The Mind and Its Education

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George Herbert Betts. The Mind and Its Education

PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION

CHAPTER I

1. HOW MIND IS TO BE KNOWN

2. THE NATURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS

3. CONTENT OF THE MENTAL STREAM

4. WHERE CONSCIOUSNESS RESIDES

5. PROBLEMS IN OBSERVATION AND INTROSPECTION

CHAPTER II

1. NATURE OF ATTENTION

2. THE EFFECTS OF ATTENTION

3. HOW WE ATTEND

4. POINTS OF FAILURE IN ATTENTION

5. TYPES OF ATTENTION

6. IMPROVING THE POWER OF ATTENTION

7. PROBLEMS IN OBSERVATION AND INTROSPECTION

CHAPTER III

1. THE RELATIONS OF MIND AND BRAIN

2. THE MIND'S DEPENDENCE ON THE EXTERNAL WORLD

3. STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

4. GROSS STRUCTURE OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

5. LOCALIZATION OF FUNCTION IN THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

6. FORMS OF SENSORY STIMULI

CHAPTER IV

1. FACTORS DETERMINING THE EFFICIENCY OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

2. DEVELOPMENT OF NERVOUS SYSTEM THROUGH USE

3. EDUCATION AND THE TRAINING OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

4. IMPORTANCE OF HEALTH AND VIGOR OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

5. PROBLEMS FOR INTROSPECTION AND OBSERVATION

CHAPTER V

1. THE NATURE OF HABIT

2. THE PLACE OF HABIT IN THE ECONOMY OF OUR LIVES

3. THE TYRANNY OF HABIT

4. HABIT-FORMING A PART OF EDUCATION

5. RULES FOR HABIT-FORMING

6. PROBLEMS IN OBSERVATION AND INTROSPECTION

CHAPTER VI

1. HOW WE COME TO KNOW THE EXTERNAL WORLD

2. THE NATURE OF SENSATION

3. SENSORY QUALITIES AND THEIR END-ORGANS

4. PROBLEMS IN OBSERVATION AND INTROSPECTION

CHAPTER VII

1. THE FUNCTION OF PERCEPTION

2. THE NATURE OF PERCEPTION

3. THE PERCEPTION OF SPACE

4. THE PERCEPTION OF TIME

5. THE TRAINING OF PERCEPTION

6. PROBLEMS IN OBSERVATION AND INTROSPECTION

CHAPTER VIII

1. THE PART PLAYED BY PAST EXPERIENCE

2. HOW PAST EXPERIENCE IS CONSERVED

3. INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN IMAGERY

4. THE FUNCTION OF IMAGES

5. THE CULTIVATION OF IMAGERY

6. PROBLEMS IN INTROSPECTION AND OBSERVATION

CHAPTER IX

1. THE PLACE OF IMAGINATION IN MENTAL ECONOMY

2. THE MATERIAL USED BY IMAGINATION

3. TYPES OF IMAGINATION

4. TRAINING THE IMAGINATION

5. PROBLEMS FOR OBSERVATION AND INTROSPECTION

CHAPTER X

1. THE NATURE OF ASSOCIATION

2. THE TYPES OF ASSOCIATION

3. TRAINING IN ASSOCIATION

4. PROBLEMS IN OBSERVATION AND INTROSPECTION

CHAPTER XI

1. THE NATURE OF MEMORY

2. THE FOUR FACTORS INVOLVED IN MEMORY

3. THE STUFF OF MEMORY

4. LAWS UNDERLYING MEMORY

5. RULES FOR USING THE MEMORY

6. WHAT CONSTITUTES A GOOD MEMORY

7. MEMORY DEVICES

8. PROBLEMS IN OBSERVATION AND INTROSPECTION

CHAPTER XII

1. DIFFERENT TYPES OF THINKING

2. THE FUNCTION OF THINKING

3. THE MECHANISM OF THINKING

4. THE CONCEPT

5. JUDGMENT

6. REASONING

7. PROBLEMS IN OBSERVATION AND INTROSPECTION

CHAPTER XIII

1. THE NATURE OF INSTINCT

2. LAW OF THE APPEARANCE AND DISAPPEARANCE OF INSTINCTS

3. THE INSTINCT OF IMITATION

4. THE INSTINCT OF PLAY

5. OTHER USEFUL INSTINCTS

6. FEAR

7. OTHER UNDESIRABLE INSTINCTS

8. PROBLEMS IN OBSERVATION AND INTROSPECTION

CHAPTER XIV

1. THE NATURE OF FEELING

2. MOOD AND DISPOSITION

3. PERMANENT FEELING ATTITUDES, OR SENTIMENTS

4. PROBLEMS IN OBSERVATION AND INTROSPECTION

CHAPTER XV

1. THE PRODUCING AND EXPRESSING OF EMOTION

