How to Use Your Mind - Harry D. Kitson
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HOW TO USE YOUR MIND

A PSYCHOLOGY OF STUDY

BEING A MANUAL FOR THE USE OF STUDENTS AND TEACHERS IN THE
ADMINISTRATION OF SUPERVISED STUDY

BY

HARRY D. KITSON, PH.D.

PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY, INDIANA UNIVERSITY

1921

 

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

The kindly reception accorded to the first edition of this book has
confirmed the author in his conviction that such a book was needed, and
has tempted him to bestow additional labor upon it. The chief changes
consist in the addition of two new chapters, "Active Imagination," and
"How to Develop Interest in a Subject"; the division into two parts of
the unwieldy chapter on memory; the addition of readings and exercises
at the end of each chapter; the preparation of an analytical table of
contents; the correction of the bibliography to date; the addition of
an index; and some recasting of phraseology in the interest of
clearness and emphasis.

The author gratefully acknowledges the constructive suggestions of
reviewers and others who have used the book, and hopes that he has
profited by them in this revision.

H.D.K.

April 1, 1921.

 

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

Educational leaders are seeing with increasing clearness the necessity
of teaching students not only the subject-matter of study but also
methods of study. Teachers are beginning to see that students waste a
vast amount of time and form many harmful habits because they do not
know how to use their minds. The recognition of this condition is
taking the form of the movement toward "supervised study," which
attempts to acquaint the student with principles of economy and
directness in using his mind. It is generally agreed that there are
certain "tricks" which make for mental efficiency, consisting of
methods of apperceiving facts, methods of review, devices for arranging
work. Some are the fruits of psychological experimentation; others are
derived from experience. Many of them can be imparted by instruction,
and it is for the purpose of systematizing these and making them
available for students that this book is prepared.

The evils of unintelligent and unsupervised study are evident to all
who have any connection with modern education. They pervade the entire
educational structure from kindergarten through college. In college
they are especially apparent in the case of freshmen, who, in addition
to the numerous difficulties incident to entrance into the college
world, suffer peculiarly because they do not know how to attack the
difficult subjects of the curriculum. In recognition of these
conditions, special attention is given at The University of Chicago
toward supervision of study. All freshmen in the School of Commerce and
Administration of the University are given a course in Methods of
Study, in which practical discussions and demonstrations are given
regarding the ways of studying the freshman subjects. In addition to
the group-work, cases presenting special features are given individual
attention, for it must be admitted that while certain difficulties are
common to all students, there are individual cases that present
peculiar phases and these can be served only by personal consultations.
These personal consultations are expensive both in time and patience,
for it frequently happens that the mental habits of a student must be
thoroughly reconstructed, and this requires much time and attention,
but the results well repay the effort. A valuable accessory to such
individual supervision over students has been found in the use of
psychological tests which have been described by the author in a
monograph entitled, "The Scientific Study of the College Student."[1]

[Footnote 1: Princeton University Press.]

But the college is not the most strategic point at which to administer
guidance in methods of study. Such training is even more acceptably
given in the high school and grades. Here habits of mental application
are largely set, and it is of the utmost importance that they be set
right, for the sake of the welfare of the individuals and of the
institutions of higher education that receive them later. Another
reason for incorporating training in methods of study into secondary
and elementary schools is that more individuals will be helped,
inasmuch as the eliminative process has not yet reached its
culmination.

In high schools where systematic supervision of study is a feature,
classes are usually conducted in Methods of Study, and it is hoped that
this book will meet the demand for a text-book for such classes, the
material being well within the reach of high school students. In high
schools where instruction in Methods of Study is given as part of a
course in elementary psychology, the book should also prove useful,
inasmuch as it gives a summary of psychological principles relating to
the cognitive processes.

In the grades the book cannot be put into the hands of the pupils, but
it should be mastered by the teacher and applied in her supervising and
teaching activities. Embodying, as it does, the results of researches
in educational psychology, it should prove especially suitable for use
in teachers' reading circles where a concise presentation of the facts
regarding the psychology of the learning process is desired.

There is another group of students who need training in methods of
study. Brain workers in business and industry feel deeply the need of
greater mental efficiency and seek eagerly for means to attain it.
Their earnestness in this search is evidenced by the success of various
systems for the training of memory, will, and other mental traits.
Further evidence is found in the efforts of many corporations to
maintain schools and classes for the intellectual improvement of their
employees. To all such the author offers the work with the hope that it
may be useful in directing them toward greater mental efficiency.

In courses in Methods of Study in which the book is used as a
class-text, the instructor should lay emphasis not upon memorization of
the facts in the book, but upon the application of them in study. He
should expect to see parallel with progress through the book,
improvement in the mental ability of the students. Specific problems
may well be arranged on the basis of the subjects of the curriculum,
and students should be urged to utilize the suggestions immediately.
The subjects treated in the book are those which the author has found
in his experience with college students to constitute the most frequent
sources of difficulty, and under these conditions, the sequence of
topics followed in the book has seemed most favorable for presentation.
With other groups of students, however, another sequence of topics may
be found desirable; if so, the order of topics may be changed. For
example, in case the chapter on brain action is found to presuppose
more physiological knowledge than that possessed by the students, it
may be omitted or may be used merely for reference when enlightenment
is desired upon some of the physiological descriptions in later
chapters. Likewise, the chapter dealing with intellectual difficulties
of college students may be omitted with non-collegiate groups.

The heavy obligation of the author to a number of writers will be
apparent to one familiar with the literature of theoretical and
educational psychology. No attempt is made to render specific
acknowledgments, but special mention should be made of the large
draughts made upon the two books by Professor Stiles which treat so
helpfully of the bodily relations of the student. These books contain
so much good sense and scientific information that they should receive
a prominent place among the books recommended to students. Thanks are
due to Professor Edgar James Swift and Charles Scribner's Sons for
permission to use a figure from "Mind in the Making"; and to J.B.
Lippincott Company for adaptation of cuts from Villiger's "Brain and
Spinal Cord."

The author gratefully acknowledges helpful suggestions from Professors
James R. Angell, Charles H. Judd and C. Judson Herrick, who have read
the greater part of the manuscript and have commented upon it to its
betterment. The obligation refers, however, not only to the immediate
preparation of this work but also to the encouragement which, for
several years, the author has received from these scientists, first as
student, later as colleague.

THE AUTHOR.

CHICAGO, September 25, 1916.

 

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. INTELLECTUAL PROBLEMS OF THE COLLEGE FRESHMAN

Number. Variety. Lecture Method. Note Taking. Amount of Library Work.
High Quality Demanded. Necessity for Making Schedule. A College Course
Consists in the Formation of Habits. Requires Active Effort on Part of
Student. Importance of Good Form.

II. NOTE TAKING

Uses of Notes. LECTURE NOTES--Avoid Verbatim Reports. Maintain Attitude
of Mental Activity. Seek Outline Chiefly. Use Notes in Preparing Next
Lesson. READING NOTES--Summarize Rather Than Copy. Read With Questions
in Mind. How to Read. How to Make Bibliographies. LABORATORY
NOTES--Content. Form. Miscellaneous Hints.

III. BRAIN ACTION DURING STUDY

The Organ of Mind. Gross Structure. Microscopic Structure. The Neurone.
The Nervous Impulse. The Synapse. Properties of Nervous Tissue
--Impressibility, Conductivity, Modifiability. Pathways Used in
Study--Sensory, Motor, Association. Study is a Process of Making
Pathways in Brain.

IV. FORMATION OF STUDY-HABITS

Definition of Habit. Examples. Inevitableness of Habits in Brain and
Nervous System. How to Insure Useful Habits--Choose What Shall Enter;
Choose Mode of Entrance; Choose Mode of Egress; Go Slowly at First;
Observe Four Maxims. Advantages and Disadvantages of Habit. Ethical
Consequences.

V. ACTIVE IMAGINATION

Nature of the Image. Its Use in Imagination. Necessity for Number,
Variety, Sharpness. Source of "Imaginative" Productions. Method of
Developing Active Imaginative Powers: Cultivate Images in Great
Number, Variety, Sharpness; Actively Combine the Elements of Past
Experience.

VI. FIRST AIDS TO MEMORY--IMPRESSION

Four Phases. Conditions of Impression: Care, Clearness, Choice of
Favorable Sense Avenue, Repetition, Overlearning, Primacy, Distribution
of Repetitions, (Inferences Bearing Upon Theme-writing), "Whole" vs.
"Part" Method, "Rote" vs. "logical" Method, Intention.

VII. SECOND AIDS TO MEMORY--RETENTION, RECALL AND RECOGNITION

Retention. Recall. Recall Contrasted With Impression. Practise Recall
in Impression. Recognition. Advantages of Review. Memory Works
According to Law. Possibility of Improvement. Connection With Other
Mental Processes.

VIII. CONCENTRATION OF ATTENTION

Importance in Mental Life. Analysis of Concrete Attentive State.
Cross-section of Mental Stream. Focal Object, Clear; Marginal Objects,
Dim. Fluctuation. Ease of Concentration Requires (1) Removal of All
Marginal Distractions Possible, (2) Ignoring Others. Conditions
Favorable for Concentration. Relation to Other Mental Processes.

