Ontario Normal School Manuals: Science of Education
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=Consciousness a Stream.=--Although we describe the data of psychology
as facts, or states, of consciousness, a moment's reflection will show
that our conscious life is not made up of a number of mental states, or
experiences, completely separated one from the other. Our consciousness
is rather a unified whole, in which seemingly disconnected states blend
into one continuous flow of conscious life. For this reason,
consciousness is frequently compared to a stream, or river, moving
onward in an unbroken course. This stream of consciousness appears as
disjointed mental states, simply because the attention discriminates
within this stream, and thus in a sense detaches different portions one
from the other, or, as sometimes figuratively put, it creates successive
waves on the stream of consciousness. A mental state, or experience,
so-called, is such a discriminated portion of this stream of
consciousness, and is, therefore, itself a process, the different
processes blending in a continuous succession or relation to make up the
unbroken flow of conscious life. For this reason psychology is
frequently described as a study of conscious processes.
VALUE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
Within the school the child secures a control of experience only by
passing through a process of mental reconstruction, or of changes in
consciousness. Moreover, to bring about these mental changes, it is
found necessary for the teacher's effort to conform as far as possible
to the interests and tendencies of the child. So far, therefore, as the
teacher's office is to direct and control the children's effort during
the learning process, he must approach them primarily as mental, or
conscious, beings. For this reason the educator should at least not
violate the general principles governing all mental activity. By giving
him an insight into the general principles underlying conscious
processes, psychology should aid the teacher to control the learning
process in the child.
LIMITATIONS OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
=Psychology Cannot Give: A. Knowledge of Subject-matter.=--It must not
be assumed, however, that knowledge of psychology will necessarily imply
a corresponding ability to teach. Psychology, for instance, cannot
decide what should be taught to the child. This, as we have seen, is a
problem of social experience, and must be decided by considering the
types of experience which will add to the social efficiency of the
individual, or which will enable him best to do his duty to himself and
to others. All, therefore, that psychology can do here is to explain the
process by which experience is acquired, leaving to social ethics the
problem of deciding what knowledge is of most worth.
=B. Love for Children.=--Again, psychology will not necessarily furnish
that largeness of heart and sympathy for childhood, without which no
teacher can be successful. Indeed, it is felt by many that making
children objects of psychological analysis will rather tend to destroy
that more spiritual conception of their personality which should
constitute the teacher's attitude toward his pupils. While this is no
doubt true of the teacher who looks upon children merely as subjects for
psychological analysis and experimentation, it is equally true that a
knowledge of psychology will enable even the sympathetic teacher to
realize more fully and deal more successfully with the difficulties of
the pupil.
=C. Acquaintance with the Individual Child.=--Again, the teacher's
problem in dealing with the mental attitude of the particular child
cannot always be interpreted through general principles. The general
principle would be supposed to have an application to every child in a
large class. It is often found, however, that the character and
disposition of the particular child demands, not general, but special
treatment. Here, what is termed the knack of the sympathetic teacher is
often more effective than the general principle of the psychologist.
Admitting so much, however, it yet may be argued that a knowledge of
psychology will not hinder, but rather assist the sympathetic teacher in
dealing even with special cases.
METHODS OF PSYCHOLOGY
=A. Introspection.=--A unique characteristic of mind is its ability to
turn attention inward and make an object of study of its own states, or
processes. For instance, the mind is able to make its present sensation,
its remembered state of anger, its idea of a triangle, etc., stand out
in consciousness as a subject of study for conscious attention. On
account of this ability to give attention to his own states of
consciousness, man is said both to know and to know that he knows. This
reflective method of studying our own mental states is known as the
method of _Introspection_.
=B. Objective Method.=--Facts of mind may, however, be examined
objectively. As previously noted, man, by his words, acts, and works,
gives expression to his conscious states. These different forms of
expression are accepted, therefore, as external indications of
corresponding states of mind, and afford the psychologist certain data
for developing his science. One of the most important of these objective
methods is known as Child Study. Here, by the method of observing the
acts and language of very young children, data are obtained concerning
the native instincts of the child, concerning the genesis and
development of the different mental processes, and the relation of these
to physical development. A brief statement of the leading principles of
Child Study will be found in Chapter XXXI.
