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portunity to feed his greed, the quarrelsome child to express his ill-nature, the wild youth to sow his wild oats-all with the hope and expectation that the impulses leading to these reactions would soon weaken and the undesirable behavior cease. In accordance with this theory we are told by . . . the psychoanalysts, that all thwarted desires and tendencies of childhood sink into the "sub-conscious," there to remain hidden, but still to torment their possessor by seeking expression; even if only in our dreams. The implication of this theory is that desires should in some way be satisfied as they arise.

The difficulty with this theory is that we are far from having proved that an instinctive tendency is weakened by giving it expression. True, a coveted line of action, once it is entered upon, may prove a disappointment, and curiosity and interest in it fall away so that the acts themselves are dropped. But if the responses prove satisfying, and if no punishment follows from them, the tendency is to perpetuate them and so build them into habit and character.

Although we should hesitate to say that any one of these methods has no place in education, we are probably justified in reaching some such conclusion as this: Punishment is a necessary feature in the modification of instincts, but should be used as a last resort only and then come as near as possible to being the natural result of this act. Catharsis is a dangerous theory and should be adopted only with extreme caution and most stringent reservations. In the modifying of instinctive tendencies, chief dependence should be placed on change of response, sublimation, change of stimuli, and counter-attractions.

27. The Dynamic Power of Instincts.

[MCDOUGALL, William, Introduction_to_ Social Psychology, pp. 20, 45– 46. Boston, John W. Luce Co., 1923.]

The human mind has certain innate or inherited tendencies which are the essential springs or motive powers of all thought and action, whether individual or collective, and are the basis from which the character and will of individuals and nations are gradually developed under the guidance of the intellectual faculties. These primary innate tendencies have different relative strengths in the native constitutions of the individuals of different races, and they are favored or checked in very different degrees by the very different social circumstances of men in different stages of culture; but they are probably common to the men of every race and of every age.

We may say, then, that directly or indirectly the instincts are the prime movers of all human activity; by the conative or impul

sive force of some instinct (or some habit derived from an instinct), every train of thought, however cold and passionless it may seem, is borne along toward its end, and every bodily activity is initiated or sustained. The instinctive impulses determine the ends of all activities and supply the driving power by which all mental activities are sustained; and all the complex intellectual apparatus of the most highly developed mind is but a means towards these ends, is but the instrument by which these impulses seek their satisfactions, while pleasure and pain do but serve to guide them in their choice of means.

Take away these instinctive dispositions with their powerful impulses, and the organism would become incapable of activity of any kind; it would lie inert and motionless like a wonderful clockwork whose mainspring has been removed or a steam engine whose fires have been drawn. These impulses are the mental forces that maintain and shape all the life of individuals and societies, and in them we are confronted with the central mystery of life and mind and will.

28. The Dynamic Power of Instincts

[THORNDIKE, E. L., Educational Psychology, Briefer Course, p. 3. New York, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1914.]

It is a first principle of education to utilize any individual's original nature as a means of changing him for the better,to produce in him the information, habits, powers, interests, and ideals which are desirable. . . . The behavior of man in the family, in business, in the state, in religion, and in every other affair of life is rooted in his unlearned, original equipment of instincts and capacities. All schemes of improving life must take account of man's original nature, most of all when their aim is to reverse or counteract it.

29. Woodworth's View Regarding Acquired and Native Abilities as Drives

[WOODWORTH, R. S., Dynamic Psychology, pp. 201, 202, 204. Columbia University Press, 1918.]

Woodworth and McDougall disagree as regards the extent to which "native instinct" originates mental and bodily activities.

The fact is that the infant is responsive to a great variety of stimuli, and that he is "driven" very largely by the stimuli

that reach him from outside. . . . It is true, as a general proposition, that as the individual grows up, his actions are more and more controlled by inner drives rather than by the immediately present stimuli. . . .

The truth is, having native capacity for performing certain acts and dealing with certain classes of material, we are interested in performing these acts and handling this material; and that once these activities are aroused, they furnish their own drive. This applies to abilities developed through training as well as to strictly native capacities. Almost anything may be made play and furnish its own motive. . . (p. 202).

Many drives combine to produce social activity. The fear motive drives men together in times of insecurity; the pugnacity motive hands them together for group combat; the economic motive brings industrial coöperation and organization; the selfassertive and submissive tendencies bring emulation as well as obedience; the expansion of the self to cover one's family, one's clique, one's class; one's country contributes to loyalty; while the parental instinct, expanding its scope to cover others besides children who are helpless, leads to self-sacrifice and altruism (p. 204).

