this type of acts will occur
to each of us: A door starts to blow shut, and we spring up and avert
the slam. The memory of a neglected engagement comes to us, and we have
started to our feet on the instant. A dish of nuts stands before us, and
we find ourselves nibbling without intending to do so.

THE CYCLE FROM VOLITIONAL TO AUTOMATIC.--It is of course evident that no
such acts, though they were at one time in our experience volitional,
now require effort or definite intention for their performance. The law
covering this point may be stated as follows: _All volitional acts, when
repeated, tend, through the effects of habit, to become automatic, and
thus relieve the will from the necessity of directing them._

[Illustration: FIG. 19.--Star for mirror drawing. The mirror breaks up
the automatic control previously developed, and requires one to start
out much as the child does at the beginning. See text for directions.]

To illustrate this law try the following experiment: Draw on a piece of
cardboard a star, like figure 19, making each line segment two inches.
Seat yourself at a table with the star before you, placing a mirror back
of the star so that it can be seen in the mirror. Have someone hold a
screen a few inches above the table so as to hide the star from your
direct view, but so that you can see it in the mirror. Now reach your
hand under the screen and trace with a pencil around the star from left
to right, not taking your pencil off the paper until you get clear
around. Keep track of how long it takes to go around and also note the
irregular wanderings of your pencil. Try this experiment five times
over, noting the decrease in time and effort required, and the increase
in efficiency as the movements tend to become automatic.

VOLITIONAL ACTION.--While it is obvious that the various types of action
already described include a very large proportion of all our acts, yet
they do not include all. For there are some acts that are neither reflex
nor instinctive nor automatic, but that have to be performed under the
stress of compulsion and effort. We constantly meet situations where the
necessity for action or restraint runs counter to our inclinations. We
daily are confronted by the necessity of making decisions in which the
mind must be compelled by effort to take this direction or that
direction. Conflicting motives or tendencies create frequent necessity
for coercion. It is often necessary to drive our bark co