=C. Experimental Method.=--A third method of studying mind is known as
the _Experimental_ method. Here, as in the case of the ordinary physical
experimenter, the psychologist seeks to control certain mental processes
by isolating them and regulating their action. This may be effectively
done in the study of certain processes. For instance, by passing the two
points of a pair of compasses over different parts of the body, the
tactile sensibility of the skin may be compared at these different
parts. By this means it may be shown that the tip of the finger can
detect the two points when only one twelfth of an inch apart, while on
the middle of the back they may require to be two and a half inches
apart to give a double impression. The experimental method is often
used in connection with the objective method in Child Study.
PHASES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
=A. Knowledge.=--Although, as previously stated, the stream of
consciousness must at all times be looked upon as a unity, it will be
found upon analysis to present three more or less distinct phases. A
state of consciousness implies, in the first place, being aware of
something as an object of attention. In other words, something is seized
upon by consciousness as a presentation, and to the extent to which one
is aware of this object of consciousness, he is said to recognize, or to
know it. A state of consciousness is always, therefore, a state of
knowledge, or of intelligence. Thus, whether we perceive this chair,
imagine a mermaid, recall the looks of an absent friend, experience the
toothache, judge the weight of this book, or become angry, our conscious
state is a state of _knowledge_.
=B. Feeling.=--A conscious state is also a state of feeling. Every
conscious state has its feeling side, since it is a personal state, or
since the mind itself is affected toward its own state. Two men, for
instance, may know equally well the taste of a particular food, but the
taste may affect each one quite differently. To one the experience is
pleasant, to the other it may be even painful. Two boys may know equally
that a point has been scored by the visiting team, but the personal
attitude of each toward the experience may be quite different. The one
finds in it a quality of joy; the other a quality of sorrow. In the same
way the mind always feels more or less pleased or displeased in its
present state of consciousness. To speak of any particular experience as
painful, joyous, sorrowful, etc., is, therefore, to refer to it as a
state of _feeling_.
=C. Will.=--Consciousness is a state of effort, or will. It was
especially pointed out above, that the purposeful consciousness always
implies a straining or focusing of consciousness in order to attain a
fuller control of the experience. This element of exertion manifest in
consciousness may appear as a directing of attention, as the making of a
choice, as determining upon a certain action, etc. This aspect of any
conscious state is spoken of as a state of _will_, or volition.
In the unity of the conscious life, therefore, there are three attitudes
from which consciousness may be viewed:
1. It is a state of Knowledge, or of Intelligence.
2. It is a state of Feeling.
3. It is a state of Will.
On account of this threefold aspect of mental states, consciousness has
been represented in the following form:
[Illustration]
The significance of comparing the threefold aspect of consciousness to
the three sides of a triangle consists in the fact that if any side of a
triangle is removed no triangle remains. In like manner, none of the
three attributes of consciousness could be wanting without the conscious
state ceasing to exist as such. No one, for instance, could feel the
pressure of a tight shoe without at the same time knowing it, and fixing
his attention upon it. Neither could a person at any particular time
know that the shoe was pinching him unless he was also attending to and
feeling the experience.
CHAPTER XX
MIND AND BODY
=Relation of Mind to Bodily Organism.=--Notwithstanding the antithesis
which has been affirmed to exist between mind and matter, yet a very
close relation exists between mind and the material organism known as
the body. There are many ways in which this intimate connection
manifests itself. Mental excitement is always accompanied with agitation
of the body and a disturbance of such bodily processes as breathing, the
beating of the heart, digestion, etc. Such mental processes as seeing,
hearing, tasting, etc., are found also to depend upon the use of a
bodily organ, as the eye, the ear, the tongue, without which it is quite
impossible for the mind to come into relation with outside things.
Moreover, disease or injury, especially to the organs of sense or to the
brain, weakens or destroys mental power. The size of the brain, also, is
found to bear a certain relation to mental capacity; the weight of the
average brain being about 48 ounces, while the brain of an idiot often
weighs only from 20 to 30 ounces.
