PSYCHOLOGISTS LOOK AT THEMSELVES

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 95, 8 May 1937, Page 13

PSYCHOLOGISTS LOOK AT THEMSELVES

HARNESSING MOODS 1 Art of Self-Adjustment I I

"gCHOOLS OF PSYCHOLOGY have, in all probability, existed since -the time when man first beeame curious about the working Of his own mind. Certainly there are indications of their existence in all the ku own records of this curiosity," w rites 1'rofessor J. G. Flugel, of the "University of London, in c 1 Character and Personal- j ity." j With equal certainty we may asscrt," aMs Professor Flugel, "that future historians will regard the first third of the twentieth century as a period cliaraeterised by an immcnse proliferation of such schoofs. "Their presenee testifies to a very welcome activity on the paft of stuJents of hum&n and animal behaviour; at the same time, by their diversity of outlook, terminology and method, the^ darken counsel, produce a very natural distrust and bewilderment in the plain raan, and prevent psycliologists iliemselves from speaking with authority or combining in effiective collaboration ori •ilmost any subject wliatsoever, however niuqh tho cha'os of human affairs •ries out for assi'stance. ' "Of roeent years, however, there have at last been signS of a desire to brldge the chasms that separate these setiools, and it may well.be that a tendeney to synthesis and consolidation will be as chara'eteristic of the next few decades as stu'rdy pioneering individualism has been of those that are just past. " Such" efforts ■ at rapprochement have perhaps the most chances of success when the schools of thought in ques-

tion have at least some fundamental prineipals and interests in common, as in the caso of the psychologies associated with the names of McDougall and of Freud, both of whom have msisted on the purposive or striving cnaracter of all mental activity and both of whom have shown an interest in ihe social applications of psychology. "The fact that McDougall has devoted his latest volume (Psycho-Analy-sis and Social Psychology) to a detailed criticism of certain aspects of psy-cho-analysis may therefore bo lookeu upon as a sign of the times, a sign that psychologists are beginning to feel the need • of understanding one another— oven though, in so doing, they may manifcst some very .natural measuro of impatience, intolerance or lack of insiglit, wlien iaced with what sometimcs seem to them the absurd and prepostcrous doetrines of their opponc-uts. " "Everyone, if he will, can study fiuman nature in the concvete, and nse common sense and tact in his relations with other people. If he does this he is a psychologist, even if he has no idea what the word means. " — "W. C. B." in the Birmingham Post. "But we must begin with our-

aelves," adds the writer in tho Birmingham Post. "When we are overwrought and in danger of doing somcthing violent, there is nothing so holpful as dropping what we are doing (this is good advice equally for a woman on wash day and for a vicar preparing a sqrmon) and taking up something pleasant for a few minutes. The man who acquires the art of suddenly turning his thoughts into another channel has learnt one of the greatest lessons psychology can teach. "Humour is too much regarded just as cne of life's recreations; its valne in meeting difficulties is too little realised. As a fact, there is nothing so lielpful as humour in dealing with awkward and angry people; it not onjy calms them but wins them over when argument or rebuke provcs a failure or an aggravation. "Make them laugh and you can do anything with them. Even the man who greets you with a volley of violent language may finish up by getting to business if you let him go on till he is out of breath, and then say sympathetically and smilingly, 'I dare say you feel a great deal better for that.' It shows you understand human nature,

and can look at things from hils point of view. "The man who knows a little psychology never tries to persuade anybody to do anything. He uses the method of suggestion, but displays no desire to get his (suggestion taken up. He just gets an idea into the other man 's mind and leaves it to do its own work. The reward of patience is that suggestion beeomes auto-sugges-tion and the man does what he is wanted to do but under the impression that the whole thing originated with himself. " 'Do it now.' The secret of success lies in doing things not at any given 'Now,' but at the right 'Now,' neither sooner nor later. Choose the right monient and — do nothing to-day that you can do better to-morrow. " 'Moods are expenslve luxuries,' says an inscription in tbe eloister of Ohester Cathedral, but though they may prove costly they can be harnes&od with good effect and the right kind of mood can often be created, by judicious selftreatment, for every kind of task. The important thing is always to feel at one's best. Before an interview on which much depends, it is not unwise to have a good meal and put on best clothes. Being on good terms with oneself is half the seeret of getting on good torms with other people. "Life is the fullilling of relationship and calls for pereptual adjustment. The man who, by learning the art cf self-adjustment is master of the situation, is a true psychologist, even if he cannot tspell the word."