IX. HOW WE REASON

Reasoning Contrasted with Simpler Mental Operations. Illustrated by
Method of Studying Geometry. Analysis of Reasoning Act: Recognition of
Problem, Efforts to Solve It, Solution. Study in Problems. Requirements
for Effective Reasoning: Many Ideas, Accessible, Clear. How to Clarify
Ideas: Define, Classify. Relation Between Habit and Reasoning. Summary.

X. EXPRESSION AS AN AID IN STUDY

Expression an Inevitable Accompaniment of Nervous Activity. Extent of
Expressive Movements. Relation Between Ideas and Expressive Acts.
Ethical Considerations. Methods of Expression Chiefly Used in Study:
Speech, Writing, Drawing. Effects of Expression: (1) On Brain, (2) On
Ideas. Hints on Development of Freedom of Expression.

XI. HOW TO BECOME INTERESTED IN A SUBJECT

Nature of Interest. Intellectual Interests Gained Through Experience.
Many Possible Fields of Interest. Laws of Interest.

XII. THE PLATEAU OF DESPOND

Measurement of Mental Progress. Analysis of the "Learning Curve."
Irregularity. Rapid Progress at Beginning. The Plateau. Causes.
Remedies.

XIII. MENTAL SECOND-WIND

Description: (1) Physical, (2) Mental. Hidden Sources of Energy.
Retarding Effect of Fatigue. Analysis of Fatigue. How to Reduce
Fatigue in Study.

XIV. EXAMINATIONS

Purposes. Continuous Effort and Cramming. Effective Methods of
Reviewing. Immediate Preparation for an Examination Conduct in
Examination-room. Attitude of Activity. Attitude of Confidence.

XV. BODILY CONDITIONS FOB EFFECTIVE STUDY

FOOD: Quantity, Quality, Surroundings. SLEEP: Amount, Conditions,
Avoidance of Insomnia. EXERCISE: Regularity, Emphasis.

SUGGESTIONS FOB FURTHER READING

INDEX

 

HOW TO USE YOUR MIND

 

CHAPTER I

INTELLECTUAL PROBLEMS OF THE COLLEGE FRESHMAN

In entering upon a college course you are taking a step that may
completely revolutionize your life. You are facing new situations
vastly different from any you have previously met. They are also of
great variety, such as finding a place to eat and sleep, regulating
your own finances, inaugurating a new social life, forming new
friendships, and developing in body and mind. The problems connected
with mental development will engage your chief attention. You are now
going to use your mind more actively than ever before and should survey
some of the intellectual difficulties before plunging into the fight.

Perhaps the first difficulty you will encounter is the substitution of
the lecture for the class recitation to which you were accustomed in
high school. This substitution requires that you develop a new technic
of learning, for the mental processes involved in an oral recitation
are different from those used in listening to a lecture. The lecture
system implies that the lecturer has a fund of knowledge about a
certain field and has organized this knowledge in a form that is not
duplicated in the literature of the subject. The manner of
presentation, then, is unique and is the only means of securing the
knowledge in just that form. As soon as the words have left the mouth
of the lecturer they cease to be accessible to you. Such conditions
require a unique mental attitude and unique mental habits. You will be
obliged, in the first place, to maintain sustained attention over long
periods of time. The situation is not like that in reading, in which a
temporary lapse of attention may be remedied by turning back and
rereading. In listening to a lecture, you are obliged to catch the
words "on the fly." Accordingly you must develop new habits of paying
attention. You will also need to develop a new technic for memorizing,
especially for memorizing things heard. As a partial aid in this, and
also for purposes of organizing material received in lectures, you will
need to develop ability to take notes. This is a process with which you
have heretofore had little to do. It is a most important phase of
college life, however, and will repay earnest study.

Another characteristic of college study is the vast amount of reading
required. Instead of using a single text-book for each course, you may
use several. They may cover great historical periods and represent the
ideas of many men. In view of the amount of reading assigned, you will
also be obliged to learn to read faster. No longer will you have time
to dawdle sleepily through the pages of easy texts; you will have to
cover perhaps fifty or a hundred pages of knotty reading every day.
Accordingly you must learn to handle books expeditiously and to
comprehend quickly. In fact, economy must be your watchword throughout.
A German lesson in high school may cover thirty or forty lines a day,
requiring an hour's preparation. A German assignment in college,
however, may cover four or five or a dozen pages, requiring hard work
for two or three hours.

You should be warned also that college demands not only a greater
quantity but also a higher quality of work. When you were a high school
student the world expected only a high school student's accomplishments
of you. Now you are a college student, however, and your intellectual
responsibilities have increased. The world regards you now as a person
of considerable scholastic attainment and expects more of you than
before. In academic terms this means that in order to attain a grade of
95 in college you will have to work much harder than you did for that
grade in high school, for here you have not only more difficult
subject-matter, but also keener competition for the first place. In
high school you may have been the brightest student in your class. In
college, however, you encounter the brightest students from many
schools. If your merits are going to stand out prominently, therefore,
you must work much harder. Your work from now on must be of better
quality.

Not the least of the perplexities of your life as a college student
will arise from the fact that no daily schedule is arranged for you.
The only time definitely assigned for your work is the fifteen hours a
week, more or less, spent in the class-room. The rest of your schedule
must be arranged by yourself. This is a real task and will require care
and thought if your work is to be done with greatest economy of time
and effort.

This brief survey completes the catalogue of problems of mental
development that will vex you most in adjusting your methods of study
to college conditions. In order to make this adjustment you will be
obliged to form a number of new habits. Indeed, as you become more and
more expert as a student, you will see that the whole process resolves
itself into one of habit-formation, for while a college education has
two phases--the acquisition of facts and the formation of habits--it is
the latter which is the more important. Many of the facts that you
learn will be forgotten; many will be outlawed by time; but the habits
of study you form will be permanent possessions. They will consist of
such things as methods of grasping facts, methods of reasoning about
facts, and of concentrating attention. In acquiring these habits you
must have some material upon which you may concentrate your attention,
and it will be supplied by the subjects of the curriculum. You will be
asked, for instance, to write innumerable themes in courses in English
composition; not for the purpose of enriching the world's literature,
nor for the delectation of your English instructor, but for the sake of
helping you to form habits of forceful expression. You will be asked to
enter the laboratory and perform numerous experiments, not to discover
hitherto unknown facts, but to obtain practice in scientific procedure
and to learn how to seek knowledge by yourself. The curriculum and the
faculty are the means, but you yourself are the agent in the
educational process. No matter how good the curriculum or how renowned
the faculty, you cannot be educated without the most vigorous efforts
on your part. Banish the thought that you are here to have knowledge
"pumped into" you. To acquire an education you must establish and
maintain not a passive attitude but an active attitude. When you go to
the gymnasium to build up a good physique, the physical director does
not tell you to hold yourself limp and passive while he pumps your arms
and legs up and down. Rather he urges you to put forth effort, to exert
yourself until you are tired. Only by so doing can you develop physical
power. This principle holds true of mental development. Learning is not
a process of passive "soaking-in." It is a matter of vigorous effort,
and the harder you work the more powerful you become. In securing a
college education you are your own master.

In the development of physical prowess you are well aware of the
importance of doing everything in "good form." In such sports as
swimming and hurdling, speed and grace depend primarily upon it. The
same principle holds true in the development of the mind. The most
serviceable mind is that which accomplishes results in the shortest
time and with least waste motion. Take every precaution, therefore, to
rid yourself of all superfluous and impeding methods.

Strive for the development of good form in study. Especially is this
necessary at the start. Now is the time when you are laying the
foundations for your mental achievements in college. Keep a sharp
lookout, then, at every point, to see that you build into the
foundation only those materials and that workmanship which will support
a masterly structure.

READINGS AND EXERCISES

NOTE.--Numbers in parentheses refer to complete citations in
Bibliography at end of book.

Readings: Fulton (5) Lockwood (11)

Exercise 1. List concrete problems that have newly come to you since
your arrival upon the campus.

Exercise 2. List in order the difficulties that confront you in
preparing your daily lessons.

Exercise 3. Prepare a work schedule similar to that provided by the
form in Chart I. Specify the subject with which you will be occupied at
each period.

Exercise 4. Try to devise some way of registering the effectiveness
with which you carry out your schedule. Suggestions are contained in
the summary: Disposition of (1) as planned; (2) as spent. To divide the
number of hours wasted by 24 will give a partial "index of efficiency."

 

CHAPTER II

NOTE-TAKING

Most educated people find occasion, at some time or other, to take
notes. Although this is especially true of college students, they have
little success, as any college instructor will testify. Students, as a
rule, do not realize that there is any skill involved in taking notes.
Not until examination time arrives and they try vainly to labor through
a maze of scribbling, do they realize that there must be some system in
note-taking. A careful examination of note-taking shows that there are
rules or principles, which, when followed, have much to do with
increasing ability in study.

One criterion that should guide in the preparation of notes is the use
to which they will be put. If this is kept in mind, many blunders will
be saved. Notes may be used in three ways: as material for directing
each day's study, for cramming, and for permanent, professional use.
Thus a note-book may be a thing of far-reaching value. Notes you take
now as a student may be valuable years hence in professional life.
Recognition of this will help you in the preparation of your notes and
will determine many times how they should be prepared.

The chief situations in college which require note-taking are lectures,
library reading and laboratory work. Accordingly the subject will be
considered under these three heads.