THE NERVOUS SYSTEM
[Illustration: Brain and Spinal Cord]
=Divisions of Nervous System.=--This intimate connection between mind
and body is provided for through the existence of that part of the
bodily organism known as the nervous system, and it is this part,
together with its associated organs of sense, that chiefly interests the
student of psychology. A study of the character and functions of the
various parts of the nervous system, and of the nervous substance of
which these parts are composed, belongs to physiology rather than to
psychology. As the student-teacher is given a general knowledge of the
structure of the nervous system in his study of physiology, a brief
description will suffice for the present purpose. The nervous system
consists of two parts, (1) the central part, or cerebro-spinal centre,
and (2) an outer part--the spinal nerves. The central part, or
cerebro-spinal centre, includes the spinal cord, passing upward through
the vertebrae of the spinal column and the brain. The brain consists of
three parts: The cerebrum, or great brain, consisting of two
hemispheres, which, though connected, are divided in great part by a
longitudinal fissure; the cerebellum, or little brain; and the medulla
oblongata, or bulb. The spinal nerves consist of thirty-one pairs, which
branch out from the spinal cord. Each pair of nerves contains a right
and left member, distributed to the right and the left side of the body
respectively. These nerves are of two kinds, sensory, or afferent,
(in-carrying) nerves, which carry inward impressions from the outside
world, and motor, or efferent, (out-carrying) nerves, which convey
impulses outward to the muscles and cause them to contract. There are
also twelve pairs of nerves connected with the eye, ear, nose, tongue,
and face, which, instead of projecting from the spinal cord, proceed at
once from the brain through openings in the cranium. These are,
therefore, known as cerebral nerves. In their general character,
however, they do not differ from the projection fibres.
[Illustration: Pair of Spinal Nerves]
=Nervous Substance.=--Nervous substance is divided into two kinds--grey,
or cellular, substance and white, or fibrous, substance. The greater
part of the grey matter is situated as a layer on the outside of the
cerebrum, or great brain, where it forms a rind from one twelfth to one
eighth of an inch in thickness, known as the cortex. It is also found on
the surface of the cerebellum. Diffuse masses of grey matter are
likewise met in the other parts of the brain, and extending downward
through the centre of the spinal cord. The function of the grey matter
is to form centres to which the nerve fibres tend and carry in
stimulations, or from which they commence and carry out impulses.
=The Neuron.=--The centres of grey matter are composed of aggregations,
or masses, of very small nerve cells called neurons. A neuron may range
from 1/300 to 1/3000 of an inch in diameter, and there are several
thousand millions of these cells in the nervous system. A developed
neuron consists of a cell body with numerous prolongations in the form
of white, thread-like fibres. The neuron with its outgoing fibres is the
unit of the nervous system. Neurons are supposed to be of three classes,
sensory to receive stimulations, motor to send out impulses to the
muscles, and association to connect sensory and motor centres.
[Illustration: A Neuron in Stages of Development]
These neurons, as already noted, are collected into centres, and the
outgoing fibres give connection to the cells, the number of connections
for each neuron depending upon its outgoing fibres. Some of these
connections are already established within the system at birth, while
others, as we shall see more fully later, are formed whenever the
organism is brought into action in our thinking and doing. To speak of
such connections being formed between nerve centres by means of their
outgoing fibres does not necessarily mean a direct connection, but may
imply only that the fibres of one cell approach nearly enough to those
of another to admit of a nervous impulse passing from the one cell to
the other. This is often spoken of as the establishment of a path
between the centres.
=The Nerve Fibres.=--The nerve fibres which transmit impressions to and
from the centres of grey matter average about 1/6000 of an inch in
thickness, but are often of great length, some extending perhaps half
the length of the body. Large numbers of these fibres unite into a
sheath or single nerve. It is estimated that the number of fibres in a
single nerve number in most cases several thousand, those in the nerve
of sight being estimated at about one hundred thousand. The fibres in
the white substance of the brain are estimated at several hundred
million.
