An outline of psychology / [William McDougall].

  • McDougall, William, 1871-1938.
Date:
[1923]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: An outline of psychology / [William McDougall]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of psychological study, the only legitimate and effective method of obtaining knowledge of the mind. During the last half cen¬ tury, this method of study has been greatly refined by the use of systematic experiment; that is to say, the person who wishes to notice and describe his experiences of any particular kind, instead of waiting until in the natural course of events such an experience occurs, deliberately seeks or arranges conditions under which some such experience is likely to occur, expects it and notices it, and describes it as carefully as possible. By the aid of a laboratory, all sorts of ingenious apparatus, and skilled assistants, much may be done to refine introspection and to record its results more accurately; and such work is a large part, though by no means the whole, of what is called “experimental psychology.” Experimental introspection has obvious limitations. Many of the most vital and interesting experiences, such as grief or joy or fear or moral struggle, cannot be induced at will, except, perhaps, in very slight degrees. And, under the most favorable conditions, introspection of our more vivid and vital experiences is difficult, because we are apt to be primarily interested in the events of the outer world in which we are taking part, if only as observers. Then again the very act of introspection does to some extent modify the experience we wish to observe and describe; so that in intro¬ specting we partially defeat our own purpose. Another great difficulty meets us when we come to exchange notes with others upon our introspections; namely, the lan¬ guage in which we describe our experiences to one another is always sadly inadequate and imperfect. It is not true, as has sometimes been said, that language was evolved purely for the description of material things and events; it seems more nearly true to say that language was in the first place essentially a means for communicating and describing our experiences, and that, throughout its development, this has been a very impor¬ tant function of language. Nevertheless, in respect of this func¬ tion, language, in spite of all the efforts of literary men and of psychologists to render it more precise and effective, remains a very inadequate instrument. For the description and discus¬ sion of things and events of the material world language has