A primer of psychology / by Laura Brackenbury.

  • Brackenbury, Laura.
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A primer of psychology / by Laura Brackenbury. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    a matter of temperament; their attitude is that of the student who asked, “ Suppose emotion is what you say ; what then ? ” There are other people for whom the world has been made a much more interesting place to live in by their power and habit of psychological analysis. There is always something to do in the dullest company, and something to relieve the most conventional novels ; boras become interesting psychological specimens, childhood and old age acquire a new significance, and personality claims a deeper reverence. Moreover, all the great questions that man persists in asking tend in some minds to reduce themselves to psychological problems. We know of no truth that no mind has held, and can the truth be considered apart from the holding ? Hence one would expect Psychology to be of special interest to those whose claim it is to be the bearers of the torch of truth, and to those whose function it is to impart to one generation the truths that have been gained and held by preceding generations. A knowledge of the working of mind must surely be of service to those who have to deal with the intellectual and moral needs of people very unlike themselves. It is chiefly for students of Theology and of Education that this book is intended. It has sometimes been said that what they need is not a systematic knowledge of Psychology, but rather a know- ledge of the results of psychological investigation on which to base their practical work. But the results of psychological investigation cannot be assimilated by those ignorant of psychological method ; and, moreover, what is of main service to the teacher is the psychological attitude, and there is no way of attaining this but by psychological study. This need not mean the reading of many books, but it must mean an attempt to work in accordance with scientific principles and on scientific methods, and it is with the purpose of introducing the student to these principles and methods as used by modern psychologists that this primer has been written.