=Classes of Fibres.=--These fibres are supposed to be of four classes,
as follows:
1. _Sensory Cerebral and Spinal Fibres_
These have already been referred to as spreading outward from the brain
and spinal cord to different parts of the body. Their office is,
therefore, to carry inward to the centres of grey matter impressions
received from the outside world, thus setting up a connection between
the various senses and the cortex of the brain.
2. _Motor Cerebral and Spinal Fibres_
These fibres connect the centres of grey matter directly with the
muscles, and thus provide a means of communication between these muscles
and the cortex of the brain.
3. _Association Fibres_
These connect one part of the cortex with another within the same
hemisphere.
4. _Commissural Fibres_
These connect corresponding centres of the two hemispheres of the
cerebrum.
[Illustration]
=Function of Parts.=--Because the various cells are thus brought into
relation, the whole nervous system combines into a single organism,
which is able to receive impressions and provides conditions for the
mind to interpret these impressions and, if necessary, react thereon.
When, for instance, a stimulus is received by an end organ (the eye), it
will be transmitted by a sensory nerve directly inward to a sensory
centre, or cell, in the cortex of the brain. In such a case it may be
interpreted by the mind and a line of action decided upon. Then by means
of associating cells and fibres a motor centre may be stimulated and an
impulse transmitted along an outgoing motor nerve to a muscle, whereupon
the necessary motor reaction will take place. A pupil may, for instance,
receive the impression of a word through the ear or through the eye and
thereupon make a motor response by writing the word. The arrows in the
accompanying figure indicate the course of the stimulus and the response
in such cases.
THE CORTEX
=Cortex the Seat of Consciousness.=--Experiments in connection with the
different nerve cords and centres have demonstrated that intelligent
consciousness depends upon the nerve centres situated in the cortex of
the cerebrum. For instance, a sensory impulse may be carried inward to
the cells of the spinal cord and upward to the cerebellum without any
resulting consciousness. When, however, the stimulus reaches a higher
centre in the cortex of the brain, the mind becomes conscious, or
interprets the impression, and any resulting action will be controlled
by consciousness, through impulses given to the motor nerves. It is for
this reason that the cortex is called the seat of consciousness, and
that mind is said to reside in the brain.
=Localization of Function.=--In addition, however, to placing the seat
of consciousness in the cortex of the brain, psychologists also claim
that different parts of the cortex are involved in different types of
conscious activity. Sensations of sight, for instance, involve certain
centres in the cortex, sensations of sound other centres, the movements
of the organs of speech still other centres. Some go so far as to claim
that each one of the higher intellectual processes, as memory,
imagination, judgment, reasoning, love, anger, etc., involves neural
activity in its own special section of the cortex. There seems no good
evidence, however, to support this view. The fact seems rather that in
all these higher processes, quite numerous centres of the cortex may be
involved. The following figure indicates the main conclusions of the
psychologists in reference to the localization of certain important
functions in distinct areas of the cortex.
[Illustration: REFLEX ACTS]
=Nature of Reflex Action.=--While a lower nerve centre is not a seat for
purposeful consciousness, these centres may, in addition to serving as
transmission points for cortical messages, perform a special function
by immediately receiving sensory impressions and transmitting motor
impulses. A person, for instance, whose mind is occupied with a problem,
may move a limb to relieve a cramp, wink the eye, etc., without any
conscious control of the action. In such a case the sensory impression
was reported to a lower sensory centre, directly carried to a lower
motor centre, and the motor impulse given to perform the movement. In
the same way, after one has acquired the habit of walking, although it
usually requires conscious effort to initiate the movements, yet the
person may continue walking in an almost unconscious manner, his mind
being fully occupied with other matters. Here, also, the complex actions
involved in walking are controlled and regulated by lower centres
situated in the cerebellum. In like manner a person will unconsciously
close the eyelid under the stimulus of strong light. Here the impression
caused by the light stimulus, upon reaching the medulla along an
afferent nerve, is deflected to a motor nerve and, without any conscious
control of the movements, the muscles of the eyelid receive the
necessary impulse to close. Actions which are thus directed from a lower
centre without conscious control, are usually spoken of as reflex acts.
