At first we do not know what to do. Gradually, however, out of the
many movements performed by us, we make the correct movements
more and more often. Eventually a bond is formed between "situation
— follow between two printed lines towards our body as seen in the mir-
ror" — and the response to actually move our hand away from the body.
Gradually, then, after considerable practice the mirror-drawing task
changes over from type 3a to i.
Learning to wiggle one's ears, as has already been pointed out, is an
example of the most extreme type of learning, for here we do not
know what movements to make nor do we know from watching our own
performance when we have really made the movement we have seen
another boy make. For sometimes we move our ears but also our
whole scalp or the side of our face. The latter element we do not want.
Have we moved our scalp or the side of our face and only incidentally
our ears, or have we actually moved our ears and shall we, with
further practice in this way be able to eliminate the scalp or face move-
ment? We have no way of telling. Consequently we keep trying and
trying and finally accomplish our purpose, or in most cases, we give it
up as a bad job.
Learning the characteristics of the learning process, as you are
doing in this course, can be made by any particular author to fit any
one of these types of learning. He can supply you with every detail in
one, two, three order and expect you to memorize the material and thru
drill have you recite it as glibly as you do the alphabet. Or he can as-
sign very indefinite problems and leave you to discover the elements
and their order of relationship (type 3b). The former, however, will not
result in your obtaining a workable use of the material : the later will
LESSON 9 45
take too long and is too discouraging, altho if you do learn this way you
have a wonderful grasp of the subject. Consequently, the present
author prefers to present the material in the experiments in the form of
types 2 or 3, followed, as in this lesson, with a discussion of the material,
so that missing bonds may be identified and learned and their relation-
ships to one another comprehended and also learned. The material in
this lesson is not given to be memorized; it is given as a guide, just
as the printed lines in the mirror-drawing were a guide, so that you
may have a better idea of where you are going and how the different
parts of the course fit together.
LESSON lO—EXAMINATION COVERING THE WORK OF THE
COURSE SO FAR
The lOth class-hour will be devoted to a general examination cover-
ing the work of the whole course,
ASSIGNMENT OF WORK TO BE HANDED IN AT THE IITII CLASS-HOUR.
I. Spend one hour and a half in looking over one or more of the
following standard textbooks in psychology and in writing about three
hundred words concerning what you got out of this assignment. The
assignment is mainly for the purpose of acquainting you with such text-
books so that you may come to know where to turn when you want to
look up a topic in psychology. The textbooks are: —
J. R. Angell, Psychology, 1909.
J. R. Angell. An Introduction to Psychology, 1918.
B. B. Breese, Psychology, 1917.
M. W. Calkins, A First Book in Psychology, 1910.
M. W. Calkins, Introduction to Psycliology, 1902.
S. S. Colvin and W. C. Bagley, Human Behaznor, 191 3.
S. S. Colvin, The Learning Process, 1911.
K. Dunlap, A System of Psychology, 1912.
H. Ebbinghans, Psychology, trans, by M. Meyer, 1908.
- F. N. Freeman, Hozv Children Learn, 191 7.
—IC Gordon, Educational Psychology, 1917.
Wm. James, Psychology, Briefer Course, 1802.
Wm. ]2imQs^ Psychology, 2 vols. 1890.
C. H. Judd, Psychology, General Introduction, 1907.
G. T. Ladd & R. S. Woodworth, Physiological Psychology, 1911.
Max Meyer, Fundamental Lazvs of Human Behavior, 1911.
W. B. Pillsbury, The Essenti-als of Psychology, 191 1.
W. B, Pillsbury, The Fundamentals of Psychology, 1916,
C. E. Seashore, Elementary Experiments in Psychology, 1908.
46 INTRODUCTORY HSVCflOLOCV I'UR TKACIllvRS
K. L. Thorndike, Elements of Psychology, 1905.
• K. L. Thorndike, Bdueational Psychology, Briefer Course, 1914.
