The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-02-05
Liberal Viewpoint
by DIR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

What Makes Us seem So Queer?" by
David Seabury (Whittesey House,. MAX
ing Our Minds Behave" by william S
Walsh (E p Dutton & Co., IncO Social
Judgment" by Graham Wallas (Harcourt,
Brace & Coz.
DAvID sEABURY has established for himself
- wide and well justified reputation as one
Of the foremost popular psychologists in the
United States. He is such in the best sense
of term, namely, that of a man who is both we'll
grounded in technical psychology and believes
that such information is essential to solve the
practical problems of everyday life for a large
number of confused and misdirected human
beings .
Mr.. Seabury's latest volume is one of his most
complete and helpful He traces here in great
thoroughness the conflicts and difficulties which
arise from the clash of our inherited standards
and patterns of conduct with the natural and
normal impulses Of human beings. He has no
hesitation in poking holes in the arrogance of
the self righteous, as the following paragraph
will make clear:
while we seldom judge conduct by intention
we yet measure it constantly by patterns and
platitudes He who breaks our sanctions and
disregards our stereotypes we automatically con-
denim. His own customs and conventions may so
fortify his conscience that he survives our dis
pleasure, but that does not keep him from feeling
misunderstood
|
| Merode, or Cromwell eloped with Nell Gwynn
their contrasting moral values might well have
barred continued intimacy. Yet Cleo was prob
ably more pure of heart than Anthony, and
divers boyhood with its selfish Ibertinism
leaves Nell gentle angel in comparison.
n HE censorious, of course, never understand
l. anything, while delinquents are often de-
! lightfully sympathetic. Some day courtesans
4 hnc0nnp
where wives may learn wisdom. Equally, many
a stiff necked husband could study technique
from Casanova. supposed SANITY man or
| good woman is seldom agreeable company. AS
for marrying such creature or expecting I'M
derstanding from him, the very thought should
! freeze the blood
DR.. Walsh gives less evidence of professional
psychological knowledge and his book is quite
as much moralistic as psychological. But it will
prove helpful and stimulating to the general
reader and enable many persons to face situa-
/ tons with more intelligence and complacency.
AS an example of the authors popular but sane
/ judgments, we may cite the following judicious
advice:
"If we are praised, rise high in business, or
| achieve success in other fields, does it lead us
to stand on tiptoes so that all shall see us, SO
that we shall seem to be bigger than we really
are; to keep shaking hands with ourselves,
throwing flowers in our paths; to become boast
full arrogant, frigid toward old friends, to lose
what Kpling calls the common touch?
IF So we are in for rude awakening one
of these days. a severe jolting; our balloon will
burst or be bursted with none but ourselves to
shed a tear or voice a single regret. For it is
not alone by the way man takes his losses that
he is judged, rated, awarded the palm of good
fellowship, but also by the way he takes his
winnings"
IF there is any such thing sane, detached
L and well-informed wisdom, Graham Wallas
was one of it's foremost exen1plifcations in the
last generation. He attempted to distill this
wisdom from a wide range OF knowledge, 1nclud-
ing the classics, English politics, and modern
psychology This posthumous volume is his
final brief for the role of wisdom IN human
society.
If he has no sympathy with the mystical re-
act1onaries he likewise repudiates those who
would divorce laboratory science from any posi-
BILE guidance of public policy:
"It is easy to sympathize with the rage with
which young American psychologists react
against the edifying psychological general1za-
tons which characterized the nineteenth CEN
fury sociological courses in American unlver-
sites and their insistence upon evidence for
every psychological statement.
But psychologists and their students will
have to use judgment both as thinkers and as
voters in the saving of society outside the lab
oratory' from its present dangers. harshly
empirical psychology may mean psychology
which deliberately neglects some of the most
important elements in its own problems.
Mankind has still much to learn, more per-
haps than we now imagine, from the patient
observation of scientists and the obstinate ques-
tioning of metaphysicians. But it is not too
soon for us in our new world of mechanical
civilization to take up once more the old