Part 20 (1/2)

7 PROBLEMS IN OBSERVATION AND INTROSPECTION

1 Trya list of your th Suppose you had o, where would it have differed froed to perform any activities in which you have little or no interest, either directly or indirectly? Can you na interest but which you now perform chiefly from force of habit and without much interest?

2 Have you any interests of which you are not proud? On the other hand, do you lack certain interests which you feel that you should possess?

What interests are you now trying especially to cultivate? To suppress?

Have you as broad a field of interests as you can well take care of?

Have you sothe development of some of the more important ones?

3 Observe several recitations for differences in the amount of interest shown Account for these differences Have you ever observed an enthusiastic teacher with an uninterested class? A dull, listless teacher with an interested class?

4 A father offers his son a dollar for every grade on his term report which is above ninety; what type of interest relative to studies does this appeal to? What do you think of the advisability of giving prizes in connection with school work?

5 Most children in the elerammar; why not? Histories s or presidents are not interesting; what is the reraphy, or science successful which fails to develop an interest in the subject?

6 After careful observation, make a statement of the differences in the typical play interests of boys and girls; of children of the third grade and the eighth grade

CHAPTER XVII

THE WILL

The fundahest is _activity_, _doing_ Every individual, either ani situations which demand response In the lower forher forms, and especially in man, it is very complex The bird sees a nook favorable for a nest, and at once appropriates it; a man sees a house that strikes his fancy, and works and plans and saves for months to secure er the possible nureater their diversity and complexity, the ht response to any given situation Man therefore needs some special power of control over his acts--he requires a _will_

1 THE NATURE OF THE WILL

There has been much discussion and not a little controversy as to the true nature of the will Just what _is_ the will, and what is the content of our ? Is there at such times a new and distinctly different content which we do not find in our processes of knowledge or eed in an act of the will, that the mental stream contains only the faanized or set for the purpose of acco some act_?

THE CONTENT OF THE WILL--We shall not atte questions, nor, for immediately practical purposes, do we need to settle it It is perhaps safe to say, however, that whenever we are willing the_plus a distinct sense of effort_, hich everyone is familiar Whether this sense of effort is a new and different element, or only a complex of old and familiar mental processes, we need not now decide

THE FUNCTION OF THE WILL--Concerning the function of the will there can be no haziness or doubt _Volition concerns itself wholly with acts, responses_ The will always has to do with causing or inhibiting soo to the dentist, tell so, hold ourtask, or do so from which we shi+rk It is at such points that we ain, wethe unkind word, keep fro out when the dentist drills the tooth, check soht We must here also appeal to the will We may conclude then that the will is needed whenever the physical or mental activity must be controlled _with effort_ So action its _positive_ function, and in inhibiting action its _negative_ function

HOW THE WILL EXERTS ITS COMPULSION--How does the will bring its compulsion to bear? It is not a kind of mental policeman who can take us by the collar, so to speak, and say _do this_, or _do not do that_

The secret of the will's power of control lies in _attention_ It is the line of action that we hold theto perfor about that we finally do

On the other hand, let us resolutely hold the mind away fro our thoughts to an opposite course, or to some wholly different subject, and we have effectually blocked the wrong response To control our acts is therefore to control our thoughts, and strength of will can be measured by our ability to direct our attention

2 THE EXTENT OF VOLUNTARY CONTROL OVER OUR ACTS

A relatively small proportion of our acts, or responses, are controlled by volition Nature, in her wise economy, has provided a simpler and easier method than to have all our actions performed or checked with conscious effort

CLassES OF ACTS OR RESPONSE--Movements or acts, like other phenomena, do not just happen They never occur without a cause back of them