Mental Science
or PSYCHOLOGY is the science of the mind. The science of the mind is the Latin equivalent for the word, of Greek derivation, psychology.
Both are concerned with what is called the spiritual, or non-material, part of the human personality.
MENTAL SCIENCE The great advancement made, since Aristotle, in psychology is found in the laboratory. For the present purpose, it is fitting to refer to the apparatus of such a laboratory in the most general way. The instruments for research, and for measuring the methods and results of research, are numbered by the scores.
Among the more important of them are the tambour, an instrument designed to record movements upon smoked surfaces; the plethysmograph, designed to record the changes in the volume of blood in the arm; the pneumograph, designed to record the breathing movements; and there are also similar instruments for recording movements of the head and of the fingers. In fact, the instruments of the psychological laboratory apply to all senses and to the entire intellectual operations. connected or unconnected with the labora- Mental science, or psychology, whether tory, is divided into several branches.
Chief among them are what is known as genetic, structural, and functional psychology.
Genetic psychology is concerned with the origin and development of the mind.
The chief question in this branch is whether the differentiation in the mental processes is quantitative or whether it is qualitative. For instance, does the thinking or the consciousness of the dog differ in degree or in kind from the thinking or consciousness of man? Under this head also such questions as instinct, habit, and the rate of mental development, are of primary importance. A second branch of the subject is refers to the mind as a force in and of known as structural psychology, which itself; and functional psychology, a third branch, refers to the operation of this force. The two terms, structural and functional, have the same relation, applied to psychology, that they possess when applied to physiology or anatomy.
One of the most important applications of modern psychology refers to measurements. These measurements are at once direct and indirect. Direct, they have close relationship to the laboratory, and, in particular, to the measurements of the reactions to light and to sound. Indirect measurement still continues certain forces and conditions of the laboratory, but enlarges the tests unto the use, for instance, of the memory, unto the origin and progress of mental fatigue, and unto certain muscular movements. The element of attention, of association of ideas, of correlation of facts, represent a field in which measurements, both as causes and as results, fill important functions.
MENTAL SCIENCE Psychology, as a branch of American education, is a development of the last fifty years. It has found its place in the high school and academy, as well as in the college and university. In the secondary schools, a science so complex has, and should have, an insignificant place. In normal schools, as a part of process of training teachers, holds relationship as is shown in a significant relationship the article on Pedagogy. The proper field for psychology, however, is in the college or university. This field is at first cultivated by simple courses, largely experimental. It continues in the experimental development, and, presently, takes up such questions as comparative psychology, mental development in the individual, and also animal behavior, important in itself and also important in comparison with the mental development of man. In certain universities, the comparative element is made to apply to the evolution of different races and of race, as well as of individuals. The psychology also of the primary elements of truth, beauty, morality, and religion, are considered.
In the laboratory special emphasis is placed upon research. Research is used as a basis for work for advanced degrees, as well as for its own sake. It is recognized that the field for special investigation is as limitless and diverse as are the conditions of the human mind.
Mental science, or psychology, in its further application has two special relationships, pathological and educational. On the pathological side, it represents a most important part of medical education wherein it has taken on the name of psychiatry. Courses in psychiatry are now being rapidly established in American medical schools. This department is, if possible, connected with a hospital for the treatment of mental diseases. A great therapeutical development in this field is to be expected in the next years and decades. On the educational side, mental science is closely related to the whole pedagogical process. The understanding of the mind that is to be informed and disciplined is of primary consequence. Psychology represents the method for securing such understanding.
At this point, the temptation is to accept superficiality in method and ineffectiveness in result. Mental science, as interpreted and applied in America, is in debt to the teachers and scholars of the German university, and especially to the great Wundt. The present disregard of German educational power of the past should not blind Americans to the great work which Wundt, and his associates, did in MENTONE this field. In America, of many names, that of William James is perhaps chief.
James (1842 to 1910), of diverse education-at Geneva, Switzerland, Lawrence Scientific School and the Medical School of Harvard University, Berlin, and a student of Louis Agassiz, he brought to his writing, teaching and research, a great great mind educated in many fields and through great masters. His writings represent the best intellectual gifts brought to a high degree of development. His books have been translated into Russian and Japanese, as well as into Spanish, Italian, German, and French. He was a humanist, as well as psychologist and philosopher. Undoubtedly he ranks with Jonathan Edwards as the most influential mind, in philosophical thought, which America has produced.
In addition to James should be named Edward B. Titchener of Cornell University, George Trumbull Ladd of Yale University, ty, James R. Angell of Chicago University, and G. Stanley Hall of Clark University. For a time Professor H. Münsterberg of Harvard occupied a commanding place.
MENTANA (-tänä), a small village, 12 miles N. E. of Rome, where Nov. 3, 1867, the Garibaldians were defeated by the Papal and French troops.