Psychological Bulletin

Sheldon, W. H.

doi: 10.1037/h0072310pmid: N/A

Reviews 12 publications (1910-1911) dealing with mental states such as, memory, thought, judgment, and logic. These states have been subjected to experimental investigation, and several new states have been suggested. The new states include Annahmen, Objektive, Gestaltqualitaten, and allied forms.

Whipple, Guy Montrose

doi: 10.1037/h0070121pmid: N/A

Reviews 7 studies (1909-1911) dealing with the psychology of testimony. There has been a greater readiness in the legal profession, to consider the results of experimental psychology. The use of standard picture tests in testimony, reliability of testimony of mental defectives, points of contact between the psychology of testimony and legal practice, and the like, are some of the researched topics.

Scott, Walter D.

doi: 10.1037/h0072005pmid: N/A

Reviews 9 studies (1909-1911) dealing with the psychology of suggestibility. Studies on the suggestibility of students and 7 to 20 yr olds reveal that there are no sex differences, and that it decreases with age. P. Hartenberg contend that there are two kinds of suggestibility: Lack of criticism, liability to neurasthenia, passive; and impulsiveness of ideas, liability to hallucinations, automatism, hysteria, active. Other classifications have also been attempted. Extensive experiments have been made of suggestibility in a state of hypnosis, the psychology of suggestion, the importance of suggestion in the life of the child, and the like.

Downey, June E.

doi: 10.1037/h0073727pmid: N/A

Reviews 13 publications (1910-1911), dealing with the psychology of graphic functions. There has been an increasing practical interest in writing and drawing activities. The studies focus upon the pedagogy of drawing and writing, methods of studying handwriting, conventional beliefs of graphology, unconscious imitations in handwriting, control of voluntary movements, factors of consciousness in the learning process and spatial dislocations.

Bingham, W. Van Dyke

doi: 10.1037/h0073131pmid: N/A

Reviews 6 publications (1910) dealing with the psychology of vocal functions. The topics covered include the internal mechanism of vocal pitch regulation, the structure of a tone idea, vocal compositions, mechanisms of voice and its hygiene and the applications of experimental phonetics to medical problems.

Pierce, Arthur H.

doi: 10.1037/h0063855pmid: N/A

Reviews the books, Essential of Psychology by W. B. Pillsbury (1911); and Introduction to Psychology by R. M. Yerkes (1911); and An Introduction to Experimental Psychology by C. S. Myers (1911). Pillsbury's book in most respects conforms to the same general plan and presents the same material as most of the text-books of elementary psychology that have appeared in recent years. The introductory discussion is, however, built upon a somewhat novel definition of psychology as the 'science of human behavior.' Besides the ordinary topics the book includes chapters on work and fatigue and on the interrelation of mental functions, the latter treating the subject of formal training. One feels from the reading of Yerkes' work that the author has revolted strongly from the usual methods of the text-books as a result of his teaching experience. The book deviates greatly from the beaten path. Much space throughout the book is devoted to defending the scientific nature of the subject and comparing it with other sciences. The plan of the book differs largely from that of the ordinary texts. Topics discussed include: consciousness, genetics, psychological laws, explanation, correlation, prediction, control, education and others. Myers' work constitutes the volume on experimental psychology of the Cambridge manuals of science and literature. The topics include touch, temperature, pain, color vision, the Müller-Lyer illusion, experimental aesthetics, memory, mental tests and their uses.

Pierce, Arthur H.

doi: 10.1037/h0066682pmid: N/A

Reviews the book, Individualism: Four Lectures on the Significance of Consciousness for Social Relations by Warner Fite (1911). Professor Fite's Individualism is a notable discussion of the conceptions of the individual and society in their reciprocal relations. The remarkable lucidity of the author's style and the simplicity and deftness of presentation have given the book an immediate and sympathetic audience. The principal thesis of the book is that conscious conduct is always that of an individual who acts from motives of self-regard. The theory of consciousness is presented, along with criticisms of functional psychology, Tufts and Dewey in Ethics, James' statement of the instincts, and the object of conscious desire. In conclusion the reviewer insists that he has considered only a single though central thesis in Individualism, and that he has been quite unable to do justice to the wealth of acute analysis and admirable presentation of which the book is full.

Pierce, Arthur H.

doi: 10.1037/h0067078pmid: N/A

Reviews the book, Grundzüge der Ethik by E. Dürr (1909). This book is the first volume to appear of a series of psychological monographs (Die Psychologie in Einzeldarstellungen) projected by the late Professor Ebbinghaus, before whose death some fourteen volumes were arranged for, with Dr. Meumann as colleague, under whose editorship the list has been carried to twenty titles. The series is significant if for no other reason than that it marks the passing of the day when psychology can make progress by the giant labors of the encyclopaedic genius, and, like the other sciences, must depend upon the trained abilities of the specialists. This book of Dr. Dürr's has grown out of certain investigations that the author has made of feeling and will, and certain other philosophical inquiries into the reality and meaning of the moral ideal in its individual and social aspects. In addition to these qualifications for his book, Dr. Dürr has brought to bear upon the problem a knowledge of the main historical systems, and it is in connection with a critical review of these that he advances to a statement of his own systematic view. Topics discussed include: valuation, conscience, moral will, moral action, determinism, and character, and others. The book may be recommended as a particularly pleasing contribution to the discussion of ethical problems. It is written in a style that places no unnecessary obstacles in the way of the foreigner, and the notes to the chapters, which have been grouped together at the end of the book, are particularly rich in bibliographical material.

Ogden, R. M.

doi: 10.1037/h0066327pmid: N/A

In my recently published review and critique of the work centering about the problem of the content of thought, I have attempted to show that the failure of certain investigators to discover imageless factors might be attributed to "a predisposition on the part of the 'trained' observer which is decidedly prejudicial to the discovery of meanings in experience." This point I have illustrated, in a striking manner, as I thought, by reference to the analyses of conscious attitudes made by Miss Clarke. This document discusses the point further.

Pierce, Arthur H.

doi: 10.1037/h0065352pmid: N/A

At a conference this summer between representatives of the Psychological Review Publications and the Zeitschrift fur Psychologie, a uniform classification was agreed upon for the Psychological Index and the Bibliographie published by the latter journal. The contents of the two bibliographies will henceforth be practically identical. The new scheme involves considerable change in the classification of each, but it is believed that the initial difficulties attending the use of a new division of topics will be more than offset by the improvements introduced and the need of referring to one bibliography only.