quence in mental life. This focalizing of thought, commonly referred to by the word attention, will be the subject of a special section. Other Qualities.-(1) Thoughts and feelings may also also usually be ranked in a scale of intensity. Some have an extreme amount of a striking, incisive, piercing quality; others are mild, flat, weak, lukewarm. (2) It may perhaps be possible to rank all thoughts and feelings on a scale of desirability and intolerability ranging from the feeling one most shrinks from to the feeling one most welcomes. This scale, desirability to intolerability, is not identical with pleasure to pain. Certain pleasures may be intolerable and certain pains welcomed. (3) No one could build a pile of feelings over which one could not jump, or fill a bucket with ideas; they do not occupy space. (4) They do take time; as quick as thought is no truer than as slow as thought. So much for the general inner qualities of mental facts. They have also two general outside relationships. They are intimately connected with conditions of the brain which precede, accompany and, in the common sense use of the word, cause them. They are also intimately connected with acts of the body which, in the common sense use of the word, are caused by them. These two general facts that all mental life is connected with the activity of the brain and always expresses itself in bodily action will be fully discussed in Part III. Exercises Experiment 8. The Duration of Mental Processes.-With the proper apparatus for making delicate measurements of time and for eliminating the influence of other processes than those which we wish to measure, the time required to notice a difference, or to call up an image, the time that an idea or an emotion lasts, and the like, may be measured. Even with the crudest means the differences in duration of the following processes may be at least roughly measured:: To feel a stimulus and make a movement in response to it. To feel a stimulus, distinguish it from other possible ones, and make a movement in response to it. To feel a stimulus, feel its meaning, call up an idea in response to it and make a movement in response to this idea. Arrange for ten or more individuals to act as subjects: have ready a stop watch measuring fifths of a second. Let the subjects be seated in a circle, the observer among them. A. Say, "We are to measure roughly the time it takes to hear a sound and make a sound in response. I shall say, 'Be' and as soon as I say it, the person at my right will reply by making the same sound 'Be'; as soon as he says it, the person on his right will make the same sound, and so on around the circle as fast as we can until I say 'Stop'. Be careful not to say ‘Be' until you hear the person just at your left say it." Give one round of practice. Then say ‘Attention', and then say ‘Be', starting the watch simultaneously. After the word has been passed around the circle three times, that is, when you hear 'Be' the fourth time, stop the watch instead of saying 'Be' a fourth time, and then say 'Stop'. If there are ten people the total time taken divided by 30 will be the average time taken to hear the sound and to make the sound and for the sound wave to pass from one person's mouth to the next person's ear. B. Say, "We will now measure the time it takes to hear a sound, distinguish it from others and make a sound in response to it. I shall start counting, say, with two; as soon as I say two, the person on my right will say three; as soon as he says three, the person on his right will say four; as soon as he says four, the person on his right will say one, and so on, one calling for two as its reply, two for three, three for four, and four for one. Continue until I say stop." Give one round of practice. Then say 'Attention', and say 'Two' or 'Three', starting the watch simultaneously. Stop after three rounds of the circle as before. Compute the average time as before. It will be well to have some one outside the circle watch for erroneous responses. C. Say, "We will now measure the time it takes to hear a word, distinguish it, think what thing it means, think of some thing connected with this and respond. I, the first person, will say the name of something; the person at my right will reply by saying the first word called to his mind by the word I say, the person at his right will reply by saying the first word called to his mind by the word the second person said, and so on. Be careful to listen only for the word spoken by the person at your left and to reply with the word it calls up." Give one or two rounds of practice and then after the 'Attention' say 'House' and start the watch simultaneously. Stop after three rounds of the circle as before. Compute the average time as before. Experiments A, B, and C may be repeated as many times as is convenient. References A. James, Briefer Course, XI. Titchener, Outline, §§ 92-98. B. James, Principles, IX. § 19. Attention The Fact of Attention and the Feelings of Attention. The words and phrases attend, attentive, absorbed in, give one's mind to and their synonyms, like most common words, have many shades of meaning. They refer at times to what I shall call the fact of attention and at other times to what I shall call the feelings of attention. In the first case they mean (1) the fact that some part of one's state of mind is focal, prominent, prepotent over the rest or (2) that some one possible idea is noticed and felt to the exclusion of others. Thus (1) 'He attended chiefly to the color of the rose he was observing, and (2) 'He attended to the rose, not noticing what was said or how awkward he appeared.' In the second case they mean (3) the feeling of effort which so often accompanies the prevalence of one part over other parts of a feeling or of one feeling over others if the natural impulse is to attend otherwise, or (4) the feeling of interest which so often accompanies such prevalence if it is in accord with natural impulse or (5) the feeling of activity,—of oneself being a helper in making the part or idea prevail. Thus (3) 'He resolutely attended,' 'The power of attention;' (4) 'He was absorbed in play,' 'It attracted my attention,' 'I could not help feeling attentive;' (5) 'I was thinking hard. Every sense in me was on the qui vive.' Separate words should be used for each of these five meanings if we are to be clear, at least in all cases where the context does not show in which sense the word attention is used. Let us use Focalness of Mental States for the fact that each mental state is not throughout equally prominent, but that parts are in greater relief than others, and Selectedness of Mental States for the fact that out of many feelings felt by no means all are noticed, dwelt upon, allowed to play leading parts. For the three chief feelings that accompany such focal and selective thinking, let us use the terms: The Feeling of Effort or Strain, the Feeling of Interest or Attraction, and the Feeling of Activity or of Mental Life. (1) and (2) are the most alike. They represent the results of the same mental law acting (A) within one mental state and (B) among a number of mental states. Together they represent the fact of attention as opposed to the feelings going with it. When in this or later chapters the word attention is used alone it will mean this fact of attention. Cases of attention may be classified : (A) According to the kind of feeling accompanying them, into voluntary and involuntary. (B) According to the reason why the chief thought or feeling is chief, into native and acquired, and also into immediate and derived. (C) According to the nature of the chief or prepotent or 'attended to' object, into intellectual and sensorial. Voluntary and Involuntary Attention.-In certain cases the special emphasis on some part of our total thought or possible thought is accompanied by a feeling of effort or strain, a feeling of holding ourselves down to that part and resisting other temptations. If in the mind of a school boy, in spite of tired eyes and a strong desire to be outdoors, the xs and ys of the algebra book before him hold the field against the shouts and laughter of playmates outside and impulses to look at the clock, to leave the examples till next day and the like, the case is presumably one of voluntary attention. The boy probably has a feeling of effort. Such cases of attention with a feeling of effort are called Voluntary Attention. The name is perhaps ill chosen; for in a sense these are just the cases where we do not attend willingly. The word voluntary is used by psychologists to show that in these cases of attention with a feeling of effort there is a willful ruling out of other tempting ideas and an adherence to the point attended to. In other cases an idea is in the focus,—is selected,without being accompanied by any feeling of effort. On the contrary the object seems to attract us, is more tempting than any others, and is usually accompanied by a feeling of attraction. Such cases are called cases of Involuntary Attention. To say that a thing attracts us is simply another way of saying that it wins a place over other thoughts without any feeling of effort on our part. When the percepts of an exciting game old the field in the school-boy's mind and keep down and out the thoughts |