2. THE CONTROL OF EMOTIONS

3. CULTIVATION OF THE EMOTIONS

4. EMOTIONS AS MOTIVES

5. PROBLEMS IN OBSERVATION AND INTROSPECTION

CHAPTER XVI

1. THE NATURE OF INTEREST

2. DIRECT AND INDIRECT INTEREST

3. TRANSITORINESS OF CERTAIN INTERESTS

4. SELECTION AMONG OUR INTERESTS

5. INTEREST FUNDAMENTAL IN EDUCATION

6. ORDER OF DEVELOPMENT OF OUR INTERESTS

7. PROBLEMS IN OBSERVATION AND INTROSPECTION

CHAPTER XVII

1. THE NATURE OF THE WILL

2. THE EXTENT OF VOLUNTARY CONTROL OVER OUR ACTS

3. STRONG AND WEAK WILLS

4. VOLITIONAL TYPES

5. TRAINING THE WILL

6. FREEDOM OF THE WILL, OR THE EXTENT OF ITS CONTROL

7. PROBLEMS IN OBSERVATION AND INTROSPECTION

CHAPTER XVIII

1. INTER-RELATION OF IMPRESSION AND EXPRESSION

2. THE PLACE OF EXPRESSION IN DEVELOPMENT

3. EDUCATIONAL USE OF EXPRESSION

4. PROBLEMS IN INTROSPECTION AND OBSERVATION

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We are to study the mind and its education; but how? It is easy to understand how we may investigate the great world of material things about us; for we can see it, touch it, weigh it, or measure it. But how are we to discover the nature of the mind, or come to know the processes by which consciousness works? For mind is intangible; we cannot see it, feel it, taste it, or handle it. Mind belongs not to the realm of matter which is known to the senses, but to the realm of spirit, which the senses can never grasp. And yet the mind can be known and studied as truly and as scientifically as can the world of matter. Let us first of all see how this can be done.

The Personal Character of Consciousness.—Mind can be observed and known. But each one can know directly only his own mind, and not another's. You and I may look into each other's face and there guess the meaning that lies back of the smile or frown or flash of the eye, and so read something of the mind's activity. But neither directly meets the other's mind. I may learn to recognize your features, know your voice, respond to the clasp of your hand; but the mind, the consciousness, which does your thinking and feels your joys and sorrows, I can never know completely. Indeed I can never know your mind at all except through your bodily acts and expressions. Nor is there any way in which you can reveal your mind, your spiritual self, to me except through these means.

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Let us proceed at once to test our conclusion by introspection. If we are sitting at our study table puzzling over a difficult problem in geometry, reasoning forms the wave in the stream of consciousness—the center of the field. It is the chief thing in our thinking. The fringe of our consciousness is made up of various sensations of the light from the lamp, the contact of our clothing, the sounds going on in the next room, some bit of memory seeking recognition, a "tramp" thought which comes along, and a dozen other experiences not strong enough to occupy the center of the field.

But instead of the study table and the problem, give us a bright fireside, an easy-chair, and nothing to do. If we are aged, memories—images from out the past—will probably come thronging in and occupy the field to such extent that the fire burns low and the room grows cold, but still the forms from the past hold sway. If we are young, visions of the future may crowd everything else to the margin of the field, while the "castles in Spain" occupy the center.

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