THE MIND OF MAN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19919, 15 August 1927, Page 11

THE MIND OF MAN

MODERN PSYCHOLOGY LECTURE BY PROFESSOR T. A. HUNTER. The Red Cross Hall, Dixon Street, Wellington, was filled to overflowing last Saturday week when Professor T. A. Hunter, of Victoria University College, commenced a short course of lectures on “The New Psychology” under the auspices of the Workers’ Education Association. The aim of these addresses, said the lecturer, was to show something of the value of the many aspects of mind, and to give some insight into the great possibilities of knowledge and their effect on human behaviour and human happiness. Psychology was a very old science which had made a tremendous advance since the nineteenth century. The older intellectualistic and passive psychology did much good work but had little real relation to life. We live in the dark and do not really understand the significance of what we think and do. Did any of the great historic figures of the past—Confucious, Bhudda, Christ, Archimedes, Galileo, Newton, Alexander, Charlemagne, or Napoleon—realise the significance of their thought and work? Even if they did, it is certain that the great masses of mankind live through periods of transition without appreciating it. The decay of Athens, the fall of Rome, the Reformation, the waning of Spanish power, and the overthrow of Tsarism were all revolutionary changes in the world’s history which were not fully realised when they took place. The people who lived in the time of Copernicus did not really appreciate the change he was making, and those who went through the period of the Reformation were unable to understand what was happening. Did the people 70 years ago, or do we today, realise the tremendous changes involved in the principle of evolution? We understand the word, perhaps, but have not yet caught the Spirit of it. During the 18th and 19th centuries the material achievement in the realm of science was very marked. With Darwin’s discoveries Man has become interested in all the branches of scientific knowledge—archaeology, ethnology, history, psychology, and sociology —and we need to study the way in which these new developments are likely to influence the conduct of the world. Time and distance have been annihilated by wireless. Settlers landing in Port Nicholson less than 100 years ago were completely isolated from the rest of the world, but to-day we are cognisant of events which happen in other countries immediately they take place. What have we done with this increased knowledge and power? Our problems to-day are essentially human problems. Wo have conquered matter — can we conquer ourselves? There is a new mentalism beginning and ' Man must learn to realise that the forces which he has subdued are a means to an end only. The World War proved to the great mass of the people that Man’s ingenuity has been used against himself, and this has led to an increased desire for further knowledge of Man and his own mental make-up.

The New Psychology. The new psychology of fifty years ago was connected with experiment and the advance of science, which came into psychology through its connection with physics and physiology. In 1834 a German psychologist at Leipsig University, named Weber, made some experiments which were followed by those of Fechner, and dealt largely with the .question of the senses. Wundt, however, wa§ the man who really revolutionised the whole field of psychology by taking the step of applying the experiments to the mind. He did an immence amount of work, and brought the scientific attitude of mind to bear on the problems. The lecturer here showed a number of lantern slides to illustrate the experiments that have taken place in the study of the human mind.

“To-day and in the future,’’ said the Professor, “man’s chief concern must be increasingly with himself, for with his very success in the conquest of the environment has come a new danger. Unless the civilised societies of to-day improve their organisation and invent and enforce adequate measures for regulating human reproduction, for controlling the quality of population, and at least preventing the deterioration of the quality of racial stock, they, are doomed to decay, and to be submerged in some new barbarian flood. To achieve this, man must at least consent to think scientificially about himself. We need greater foresight, wider sympathies, and more courageous action, and there are many signs that we are beginning to realise this. An increasing interest in psychology is apparent and there are profound changes in our conception of the mind of man. Another movement has been working—the union of two streams:—(a) Biology —evolution—animal psychology; (b) mental pathology. Man is subject in a marked degree to mental disease, which we must learn to regard in the same light as tuberculosis or any other physical disease. In the past an entirely wrong attitude was adopted in dealing with this proidem. Freud says we must no longer look upon the mind* as something upon which an impression is made. It is a force. In every human beWg there are a number of drives to action which we call instincts. Psychologically, we are much more complex than we imagine, and we must try to be rational. It may be as Butler said: “Reason ought to be master, but really feelings and in-

stinctive drives are.” We are not one self at all, but a multitude of selves; and the real aim of education is to understand one’s self and then to understand one’s fellows. That these great forces may be directed for the welfare of the human race is the problem of immediate interest, for on this understanding rests the future of the world. At the conclusion of the lecture an interesting discussion took place. The next lecture will deal with the “Body and Mind.”