he Subconscious Mind 561

Unconscious Wishes and Motives 565

Exercises 571

References 571

INDEX 573

{1}

PSYCHOLOGY

CHAPTER I

WHAT PSYCHOLOGY IS AND DOES

THE SUBJECT-MATTER OF THE SCIENCE, ITS PROBLEMS AND ITS METHODS

Modern psychology is an attempt to bring the methods of scientific
investigation, which have proved immensely fruitful in other fields,
to bear upon mental life and its problems. The human individual, the
main object of study, is so complex an object, that for a long time it
seemed doubtful whether there ever could be real science here; but a
beginning was made in the nineteenth century, following the lead of
biology and physiology, and the work of the investigator has been so
successful that to-day there is quite a respectable body of knowledge
to assemble under the title of scientific psychology.

Psychology, then, is a science. It is the science of--what shall we
say? "The science of the soul"--that is what the name means by
derivation and ancient usage. "The science of the mind" has a more
modern sound. "The science of consciousness" is more modern still.
"The science of behavior" is the most recent attempt at a concise
formula.

None of these formulas is wholly satisfactory. Psychology does not
like to call itself the science of the soul, for that has a
theological tang and suggests problems that have so far not seemed
accessible to scientific investigation. Psychology does not like very
well to call itself the science {2} of the mind, as _the_ mind seems to
imply some thing or machine, and there is no such thing to be observed
(unless it be the brain and body generally), and, anyway, psychology
is distinctly a study of actions rather than of things. Psychology
does not like to limit itself to the study of consciousness, but finds
it necessary to study also unconscious actions. As to "behavior", it
would be a very suitable term, if only it had not become so closely
identified with the "behavioristic movement" in psychology, which
urges that consciousness should be entirely left out of psychology, or
at least disregarded. "Behavior psychology", as the term would be
understood to-day, means a part of the subject and not the whole.

[Footnote: A series of waggish critics has evolved the following:
"First psychology lost its soul, then it lost its mind, then it lost