Acts directed by consciousness are, on the other hand, known as
voluntary acts. The difference in the working of the nervous mechanism
in consciously controlled and in reflex action may be illustrated by
means of the accompanying figures.
[Illustration: FIG 1]
[Illustration: FIG 2]
The heavy lines in Figure 1 on the opposite page show that the
sensory-motor arc is made through the cortex, and that the mind is,
therefore, conscious both of the sense stimulus and also of the
resulting action. Figure 2 shows the same arc through a lower centre, in
which case the mind is not directly attending to the impression or the
resulting action.
=Function of Consciousness.=--The facts set forth above serve further to
illustrate the purposeful character of consciousness as man interprets
and adjusts himself to his surroundings. So long, for instance, as the
individual walks onward without disturbance, his mind is free to dwell
upon other matters, cortical activity not being necessary to control the
process of walking. If, however, he steps upon anything which perhaps
threatens him with a fall, the rhythmic interplay between sensory and
motor activity going on in the lower centres is at once disturbed, and a
message is flashed along the sensory nerve to the higher, or cortical,
centres. This at once arouses consciousness, and the disturbing factor
becomes an object of attention. Consciousness thus appears as a means of
adaptation to the new and varying conditions with which the organism is
confronted.
CHARACTERISTICS OF NERVOUS MATTER
=A. Plasticity.=--One striking characteristic of nervous matter is its
plasticity. The nature of the connections within the nervous system have
already been referred to. Mention has also been made of the fact that
numerous connections are established within the nervous system as a
result of movements taking place within the organism during life. In
other words, the movements within the nervous system which accompany
stimulations and responses bring about changes in the structure of the
organism. The cause for these changes seems to be that the neurons which
chance to work together during any experience form connections with one
another by means of their outgrowing fibres. By this means, traces of
past experiences are in a sense stored up within the organism, and it is
for this reason that our experiences are said to be recorded within the
nervous system.
=B. Retentiveness.=--A second characteristic of nervous matter is its
retentive power. In other words, the modifications which accompany any
experience, besides taking on the permanent character referred to above,
pre-dispose the system to transmit impulses again through the same
centres. Moreover, with each repetition of the nervous activity, there
develops a still greater tendency for the movements to re-establish
themselves. This power possessed by nervous tissue to establish certain
modes of action carries with it also an increase in the ease and
accuracy with which the movements are performed. For example, the
impressions and impulses involved in the first attempts of the child to
control the clasping of an object, are performed with effort and in an
ineffective manner. The cause for this seems to be largely the absence
of proper connections between the centres involved, as referred to
above. This absence causes a certain resistance within the system to the
nervous movements. When, however, the various centres involved in the
movements establish the proper connections with one another, the act
will be performed in a much more effective and easy manner. From this
it is evident that the nervous system, as the result of former
experiences, always retains a certain potential, or power, to repeat the
act with greater ease, and thus improve conduct, or behaviour. This
property of nervous matter will hereafter be referred to as its power of
retention.
=C. Energy.=--Another quality of nervous matter is its energy. By this
is meant that the cells are endowed with a certain potential, or power,
which enables them to transmit impressions and impulses and overcome any
resistance offered. Different explanations are given as to the nature of
this energy, or force, with which nervous matter is endowed, but any
study of these theories is unnecessary here.
=D. Resistance.=--A fourth characteristic to be noted regarding nervous
matter is that a nervous impulse, or current, as it is transmitted
through the system, encounters _resistance_, or consumes an amount of
nervous energy. Moreover, when the nervous current, whether sensory or
motor, involves the establishment of new connections between cells, as
when one first learns combinations of numbers or the movements involved
in forming a new letter, a relatively greater amount of resistance is
met or, in other words, a greater amount of nervous energy is expended.
On the other hand, when an impulse has been transmitted a number of
times through a given arc, the resistance is greatly lessened, or less
energy is expended; as indicated by the ease with which an habitual act
is performed.