LECTURE NOTES.--When taking notes on a lecture, there are two extremes
that present themselves, to take exceedingly full notes or to take
almost no notes. One can err in either direction. True, on first
thought, entire stenographic reports of lectures appear desirable, but
second thought will show that they may be dispensed with, not only
without loss, but with much gain. The most obvious objection is that
too much time would be consumed in transcribing short-hand notes.
Another is that much of the material in a lecture is undesirable for
permanent possession. The instructor repeats much for the sake of
emphasis; he multiplies illustrations, not important in themselves, but
important for the sake of stressing his point. You do not need these
illustrations in written form, however, for once the point is made you
rarely need to depend upon the illustrations for its retention. A still
more cogent objection is that if you occupy your attention with the
task of copying the lecture verbatim, you do not have time to think,
but become merely an automatic recording machine. Experienced
stenographers say that they form the habit of recording so
automatically that they fail utterly to comprehend the meaning of what
is said. You as a student cannot afford to have your attention so
distracted from the meaning of the lecture, therefore reduce your
classroom writing to a minimum.

Probably the chief reason why students are so eager to secure full
lecture notes is that they fear to trust their memory. Such fears
should be put at rest, for your mind will retain facts if you pay close
attention and make logical associations during the time of impression.
Keep your mind free, then, to work upon the subject-matter of the
lecture. Debate mentally with the speaker. Question his statements,
comparing them with your own experience or with the results of your
study. Ask yourself frequently, "Is that true?" The essential thing is
to maintain an attitude of mental activity, and to avoid anything that
will reduce this and make you passive. Do not think of yourself as a
vat into which the instructor pumps knowledge. Regard yourself rather
as an active force, quick to perceive and to comprehend meaning,
deliberate in acceptance and firm in retention.

After observing the stress laid, throughout this book, upon the
necessity for logical associations, you will readily see that the
key-note to note-taking is, Let your notes represent the logical
progression of thought in the lecture. Strive above all else to secure
the skeleton--the framework upon which the lecture is hung. A lecture
is a logical structure, and the form in which it is presented is the
outline. This outline, then, is your chief concern. In the case of some
lectures it is an easy matter. The lecturer may place the outline in
your hands beforehand, may present it on the black-board, or may give
it orally. Some lecturers, too, present their material in such
clear-cut divisions that the outline is easily followed. Others,
however, are very difficult to follow in this regard.

In arranging an outline you will find it wise to adopt some device by
which the parts will stand out prominently, and the progression of
thought will be indicated with proper subordination of titles. Adopt
some system at the beginning of your college course, and use it in all
your notes. The system here given may serve as a model, using first the
Roman numerals, then capitals, then Arabic numerals:

I.
II.
A.
B.
1.
2.
a.
b.
(1)
(2)
(a)
(b)

In concluding this discussion of lecture notes, you should be urged to
make good use of your notes after they are taken. First, glance over
them as soon as possible after the lecture. Inasmuch as they will then
be fresh in your mind, you will be able to recall almost the entire
lecture; you will also be able to supply missing parts from memory.
Some students make it a rule to reduce all class-notes to typewritten
form soon after the lecture. This is an excellent practice, but is
rather expensive in time. In addition to this after-class review, you
should make a second review of your notes as the first step in the
preparation of the next day's lesson. This will connect up the lessons
with each other and will make the course a unified whole instead of a
series of disconnected parts. Too often a course exists in a student's
mind as a series of separate discussions and he sees only the horizon
of a single day. This condition might be represented by a series of
disconnected links:

O O O O O

A summary of each day's lesson, however, preceding the preparation for
the next day, forges new links and welds them all together into an
unbroken chain:

OOOOOOOOOO

A method that has been found helpful is to use a double-page system of
notetaking, using the left-hand page for the bare outline, with
largest divisions, and the right-hand page for the details. This device
makes the note-book readily available for hasty review or for more
extended study.

READING NOTES.--The question of full or scanty notes arises in reading
notes as in lecture notes. In general, your notes should represent a
summary, in your own words, of the author's discussion, not a
duplication of it. Students sometimes acquire the habit of reading
single sentences at a time, then of writing them down, thinking that by
making an exact copy of the book, they are playing safe. This is a
pernicious practice; it spoils continuity of thought and application.
Furthermore, isolated sentences mean little, and fail grossly to
represent the real thought of the author. A better way is to read
through an entire paragraph or section, then close the book and
reproduce in your own words what you have read. Next, take your summary
and compare with the original text to see that you have really grasped
the point. This procedure will be beneficial in several ways. It will
encourage continuous concentration of attention to an entire argument;
it will help you to preserve relative emphasis of parts; it will lead
you to regard thought and not words. (You are undoubtedly familiar with
the state of mind wherein you find yourself reading merely words and
not following the thought.) Lastly, material studied in this way is
remembered longer than material read scrappily. In short, such a method
of reading makes not only for good memory, but for good mental habits
of all kinds. In all your reading, hold to the conception of yourself
as a thinker, not a sponge. Remember, you do not need to accept
unqualifiedly everything you read. A worthy ideal for every student to
follow is expressed in the motto carved on the wall of the great
reading-room of the Harper Memorial Library at The University of
Chicago: "Read not to contradict, nor to believe, but to weigh and
consider." Ibsen bluntly states the same thought:

"Don't read to swallow; read to choose, for 'Tis but to see what one
has use for."

Ask yourself, when beginning a printed discussion, What am I looking
for? What is the author going to talk about? Often this will be
indicated in topical headings. Keep it in the background of your mind
while reading, and search for the answer. Then, when you have read the
necessary portion, close the book and summarize, to see if the author
furnished what you sought. In short, always read for a purpose.
Formulate problems and seek their solutions. In this way will there be
direction in your reading and your thought.

This discussion of reading notes has turned into an essay on "How to
Read," and you must be convinced by this time that there is much to
learn in this respect, so much that we may profitably spend more time
in discussing it.

Every book you take up should be opened with some preliminary ceremony.
This does not refer to the physical operation of opening a new book,
but to the mental operation. In general, take the following steps:

1. Observe the title. See exactly what field the book attempts to
cover.

2. Observe the author's name. If you are to use his book frequently,
discover his position in the field. Remember, you are going to accept
him as authority, and you should know his status. You may be told this
on the title-page, or you may have to consult Who's Who, or the
biographical dictionary.

3. Glance over the preface. Under some circumstances you should read it
carefully. If you are going to refer to the book very often, make
friends with the author; let him introduce himself to you; this he will
do in the preface. Observe the date of publication, also, in order to
get an idea as to the recency of the material.

4. Glance over the table of contents. If you are very familiar with the
field, and the table of contents is outlined in detail, you might
advantageously study it and dispense with reading the book. On the
other hand, if you are going to consult the book only briefly, you
might find it necessary to study the table of contents in order to see
the relation of the part you read to the entire work.

5. Use the index intelligently; it may save you much time.

You will have much to do throughout your college course with the making
of bibliographies, that is, with the compilation of lists of books
bearing upon special topics. You may have bibliographies given you in
some of your courses, or you may be asked to compile your own. Under
all circumstances, prepare them with the greatest care. Be scrupulous
in giving references. There is a standard form for referring to books
and periodicals, as follows:

C.R. Henderson, Industrial Insurance (2d ed.; Chicago: The University
of Chicago Press, 1912), p. 321.

S.I. Curtis, "The Place of Sacrifice," Biblical World, Vol. XXI (1902),
p. 248 _ff_.

LABORATORY NOTES.--The form for laboratory notes varies with the
science and is usually prescribed by the instructor. Reports of
experiments are usually written up in the order: Object, Apparatus,
Method, Results, Conclusions. When detailed instructions are given by
the instructor, follow them accurately. Pay special attention to
neatness. Instructors say that the greatest fault with laboratory
note-books is lack of neatness. This reacts upon the instructor,
causing him much trouble in correcting the note-book. The resulting
annoyance frequently prejudices him, against his will, against the
student. It is safe to assert that you will materially increase your
chances of a good grade in a laboratory course by the preparation of a
neat note-book.

The key-note of the twentieth century is economy, the tendency in all
lines being toward the elimination of waste. College students should
adopt this aim in the regulation of their study affairs, and there is
much opportunity for applying it in note-taking. So far, the discussion
has had to do with the _content_ of the note-book, but _its form_ is
equally important. Much may be done by utilization of mechanical
devices to save time and energy.

First, write in ink. Pencil marks blur badly and become illegible in a
few months. Remember, you may be using the notebook twenty years hence,
therefore make it durable.

Second, write plainly. This injunction ought to be superfluous, for
common sense tells us that writing which is illegible cannot be read
even by the writer, once it has "grown cold." Third, take care in
forming sentences. Do not make your notes consist simply of separate,
scrappy jottings. True, it is difficult, under stress, to form
complete sentences. The great temptation is to jot down a word here
and there and trust to luck or an indulgent memory to supply the
context at some later time. A little experience, however, will quickly
demonstrate the futility of such hopes; therefore strive to form
sensible phrases, and to make the parts of the outline cohere. Apply
the principles of English composition to the preparation of your
note-book.

A fourth question concerns size and shape of the note-book. These
features depend partly upon the nature of the course and partly upon
individual taste. It is often convenient and practicable to keep the
notes for all courses in a single note-book. Men find it advantageous
to use a small note-book of a size that can be carried in the coat
pocket and studied at odd moments.

