PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY.

Shannon News, 30 May 1922, Page 3

PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY.

W.E.A. CLASSES BEGIN IN SHANNON In an opening address to the W.E.A. class, at Shannon last night, Mr Ernest Mander, the new lecturer for this district, said that during the last 10 or 12 years some truly astounding discoveries have been made with regard to the deeper motives and the hidden workings of the mind of -man. Probably this new science, this new Psychology, is one of the most important of all the sciences in its practical bearing upon the future of civilisation. "The proper study of mankind Is man," says Pope; and this is the study of human nature itself. A knowledge of psychology helps us to account for all the differences between men, in their thoughts, in their feelings, in their actions, it helps us to estimate the real characters and the real motives of those around us. It helps us to understand all the conflicting interests and desires of man, and to see why one desire finally proves stronger than the rest. It shows how the repression of our natural instincts may result in saintliness, genius, neurasthenia oi lunacy. It shows how apparently unimportant incidents in childhood may have the most far-reaching effects in after-life. It explains why one man is a Socialist and another man an upholder of the present system; why one believes in religion while another is agnostic; why one joins the army on the) outbreak of war while another becomes a conscientious objector; why one person laughs at a Charlie Chaplin film while another is merely boded by it; why one woman is selfreliant and "managing," while another is dependent and "clinging"; why one person is never happy unless busy, while another is given to day-dreaming. The new theories of psychology are especially important in their bearing upon education, and every school teacher should have a good grasp of them. They have important bearings, too, upon many social and political questions marriage and divorce, peace and war, competition and cooperation, electioneering methods, the .effects of unemployment, and so forth. The business man finds a knowledge of psychology of value to him in his business—in advertising, for example. To the politician and propagandist of evfery kind it offers many useful hints. Indeed, to everyone who wants to understand the minds and characters, the thoughts and/ motives of other people, a knowledge of psychology is a very considerable asset. Few people realise how greatly they are influenced by their primary instincts. Few people realise how largely their "rational" ideas are determined by self-interest —and self-in-terest, of course, means simply the satisfaction of those primary instincts. Most of life for most of us still consists of getting things, in avoiding harm, and in sex. The ‘‘getting" instinct was originally directed to the hunting of food, thought to-day it may be diverted to the getting of money, the getting of knowledge—or even to the collecting of postage stamps. The "safety and comfort” instincts prompt us to hide or flee from danger, to eat .wheh hungry, and to preserve; ourselves from harm. The sex instinct, the mating arid maternal instincts, besides fulfilling their primary purpose, may find expression to-day through many other channels. But every human activity can be traced back to its source in one or other of these primary instincts—for getting things, avoiding harm, and mating.

As the world becomes safer and safer, the call upon the two last of these instincts grows less and less. The nervous energy which is generated in connection with them thus becomes available for other purposes. In this way we develop culture and civilisation —out of the surplus energy which is no longer required for the bare preservation of life. In this way we raise our lives from a lower to a higher plane.

A class to study Practical Psychology is now being formed in Shannon. The tfrst lecture will be given at the Council Chamber next Monday at 7.30; and all who are interested in the subject are invited to attend and join the class. ,