schools. No knowledge can be of more use to a young person than a
knowledge of himself; no study can be more valuable to him than a study
of himself. A study of the laws of human behavior,--that is the purpose
of this book.

What is human nature like? Why do we act as we do? How can we make
ourselves different? How can we make others different? How can we make
ourselves more efficient? How can we make our lives more worth while?
This book is a manual intended to help young people to obtain such
knowledge of human nature as will enable them to answer these questions.

I have not attempted to write a complete text on psychology. There are
already many such books, and good ones too. I have selected for
treatment only such topics as young students can study with interest and
profit. I have tried to keep in mind all the time the practical worth of
the matters discussed, and the ability and experience of the intended
readers.

TO THE TEACHER

This book can be only a guide to you. You are to help your students
study human nature. You must, to some extent, be a psychologist yourself
before you can teach psychology. You must yourself be a close and
scientific student of human nature. Develop in the students the spirit
of inquiry and investigation. Teach them to look to their own minds and
their neighbor's actions for verification of the statements of the text.
Let the students solve by observation and experiment the questions and
problems raised in the text and the exercises. The exercises should
prove to be the most valuable part of the book. The first two chapters
are the most difficult but ought to be read before the rest of the book
is studied. If you think best, merely read these two chapters with the
pupils, and after the book is finished come back to them for careful
study.

In the references, I have given parallel readings, for the most part to
Titchener, Pillsbury, and Muensterberg. I have purposely limited the
references, partly because a library will not be available to many who
may use the book, and partly because the young student is likely to be
confused by much reading from different sources before he has worked out
some sort of system and a point of view of his own. Only the most
capable members of a high school class will be able to profit much from
the references given.

TO THE STUDENT

You are beginning the study of human nature. You can not study human
nature from a book, you must study yoursel