PSYCHOLOGY AND THE WAR 



Emergency Stimulates Practical Work and Application of Science Rather Than 



Development of Theory — New Views of War Probable Changes in 



American Institutions — Need for More Research on 



Man's Inherent Traits' 



G. Stanley Hall 

 President, Clark University, Worcester, Mass. 



RASH as it may seem to draw an\' 

 lesson as yet from the present 

 war, in which the great Nordic 

 race which embraces the domi- 

 nant elements in all the belligerent 

 nations is committing suicide, the 

 following points, which can be only 

 hinted at in my twenty minutes, seem 

 to me worthy of consideration here. 



Mr. Hafner, through whom most of 

 us receive our foreign periodicals, writes, 

 "About one thousand French and 

 German scientific publicati(jns ha\e 

 suspended as a result of the war, and 

 about half of those that remain ha\e 

 been issued less frequently or in reduced 

 size." They have also suffered in 

 quality because so many collaborators 

 doing the best work have been sent 

 to the front, and many of them wounded 

 or killed. About all the research being 

 now carried on is in the medical field 

 and in hospitals. Since April last, 

 practically all continental publications 

 have been kept out of this country. 

 This affects not only our journal clubs 

 but cuts off from us the stimulus of 

 European thought, so that we are now 

 the only great country in the world 

 where research can go on as before. 



Last month 1 asked and obtained the 

 responses of representative authorities 

 of all the twenty-four universities in 

 the American Association concerning 

 this situation. The responses were 

 very diverse. One prominent university 

 president amplified the view that it 

 was high time and would do good for 

 America to be weaned from its I-'uropean 

 alma mater. Another held that the 

 cessation of importation of intellectual 



goods made in Europe would cause the 

 culture level not only in academic 

 departments but throughout the world 

 to sink to a lower level. Most, however, 

 held that this shortage will be a new and 

 serious responsibility upon American 

 scholars to make it good, that the pres- 

 ent situation is a loud, clear call to 

 independence, an opportunity for new 

 leadership, that it should result in 

 higher standards of originality and 

 in ;reased output of investigation, that 

 the war opens opportunities to American 

 universities as great as it has afforded 

 to certain industries here, and that 

 we should emulate the latter in devising 

 new methods and in vastly enhancing 

 output. If we only have the vision, 

 the war will bring here a great advance 

 in culture. The new Research Council 

 of the National Academy and the 

 Committee of One Hundred, with their 

 splendid if, as yet, unrealized program, 

 indicate that we are at least making a 

 feeljle beginning to respond to the 

 situation. A vast deal has been said 

 and written about research here within 

 the last eighteen months, and there is 

 every prospect that it will have at least 

 enough, let us hope not too much, 

 organization. 



AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGISTS LEAD 



As for psychology, whether we regard 

 the quality or quantity of work done 

 here in every field, all the way from 

 introspection to behaviorism, including 

 the study of animals, children, normal 

 and subnormal, anthropology, especially 

 as represented by our Bin-eau of l.thnol- 

 ogy, the work in tests, scales, in stand- 



1 This address was prepared for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the American Psychological 

 Association, New York, December, 1916, and is reprinted from the first issue of Dr. Hall's inter- 

 esting publication, the Journal of Applied Psychology i^March, 1917). 



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