Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: PRIMER OF PSYCHOLOGY CHAPTER I THE MIND AND ITS ACTIVITIES No one can fully understand what Psychology is, or how to study it, who has not already given much attention to this subject. And if we consult those whose business it is to inform us, we shall doubtless find some difference of views in their answers to both these questions. But the same thing is true, to a large extent, of every subject of study; for often the definitions which teachers give earliest to their pupils, or which the writers of books place upon their first pages, are among the last things to receive general agreement from scientific investigators. This is, to some extent, true of all the sciences; and there are certain reasons why it is especially true of the science we are about to study. What is Psychology?—In spite of all difficulties, however, it is possible to answer this question in a manner that will enable one to begin study with a fairly clear notion of both subject and method. Only it will be necessary to use some words in the definition, the meaning of which must bo left to be made clearer as the study of the subject advances. In considering What is Psychology ? we may takeour start from any of the experiences of the daily life. For it is one advantage, at least, which this study has over all others, that its facts and specimens do not have to be sought at a distance or bought with money from those who have collected them—as is the case with botany, geology, physiology, etc. We all always carry the facts about with us; we are ourselves the specimens to be studied. Let, then, any of the most familiar of one's experiences be taken as examples. Suppose, for instance, that while walking on the street the attention is attracted to some person approaching from a distance. At first we cannot ...