A fifth question of a mechanical nature is, Which is preferable, bound
or loose-leaf note-books? Generally the latter will be found more
desirable. Leaves are easily inserted and the sections are easily filed
on completion of a course.

It goes without saying that the manner in which notes, are to be taken
will be determined by many factors, such as the nature of individual
courses, the wishes of instructors, personal tastes and habits.
Nevertheless, there are certain principles and practices which are
adaptable to nearly all conditions, and it is these that we have
discussed. Remember, note-taking is one of the habits you are to form
in college. See that the habit is started rightly. Adopt a good plan at
the start and adhere to it. You may be encouraged, too, with the
thought that facility in note-taking will come with practice.
Note-taking is an art and as you practise you will develop skill.

We have noted some of the most obvious and immediate benefits derived
from well-prepared notes, consisting of economy of time, ease of
review, ease of permanent retention. There are other benefits, however,
which, though less obvious, are of far greater importance. These are
the permanent effects upon the mind. Habits of correct thinking are the
chief result of correct note-taking. As you develop in this particular
ability, you will find corresponding improvement in your ability to
comprehend and assimilate ideas, to retain and reproduce facts, and to
reason with thoroughness and independence.

READINGS AND EXERCISES

Readings:

Adams (1) Chapter VIII.

Dearborn (2) Chapter II.

Kerfoot (10)

Seward (17)

Exercise 1. Contrast the taking of notes from reading and from
lectures.

Exercise 2. Make an outline of this chapter.

Exercise 3. Make an outline of some lecture.

 

CHAPTER III

BRAIN ACTION DURING STUDY

Though most people understand more or less vaguely that the brain acts
in some way during study, exact knowledge of the nature of this action
is not general. As you will be greatly assisted in understanding mental
processes by such knowledge, we shall briefly examine the brain and its
connections. It will be manifestly impossible to inquire into its
nature very minutely, but by means of a description you will be able to
secure some conception of it and thus will be able better to control
the mental processes which it underlies.

To the naked eye the brain is a large jelly-like mass enclosed in a
bony covering, about one-fourth of an inch thick, called the skull.
Inside the skull it is protected by a thick membrane. At its base
emerges the spinal cord, a long strand of nerve fibers extending down
the spine. For most of its length, the cord is about as large around as
your little finger, but it tapers at the lower end. From it at right
angles throughout its length branch out thirty-one pairs of fibrous
nerves which radiate to all parts of the body. The brain and spinal
cord, with all its ramifications, are known as the nervous system. You
see now that, though we started with the statement that the mind is
intimately connected with the brain, we must now enlarge our statement
and say it is connected with the entire nervous system. It is therefore
to the nervous system that we must turn our attention.

Although to the naked eye the nervous system is apparently made up of a
number of different kinds of material, still we see, when we turn our
microscopes upon it, that its parts are structurally the same. Reduced
to lowest terms, the nervous system is found to be composed of minute
units of structure called nerve-cells or neurones. Each of these looks
like a string frayed out at both ends, with a bulge somewhere along its
length. The nervous system is made up of millions of these little cells
packed together in various combinations and distributed throughout the
body. Some of the neurones are as long as three feet; others measure
but a fraction of an inch in length.

We do not know exactly how the mind, that part of us which feels,
reasons and wills, is connected with this mass of cells called the
nervous system. We do know, however, that every time anything occurs in
the mind, there is a change in some part of the nervous system.
Applying this fact to study, it is obvious that when you are performing
any of the operations of study, memorizing foreign vocabularies, making
arithmetical calculations, reasoning out problems in geometry, you are
making changes in your nervous system. The question before us, then,
is, What is the nature of these changes?

According to present knowledge, the action of the nervous system is
best conceived as a form of chemical change that spreads among the
nerve-cells. We call this commotion the nervous current. It is very
rapid, moving faster than one hundred feet a second, and runs along the
cells in much the same way as a "spark runs along a train of
gunpowder." It is important to note that neurones never act singly;
they always act in groups, the nervous current passing from neurone to
neurone. It is thought that the most important changes in the nervous
system do not occur within the individual neurones, but at the points
where they join with each other. This point of connection is called the
synapse and although we do not understand its exact nature, it may well
be pictured as a valve that governs the passage of the nervous current
from neurone to neurone. At time of birth, most of the valves are
closed. Only a few are open, mainly those connected with the vegetative
processes such as breathing and digestion. But as the individual is
played upon by the objects of the environment, the valves open to the
passage of the nervous current. With increased use they become more and
more permeable, and thus learning is the process of making easier the
passage of the nervous current from one neurone to another.

We shall secure further light upon the action of the nervous system if
we examine some of the properties belonging to nerve-cells. The first
one is _impressibility_. Nerve-cells are very sensitive to impressions
from the outside. If you have ever had the dentist touch an exposed
nerve, you know how extreme this sensitivity is. Naturally such a
property is very important in education, for had we not the power to
receive impressions from the outside world we should not be able to
acquire knowledge. We should not even be able to perceive danger and
remove ourselves from harm. "If we compare a man's body to a building,
calling the steel frame-work his skeleton and the furnace and power
station his digestive organs and lungs, the nervous system would
include, with other things, the thermometers, heat regulators, electric
buttons, door-bells, valve-openers,--the parts of the building, in
short, which are specifically designed to respond to influences of the
environment." The second property of nerve-cells which is important in
study is _conductivity_. As soon as a neurone is stimulated at one end,
it communicates its excitement, by means of the nervous current, to the
next neurone or to neighboring neurones. Just as an electric current
might pass along one wire, thence to another, and along it to a third,
so the nervous current passes from neurone to neurone. As might be
expected, the two functions of impressibility and conductivity are
aided by such an arrangement of the nerve-cells that the nervous
current may pass over definitely laid pathways. These systems of
pathways will be described in a later paragraph.

The third property of nerve-cells which is important in study is
_modifiability_. That is, impressions made upon the nerve-cells are
retained. Most living tissue is modifiable to some extent. The features
of the face are modifiable, and if one habitually assumes a peevish
expression, it becomes, after a time, permanently fixed. The nervous
system, however, possesses the power of modifiability to a marked
degree, even a single impression sufficing to make striking
modification. This is very important in study, being the basis for the
retentive powers of the mind.

Having examined the action of the nervous system in its simplicity, we
have now to examine the ways in which the parts of the nervous system
are combined. We shall be helped if we keep to the conception of it as
an aggregation of systems or groups of pathways. Some of these we shall
attempt to trace out. Beginning with those at the outermost parts of
the body, we find them located in the sense-organs, not only within
the traditional five, but also within the muscles, tendons, joints,
and internal organs of the body such as the heart, and digestive
organs. In all these places we find ends of neurones which converge at
the spinal cord and travel to the brain. They are called sensory
neurones and their function is to carry messages inward to the brain.
Thus, the brain represents, in great part, a central receiving station
for impressions from the outside world. The nerve-cells carrying
messages from the various parts of the body terminate in particular
areas. Thus an area in the back part of the brain receives messages
from the eyes; another area near the top of the brain receives messages
from the skin. These areas are quite clearly marked out and may be
studied in detail by means of the accompanying diagram.

There is another large group of nerve-cells which, when traced out, are
found to have one terminal in the brain and the other in the muscles
throughout the body. The area in the brain, where these neurones
emerge, is near the top of the brain in the area marked _Motor_ on the
diagram. From here the fibers travel down through the spinal cord and
out to the muscles. The nerve-cells in this group are called motor
neurones and their function is to carry messages from the brain out to
the muscles, for a muscle ordinarily does not act without a nervous
current to set it off.

So far we have seen that the brain has the two functions of receiving
impressions from the sense-organs and of sending out orders to the
muscles. There is a further mechanism that must now be described. When
messages are received in the sensory areas, it is necessary that there
be some means within the brain of transmitting them over to the motor
area so that they may be acted upon. Such an arrangement is provided by
another group of nerve-cells in the brain, having as their function the
transmission of the nervous current from one area to another. They are
called association neurones and transmit the nervous current from
sensory areas to motor areas or from one sensory area to another. For
example, suppose you see a brick falling from above and you dodge
quickly back. The neural action accompanying this occurrence consists
of an impression upon the nerve-cells in the eye, the conduction of the
nervous current back to the visual area of the brain, the transmission
of the current over association neurones to the motor area, then its
transmission over the motor neurones, down the spinal cord, to the
muscles that enable you to dodge the missile. The association neurones
have the further function of connecting one sensory area in the brain
with another. For example, when you see, smell, taste and touch an
orange, the corresponding areas in the brain act in conjunction and are
associated by means of the association neurones connecting them. The
association neurones play a large part in the securing and organizing
of knowledge. They are very important in study, for all learning
consists in building up associations.

