CHAPTER XVII 



SELECTIVE THINKING l 



IN a recent publication 2 I have used the phrase 'selec- 

 tive thinking ' in a certain broad sense, and at the same 

 time arrived at a view of the mechanism of the process 

 which seems in a measure in line with the requirements 

 both of psychology and of biology. By ' selective thinking' 

 I understand the determination of the stream of tJwught, 

 considered as having a trend or direction of movement, 

 both in the individual's mental history and also in the de- 

 velopment of mind and knowledge in the world. The con- 

 siderations suggested in the work mentioned are necessarily 

 very schematic and undeveloped, and I wish in this address 

 to carry them out somewhat further. 



Looking at the question from a point of view analogous 

 to that of the biologists, when they consider the problem 

 of 'determination' in organic evolution, we are led to the 

 following rough but serviceable division of the topics 

 involved a division which my discussion will follow ; 

 namely, i. The material of selective thinking (the supply 

 of ' thought-variations ' 3 ) ; 2. the function of selection 



1 President's Address, American Psychological Association, Cornell Meet- 

 ing, December, 1897 (frm The Psychological Review, January, 1898). The 

 paper aims to present rather a point of view, and to indicate some of the out- 

 standing requirements of a theory, than to defend any hard and fast conclu- 

 sions. 



2 Social and Ethical Interpretations, 1897 (3^ ec ^> I 9 2 )- 



3 Wherever the word ' variation ' occurs in this chapter, the full term 

 ' thought-variation ' should be understood ; this is necessary in order to avoid 

 confusion with the congenital 'variations' of biology. 



238 



