THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 



MONTHLY. 



OCTOBEE, 1905. 



THE LAPSES OF CONSCIOUSNESS.* 



By Professor JOSEPH JASTROW, 



UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. 



Introductory : The Formula of Conduct. 



npHE purpose of the present study is to set forth the range of certain 

 -*- common and normal types of thought and conduct that reach 

 expression without the usual and attentive guidance of consciousness. 

 Such subconscious direction of what we think and say and do plays 

 a constant part in the ordinary, and occasionally in the extraordinary, 

 operations of our mental machinery. So long as the operations are 

 successful in purpose, there is little occasion for bringing to the light 

 of our own awareness the process by which the result is accomplished. 

 This is, indeed, the normal emphasis of nature, which places a premium 

 upon the issue, but is relatively indifferent as to the means, giving its 

 sanction of survival to such processes as effectively and economically 

 lead to the desired end. It thus comes about that a variety of procedures 

 may be developed for a common purpose. Owing to the similarity 

 of human needs and endowment, there arise familiar types of mental 

 habits, which become established without definite awareness of their 

 nature or of the manner of their use. It is a peculiar type of straying 

 of the process from the intended path that directs attention to it and 

 makes one aware of a momentary lapse in the relation of issue and 



* The substance of this article in a modified and abridged form serves as a 

 chapter in a volume entitled ' The Subconscious,' now in the press of Hough- 

 ton, Mifflin & Co., and shortly to be issued by them. The present article deals 

 in the main with the presentation and classification of the evidence for the 

 more common types of such subconscious action, and does not consider as 

 carefully as the subject demands the synthetic interpretation of the data. 

 This aspect of the problem is treated in another chapter of the volume. There 

 is also included in the present article material presented in other chapters of 

 the book. 



vol. Lxvn. — 31. 



