PSYCHO-ANALYSIS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16583, 16 November 1921, Page 7

PSYCHO-ANALYSIS.

LECTURE BY PROFESSOR SHELLEY, At the College House refresher course yesterday Professor Shelley gave a lecture on “ The Nature of the Unconscious.” The lecturer said that progress was being made to a true science of psychology, Th© newer hypotheses, including that of psycho-analysis itself, had been mixed upon the public mind. We did not find a god beneath consciousness; rather did we find a beast or something with bestial tendencies. Modern society had such a vicious idea of sex that it had been agreed to neglect it altogether. Perhaps the worst offender in the conspiracy of s ; lenc© had been the Church. The subject had been taboo in the primitive sens© of that word. The method of psycho-analysis was a natural corollarjN in the lecturer’s mind, to evolution. We did not climb on stepping stones of our dead selves lo higher things. The forces below the Surface of consciousness wore very active indeed, and we must have safety-valves. Governments, however, had a prejudice against such, and the result was inevitable. New Zealand was busily engaged in trying to put sticking-plaster over the cracks and suppress all heresies. Th© result might possibly b© satisfactory. We might approach tho subject of unconsciousness from the cognitive side, tho side of memory, or from the conativo side. The famous case of the servant who repeated in delirium snatches of Greek and Hebrew was ono where the qualities of the unconscious state were manifest. The words had years before penetrated through the wails of the kitchen from the study of a learned scholar. They had never been consciously learnt off, but returned in the girl’s delirium. Childhood memories also showed the workings of the unconscious state. There were various stages of consciousness. Memories were gradually relegated to the unconscious, while there seemed to be memories carried along with the race itself. Th© process of forgetting was an even more difficult matter to explain than the process of remembering. By moans a diagram Professor Shelley proceeded to explain the development of the driving forco in human nature with the tendencies that arise from it. The various responses to different degrees of fear were dealt with. Utter collapse, running away, aggression, immobility, and adjustment to meet the situation were some of these responses. From man’s desire for nutrition arose hunting, which afterwards was developed for its own sake. \\ itli the tendency to preserve the group—for man is a gregarious animal -—were associated various qualities : suggestion, sympathy, imitation, intuition. Out of these could come all sorts of developments—the instinct of acquisition, for examaple. The tendency of many parents to keep their children children was productive of much evil. Th© motive was good, but the result was bad. The institution of the family was a bad one if it was abused. The lecturer dealt with the various manifestations of sex. and showed the intimate relation of these with the life of th© individual.