PSYCHOLOGY CLASS.

Shannon News, 11 July 1922, Page 3

PSYCHOLOGY CLASS.

OUR INNER CONFLICTS. At the meeting of the local W.E.A. class, which was held last Monday evening, the . lecturer,.. Mr Ernest Mander, said that he woind devote the evening to consolidating the advance already- made, instead of pressing on into fresh fields. The greater part of the lecture was thgrefore in the nature of a revision of what had been said before. "The whole system of modern psychology," said the lecturer, "is based upon our recognition of the nature and importance of Instinct. An instinct is an inherited tendency of the body to behave in a certain way in given circumstanaces—that is, when a given stimulus is "applied to it. A habit is similar to an instinct, except that instead of being inherited in its acquired during the lifetime of the individual and, unlike an instinct, it cannot be transmitted as an inborn tendency to the next generation. The three most important classes of instinct are: (1) Those concerned with self-preservation, the general impulse to live; (2) those' relating to sex, the general impulses of mating and mothering; and (3) the instinct of self- j assertion, the impulse to gain the attention and good opinion of other people." Mr Mander then referred to the importance of avoiding in psychology the loose and careless use of the word "I." At a previous meeting some member of the class had spoken as though it were possible for there to be a conflict between "himself" and "an instinct." "JBpt," said the lecturer, "the conflict is not between you and one of your instincts—to express it like that is to show that you have not grasped, the basic idea of modern psychology. The conflict is between one part of you and another part, between one impulse in you and another impulse in you. We may use the word I in psychology only when we may use the word Nation in politics. Let us take the analogy between the inner life of man and the inner life of the State. If you 6Sy that Great Britain is in favour of the Irish Treaty, you really mean that in Great Britain one party is hi favour of the Treaty and another party is opposed to it, but the party which is in favour is dominant at the moment. If a country is faced with a warcrisis there will be a war-'party and a peace-party in that country. Then if you say that the "country" has decided for war, that only means that the war-party has gained the upperhand; while if the "country" decides for peace, that means that the peaceparty has proved the stronger. So it is with our inner lives. There are three main parties in us, the three primary instincts; and there are al6o some smaller parties, our minor instincts and acquired habits. When any particular issue is raised, these parties range themselves on one side or the other; and the side which has the "majority" triumphs. This is what we really mean when we say that a man "decides" to do a certain thing." The lecturer then proceeded to discuss the difference between stable and unstable characters. The formerstill using the same figure of speechis like a parliament in which one side has a big permanent majority. The man in whom, one instinct is much stronger than the others is the one who follows a settled and consistent line of conduct. But when the parties (the instincts) are so I nearly balanced that first one and then another gains the Upperhand,

then we say that the person is erratic, unstable, weak-willed. "The will,"; said the lecturer, "is like the parliamentary majority: the bigger the ma-! jority, the stronger the will to behave in a certain way." After giving several more illustra-; tions of this principle, Mr Mander summed up the conclusions reached at the last three meetings of the class. "We have seen that the stronger party, and stronger instinct, gets its own way and results in action. The weaker, defeated instinct may then do any one of three things: (1) It may keep on fighting, hoping (as it were)

to win in the end; and as long as it does this the man will be 'divided against himself,' the conflict will continue, and he will be conscious of this lack of inner peace within him. (2) Or the frustrated instinct may turn aside and accept some other object, some substitute for the one first desired. Thus a man who is prevented from mating with one woman whom he desires, may turn his at-1 tention to another instead. Thus a j woman with no children of her own to 'mother' may satisfy her mothering impulse with other people's children, or with pets. (3) The third course for the defeated instinct is 'to give it up' in real life and then to find such indirect satisfaction as it can in the realm of make-believe, in day-dreaming, in reading novels, or in the kinema. The class meet* again on Wednesday night in the Council Chamber.