PSYCHOLOGY 



PSYCHOLOGY 



Freud expresses an unfulfilled wish. It is these 

 inner conflicts, repressions and antagonisms that 

 cause mental maladjustment. Many of these 

 are of a deeply-personal and emotional nature, 

 and naturally center about the life of sex. 



Psycho-analysis has also been applied to other 

 types of suppressions, such as those of guilty 

 action and the detection of criminals. Here the 

 favorite method is that of association. A list 

 of words is prepared, most of them of ordinary 

 significance, and the time noted for each such 

 word to arouse an associated word. These 

 times vary, but not extremely. Here and there 

 a clue-word or suspected word connected with 

 the repressed idea (crime) is inserted; and the 

 response is found to be delayed. By the analy- 

 sis of such lists the clue is found and followed. 

 The same procedure is applied to the cases of 

 internal impediment and conflict above de- 

 scribed. 



Psycho-analysis is but one of several methods 

 useful in unraveling motives which lie deeply 

 imbedded in subconscious entanglements. Its 

 recent popularity is due to the fact that so 

 many forms of nervous disability have been 

 baffling, and here alone in the mental realm 

 find their solution. The operation of release 

 suggesting that of confession in the Church 

 also emphasizes the principles that strong emo- 

 tional impulses and instinct must find expres- 

 sion, or in their repression may do damage. 

 This principle is of significance for educational 

 and social measures. Unless forms of outlet are 

 supplied for the strong passions of men, un- 

 wholesome ones will develop. The transforma- 

 tion of old impulses to new outlets is thus seen 

 to be the problem which civilization imposes 

 upon the nervous system. The disqualifications 

 which psycho-analysis is called upon to treat 

 represent the price that is paid in failures to 

 meet these radically changed conditions of life. 



Relating; to Various Beliefs. For a list of 

 topics of interest in this connection, see PSY- 

 CHICAL RESEARCH, above. 



PSYCHOLOGY, sikol'oji, the science which 

 studies and explains the workings of the mind. 

 It is only since the middle of the nineteenth 

 century that men's knowledge of this science 

 has been turned to practical use. Previous to 

 that time it was so interwoven with philosophy 

 and metaphysics that it held no interest for stu- 

 dents of other subjects or for men and women 

 of affairs. Formerly each form of mental ac- 

 tivity was considered a special power or faculty 

 distinct from other forms of activity, and the 

 faculty or power of memory, the faculty of im- 



agination and other faculties were thus treated 

 in textbooks on psychology. There was no at- 

 tempt to find the connection between mind and 

 body previous to 1850, and the views of the 

 first investigators along this line of research 

 naturally were rejected by the old school of 

 psychologists. But in 1878 Wilhelm Wundt es- 

 tablished a psychological laboratory at Leipzig, 

 the first of its kind in the world, and through 

 a series of carefully wrought-out experiments 

 verified the experiments of others. This led to 

 an orderly arrangement of the new discoveries 

 and laid a foundation for further study. Wundt 

 continued his labors, and the value of his work 

 was soon recognized by other psychologists, so 

 around his discoveries there developed a new 

 science of psychology, more human, more real 

 and more practical than had been known be- 

 fore. 



Wundt has justly been called the father of 

 modern psychology. Students from his labora- 

 tory established similar institutions in other 

 countries until every great university in Europe 

 and America was equipped for the study of ex- 

 perimental psychology. The most celebrated 

 of Wundt's followers in the United States was 

 William James (which see). His Principles of 

 Psychology, which appeared in 1890, was an 

 epoch-making work, and at once attracted the 

 attention of leading psychologists throughout 

 the world. James vitalized psychology and at- 

 tracted to its study thousands who had hitherto 

 considered the subject dry and impractical. A 

 leading American authority says of him: 



The chief work of James consisted in a recon- 

 struction of psychology by resetting its prob- 

 lems and by exploring old as well as new fields 

 in search of data for their solution. By his rare 

 mastery of English and his keenness for the con- 

 crete in experience he turned the abstract diffi- 

 culties in human subjects into vital interests for 

 the public as well as for students in general. 



Modern psychology recognizes the interde- 

 pendence of mind and body and the localiza- 

 tion in the brain of various centers of action, 

 but it draws a sharp line between physiological 

 and mental action. While mental action may 

 control physical, it cannot be transformed into 

 it, neither can physical action be transformed 

 into mental. The branch of psychology given 

 to the study of the relation of mental activities 

 to the nervous system is known as physiological 

 psychology. 



Modern psychology has discarded the old 

 theory of faculties or powers, but it is difficult 

 to rid the science of terms that have been in 

 use for centuries, and we often find these terms 



