470 E. L. THORNDIKE AND C. J. HERRICK 



One hesitates to utter his convictions on the last point, for 

 he is certain to be misunderstood. But conscious processes are 

 realities which cannot be ignored in a comprehensive scheme 

 of things. They are, moreover, positive biological factors in 

 human evolution; and the biologist can see no reason why they 

 should not be observed in the only way open to him, namely, 

 by introspection. 



Is there not, therefore, abundant justification for including 

 consciousness, as introspectively known, as one of the elements 

 of human behavior (and inferentially of the behavior of some 

 other animals also), and should not any comprehensive scheme 

 of behavior studies include this factor for what it is worth ? 

 The fact that in the past the uncritical use of these data and of 

 hypotheses based thereon has often led us astray is no justifi- 

 cation for denying their validity and practical value when 

 properly used. Whether in any given program of research it 

 is expedient to use these data, is a quite different question, which 

 must be decided on its own merits in each case. 



C. J. Herrick. 