E. L. Thorndike, Educational Psychology, 3 vol. 1913.
E. B. Titchener. Outlives of Psychology, 1896.
E. B. Titchencr, Textbook of Psychology, 191 2.
E. B. Titchencr, Beginners' Psychology, 191 5.
J. B. Watson, Behavior, 1914.
2. Read over the details listed below re.q'arding the const ructi'm ot
learning curves. They are not to be memorized, but should be fre-
quently referred to until they have all been mastered. It will take some
time before you will draw curves readily and correctly. In this scien-
tific age no one can call himself educated who does not know how to
use this method of expressing complex ideas. Once you have mastered
the intricacies of this new "language" you will be astonished to find
how often you make use of it. Place before you the model gfraph given
in Plate I, Lesson i, and note how the rules given here are exem-
plified in it.
SOM^ INFORMATION CONCERNING THE CONSTRICTION OF LKARNING
CURVES.
1. All learning curves are based on two columns of data. The first
column indicates the successive trials or successive units of time in
terms of which the progress of learning is measured. The second
column gives the measurements of the learning. For example, the data
on which Curve B in Plate I is based are as follows : —
XumbcT of Seconds Required to Recite
Trials the Alphabet Backwards.
1 460
2 30. 1
3 ^8-4
4 27.8
5 251
6 22.9
7 21.0
8 21.8
9 21.2
10 20.1
11 20.2
12 16.9
13 18.2
14 t6.o
15 15.3
16 15.6
17 136
18 13.9
19 15-5
20 12.5
2. The trials are indicated along the horizontal axis and the "meas-
urements of the learning" along the vertical axis.
LKISSON lO
47
3. Figures for the horizontal scale should always be placed at the
bottom of the chart and the figures for the vertical scale at the left.
Make clear what the scales mean.
4. In the curves in the psychological field, the horizontal scale
should read from left to right and the vertical scale from bottom to top.
5. All lettering and all figures on a chart should be placed so as to
be read from the base or from tlie right-hand edge of the chart.
6. Points on the curve should be indicated with little crosses (x)
and connected with a line that is heavier than the co-ordinate ruling so
that the curves may be clearly distinguished from the background.
7. Only in exceptional cases should the zero line of the scale be
omitted. If it would require too much space to include the zero base
line, the bottom should be a slightly wavy line indicating that the field
has been broken ofif and does not reach to zero. This is shown in the
accompanying graph, Plate IV.
8. The title of a chart should be
so complete and so clear that mis-
interpretation will be impossible. In
fact, the ideal is to write so defi-
nitely that if a stranger picked up
the chart he could imderstand what
it meant.*
*A good references on this subject for
those interested in the subject is: W. C.
Brinton, Graphic Methods for Presenting
Facts.
Plate IV, Modol graph, showing
how zero base line BhotQd b«
indicated when there is not
space available to include
base line.
48 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS
LESSON 11— THE RELATIONSHIP OF "METHOD," "ATTI-
TUDE" AND "FEELING" TO LEARNING
Some of the more obvious laws of learning have been presented. We
are now ready to attempt a more careful study of less apparent factors.
What happens when we change our method of doing a certain task —
say of playing golf, of going from the sight to touch method in type-
writing, or discovering a new way to solve originals in geometry? Do
our feelings affect our work ? We think they do : but do they really do
so? Does the man that is confident do l>etter than the man that is
fearful? If so, why?
MIRROR-DRAWING EXPERIMENT (repeated)
Problem: What factors arc involved in learning Mirror-Draivingf
Apparatus: Mirrow-Drawing Outfit; lo six-pointed star blanks;
watch.
Procedure: E should here be the S of the 7th class-hour and S the
E of that exercise. Follow the general procedure of the 7th class-hour,
but here S should only draw with the right hand in the mirror.
The emphasis is not upon completing 10 drawings hut upon obfainino
as detailed an idea of how one learns as is possible. Consequently after
each drawing, S should note down every fact that occurs to him regard-
ing his method of doing the work, the ideas that came to him while
doing the drawing, his attitude toward the work, his feelings, etc. E
should also record changes in method which he notes in S, changes in
feeling or attitude toward the work, etc. Note down, for example, every
sigh or exclamation of impatience, and ascertain if there is any relatit)n
between its occurrence and success or failure.
Results: E should have recorded, (i) the time of each performance,
(2) the number of errors in each drawing, and (3) the observations of
both S and E accompanying each performance.
