The story of the mind.

  • Baldwin, James Mark, 1861-1934.
Date:
[c.1900]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The story of the mind. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    and treatment of the materials of experi- ence. There is another term very current in psycho- logy by which this same process is sometimes in- dicated : the phrase Association of Ideas. This designates the fact that when two things have been perceived or thought of together, they tend to come up together in the mind in the future; and when a thing has been perceived which re- sembles another, or is contrasted with it, they tend to recall each other in the same way. It is plain, however, that this phrase is applied to the single thoughts, sensations, or other mental ma- terials, in their relations or connections among themselves. They are said to be “associated” with one another. This way of speaking of the mental materials, instead of speaking of the mind’s activity, is convenient; and it is quite right to do so, since it is no contradiction to say that the thoughts, etc., which the mind “ap- perceives” remain “associated” together. From this explanation it is evident that the Association of Ideas also comes under the mental process of Apperception of which we have been speaking. There is, however, another tendency of the mind in the treatment of its material, a tendency which shows us in actual operation the activity with which we have now become familiar. When we come to look at any particular case of apper- ception or association we find that the process must go on from the platform which the mind’s attainments have already reached. The passing of the mental states has been likened to a stream which flows on from moment to moment with