subject of
the chapter that follows, Functionalization.

INDIVIDUALITY AS CONSIDERED BY PSYCHOLOGY.--Psychology has not
always emphasized the importance of the individual as a unit for
study. Prof. Ladd's definition of psychology, quoted and endorsed by
Prof. James, is "the description and explanation of states of
consciousness, as such."[1] "By states of consciousness," says
James, "are meant such things as sensation, desires, emotions,
cognitions, reasonings, decisions, volitions, and the like." This
puts the emphasis on such divisions of consciousness as,
"attention," "interest," and "will."

With the day of experimental psychology has come the importance
of the individual self as a subject of study,[2] and psychology has
come to be defined, as Calkins defines it, as a "science of the self
as conscious."[3]

We hear much in the talk of today of the "psychology of the
crowd," the "psychology of the mob," and the "psychology of the
type," etc., but the mind that is being measured, and from whose
measurements the laws are being deduced and formulated is, at the
present the _individual_ mind.[4]

The psychology which interested itself particularly in studying
such divisions of mental activity as attention, will, habit, etc.,
emphasizes more particularly the likenesses of minds. It is
necessary to understand thoroughly all of these likenesses before
one can be sure what the differences, or idiosyncrasies, are, and
how important they are, because, while the likenesses furnish the
background, it is the differences that are most often actually
utilized by management. These must be determined in order to compute
and set the proper individual task for the given man from standard
data of the standard, or first-class man.

In any study of the individual, the following facts must
be noted:--

1. The importance of the study of the individual, and the
comparatively small amount of work that has as yet been
done in that field.
2. The difficulty of the study, and the necessity for great
care, not only in the study itself, but in deducing laws
from it.
3. The necessity of considering any one individual trait as
modified by all the other traits of the individual.
4. The importance of the individual as distinct from the
type.

Many students are so interested in studying types and deducing
laws which apply to types in general, that they lose si