Draw three curves as in the 7th class-hour experiment.
Questions :
1. What changes take place when the same performance is re-
peated a number of times? Consider (a) differences in method or
''mode of attack," (b) differences in attitude toward the work, (c) dif-
ferences in feeling and emotion.
2. How do such changes affect the changes in speed and accuracy ?
3. How are improvements hit upon? Were they (a) accidental,
(b) partly understood, or (c) thoroughly understood beforehand?
Applications: What applications can you make of the laws you have
discovered here to your work?
Write up this experiment and hand it in at the next class-hour.
LESSON 12— RELATIONSHIP OF "METHOD," "ATTITUDE"
AND "FEEUNG" TO "LEARNING"-
(Continued)
WHAT CHANGES TAKK PLACE WHEN THE SAME PERFORMANCE IS
REPEATED A NUMBER OF TIMES.
a. Differences in method or "mode of attack." There are a num-
ber of different methods of doing the mirror-drawing. Most indi-
viduals learn thru trying this thing and then that. Here and there is an
individual who utilizes his knowledge of physics and figures out how his
movements should be made. But in even these cases there is considerable
of the "try this, try that" performance. Then again, most individuals
direct the movement very largely by the eye. But occasionally an indi-
vidual initiates each new movement in terms of the relationship of his
pencil to his little finger. If he desires to move toward his little finger
(determined thru vision) he then moves his forefinger and thumb
toward his little finger — the guidance being in terms of finger-move-
ments not in terms of vision. The eye is used in this case simply to
record the general direction desired and to guide the pencil between
the two red lines.
As practice continues the individual may steadily improve on the de-
tails of his procedure or he may from time to time try other methods.
In the latter case he may return to his first method or he may abandon
it entirely. There is no general rule to be laid down as to the course of
these changes. Each individual should, however, endeavor to ascertain
as accurately as he may just what changes did take place hi his own
case.
b. Differences in attitude toward the zvork. Ruger** calls attention
to three different general attitudes toward one's work. He calls them
{ i) the self-attentive attitude, (2) the suggestible attitude, and (3) the
problem attitude.
The self-attentii'e attitude is illustrated by him by this extract from
a man's account of how he solved a puzzle. "It seemed to me that if
anybody had given it to me without saying that it was a puzzle (a bona
fide one) I would have said it was impossible up to the last minute. I
have a feeling now of loss of esteem. I had this all along because I
couldn't do something which was made for people with ordinary brains
*«H. A. Ruger. The Psychology of Efficiency. 1910, pp. 36-39.
•CLASS-HOUR
IN CLASS
WRITE UP
READ
12
13
Discuss, 1 1
Elxperiment. 13
Lesson 13
Lesson 12
1
49
50 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS
to do. One conclusion that kept running through my mind all the
time was that I had a subordinate mind. I couldn't help having a glee-
ful, self-satisfied feeling when it actually seemed to be coming off, altho
it was a surprise."
Individuals possessed with this self-attentive attitude expressed them-
selves as being afraid that the experimenter was getting bored because
they were slow, or that he would think them extremely stupid, etc. The
principal thing, then, that occupied the minds of people with this atti-
tude was the concern as to their general fitness and as to what others
would think of them.
l^he suggestible attitude. Ruger says, "In two of the men there seemed
to be a special sensitiveness toward any movements of the operator
which might give an indication as to the course to be pursued. In such
cases as this there is a lack of confidence in the self but the attention is
directed not to the self but to some other person. The center of gravity,
if one may so describe it, of the responsibility is located elsewhere and
the suggestions, intentional or unintentional, of the other person or per-
sons concerned are accepted uncritically. This tendency was noted by
the writer in his own case in novel situations of a more distinctly social
type, such as business transactions of an unaccustomed sort, or other
similar cases where persons instead of things were to be dealt with and
where the other person was felt to have superior information as to the
matter in hand and the self to be deficient."
Probably all have experienced this attitude when attempting to do
something new while in the presence of others. This is particularly
true when those present are known to know more about the task than
one's self. Their presence bothers us ; very often we make mistakes
that we know we would not make if we had been alone. Here our at-
tention is directed even more toward those who are present than to
the work before us. And at such times we are especially susceptible
to any indications from these persons as to whether we are doing
well or poorly.