From the foregoing description we see that the nervous system consists
merely of a mechanism for the reception and transmission of incoming
messages and their transformation into outgoing messages which produce
movement. The brain is the center where such transformations are made,
being a sort of central switchboard which permits the sense-organs to
come into communication with muscles. It is also the instrument by
means of which the impressions from the various senses can be united
and experience can be unified. The brain serves further as the medium
whereby impressions once made can be retained. That is, it is the great
organ of memory. Hence we see that it is to this organ we must look for
the performance of the activities necessary to study. Everything that
enters it produces some modification within it. Education consists in a
process of undergoing a selected group of experiences of such a nature
as to leave beneficial results in the brain. By means of the changes
made there, the individual is able better to adjust himself to new
situations. For when the individual enters the world, he is not
prepared to meet many situations; only a few of the neural connections
are made and he is able to perform only a meagre number of simple acts,
such as breathing, crying, digestion. The pathways for complex acts,
such as speaking English or French, or writing, are not formed at birth
but must be built up within the life-time of the individual. It is the
process of building them up that we call education. This process is a
physical feat involving the production of changes in physical material
in the brain. Study involves the overcoming of resistance in the
nervous system. That is why it is so hard. In your early school-days,
when you set about laboriously learning the multiplication table, your
unwilling protests were wrung because you were being compelled to force
the nervous current through new pathways, and to overcome the inertia
of physical matter. Today, when you begin a train of reasoning, the
task is difficult because you are opening hitherto untravelled
pathways. There is a comforting thought, however, which is derived from
the factor of modifiability, in that with each succeeding repetition,
the task becomes easier, because the path becomes worn smoothly and the
nervous current seeks it of its own accord; in other words, each act
and each thought tends to become habitualized. Education is then a
process of forming habits, and the rest of the book will be devoted to
the description and discussion of habits which a student should form.

READING AND EXERCISE

Reading: Herrick (7)

Exercise 1. Draw a picture of the brain, showing roughly what takes
place there (a) when you read a book, (6) listen to a lecture, (c) take
notes.

 

CHAPTER IV

FORMATION OF STUDY-HABITS

As already intimated, this book adopts the view that education is a
process of forming habits in the brain. In the formation of habits
there are several principles that must be observed. Accordingly we
shall devote a chapter to the consideration of habits in general before
discussing the specific habits involved in various kinds of study.

Habit may be defined roughly as the tendency to act time after time in
the same way. Thus defined, you see that the force of habit extends
throughout the entire universe. It is a habit for the earth to revolve
on its axis once every twenty-four hours and to encircle the sun once
every year. When a pencil falls from your hand it has a habit of
dropping to the floor. A piece of paper once folded tends to crease in
the same place. These are examples of the force of habit in nonliving
matter. Living matter shows its power even more clearly. If you assume
a petulant expression for some time, it gets fixed and the expression
becomes habitual. The hair may be trained to lie this way or that.
These are examples of habit in living tissue. But there is one
particular form of living tissue which is most susceptible to habit;
that is nerve tissue. Let us review briefly the facts which underlie
this characteristic. In nerve tissue, impressibility, conductivity and
modifiability are developed to a marked degree. The nerve-cells in the
sense organs are impressed by stimulations from the outside world. The
nervous current thus generated is conducted over long nerve fibers,
through the spinal cord to the brain where it is received and we
experience a sensation. Thence it pushes on, over association neurones
in the brain to motor neurones, over which it passes down the spinal
cord again to muscles, and ends in some movement. In the pathway which
it traverses it leaves its impression, and, thereafter, when the first
neurone is excited, the nervous current tends to take the same pathway
and to end in the same movement.

It should be emphasized that the nervous current, once started, always
tends to seek outlet in movement. This is an extremely important
feature of neural action, and, as will be shown in another chapter, is
a vital factor in study. Movement may be started by the stimulation of
a sense organ or by an idea. In the latter case it starts from regions
in the brain without the immediately preceding stimulation of a sense
organ. Howsoever it starts you may be sure that it seeks a way out, and
prefers pathways already traversed. Hence you see you are bound to have
habits. They will develop whether you wish them or not. Already you are
"a bundle of habits"; they manifest themselves in two ways--as habits
of action and habits of thought. You illustrate the first every time
you tie your shoes or sign your name. To illustrate the second, I need
only ask you to supply the end of this sentence: Columbus discovered
America in----. Speech reveals many of these habits of thought. Certain
phrases persist in the mind as habits so that when the phrase is once
begun, you proceed habitually with the rest of it. When some one starts
"in spite," your mind goes on to think "of"; "more or" calls up "less."
When I ask you what word is called up by "black," you reply "white"
according to the principles of mental habit. Your mind is arranged in
such habitual patterns, and from these examples you readily see that a
large part of what you do and think during the course of twenty-four
hours is habitual. Twenty years hence you will be even more bound by
this overpowering despot.

Our acts our angels are, or good, or ill,
Our constant shadows that walk with us still.

Since you cannot avoid forming habits, how important it is that you
seek to form those that are useful and desirable. In acquiring them,
there are several general principles deducible from the facts of
nervous action. The first is: Guard the pathways leading to the brain.
Nerve tissue is impressible and everything that touches it leaves an
ineradicable trace. You can control your habits to some extent, then,
by observing caution in permitting things to impress you. Many
unfortunate habits of study arise from neglect of this. The habit of
using a "pony," for example, arises when one permits oneself to depend
upon a group of English words in translating from a foreign language.

Nerve pathways should then be guarded with respect to _what_ enters.
They should also be guarded with respect to the _way_ things enter.
Remember, as the first pathway is cut, subsequent nervous currents will
be directed. Consequently if you make a wrong pathway, you will have
trouble undoing it.

Another maxim which will obviously prevent undesirable pathways is, go
slowly at first. This is an important principle in all learning. If,
when trying to learn the date 1453, you carelessly impress it first as
1435, you are likely to have trouble ever after in remembering which is
right, 1453 or 1435. As you value your intellectual salvation, then, go
slowly in making the first impression and be sure it is right. The next
rule is: Guard the exits of the nervous currents. That is, watch the
movements you make in response to impressions and ideas. This is
necessary because the nervous current pushes on past obstructions,
through areas in the brain, until it ends in some form of movement, and
in finding the way out, it seeks those pathways that have been most
frequently travelled. In study, it usually takes the form of movements
of speech or writing. You will need to guard this part of the process
just as you did the incoming pathway You must see that the movement is
made which you wish to build into a habit. In learning the
pronunciation of a foreign word, for example, see that your first
pronunciation of it is absolutely right. When learning to typewrite
see that you always hit the right key during the early trials. The
point of exit of a nervous current is the point also where precautions
are to be taken in developing good form. The path should be the
shortest possible, involving only those muscles that are absolutely
necessary. This makes for economy of effort.

The third general principle to be kept in mind is that habits are most
easily formed in youth, for this is the period when nerve tissue is
most easily impressed and modified. With respect to habit formation,
then, you see that youth is the time when emphasis should be laid upon
the formation of as many useful habits as possible. The world
recognizes this to some extent and society is so organized that the
youth of the race are given leisure and protection so that they may
form useful habits. The world asks nothing of you during the next four
years except that you develop yourself and form useful habits which
will enable you in later life to take your place as a useful and stable
member of society.

In addition to the principles just discussed, there are a number of
other maxims which have been laid down as guides in the formation of
new habits. The first is, _make an assertion of will_. Vow to yourself
that you will form the habit, and keep that resolve ever before you.

The second maxim is, _make an emphatic start._ Surround yourself with
every aid possible. Make it easy at first to perform the act and
difficult not to perform it. For example, if you desire to form the
habit of arising at six every morning, surround yourself with a number
of aids. Buy an alarm clock, and tell some one of your decision. Such
efforts at the start "will give your new beginning such a momentum that
the temptation to break down will not occur as soon as it otherwise
might; and every day during which a breakdown is postponed adds to the
chances of its not occurring at all." Man has discovered the value of
such devices during the course of his long history, and has evolved
customs accordingly. When men decide to swear off smoking, they choose
the opening of a new year when many other new things are being started;
they make solemn promises to themselves, to each other, and finally to
their friends. Such customs are precautions which help to bolster up
the determination at the time when extraordinary effort and
determination are required. In forming the habits incidental to college
life, take pains from the start to surround yourself with as many aids
as possible. This will not constitute a confession of weakness. It is
only a wise and natural precaution which the whole experience of the
race has justified. The third maxim is, _never permit an exception to
occur_. Suppose you have a habit of saying "aint" which you wish to
replace with a habit of saying "isn't." If the habit is deeply rooted,
you have worn a pathway in the brain to a considerable depth,
represented in the accompanying diagram by the line _A X B_.

A
|
X
/ \
B C

Let us suppose that you have already started the new habit, and have said
the correct word ten times. That means you have worn another pathway
_A X C_ to a considerable depth. During all this time, however, the old
pathway is still open and at the slightest provocation will attract the
nervous current. Your task is to deepen the new path so that the nervous
current will flow into it instead of the old. Now suppose you make an
exception on some occasion and allow the nervous current to travel over
the old path. This unfortunate exception breaks down the bridge which
you had constructed at _X_ from _A_ to _C_. But this is not the only
result. The nervous current, as it revisits the old path, deepens it
more than it was before, so the next time a similar situation arises,
the current seeks the old path with much greater readiness than before,
and vastly more effort is required to overcome it. Some one has likened
the effect of these exceptions to that produced when one drops a ball
of string that is partially wound. By a single slip, more is undone
than can be accomplished in a dozen windings.

