The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-07-15
LAWS OF ASSOCIATION,
Or. LindIey Continues the Lecture of the
First Day Given b. Dr. Sanford

DR.. e. H. Lindley of Indiana Univer-
sity spoke on Association" continue
ing the subject begun by DR.. Sanford
Thursday. He said in part: The prob
lem of psychology has always been to
give some scientific account of the phe-
nomena of mental life, to determine
the laws of department of the mind;
to discover as far as possible the bodily
condition of the mental states. The out
look for solution of the relation be-
tween mind and body is hopeful.
In mental activity the brain increases
in size. Prof. Mosso made experiments
on a subject who had lost part of the
skull, and found that the brain ex-
banded during the process of thinking.
The influence of certain diseases has
been Illuminated. A man shot above the
temple could not speak, but could hear,
read and write.
All this carries us but little way.
The changes which go on in the nerve
cells we must get at first The old
method to get at these physical con-
ditions is that of self-examination. You
cannot know any mind but your own.
A great help in the study of this
science in this century has been by ex-
pertinent Until experiment came. the
movements of the joints and muscles
was known as muscle sensation. It was
found that the skin and muscle had no
power of decision, but that the Joint
was the point where the power lies
Our physical and mental conditions
change and this makes introspection
almost valueless. There have been some
so radical as to say that the old psy-
GEOLOGY was purely interpretive, and
that the new had brushed away the
old and dispensed with introspection.
This is a fallacy, for the new holds the
interpretive heritage of the old. Intro
spection is merely served by the ex-
periments. Almost every experiment in
psychology can be performed with the
simplest of instruments.
Our trains of thought are not chains,
but strands, not like beads strung on a
cord, but like rope, the strands inter-
woven. Besides the external causes
that bring about changes in the
thought, there are internal causes,
blood supply, etc. Man isn't aware of
his internal organs when in health, be-
cause the sensations are always the
same. When two or more ideas have
been in the mind at the same time or
in immediate sequence, they return in
the same order.
The divergence of association is one
of the greatest wealths we have. If
one idea did not call up different ideas
at different times, thinking would be
as treadmil sort of existence.
Children do not have this sort of as
ISOLATION at first. The primitive man
does not have this divergence, but a
man of learning is turned by a hair
| trigger. The strongest association is
between ideas that are Immediately
continuous Trains Of ideas are rarely
total. We are able to forget some
| things Attention Is governed by the
law of interest. The uninteresting
things tend to drop away.
Congruity determines association. If
You are in state of elation all the
thoughts Of pleasure will have play.
Temperament, which is mood drawn
out, affects association. This emotional
background is what drives us.
There is first. association by contigu-
| ity, and this is purely accidental. You
can think of two things at one mo-
ment, though they may be as far apart
as possible at the time. The second