused to p redominan t ac t iv -i ty ; nd the s h if t ing p lay of in te rest now in oneport ion , now in ano the r , de f lec ts the curren ts ina l l so r ts of z igzag ways, the luen ta l ac t iv i ty run-n in g h i th e r a n d th i th e r a s th e sp a rk s ru n in1)urnt-up paper..

One more po in t , anti I sha l l have sa id as muchto you as seems necessa ry about the p rocess o fassociation.


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88 TALKS TO TEACHERSYou just saw how a s ing le exc i t ing word may

ca l l up i ts own assoc iates p repo ten t ly , a nd de f lec to u r ~ ~ r h o l era in of th ink in g from the p rev ioustrack. Th e fact is tlia t every portion of t he fie ldt e w l s to call up its ornil associates ; bu t, if theseassociates be sev erally different, the re is rivalry,an d as sooil as one or a few begin to be effectivethe o the rs see in to ge t s iphoned ou t , a s i t were ,and le f t beh ind . Se ldom, however , a s in our ex-ample , does the p rocess seen1 to tu r n roun d asing le i ten1 in the lnen ta l f ield , o r eve i i rou nd t l leenti re fie ld th at is i~n ined iatel y n tlie act of pass-i i ~ g . It is a matter of ronat~77tr t io~z ,nto whichportions of fie lds that are already past especiallyseein to enter nrld l inve the ir say . Th us, to gobacli to ' o c k s lc S II;tll,' cacli word as L recite itil l i t s d u e o rd e r is suggested no t so le ly by theprevious wor(1 ~ O T V xpir ing on my l ips , bu t i t i srathe r tlie effect of a ll the previous words, takentog ell ~er , f t l ie verse. '.Ages," for example, callsup "i n the foremost files of time," w hen precedeciby " , the heir of a ll the "- ; but , when precededb y , " or I doubt no t th rough the , " - it ca lls u p"one inc reasing purpose runs." S imila r ly, if 1write on the 1 ) l :~c l iboard he le t te rs A R C D EF, . . . they p robnhlg snggest to you G H I. . . .

B u t , i f I w ri t e A 13 A 1) 1) E I?, i f they suggestany th ing , they suggest a s the ir complement E C 7'o r E I? I C I E N C Y. Th e resu l t depending onthe to ta l conste l la t ion , even though most o f thesing le i tems be the same.

My prac t ica l reason fo r mznt ion ing th is law isth is , tha t i t fo l lon~s rom i t tha t , in work ing asso-c ia t ions in to your pup i ls ' minds, you mus t no t re lyon s ing le cues, bu t n lu l t ip ly t he cues a s mu ch aspossible . Couple the des ired reaction wit h nl1mel.-ous constella tions of antecedents,- don' t a lwaysa sk th e q u e s t io n , fo r e x a m p le, i n t h e sa m e w a y ;don ' t use the same k ind o f da ta in numericalproblems ; vary you r i l lust ra t ions, e tc ., a s mu ch asyou can. Wh en we come to the sub jec t o f mem-ory, we sha l l lea rn s t i l l more about th is .

So much, then , for th e general subject of asso-c ia tion . In leav ing it for oth er topics (in which,however , we sha l l abundan t ly f ind i t invo lvedagain), I cannot too s t ro r lg ly u rge you to acqu irea habit of thinking of your pupils in associativete rms. Al l governors of mankin d , f rom doc torsand ja i l-wardens to demagogues and s ta te smen ,instinctively come so to conceive their charges.If you do the same , th ink ing o f then] (howeverelse you may think of them besides) as so many


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90 TAI~RSTO TEACHERSl i t t le syste ms of associating inacliinery, you willbe aston ished a t the in t imacy of insigh t i n to the iroper; t tions an d a t the p rac t ica l i ty of the re su l tswhich you wil l ga in . W e th in k of our acqua in-tarlces, for example, as c liaracterized by ce r ta in' tendenc ies .' These tendenc ies wi l l i11 almostevery instance prove t o he tendencies to associa-t ion . Certa in ideas in them a re a lways fo l lowedby celbtain othe r ideas, these by ce rt ai ~l eelingsand impulses to approve o r d isapprove , a ssen tor decline. If th e topic arouse one of those firstideas, the practical outcom e can be pre tty wellforeseen. ' Types o f cha rac te r ' in s l lo r t a relargely types of asuuciation.