The fourth maxim is, _seize every opportunity to act upon your
resolution_. The reason for this will be understood better if you keep
in mind the fact, stated before, that nervous currents once started,
whether from a sense-organ or from a brain-center, always tend to seek
egress in movement. These outgoing nervous currents leave an imprint
upon the modifiable nerve tissues as inevitably as do incoming
impressions. Therefore, if you wish your resolves to be firmly fixed,
you should act upon them speedily and often. "It is not in the moment
of their forming, but in the moment of their producing _motor effects_,
that resolves and aspirations communicate the new 'set' to the brain."
"No matter how full a reservoir of _maxims_ one may possess, and no
matter how good one's _sentiments_ may be, if one has not taken
advantage of every concrete opportunity to _act_, one's character may
remain entirely unaffected for the better." Particularly at time of
emotional excitement one makes resolves that are very good, and a glow
of fine feeling is present. Beware that these resolves do not evaporate
in mere feeling. They should be crystallized in some form of action as
soon as possible. "Let the expression be the least thing in the
world--speaking genially to one's grandmother, or giving up one's seat
in a ... car, if nothing more heroic offers--but let it not fail to take
place." Strictly speaking you have not really completed a resolve until
you have acted upon it. You may determine to go without lunch, but you
have not consummated that resolve until you have permitted it to
express itself by carrying you past the door of the dining-room. That
is the crucial test which determines the strength of your resolve. Many
repetitions will be required before a pathway is worn deep enough to be
settled. Seize the very earliest opportunity to begin grooving it out,
and seize every other opportunity for deepening it.

After this view of the place in your life occupied by habit, you
readily see its far-reaching possibilities for welfare of body and
mind. Its most obvious, because most annoying, effects are on the side
of its disadvantages. Bad habits secure a grip upon us that we are
sometimes powerless to shake off. True, this ineradicableness need have
no terrors if we have formed good habits. Indeed, as will be pointed
out in the next paragraph, habit may be a great asset. Nevertheless, it
may work positive harm, or at best, may lead to stagnation. The
fixedness of habit tends to make us move in ruts unless we exert
continuous effort to learn new things. If we permit ourselves to move
in old grooves we cease to progress and become "old fogy."

But the advantages of habit far outweigh its disadvantages. Habit helps
the individual to be consistent and helps people to know what to expect
from one. It helps society to be stable, to incorporate within itself
modes of action conducive to the common good. For example, the respect
which we all have for the property of others is a habit, and is so
firmly intrenched that we should find ourselves unable to steal if we
wished to. Habit is thus a very desirable asset and is truly called the
"enormous fly-wheel of society."

A second advantage of habit is that it makes for accuracy. Acts that
have become habitualized are performed more accurately than those not
habitualized. Movements such as those made in typewriting and
piano-playing, when measured in the psychological laboratory, are found
to copy each other with extreme fidelity. The human body is a machine
which may be adjusted to a high degree of nicety, and habit is the
mechanism by which this adjustment is made.

A third advantage is that a stock of habits makes life easier. "There
is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual
but indecision, for whom the lighting of every cigar, the drinking of
every cup, the time of rising and going to bed every day and the
beginning of every bit of work, are subjects of express volitional
deliberation. Full half the time of such a man goes to the deciding or
regretting of matters which ought to be so ingrained in him as
practically not to exist for his consciousness at all." Have you ever
reflected how miserable you would be and what a task living would be if
you had to learn to write anew every morning when you go to class; or
if you had to relearn how to tie your necktie every day? The burden of
living would be intolerable.

The last advantage to be discerned in habit is economy. Habitual acts
do not have to be actively directed by consciousness. While they are
being performed, consciousness may be otherwise engaged. "The more of
the details of our daily life we can hand over to the effortless
custody of automatism, the more our higher powers of mind will be set
free for their own proper work." While you are brushing your hair or
tying your shoes, your mind may be engaged in memorizing poetry or
calculating arithmetical problems. Habit is thus a great economizer.

The ethical consequences of habit are so striking that before leaving
the subject we must give them acknowledgment. We can do no better than
to turn to the statement by Professor James, whose wise remarks upon
the subject have not been improved upon:

"The physiological study of mental conditions is thus the most powerful
ally of hortatory ethics. The hell to be endured hereafter, of which
theology tells, is no worse than the hell we make for ourselves in this
world by habitually fashioning our characters in the wrong way. Could
the young but realize how soon they will become mere walking bundles of
habits, they would give more heed to their conduct while in the plastic
state. We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, and never to be
undone. Every smallest stroke of virtue or of vice leaves its
never-so-little scar. The drunken Rip Van Winkle, in Jefferson's play,
excuses himself for every fresh dereliction by saying, 'I won't count
this time!' Well! he may not count it and a kind heaven may not count
it; but it is being counted none the less. Down among his nerve-cells
and fibers the molecules are counting it, registering it, and storing
it up to be used against him when the next temptation comes. Nothing we
ever do is, in strict scientific literalness, wiped out. Of course this
has its good side as well as its bad one. As we become permanent
drunkards by so many drinks, so we become saints in the moral, and
authorities and experts in the practical and scientific, spheres, by so
many separate acts and hours of work. But let no youth have any anxiety
about the upshot of his education, whatever the line of it may be. If
he keep faithfully busy each hour of the working day, he may safely
leave the final result to itself. He can with perfect certainty count
on waking up some fine morning, to find himself one of the competent
ones of his generation, in whatever pursuit he has singled out.
Silently, between all the details of his business, the _power of
judging_ in all that class of matter will have built itself up within
him as a possession that will never pass away. Young people should know
the truth of this in advance. The ignorance of it has probably
engendered more discouragement and faintheartedness in youths embarking
on arduous careers than all other causes put together."

EXERCISE

Exercise 1. Point out an undesirable habit that you are determined to
eradicate. Describe the desirable habit which you will adopt in its
place. Give the concrete steps you will take in forming the new habit.
How long a time do you estimate will be required for the formation of
the new habit? Mark down the date and refer back to it when you have
formed the habit, to see how accurately you estimated.

 

CHAPTER V

ACTIVE IMAGINATION

A very large part of the mental life of a student consists in the
manipulation of images. By images we mean the revivals of things that
have been impressed upon the senses. Call to mind for the moment your
house-number as it appears upon the door of your home. In so doing you
mentally reinstate something which has been impressed upon your senses
many times; and you see it almost as clearly as if it were actually
before you. The mental thing thus revived is called an image.

The word image is somewhat ill-chosen; for it usually signifies
something connected with the eye, and implies that the stuff of mental
images is entirely visual. The true fact of the matter is, we can image
practically anything that we can sense. We may have tactual images of
things touched; auditory images of things heard; gustatory images of
things tasted; olfactory images of things smelled. How these behave in
general and how they interact in study will engage our attention in
this chapter.

The most highly dramatic use of images is in connection with that
mental process known as Imagination. As we study the writings of Jack
London, Poe, Defoe, Bunyan, we move in a realm almost wholly imaginary.
And as we take a cross-section of our minds when thus engaged, we find
them filled with images. Furthermore, they are of great variety--images
of colors, sounds, tastes, smells, touches, even of sensations from our
own internal organs, such as the palpitations of the heart that
accompany feelings of pride, indignation, remorse, exaltation. A
further characteristic is that they are sharp, clean-cut, vivid.

Note in the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet, the number, variety
and vividness of the images:

"But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief
That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she.
Be not her maid, since she is envious;
Her vestal livery is but sick and green....
Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,
Having some business, do entreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
What if her eyes were there, they in her head?
The brightness in her cheek would shame those stars,
As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven
Would through the airy regions stream so bright
That birds would sing and think it were not night.
See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand!
O, that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek!"

We may conclude, then, that three of the desirable attributes of great
works of the imagination are _number, variety_ and _vividness_ of
mental images.

One question that frequently arises concerning works of the imagination
is, What is their source? Superficial thinkers have loosely answered,
"Inspiration," implying, (according to the literal meaning of the word,
"to breathe in"), that some mysterious external force (called by the
ancients, "A Muse") enters into the mind of the author with a special
revelation.

Psychological analysis of these imaginative works shows that this
explanation is untrue. That the bizarre and apparently novel products
arise from the experiences of the author, revived in imagination and
combined in new ways. The horrendous incidents depicted in Dante's
"Divine Comedy" never occurred within the lifetime experience of the
author as such. Their separate elements did, however, and furnished the
basis for Dante's clever combinations. The oft-heard saying that there
is nothing new under the sun is psychologically true.

In the light of this brief analysis of products of the imagination we
are ready to develop a program which we may follow in cultivating an
active imagination.

Recognizing that images have their source in sensory experience, we see
that the first step to take is to seek a multitude of experiences. Make
intimate acquaintance with the objects of your environment. Handle
them, tear them apart, put them together, place them next to other
objects, noting the likenesses and differences. Thus you will acquire
the stuff out of which images are made and will stock your mind with a
number of images. Then when you wish to convey your ideas you will have
a number of terms in which to do it--one of the characteristics of a
free-flowing imagination.

The second characteristic we found to be variety. To secure this, seek
a variety of sensational experiences. Perceive the objects of your
experience through several senses--touch, smell, sight, hearing,
taste. By means of this variety in sensations you will secure
corresponding variety in your images.

To revive them easily sometimes requires practice. For it has been
discovered that all people do not naturally call up images related to
the various senses with equal ease. Most people use visual and auditory
images more freely than they do other kinds. In order to develop skill
in evoking the others, practise recalling them. Sit down for an hour of
practice, as you would sit down for an hour of piano practice. Try to
recall the taste of raisins, English walnuts; the smell of hyacinths,
of witch-hazel; the rough touch of an orange-skin. Though you may at
first have difficulty you will develop, with practice, a gratifying
facility in recalling all varieties of images.

