PSYCHOLOGY CLUB

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24422, 7 October 1940, Page 4

PSYCHOLOGY CLUB

At the Psychology Club's social evening on Thursday last the speaker was Dr S. Townend, who spoke on " Social Credit and Social Psychology.” Ultimately, he said, all psychology must be social, as all morality was conditioned by society, and he believed that in the implementation of the Social Credit proposals the psychologist would find the true and logical outlet for his energies if his study were to express itself in action. He then referred to the present state of the world, and was asked who was responsible for the diseased state of society—for such evils as war, debt and poverty. It was customary, he said, to believe that the fault always lay with someone else, but he maintained that the responsibility was their own. Palliatives and mere wishful thinking were utterly unable to bring about a better world, and until all faced very seriously their duties of citizenship, the will of the people, who unquestionably desired a saner world, could never prevail. The speaker dealt briefly with Social Credit. It stood for the supremacy of the individual, for a state in which man might enjoy his rightful heritage, which in a world of plenty was economic security and freedom." That this might be achieved, money —the vital link between production and consumption—must take its correct place in the economic system and become a reflection of the real wealth of the country. There was no claim that to correct the money system was to solve all the ills of society, but the speaker did claim that, if this basic problem were remedied, peace, prosperity and the cessation of piling up debt would be made possible. Dr Townend contended that the aims of the Social Creditor were related to those of the Social Psychologist. Dewey constantly emphasised the importance of right social relationships and the necessity for a desirable environment for the formation of good habits and morals, Dewev also stressed the futility of wishful thinking, and showed that results could be accomplished only by working on the existing institutions, not merely on the hearts of men. Finally, there was the injunction laid down by Dewey that we must strive to transmit to posterity unimpaired and with some increment of meaning the environment that makes it possible to live a decent and refined life. This, Dr Townend said, surely demanded that all must protest against the handing on of a burden of debt that would go on crippling the economic freedom of future generations He urged psychologists to face these problems with the solution of which the applications of their principles were so closely related The speaker, at the conclusion of his address, was accorded a vote of thanks.