TNTERRST

AT o u r l a s t m e e t ing I trea ted of tlle nativ e ten-dencies of t he pupi l to react ill c lln~~itcte risticallydefinite ways ul,on different stim illi or e xcitin gc. irc~unst, tnces. 111 f:rut, I t rea ted of thc pup i l ' s in -stincts. ?Tow sonle situatiorls appeal to specialinstincts from the very outset, arlci others fail todo so un t i l the p roper connec t ions ha re been o r-gan ized il l the course of the I )e rao~l ' s ra i~ l i r lg .W e say of the fo rmer se t of ob jects o r s i tua t ion sth a t t h e y a re i , ~ t r~ r e s t i ~ t gn themse lves and or ig i-nally. Of t h e l a t t e r we say tha t they a rr na t ive lyuninte l,estillg, allti th at inte rest ill illen) 11as firstto be acqu ired .

No top ic has received more attellti011 from peda-gogical writer.; t h a n tha t o f in te rest . I t i s thena tura l seque l to the i i l s t inc ts we so la te ly d is-cussed, a1lr1 it is therefor e w ell fitted t o l ~ ell enext subject nrhich we take up.

Since some objects are ila tively intere stin g alldiu oth ers int ere st is artifi cially zroquirecl, th e


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NATIVELY INTERESTIS(; THINGS 93teacller mus t know mrhicli the nat ively interest ingones ar e; for , as we shall see i inmediately, otherobjects can art i f icial ly acquire an interest onlythroug h first becoir~ing associated with some ofthese nat ively interest ing things.

The nat ive interests of children l ie al together inthe sphere of sensation. Novel things to look a tor novel so unds to hear, especial ly when they in-volve the spectacle of act ion of a violei l t sort , wil lalways divert t l ie at tent i011 from abstract concep-t ions of objects verbally taken in. Th e grimacethat Johnny i s making, the spi tba l l s tha t Tommyis ready to t l i row, the dog-fight in the street , orth e distalit fii-ebells ringing,- these :ire th e rivalswitli wliicli tlie teacher's powers of being inter-cst ing have ir~cessa ntly o cope. Th e child wil la lways a t t end m ore to what a t eacher does thanto what the same teacher says . Dur ing the per-forinance of experiments or while the teacher isdraw ing on the blackboarcl , th e children are t ra n-qui l an d absorbed. I have seen a roomful of col-lege students suddenly become perfect ly st i l l , tolook a t their professor of phy sics tie a piece ofstr ing a round a st ic k wllicl i he was going to usein an experiment, but ininiecl iately grow rest lessw h e n he b eg ai l t o e x p l a i ~ ~he exper iment . A

l ady to ld i l ~ e ha t one day, c lur i~ig l esson, sheW;LS delighted a t having ca1)tured so conlpletelythe at ten tio n of one of 11er you ng charges. I-Eedid not remove his eyes fro m ller face ; b ut l iesaid to her aft er t l ie lesson was over, " I looked a tyou a l l the t inie , and your upper j aw did notmove once !" Th a t w as t he on l y f ac t t ha t he hadtaken in.1 . -.~ i t i n g h i ngs , t hen , ~ nov i ng l ~ i ngs , r t h i ngstha t savor of danger or of Lloocl, that have :t dm-inat ic quali ty,- these are t l ie objects nat ively in -t e res t ing to c l l i ldhood, to the esc lus io~~f allnosteve r y th i ng e l s e ; and t l ~ e eaclier of young chi l -dren, unti l nlore arti f icial interests l lave grown up,wil l keep in toucli mit l i her pu1)i ls by c on sta ~l tappeal to such mat ters as these. Instruc t ion niustbe carried on object ively, experimental ly, anec-dota lly . Th e blackboard-drawing and s tory- te l l -i ng m u s t c o n s t a ~ l t l ~ome ill. Bu t of course thes emethods cover only t l le f i rst steps, and carry onebu t a little may.

Can we now formulate al ly general principle bywhich the later and Inore art i f icial interests con-nect themselves with these early ones that thechild br in gs ~ ~ i t hi im to the school ?

Fortunately, we earl : there is a very s i~l lp le aw


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94 TALKS TO TEACHERSr " HOW INTF,I


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96 TALKS TO TEACHERSthese . The k i nde r ga r t en m e t hods , t he ob j ec t -t eaching rout ine , the b lackboarcl a nd manuxl - t ra in-i n g wurk,- , i ll recognize this feature . Schoolsi r ~ l~i cli llese met hod s preyroritlerate are schoo lswhere discipl ine is easy, and wliere the voicc of ,the inas ter claiming ord er a nd at tel lt i011 irl t l l reat-el l ing tones need never be heai t l .

iVext, s tep b ,y stel), connrct wit11 these ./irst o1,J'ectsand rzyerienccs the Inter. oljocts anti itletrs trfhic?:Y ~ I LI ) ~ S J L o iusti l l . ijusociilie t?~cuetci zclith the oldi n ~ 1 , i o ~ u t u r ~ ~ lttd tellin!/ way, so tha t the ir~tere8t,brir~ g hed ulotzy.li.otn poijlt io l~u irlt ,i r ~ u l t y ~!fltse.uth e I t ~ t i r v ystrr l~ f' h j o t ts of thought.