The third characteristic which we observed in works of the imagination
is vividness. To achieve this, pay close attention to the details of
your sensory experiences. Observe sharply the minute but characteristic
items--the accent mark on _apres_; the coarse stubby beard of the
typical alley tough. Stock your mind with a wealth of such detailed
impressions. Keep them alive by the kind of practice recommended in the
preceding paragraph. Then describe the objects of your experience in
terms of these significant details.

We discovered, in discussing the source of imaginative works, that the
men whom we are accustomed to call imaginative geniuses do not have
unique communication with heaven or with any external reservoir of
ideas. Instead, we found their wonder-evoking creations to be merely
new combinations of old images. The true secret of their success is
their industrious utilization of past experiences according to the
program outlined above. They select certain elements from their
experiences and combine them in novel ways. This is the explanation of
their strange, beautiful and bizarre productions. This is what Carlyle
meant when he characterized genius as "the transcendent capacity for
taking trouble" This is what Hogarth meant when he said, "Genius is
nothing but labor and diligence." For concrete exemplification of this
truth we need only turn to the autobiographies of great writers. In
this passage from "John Barleycorn," Jack London describes his methods:

"Early and late I was at it--writing, typing, studying grammar,
studying writing and all forms of writing, and studying the writers who
succeeded in order to find out how they succeeded. I managed on five
hours' sleep in the twenty-four, and came pretty close to working the
nineteen waking hours left to me."

By saying that the novel effects of imagination come by way of
industry, we do not mean to imply that one should strain after novelty
and eccentricity. Unusual and happy combinations will come of
themselves and naturally if one only makes a sufficient number.

There are laws of combination, known as the psychological laws of
association, by which images will unite naturally. The number of
possible combinations is infinite. By industriously making a large
number, you will by the very laws of chance, stumble upon some that are
especially happy and striking.

In summarizing this discussion, we may conclude that an active fertile
imagination comes from crowding into one's life a large number of
varied and vivid experiences; storing them up in the mind in the form
of images; and industriously recalling and combining them in novel
relationships. Mental images occur in other mental processes besides
Imagination. They bulk importantly in memorizing, as we shall see in
Chapters VI and VII; and in reasoning, as we shall see in Chapter IX.
Throughout the book we shall find that as we develop ability to
manipulate mental images, we shall increase the adaptability of all the
mental processes.

READING AND EXERCISES

Reading: Dearborn (2) Chapter III.

Exercise 1. Call up in imagination the sound of your French
instructor's voice as he says _étudiant_. Call up the appearance on the
page of the conjugation of _etre_, present tense.

Exercise 2. Choose some word which you have had difficulty in learning.
Look at it attentively, securing a perfectly clear impression of it;
then practise calling up the visual image of it, until you secure
perfect reproduction.

Exercise 3. List the different images called up by the passage from
_Romeo and Juliet_.

 

CHAPTER VI

FIRST AIDS TO MEMORY; IMPRESSION

Of all the mental operations employed by the student, memory is
probably the one in which the greatest inefficiency is manifested.
Though we often fail to realize it, much of our life is taken up with
memorizing. Every time we make use of past experience, we rely upon
this function of the mind, but in no occupation is it quite so
practically important as in study. We shall begin our investigation of
memory by dividing it into four phases or stages--Impression,
Retention, Recall and Recognition. Any act of memory involves them all.
There is first a stage when the material is being impressed; second, a
stage when it is being retained so that it may be revived in the
future; third, a stage of recall when the retained material is revived
to meet present needs; fourth, a feeling of recognition, through which
the material is recognized as having previously been in the mind.

Impression is accomplished through the sense organs; and in the
foregoing chapter we laid down the rule: Guard the avenues of
impression and admit only such things as you wish to retain. This
necessitates that you go slowly at first. This is a principle of all
habit formation, but is especially important in habits of memorizing.
Much of the poor memory that people complain about is due to the fact
that they make first impressions carelessly. One reason why people fail
to remember names is that they do not get a clear impression of the
name at the start. They are introduced in a hurry or the introducer
mumbles; consequently no clear impression is secured. Under such
circumstances how could one expect to retain and recall the name? Go
slowly, then, in impressing material for the first time. As you look up
the words of a foreign language in the lexicon, trying to memorize
their English equivalents, take plenty of time. Obtain a clear
impression of the sound and appearance of the words.

Inasmuch as impressions may be made through any of the sense organs,
one problem in the improvement of memory concerns the choice of sense
avenues. As an infant you used all senses impartially in your eager
search after information. You voraciously put things into your mouth
and discovered that some things were sweet, some sour. You bumped your
head against things and learned that some were hard and some soft. In
your insatiable curiosity you pulled things apart and peered into them;
in short, utilized all the sense organs. In adult life, however, and in
education as it takes place through the agency of books and
instructors, most learning depends upon the eye and ear. Even yet,
however, you learn many things through the sense of touch and through
muscle movement, though you may be unaware of it. You probably have
better success retaining impressions made upon one sense than another.
The majority of people retain better things that are visually
impressed. Such persons think often in terms of visual images. When
thinking of water running from a faucet, they can see the water fall,
see it splash, but have no trace of the sound. The whole event is
noiseless in memory. When they think of their instructor, they can see
him standing at his desk but cannot imagine the sound of his voice.
When striving to think of the causes leading to the Civil War, they
picture them as they are listed on the page of the text-book or
note-book. Other people have not this ability to recall in visual
terms, but depend to greater extent upon sounds. When asked to think
about their instructor, they do it in terms of his voice. When asked to
conjugate a French verb, they hear it pronounced mentally but do not
see it on the page. These are extremes of imagery type, but they
illustrate preferences as they are found in many persons. Some persons
use all senses with ease; others unconsciously work out combinations,
preferring one sense for some kinds of material and another for other
kinds. For example, one might prefer visual impression for remembering
dates in history but auditory impression for conjugating French verbs.
You will find it profitable to examine yourself and discover your
preferences. If you find that you have greater difficulty in
remembering material impressed through the ear than through the eye,
reduce things to visual terms as much as possible. Make your lecture
notes more complete or tabulate things that you wish to remember, thus
securing impression from the written form. The writer has difficulty in
remembering names that are only heard. So he asks that the name be
spelled, then projects the letters on an imaginary background, thus
forming visual stuff which can easily be recalled. If, on the contrary,
you remember best the things that you hear, you may find it a good plan
to read your lessons aloud. Many a student, upon the discovery of such
a preference, has increased his memory ability many fold by adopting
the simple expedient of reading his lessons aloud. It might be pointed
out that while you are reading aloud, you are making more than auditory
impressions. By the use of the vocal organs you are making muscular
impressions, which also aid in learning, as will be pointed out in
Chapter X.

After this discussion do not jump to the conclusion that just because
you find some difficulty in using one sense avenue for impression, it
is therefore impossible to develop it. Facility in using particular
senses can be gained by practice. To improve ability to form visual
images of things, practise calling up visions of things. Try to picture
a page of your history textbook. Can you see the headlines of the
sections and the paragraphs? To develop auditory imagery, practise
calling up sounds. Try to image your French instructor's voice in
saying _éleve_. The development of these sense fields is a slow and
laborious process and one questions whether it is worth while for a
student to undertake the labor involved when another sense is already
very efficient. Probably it is most economical to Arrange impressions
so as to favor the sense that is already well developed and reliable.

Another important condition of impression is repetition. It is well
known that material which is repeated several times is remembered more
easily than that impressed but once. If two repetitions induce a given
liability to recall, four or eight will secure still greater liability
of recall. Your knowledge of brain action makes this rule intelligible,
because you know the pathway is deepened every time the nervous current
passes over it.

Experiments in the psychological laboratory have shown that it is best
in making impressions to make more than enough impressions to insure
recall. "If material is to be retained for any length of time, a simple
mastery of it for immediate recall is not sufficient. It should be
learned far beyond the point of immediate reproduction if time and
energy are to be saved." This principle of learning points out the fact
that there are two kinds of memory--immediate and deferred. The first
kind involves recall immediately after impression is made; the second
involves recall at some later time. It is a well-known fact that things
learned a long time before they are to be recalled fade away. If you
are not going to recall material until a long time after the
impression, store up enough impressions so that you can afford to lose
a few and still retain enough until time for recall. Another reason for
"overlearning" is that when the time comes for recall you are likely to
be disturbed. If it is a time of public performance, you may be
embarrassed; or you may be hurried or under distractions. Accordingly
you should have the material exceedingly well memorized so that these
distractions will not prove detrimental.

