An introduction to psychology

Shortly after the appearance of my Psychology in 1904, I began to receive requests from teachers to pre- pare a briefer volume on the same general lines. This I finally agreed to do, but fulfilment has lagged so far behind the promise, that despite the continued popularity of the older work, it seems no longer appropriate to attempt a mere digest of it.

The present book accordingly represents an entirely fresh survey of the field and attempts to set forth simply and concisely the more important principles of general psychology. Some comments on the relation of the two books to one another may be of interest. The prompt welcome accorded the earlier work was presumably due to the novelty of certain of its features, which have since been adopted in greater or less degree by other authors.

It emphasized for the first time, so far as I am aware, the distinction between structural and functional methods in psychology. It adopted and consistently utilized an essentially biological point of view in its interpretation of mental life, this position is reflected in part in the arrangement of the topics to exhibit the progressive stages of adjustment.

It presented, provisionally to be sure, a definite and teachable system, which gave students who mastered it a sense of control over the material, enabled them to observe and think psychologically for themselves and — not least important — afforded them a terminology and a point of view which rendered the literature of the subject easily accessible. Such changes as appear in the present text simply reflect alterations of emphasis and points of view that the development of the science has rendered necessary.

The structure-function distinction still seems to me significant. But it is no longer a matter of acute controversy and so requires a less militant treatment. Polemic is now centred on the 'behavioristic' movement,; which, with its gospel of objective methods and its crusade against introspection, presents an interesting blend of solid contribution and adolescent exaggeration.

Whatever seems to me to be sound in its position, I have adopted. It lends itself readily to incorporation into the biological conception of mental activity, which I have retained and energetically pressed. The organizing character of every level of our psycho-motor activities is more explicitly brought out than in the older book, with the advantage, I trust, of the depth and vividness of the impression left on the reader's mind regarding the real nature of our adjustments to the environment.

I have come in recent years to assign more importance than I formerly did to the function of subconscious processes in our behaviour. I do not for a moment accept the prurient implications of much of the Freudian doctrine, nor have I been greatly influenced by any of its contentions; but on other grounds, I have come to the belief that there is a large element of intrinsically intelligent control in many neural processes which escape our direct conscious observation.

This I hold to be as true of reflective thought as of the more overt control of our muscles. The text will be found to reflect something of this conviction.

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