CHAPTER XVII 



Selective Thinking ^ 



In a recent publication ^ I have used the phrase 'selec- 

 tive thinking ' in a certain broad sense, and at the same 

 time arrived at a view of the mechanism of the process 

 which seems in a measure in line with the requirements 

 both of psychology and of biology. By * selective thinking' 

 I understand tJie determination of the stream of tJionght^ 

 considered as having a trend or direction of movement, 

 both in the individual's mental history and also in the de- 

 velopment of mind and knowledge in the world. The con- 

 siderations suggested in the work mentioned are necessarily 

 very schematic and undeveloped, and I wish in this address 

 to carry them out somewhat further. 



Looking at the question from a point of view analogous 

 to that of the biologists, when they consider the problem 

 of * determination ' in organic evolution, we are led to the 

 following rough but serviceable division of the topics 

 involved — a division which my discussion will follow ; 

 namely, i. The material of selective thinking (the supply 

 of ' thought-variations ' ^) ; 2. the function of selection 



1 President's Address, American Psychological Association, Cornell Meet- 

 ing, December, 1897 (from 7'he Psychological Review, January, 1898). The 

 paper aims to present rather a point of view, and to indicate some of the out- 

 standing requirements of a theory, than to defend any hard and fast conclu- 

 sions. 



2 Social and Ethical luterpretations, 1897 iZ^ ^^-^ 1902). 



* Wherever the word * variation ' occurs in this chapter, the full term 

 'thought-variation' should be understood ; this is necessary in order to avoid 

 confusion with the congenital 'variations' of biology. 



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