Ttiis is the abstract st ; t teniei i t ; aiitl, abstr:tctly,i iot l i i~ig an be easier to uriderstancl. I t is ill thefulf i lment of the rule that the cl iff icnl ty l ies; forthe (1itYerence betw een an i nter est i ng an d a tediousteacher cons is t s i ll l i tt l e m ore th an the invent ive-ness by wliich tlie orie is able to nlediate t l icsenssoci~tt ions r id colinect ions, alicl i ll the duln ess i llt l iscovering such transi t ions w hich t l ie other shows.One teacher 's l ll ind wi ll f i~i r l y cor ~s c i l t e wi thpoin ts of conliect ion between the new lesson anclt l ie circumstances of the children's other exper i -ence. Aliecdotes and reminiscences wi l l aboundin l ier talk ; ~ n d llc sl iut t le of in tere st wil l shoo t

backw ar d and f o rw a r d , w eav i ng t he n ew an d t heold together in a l i ve l y and en t e r t a i n i ng w ay .An othe r t eacher 11;~s o such inv ent ive fer t i l i ty ,and his lesson \\rill :tln7ays be a deitd and heavything. This is the psychological meaning of t l ieH e r ba l tidn principle of ' preparat ion ' for e2tclilesson, and of correlat ir ig the i lcw with t l ie old.It is tlie psychologic al mea niiig of tha t wlioleme tho d of conceil t rat ion i l l s tudies of wliich y ouhave been recently l iearir~ g o much . IVlien tl lcgeogl.a,pliv a n d l i r ~g lis h ncl l i istory aiid ari th meticsi l i~ulta l ieous ly mak e cross-relerences t o oi ie a11-otl ier , you get an interest ing set of processes al lalong t l ie l ine.

If , then , yo11 wish to i i~ su re he ir i terest of y o u rpupi l s , there i s only one wa y to do i t ; arid that isto make ccrtai l i thi tt they h a v e s om e t l i i l ~gn tlieirminds tu attend w i t h , when you begin to t a lk .T h a t sonletlliilg cii11 consist ill llotiling b ut aprevious lo t of i ( leas ;~l re ady nteres t i~lg l l them-se lves , and of sucll n nature t l l i~ t he i li cviuil ignovel objects which you prese nt cal l dovetai l intothem ant1 form with tlienl sorrle 1;incl of a logical lyassociated or systenlat ic whole. lcortunately, al-most a n y k i n d of a connect ion is sufficieilt to


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98 TALKS TO TEACHERS

carry the interest along. What a help is ourPhilippine war at present in teaching geography !But before the war you coulcl i~sk he children ifthey ate pepper with their eggs, and where theysupposed the pelpe r came from. Or asli them ifglass is ;L stone, and, if iiot, why not; ant1 tlleii letthem know how sto~l es re formed atid glass mailu-facturecl. IJxternal links will serve as well asthose tha t ;ire deeper and Inore 1ogic;tl. I3ut in-terest, once sllecl upon n subject, is liable to re-rllrtiii always with that subject. Ou r acyuisitio~lsbecome in a measure portions of our l~ er so ~l alelf;and little by little, as cross-associations multiplyand hal~itsof fa1nili;~rityand practice grow, theentire system of ou r objects of thought consoli-dates, most of it I)ecomi~lg nteresting for somcpurposes and in sonle degree.

A11 aclult man's interests are almost every one ofthem ir-rtenselj. ;tr-tificial: the37 have slowly bee11]milt up. Tl~c l~jects f professional interest aremost of then], i n their original nature, repulsive;but by their co~lnectionwith sucll ~liitively xcit-jr~g bjects a; olie's personal fortune , one's soci;tlrcsponsil)ilities, :~nrl~~peciit l lyy the force of in-veteratc habit, they grow to be th e oilly things forwhich in mi(ldle lire a Inan l,r ofo~ln dly (:;ires.

I THE SPSTERI OF OUR INTERESTS 99But in all these the spread and consolidationhave followed nothing but the principles firs

Documents

William James' Talks to Teachers on Psychology