Social Importance of Reflective Behaviour as a Critique of Custom.-The Limits of Reflection as a Modifier of Instinct and Habit.-How Instincts and Habits May Impair the Processes and Results of Reflection.-How the Data of Reflection are Qualified.-The Aim of Reflective Thought.-The Value of Reflection for Life.- Reflection Removed from Immediate Application.— Science. Science as Practical.-The Creation of Beau- THE GREGARIOUS CHARACTER OF MAN Gregariousness Important for Social Solidarity.-Gre- gariousness May Hinder the Solidarity of Large Groups. -Gregariousness in Belief.-Gregariousness in Habits of PRAISE AND BLAME AND THEIR HUMAN EFFECTS Praise and Blame Modify Habit.-Desire for Praise May Lead to the Profession Rather Than the Practice of Vir- tue. The Effectiveness of Social Estimates: Social Inte- gration. Social Estimates and Standards of Conduct.- Importance of Relating Social Approval to Socially CONTENTS sive Instinct'.-Men Display Qualities of Leadership.— Man Pities and Protects Weak and Suffering Things.— Fear. Love and Hate.-Love.-Hate. Privacy and Solitude.-Individuality in Opinion and Origin and Development of a Sense of Personal Selfhood. -Self-Feeling.-Egoism Versus Altruism.-Self-satis- Language as a Social Habit.-Language and Mental Life. The Instability of Language.-Changes in Mean- ing. Uniformities in Language.-Standard Languages. -Standardization of Language.-Counter-tendencies RACIAL AND CULTURAL CONTINUITY Restriction of Population.-Uncritical Veneration of the FOREWORD THIS BOOK is designed to accompany the syllabus for the course entitled Introduction to Contemporary Civilization given in Columbia College. It aims to present the fundamental human traits and to indicate their significant consequences in social life. Part I is a consideration of the types of human behaviour; Part II a discussion of individual traits, especially those which are most crucial in social and political relations. Part III is a brief analysis of the four great activities of the human mind and imagination, Religion, Art, Science, and Morals. The first two parts attempt to state descriptively and behaviouristically the net results of the scientific investigations into the nature of man that have been conducted in the last two decades, especially by Professor E. L. Thorndike, from whose work the author has largely drawn. In the treatment of individual traits, James and McDougall have also been invaluable sources. The unusual emphasis on the social consequences of these psychological facts has been dictated by the projected use of the book in a course on Contemporary Civilization. The material herein treated is presented not chiefly for its intrinsic interest, but because of the help it may afford in understanding contemporary social situations. The inclusion of Art, Science, Religion, and Morals in a book of this kind deserves a word of explanation. These are treated as the direct outcome of the distinctively unique feature of human activity: reflection. They are considered as normal though complex human activities, lending themselves to the same type of psychological treatment that may fruitfully be accorded the simpler forms of human behaviour. The illustrative material has been drawn, possibly to an unusual degree for a textbook on psychology, from literature. It seems to the writer that the latter exhibits in the vivid reality of specific situations traits which psychologists discuss, by the necessities of scientific method, in the abstract. The book follows more or less closely that part of the syllabus for the course in Contemporary Civilization, which is called, "The World of Human Nature," which section of the outline was chiefly the joint product of collaboration by Professor John J. Coss and the author. To the former the author wishes to express his large indebtedness. Also to Miss Edith G. Taber for her careful and valuable editing of the manuscript in preparation for the printer, he desires to convey his deep appreciation. |