Psychological Bulletin

Pierce, Arthur H.

doi: 10.1037/h0068862pmid: N/A

Reviews The influence of newspaper presentations upon the growth of crime and other anti-social activity, by Frances Fenton (1911). To get at the effect of the appeals made by the newspaper is the purpose of this thesis. The point of view is objective and functional. As a study in applied sociology, it aims to suggest ways by which "the control of stimuli to activity for the purpose of diminishing crime" may be obtained. Premising that 'orthodox psychology' has centered interest around conscious processes, to the neglect of unconscious presentations, Dr. Fenton criticizes previous treatments of the problem, formulates a definition of suggestion, and inquires into the conditions in the individual and in 'objective social conditions as stimuli' which facilitate the going over of presentation into act.

Pierce, Arthur H.

doi: 10.1037/h0067341pmid: N/A

Reviews the book Sociology and modern social problems, by Charles A. Ellwood (1910). In this book five chapters are devoted to the problem of the family; other chapters discuss such matters as immigration, the city, poverty, crime, and education. The treatment is objective, concrete, and elementary, making the work valuable for the college student and for those whose specialties forbid an intensive cultivation of the field of social issues. Emphasis is placed upon the biological, statistical, and economic phases. In a sane fashion the necessity of understanding the ethnic and biological background of the Negro and the immigrant is enforced. Further, the author expressly confines himself to non-psychological sides of the questions outlined, although he does not avoid them altogether. Several consequences of the author's combined non-psychological and synthetic mode of treatment which are mentioned in this review. The reviewer states, however, that these criticisms speak nothing against the excellence of Professor Ellwood's book within its aim and self-imposed limits.

Pierce, Arthur H.

doi: 10.1037/h0064449pmid: N/A

Reviews the book The individual and society, by J. Mark Baldwin (1911). A brief resume of Professor Baldwin's doctrines, especially that of the relation between the generalizing and the particularizing aspects of the life of society, together with some applications, is the content of this volume. Since there is no essential change in point of view, an extended notice is unnecessary. However, there is a tendency to insist upon the fact that the individual is no mere 'repeating machine,' and the central problem is: If the individual 'absorbs obediently and imitatively the matter of the social life and habit of his group' (p. 146), in what sense can he be said to 'invent'? Notwithstanding the apparent just and balanced treatment, some readers of Professor Baldwin's earlier books will still be troubled by the crucial question--how the individual and his inventions can be explained on the basis of the mechanism offered. One feels that there is something more involved, and yet fears to invoke Bergson's creative push of life.

Pierce, Arthur H.

doi: 10.1037/h0065115pmid: N/A

Reviews the text Social value. A study in economic theory (critical and constructive), by B. M. Anderson, Jr. (1911). Dr. Anderson has approached the disputed field of economic value from the point of view of the social psychologist, seeking to identify value as a conscious phase in experience before it becomes the subject of treatment by the economist. Dr. Anderson's thesis is most forcibly and clearly written. His acquaintance with the literature of sociology and psychology bearing upon his theme is as full and adequate as it is with that of the economic doctrine of value. It is perhaps too much to ask that he should fill in the gap which still lies between the social sciences and social psychology, but it is worth our while to view this gap afresh in this attempt to use social psychology to interpret economic theory.

Pierce, Arthur H.

doi: 10.1037/h0066562pmid: N/A

Briefly reviews "Is faith a form of feeling?" by A. C. Armstrong (1911). The article's conclusions are examined.

Pierce, Arthur H.

doi: 10.1037/h0065076pmid: N/A

In the article "An empirical study of prayer", by James Bissett Pratt (Amer. J. of Relig. Psychol. and Educ., 1910, 4, 47-67), the questionnaire method is used to address the questions: "In what do people's prayers actually consist? What is their nature and content? How are they used? and How well do they serve their purpose?" This brief review examines the results of the study.

Pierce, Arthur H.

doi: 10.1037/h0067998pmid: N/A

Reviews the article "The ethnological background of the Eucharist", by J. A. Magni (Amer. J. of Relig. Psychol. and Educ., 1910, 4, 1-47). To discover the root idea of sacrament is the object of this article. The reviewer comments on the history behind this ancient pagan origin, having become a part of the Christian cult by a process of theological speculation on the meaning of Christ's death, resurrection, and mission.

Pierce, Arthur H.

doi: 10.1037/h0064380pmid: N/A

Reviews the article "Religion als seelenkunst", by Wilhelm George (Zsch. f. Religions-psychologie, 1910, 4, 196-208). The reviewer states that law and customs, religion and art, are different radiations from national and racial character. In law and customs the objective social law comes to realization; in art and religion the individual's subjective demands and needs are uppermost. Religion may be called an art of the 'soul,' a creative fashioning produced in the world of ideas under deep feeling and undertaken on the basis of faith in the value of action.