The Problem Attitude. "In contradistinction to these two attitudes,
which are certainly not favorable to efficiency," this third attitude is
essentially an attitude of self-confidence. "The self-confidence is not
one of sluggish complacency, however, but is expressed in a high level
of intellectual activity, of attention. Attention would be directed to the
thing to be done rather than to appraisal of the self."
In this particular experiment undoubtedly most subjects had some-
what of the self-attentive attitude, or the suggestible attitude, or both
to start with. And as practice continued the earlier attitude faded out
LF.SSON' T2 51
more and more and the problem attitude took its place. Occasionally a
subject displays only the problem attitude thruout the practice period.
And occasionally also a subject continues to show the self-attentive
attitude thruout. but this is rather rare. Usually there is a noticeable
change toward the adoption of the problem attitude.
Some of the factors that bring about this change in attitude are the
realization that one is improving, that one can do the task, that another
is doing it successfully, etc. But sometimes the latter factor reacts in
just the opposite way. Later on in this course, we shall return to this
subject of attitude towards one's work, and endeavor to discover the
causes of these attitudes and the ways in which the third attitude may be
substituted for the first two. In the meantime accumulate what infor-
mation you can on the subject, as it is undoubtedly one of the biggest
problems a real teacher has to face — the problem of making boys and
girls and men and women really self-confident about their work.
c. Differences in feeling. As we shall come to learn later on, feel-
ing is technically either pleasant or unpleasant. Besides these two
aspects of feeling there are the emotions of fear, hate, love, anger, etc.
It is not likely that a real emotion is aroused in this experiment, except
that of anger, and only then in the case of a few individuals.
During the first few trials the work did not go smoothly. One real-
ized that he took altogether too much time in doing the drawing and
that there were too many mistakes. Continued failure to accomplish
what is desired always is accompanied by an unpleasant feeling. If
this is continued too long anger will arise. But as the practice pro-
gressed, the work became easier, fewer mistakes were made, and the
whole drawing took less time. With each improvement there came
less and less of unpleasantness and more and more of pleasantness. So
after a time the original feeling of unpleasantness changed over to
pleasantness. Then one was really interested in the task.
As practice is continued, however, the improvement becomes less and
less (refer again to Plates I and III. The novelty of the task dis-
appears, and thoughts come to mind of more interesting or of more
valuable performances that one might be doing if it weren't for this re-
quired task. The inability to carry out these performances because
of the mirror-drawing may then bring again into consciousness unpleas-
ant feelings. Whether one does then change from a pleasant to an un-
pleasant feeling-attitude toward the task at the close of the experiment
will depend on the interplay of the pleasantness associated with the con-
tinued improvement versus the unpleasantness due to physical fatigur,
inability to do other things, etc.
52 IXTRODUCTORY I'SYCIIOLOGY FOR TEACHERS
Even if one does thus swing from unpleasantness to pleasantness, and
then back to unpleasantness again, one is very apt to discover that the
last two or three trials bring pleasantness again to mind. Especially
is tliis true of the last trial.
(Arc these changes in feeling typical of all learning? If so, to what
extent should a teacher pay attention to them as shown in his students ?
How might the second change from pleasantness to unpleasantness be
avoided? If these changes are not typical -^f all learning, how do they
differ here from other examples of learning?)
HOW DO CHANGES IN METHOD, ATTITUDE OR FEELING AFFECT THE
CHANGES IN SPEED AND ACCURACY?
It is pretty clear that the changes in speed and accuracy produce very
profound changes in method, attitude, and feeling. It is a fair question
to ask, on the other hand, if the latter changes affect speed and accuracy.
If they do not, it is immaterial whether the learner has a self-attentive
attitude or a problem attitude, whether he is in a pleasant or unpleasant
mood.