30. Significance of Instincts in Education

[DEWEY, John, My Pedagogic Creed, Articles i, ii. Chicago, A. Flanagan Co.]

I believe that this educational process has two sides—one psychological and one sociological; and that neither can be subordinated to the other or neglected without evil results following. Of these two sides, the psychological is the basis. The child's own instincts and powers furnish the material and give the starting point for all education. Save as the efforts of the educator connect with some activity which the child is carrying on of his own initiative independent of the educator, education becomes reduced to a pressure from without. It may, indeed, give certain external results, but cannot truly be called educative. Without insight into the psychological structure and activities of the individual, the educative process will, therefore, be haphazard and arbitrary.

I believe that knowledge of social conditions, of the present state of civilization is necessary in order properly to interpret the child's powers. The child has his own instincts and tendencies, but we do not know what these mean until we can translate

them into their social equivalents. We must be able to carry them back into a social past and see them as the inheritance of previous race activities. We must also be able to project

them into the future to see what their outcome and end will be. In the illustration just used, it is the ability to see in the child's babblings the promise and potency of a future social intercourse and conversation which enables one to deal in the proper way with that instinct.

I believe that the psychological and social sides are organically related, and that education cannot be regarded as a compromise between the two, or a superimposition of one upon the other. . . . The only possible adjustment which we can give to the child under existing conditions is that which arises through putting him in complete possession of all his powers. It is impossible to prepare the child for any precise set of conditions. To prepare him for the future life means to give him command of himself; it means so to train him that he will have the full and ready use of all his capacities, that his eye and ear and hand may be tools ready to command, that his judgment may be capable of grasping the conditions under which it has to work, and the executive forces be trained to act economically and efficiently. It is impossible to reach this sort of adjustment save as constant regard is had to the individual's own powers, tastes, and interests-save, that is, as education is continually converted into psychological terms.

In sum, I believe that the individual who is to be educated is a social individual, and that society is an organic union of individuals. . . . Education, therefore, must begin with a psychological insight into the child's capacities, interests, and habits. It must be controlled at every point by reference to these same considerations. These powers, interests, and habits must be continually interpreted-we must know what they mean. They must be translated into terms of their social equivalents-into terms of what they are capable of in the way of social service.

Human Behavior, p. 149.
Reprinted by permission.]

31. Must All Education Begin with Instinct? [COLVIN, Stephen S., and BAGLEY, W. C. Copyright, 1913, by the Macmillan Co. But education must always start with instinct, and-however far above the primitive plane it may carry the individual. -it must rest in the last analysis upon instinctive tendencies.

32. The Use of Instinctive Interests as Drives [GESELL, Arnold, The Normal Child and Primary Education, p, 308. Boston, Ginn & Co., 1912.]

It is time to have a reckoning, to realize before it is too late the futility of pushing nature. There are certain basic instincts implanted in childhood which wedge their way through obstacles to the accomplishment of their purpose. The little child comes running to school pushed by curiosity, energized by feeling, tingling with response to sensation and reveling in images of past experiences but the teacher discards these sharp edged tools which make early workmanship easy and substitutes dull drills.

33. Instinctive Readiness

[JAMES, William, Psychology, Briefer Course, pp. 404-405. New York, Henry Holt & Co., 1915.]

In all pedagogy the great thing is to strike the iron while. hot, and to seize the wave of the pupil's interest in each successive subject before its ebb has come, so that knowledge may be got and a habit of skill acquired-a headway of interest, in short, secured, on which afterward the individual may float. There is a happy moment for fixing skill in drawing, for making boys collectors in natural history, and presently dissectors and botanists; then for initiating them into the harmonies of mechanics and the wonders of physical and chemical law. Later, introspective psychology and the metaphysical and religious mysteries take their turn; and, last of all, the drama of human affairs and worldly wisdom in the widest sense of the term. . . To detect the moment of instinctive readiness for the subject is, then, the first duty of every educator.

34. Is War Due to Human Nature?

[RUSSELL, Bertrand, "If We Are to Prevent the Next War," Century Magazine, May, 1924, Vol. 108, pp. 4, 7.]

It has been alleged by some students that war is due to human nature. As man appeared to be endowed with instincts, especially the fighting and self-assertive tendencies, it was reasoned that fighting wars was a natural form of behavior and probably beneficial for mankind. Bertrand

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