460 MARGARET F. WASHBURN 



and that of Stout. McDougall enumerated in his " Social Psych- 

 ology " a large number of human instincts. Stout would restrict 

 the term so far as human beings are concerned, to a few human 

 movements such as sucking or crawling. The reason for this 

 difference is that Stout means by instincts definite motor mechan- 

 isms, while McDougall means inherited dispositions, " conative 

 tendencies," rather than mere movements. The conative ten- 

 dency is more fundamental than the motor pathways by which 

 it is realized. Further, Stout is to be criticized, according to 

 McDougall, in that his account of instinct neglects the inherited 

 perceptual factors by virtue of which one stimulus attracts 

 attention rather than another. 



Myers '* concludes the discussion by restating his view^s and 

 reiterating his opinion that " throughout the psychical world 

 there is but one physiological mechanism; there is but one 

 psychological function — instinct-intelligence. ' ' 



Detailid criticism of the discussion would involve a considera- 

 tion of the entire psychological systems maintained by the 

 participants. But by way of general comment on the sym- 

 posium, one may remark that it suffers through being carried 

 on from the point of view of philosophy and of human psych- 

 ology only, rather than from that of comparative psychology 

 also. With the distinguished exception of Lloyd Morgan, none 

 of the speakers brought to the discussion first-hand acquaintance 

 with the instinctive and intelligent behavior of the lower animals. 

 Qn the other hand, it is true that comparative psychology is yet 

 too young to pronounce on these matters; nevertheless it is to 

 facts drawn from experiments and observations on animals that 

 such problems must look for solution. The fact is strikingly 

 illustrated by the use made in these papers of the observations 

 of the Peckhams on the solitary wasps ; a little actual knowledge 

 puts an end to much argument. 



