these the subject reacted with no great difficulty. But then,
unexpectedly, he got a stimulus word to which he had a fixed habit of
response, and before he could catch himself he had made the habitual
response, and so failed to give a rhyme as he had intended. This check
sometimes made him really angry, and at least it brought him up to
attention with a feeling which he expressed in the words, "I can and
will do this thing". He was thus put on his guard, gave closer
attention to what he was doing, and was usually able to overcome the
counter tendency of habit and do what he meant to do. Some subjects,
who adapted themselves readily and fully to the rhyming task, i.e.,
who got up a good "mental set" for this sort of reaction, made few
errors and did not experience this feeling of effort and
determination; for them the effort was unnecessary; but the average
person needed the extra energy in order to overcome the resistances
and accomplish his intentions.

Other good instances of effort are found in the overcoming of
distraction, described under the head of attention, [Footnote: See p.
259.] and in the work of the beginner at any job. When the beginner
has passed the first cautious, exploratory stage of learning, he
begins to "put on steam". He pounds the typewriter, if that is what he
is learning, spells the words aloud, and in other ways betrays the
great effort he is making.

Ask a child just learning to write why he grasps the pencil so
tightly, why he bends so closely over the desk, why he purses his
lips, knits his brow, and twists his foot around the leg of his chair,
and he might answer, very truly, that it is because he cannot do this
job easily and has to _try hard_. All these unnecessary muscular
movements and tensions {538} show the _access of energy_ that has been
liberated in his brain by the obstruction encountered.

Any learner, once he has mastered the difficulties of the task,
reaches an easy-running stage in which effort is no longer required,
unless for making a record or in some way surpassing himself. With
reference to effort, then, we may speak of three stages of practice:
the initial, exploratory stage, the awkward and effortful stage, and
the skilled and free-running stage. These are identical with the three
stages in the development of attention to a subject, which were
described [Footnote: See p.258] as the stage of spontaneous attention
or curiosity; the stage of forced attention, or effor