The mere statement made above, that repetition is necessary in
impression, is not sufficient. It is important to know how to
distribute the repetitions. Suppose you are memorizing "Psalm of Life"
to be recited a month from to-day, and that you require thirty
repetitions of the poem to learn it. Shall you make these thirty
repetitions at one sitting? Or shall you distribute them among several
sittings? In general, it is better to spread the repetitions over a
period of time. The question then arises, what is the most effective
distribution? Various combinations are possible. You might rehearse the
poem once a day during the month, or twice a day for the first fifteen
days, or the last fifteen days, four times every fourth day, _ad
infinitum_. In the face of these possibilities is there anything that
will guide us in distributing the repetitions? We shall get some light
on the question from an examination of the curve of forgetting--a curve
that has been plotted showing the rate at which the mind tends to
forget. Forgetting proceeds according to law, the curve descending
rapidly at first and then more slowly. "The larger proportion of the
material learned is forgotten the first day or so. After that a
constantly decreasing amount is forgotten on each succeeding day for
perhaps a week, when the amount remains practically stationary." This
gives us some indication that the early repetitions should be closer
together than those at the end of the period. So long as you are
forgetting rapidly you will need more repetitions in order to
counterbalance the tendency to forget. You might well make five
repetitions; then rest. In about an hour, five more; within the next
twenty-four hours, five more. By this time you should have the poem
memorized, and all within two days. You would still have fifteen
repetitions of the thirty, and these might be used in keeping the poem
fresh in the mind by a repetition every other day.

As intimated above, one important principle in memorizing is to make
the first impressions as early as possible, for older impressions have
many chances of being retained. This is evidenced by the vividness of
childhood scenes in the minds of our grandparents. An old soldier
recalls with great vividness events that happened during the Civil War,
but forgets events of yesterday. There is involved here a principle of
nervous action that you have already encountered; namely, that
impressions are more easily made and retained in youth. It should also
be observed that pathways made early have more chances of being used
than those made recently. Still another peculiarity of nervous action
is revealed in these extended periods of memorizing. It has been
discovered that if a rest is taken between impressions, the impressions
become more firmly fixed. This points to the presence of a surprising
power, by which we are able to learn, as it were, while we sleep. We
shall understand this better if we try to imagine what is happening in
the nervous system. Processes of nutrition are constantly going on. The
blood brings in particles to repair the nerve cells, rebuilding them
according to the pattern left by the last impression. Indeed, the
entrance of this new material makes the impression even more fixed. The
nutritional processes seem to set the impression much as a hypo bath
fixes or sets an impression on a photographic plate. This peculiarity
of memory led Professor James to suggest, paradoxically, that we learn
to skate in summer and to swim in winter. And, indeed, one usually
finds, in beginning the skating season, that after the initial
stiffness of muscles wears off, one glides along with surprising
agility. You see then that if you plan things rightly, Nature will do
much of your learning for you. It might be suggested that perhaps
things impressed just before going to sleep have a better chance to
"set" than things impressed at other times for the reason that sleep is
the time when the reparative processes of the body are most active.

Since the brain pattern requires time to "set," it is important that
after the first impression you refrain from introducing anything
immediately into the mind that might disturb it. After you have
impressed the poem you are memorizing, do not immediately follow it by
another poem. Let the brain rest for three or four minutes until after
the first impressions have had a chance to "set."

Now that we have regarded this "unconscious memorizing" from the
neurological standpoint, let us consider it from the psychological
standpoint. How are the ideas being modified during the intervals
between impressions? Modern psychology has discovered that much
memorizing goes on without our knowing it, paradoxical as that may
seem. The processes may be described in terms of the doctrine of
association, which is that whenever two things have once been
associated together in the mind, there is a tendency thereafter "if the
first of them recurs, for the other to come with it." After the poem of
our illustration has once been repeated, there is a tendency for events
in everyday experience that are like it to associate themselves with
it. For example, in the course of a day or week many things might arise
and recall to you the line, "Life is real, life is earnest", and it
would become, by that fact, more firmly fixed in the mind. This
valuable semi-conscious recall requires that you must make the first
impression as early as possible before the time for ultimate recall.
This persistence of ideas in the mind means "that the process of
learning does not cease with the actual work of learning, but that, if
not disturbed, this process runs on of itself for a time, and adds a
little to the result of our labors. It also means that, if it is to our
advantage to stand in readiness with some word or thought, we shall be
able to do so, if only this word or thought recur to us but once, some
time before the critical moment. So we remember to keep a promise to
pay a call, to make a remark at the proper time, even though we turn
our mind to other work or talk for some hours between. We can do this
because, if not vigorously prevented, ideas and words keep on
reappearing in the mind." You may utilize this principle in
theme-writing to good advantage. As soon as the instructor announces
the subject for a theme, begin to think about it. Gather together all
the ideas you have about the subject and start your mind to work upon
it. Suppose you take as a theme-subject The Value of Training in Public
Speaking for a Business Man. The first time this is suggested to you, a
few thoughts, at least, will come to you. Write them down, even though
they are disconnected and heterogeneous. Then as you go about your
other work you will find a number of occasions that will arouse ideas
bearing upon this subject. You may read in a newspaper of a brilliant
speech made before the Chamber of Commerce by a leading business man,
which will serve as an illustration to support your affirmative
position; or you may attend a banquet where a prominent business man
disappoints his audience with a wretched speech. Such experiences, and
many others, bearing more or less directly upon the subject, will come
to you, and will call up the theme-subject, with which they will unite
themselves. Write down these ideas as they occur, and you will find
that when you start to compose the theme formally, it almost writes
itself, requiring for the most part only expansion and arrangement of
ideas. While thus organizing the theme you will reap even more benefits
from your early start, for, as you are composing it, you will find new
ideas crowding in upon you which you did not know you possessed, but
which had been associating themselves in your mind with this topic even
when you were unaware of the fact.

In writing themes, the principle of distribution of time may also be
profitably employed. After you have once written a theme, lay it aside
for a while--perhaps a week. Then when you take it up, read it in a
detached manner and you will note many places where it may be improved.
These benefits are to be enjoyed only when a theme is planned a long
time ahead. Hence the rule to start as early as possible.

Before leaving the subject of theme-writing, which was called up by the
discussion of unconscious memory, another suggestion will be given that
may be of service to you. When correcting a theme, employ more than one
sense avenue. Do not simply glance over it with your eye. Read it
aloud, either to yourself or, better still, to someone else. When you
do this you will be amazed to discover how different it sounds and what
a new view you secure of it. When you thus change your method of
composition, you will find a new group of ideas thronging into your
mind. In the auditory rendition of a theme you will discover faults of
syntax which escaped you in silent reading. You will note duplication
of words, split infinitives, mixed tenses, poorly balanced sentences.
Moreover, if your mind has certain peculiarities, you may find even
more advantages accruing from such a practice. The author, for example,
has a slightly different set of ideas at his disposal according to the
medium of expression employed. When writing with a pencil, one set of
ideas comes to mind; with a typewriter slightly different ideas arise;
when talking to an audience, still different ideas. Three sets of ideas
and three vocabularies are thus available for use on any subject. In
adopting this device of composing through several mediums, you should
combine with it the principle of distributing time already discussed in
connection with repetition of impressions. Write a theme one day,
then lay it aside for a few days and go back to it with a fresh mind.
The rests will be found very beneficial in helping you to get a new
viewpoint of the subject.

Reverting to our discussion of memory, we come upon another question:
In memorizing material like the poem of our example, should one impress
the entire poem at once, or break it up into parts, impressing a stanza
each day? Most people would respond, without thought, the latter, and,
as a matter of fact, most memorizing takes place in this way.
Experimental psychology, however, has discovered that this is
uneconomical. The selection, if of moderate length, should be impressed
as a whole. If too long for this, it should be broken up as little as
possible. In order to see the necessity for this let us examine your
experiences with the memorization of poems in your early school days.
You probably proceeded as follows: After school one day, you learned
the first stanza, then went out to play. The next day you learned the
second one, and so on. You thought at the end of a week that you had
memorized it because, at the end of each day's sitting, you were able
to recite perfectly the stanza learned that day. On "speaking day" you
started out bravely and recited the first stanza without mishap. When
you started to think of the second one, however, it would not come. The
memory balked. Now what was the matter? How can we explain this
distressing blank? In psychological terms, we ascribe the difficulty to
the failure to make proper associations between stanzas. Association
was made effectively between the lines of the single stanzas, but not
between the separate stanzas. After you finished impressing the first
stanza, you went about something else; playing ball, perhaps. When you
approached the poem the next day you started in with the second stanza.
There was then no bridge between the two. There was nothing to link the
last line of the first stanza,

"And things are not what they seem,"

with the first line of the next stanza,

"Life is real, life is earnest."

This makes clear the necessity of impressing the poem as a whole
instead of by parts.

According to another classification, there are two ways of
memorizing--by rote and by logical associations. Rote memorizing
involves the repetition of material just as it stands, and usually
requires such long and laborious drill that it is seldom economical.
True, some matter must be memorized this way; such as the days of the
week and the names of the months; but there is another and gentler
method which is usually more effective and economical than that of
brutal repetition. That is the method of logical association, by which
one links up a new fact with something already in the mind. If, for
example, you wish to remember the date of the World's Fair in Chicago,
you might proceed as follows: Ask yourself, What did the Fair
commemorate? The discovery of America in 1492, the four hundredth
anniversary occurring in 1892. The Fair could not be made ready in that
year, however, so was postponed a year. Such a process of memorizing
the date is less laborious than the method of rote memory, and is
usually more likely to lead to ready recall. The old fact already in
mind acts as a magnet which at some later time may call up other facts
that had once been associated with it. You can easily see that this new
fact might have been associated with several old facts, thus securing
more chances of being called up. From this it may be inferred that the
more facts you have in your mind about a subject the more chances you
have of retaining new facts. It