Changes in method do profoundly affect speed and accuracy. Even
such slight changes as from clutching the pencil as if life depended on it
to holding it naturally, result in less fatigue and consequently in
smoother lines and less unpleasantness. When careful notes are kept
it is often very easy to see that with a change in method there has come
decided changes in speed or accuracy. In fact from a study of the time-
curve and the accuracy-curve one may often be able to check up the
introspections (an introspection is technically an observation of one's
own mental processes) of the subject as to just when he commenced to
emphasize one of these elements more and the other less.
From our analysis of the three attitudes one may have toward his
work, it is clear that one is reacting in the first two cases not only to
the details of the mirror-drawing itself but to other details which have
nothing to do with the task in hand — details such as one's feelings, one's
estimate of himself, the movements of the experimenter, etc. As one
can only be affected by a certain number of details, the elimination of
these useless details may make it possible for another detail in the mir-
ror-drawing task to affect one. If this new detail is the one that must
be reacted to before further progress may be made, then the change
in attitude may bring about an improvement not otherwise possible.
This is just what we all have noticed many times. Worry, excitement,
thoughts of ourselves and others prevent the really important details
for the solution of our work from coming into play. The problem at-
titude represents then that attitude under which we are less affected
by unimportant details. The other two attitudes represent conditions
LESSON 12 53
of work when certain unimportant details are being reacted to and
necessarily other important attitudes are not being reacted to.
HOW AKE IMPROVEMENTS HIT UPON? WERE TllICY ( A ) ACCIDENT.^..
(b) partly understood, or (c) THOROUGHLY UNDERSTOOD^
Observations from different individuals vary greatly upon this sub-
ject. One individual may proceed very slowly and observe very care-
fully what is to be done and just what he is doing and slowly develop
the proper method for doing the experiment. In his case there will be a
noticeable number of "planned out" movements. Another individual
may make no "planned" movements at all, at least as far as he is able
to report the matter. All that such an individual is aware of is that he
kept trying first one way, then another in apparently a very aimless sort
of way and that as time went on he came to realize that he was doing
better and better. Moreover, from time to time he also came to realize
that he was doing this particular part of the work in this particular
sort of a way. For example, that when from the mirror it secmcfl
as tho he should move his hand away Irom his body he then moved hh
hand toward his body. But the significant part of this discovery lies in
the fact that he was already more or less successfully making this move-
ment toward his body when it looked as tho he should move the hand
away from him before he was conscious of the matter. That is, the
improvement was hit upon apparently accidentally and later it became
understood. (Later on in this course we shall come to see that the im-
provement was not hit upon accidentally, but was the true resultant of
what had gone before, but for the present we may think of it aj:
accidental.)
The types of learning illustrated by these two individuals appear at
first hand to be very different. The first individual plans out his work.
the second hits upon it "accidentally." In one sense they are very dif-
ferent. The former represents the highest type of human learning,
whereas the latter represents the lowest type — a type common to both
human beings and to animals. But when these two are carefully studied
we discover that they only differ in degree, not in kind. Altho it is
true that the first individual "planned" out some of his methods and
movements, yet he did not plan out all of them. Many of them, usually
the great majority of them, he first unconsciously learned how to do an^
then later discovered that he was doing them. We shall want to char-
acterize the learning of these two typical individuals by saying that the
second unconsciously learned nearly or entirely all that he did and
later became aware of part of what he was doing, whereas the first con-
sciously planned out a few of his movements before starting to do them
while learning the rest in the same way that the second individual ac-
quired his.
54 INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS
Learning to do a task similar to mirror-drawing is largely character-
ized by the unconscious development of movements which, after they
have become fairly well established, are likely to become consciously
noticed. Such learning has been called "trial and error" learning. The
expression is not a good one, but it has been widely used by writers
on this subject. The essential characteristic of this sort of learning is
that we do not Itave at hand a suitable movement (response) to the
situation. In terms of situation, bond and response, there is no bond
existing between the situation confronting the learner and the correct
response. For example, at point 3 on the star-blank one must proceed
towards 4 (situation). To do so one must make certain movements
(response.) In order to do so the situation and the response must be
connected by a bond. Such bonds cannot be formed voluntarily. The
only way open is to try one movement after another until the right
movement is hit upon. Every time an improper movement is tried it is
checked immediately since it leads the pencil in a wrong direction. On
the other hand, every time the correct movement is tried it is not