574 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LV, No. 1430 



The Toi'onto meeting, from the viewpoint of 

 the botanists, was a very successful gathering, 

 and the attendance of plant workers was 

 greater than had been anticipated. 



Robert B. Wtlie, 



Secretary 



SECTION I— PSYCHOLOGY 



The meeting of Section I (Psychology) at 

 Toronto was a very successful one. Although 

 the affiliated society was meeting elsewhere, a 

 considerable number of American psychologists 

 attended the sessions, and to these were added 

 several Canadian psychologists and a good 

 many professional men and women who are 

 interested in psychology from the point of 

 view of its practical applications to education, 

 business, criminology and related tields. The 

 program was enriched by contributions from 

 a number of men who represented these inter- 

 ests. The discussion of the papers was lively 

 and in some sessions had to be limited for lack 

 of time. The attendance at the meetings aver- 

 aged about 25 and reached 125 at one session. 



As is usual, thei-e was at the Toronto meet- 

 ing an intimate relation between the sessions 

 of Sections I and Q (Education). Sessions 

 were held conveniently in the same building, 

 and two were joint sessions. The papers in 

 these sessions dealt with mental tests or with 

 psychological studies in education. There was 

 apparent in the discussions of mental tests a 

 disposition to examine somewhat more critically 

 the conclusions to be drawn from the results 

 of mental tests than has prevailed in the past. 

 Of the other papers special mention may be 

 made of one by Professor Thorndike in which 

 he distinguished two types of equation— the 

 equation for solution and the equation which 

 expresses relationship — and advised that spe- 

 cial care be taken to avoid confusion between 

 the two. 



The first session was devoted to general 

 papers. Professor Dale discussed the place of 

 psychology in university curricula, emphasiz- 

 ing the need of giving it reality by relating it 

 to the practical problems of life. Professors 

 Brett and Pillsbury discussed a number of the 

 important issues on which modern psycholo- 

 gists differ, and Professor Weiss discussed 



variability in behavior as a basis of social 

 interaction. 



One morning session was devoted to applied 

 psychology. The problems in this field were 

 discussed from the point of view of employ- 

 ment relations, of job analysis, and of dealing 

 with the handicapped in occupation, by Mr. 

 George W. AUen, Professor E. K. Strong, Jr., 

 and Mr. Norman L. Burnett, respectively. Dr. 

 Alfred E. Lavell, chief parole officer of On- 

 tario, described the beneficial effects of super- 

 vised employment upon paroled prisoners. 



The last session opened witii two general 

 papers on mental tests and their significance. 

 Professor William D. Tait argued that educa- 

 tion should be highly selective and adapted to 

 intellectual Capacity. Dr. R. M. Yerkes em- 

 phasized the need of other types of mental 

 examination in addition to intelligence tests. 

 The results of psychiatric and intellectual 

 examination of Illinois prisoners were pre- 

 sented by Dr. Herman M. Adler. In agree- 

 ment with the results of an Ohio study, his 

 examination showed that prisonei-s are not a 

 select group intellectually. He indicated, how- 

 ever, that they do exhibit anomalies of behavior. 

 Psychiatry in the public schools was discussed 

 by Dr. Erie K. Clarke. A study of the diver- 

 gence between the color preferences of Indians 

 and whites was reported by Professor T. R. 

 Garth. 



The address of the retiring vice-president, 

 Professor E. K. Strong, Jr., dealt with the 

 problem of propaganda. He discussed and 

 illustrated propaganda in business, politics, 

 and social reform (or pseudo-reform), and 

 raised the question whether it is possible to 

 control it or neutralize its effects. Control he 

 recognized as very difficult, but suggested that 

 it might be necessary to modify the legal 

 theory of refraining from interference until 

 propaganda could be shown to issue in overt 

 acts. The essential nature of propaganda is 

 appeal to the emotions, and this makes control 

 useless unless it takes effect when the general 

 emotional foundation for overt action is being 

 laid. The emotional character of propaganda 

 also makes difficult its control through merely 

 intellectual illumination. 



A joint dinner and smoker with Section Q 



