15. Building Interest

[WOODWORTH, R. S., Dynamic Psychology, pp. 77, 102, 202. New York, Columbia University, 1918.]

We act as we have learned to act, see what we have learned to see, are interested in what we have learned to be interested in, enjoy what we have learned to enjoy, and dislike what or whom we have learned to dislike . . . p. 77).

...

It is a general principle of human activity that we are interested in overcoming difficulties and interested, on the other hand, in what we can do successfully-in a word, we are interested in successfully overcoming difficulties. The difficulty may lie on the side of motor execution of an act or on the side of perceiving and grasping a state of affairs, or on both sides at once. Action that is too easy because all the difficulties have been smoothed away or already subjugated by well-formed habits. is automatic rather than interesting, and action that meets with unsurmountable obstacles is distinctly annoying; but action that encounters resistance but overcomes it without resorting to the last ounce of effort is distinctly interesting . . . (p. 102).

To sum up almost any object, almost any act, and particularly almost any process or change in objects that can be directed by one's own activity towards some definite end, is interesting on its own account, and furnishes its own drive, once it is fairly initiated. To be interesting, the process must present some difficulty and yet some prospect of a successful issue. The truth is, that, 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).

16. Interest in Meeting Difficulties

[PAULSEN, Friedrich, A System of Ethics, p. 260. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1899.]

If we could have a life devoid of struggle, a trial of it would soon cause us to regret our choice, and make us long for our old life with all its troubles and sorrows and pains and fears, A life absolutely free from pain and fear would, so long as we are what we are, soon becomes insipid and intolerable. For if the causes of pain were eliminated, life would be devoid of

all danger, conflict, and failure exertion and struggle, the love of adventure, the longing for battle, the triumph of victoryall would be gone. Life would be pure satisfaction without obstacles, success without resistance. We should grow as tired of all this as we do of a game which we know we are going to win. What chess player would be willing to play with an opponent whom he knows he will beat? What hunter would enjoy a chase in which he had a chance to shoot at every step he took, and every shot was bound to hit? Uncertainty, difficulty, and failure are as necessary in a game, if it is to interest and satisfy us, as good luck and victory.

17. When Interest Is Proper

[DEWEY, John, Interest and Effort, pp. 41-43. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1913.]

Interest is normal and reliance upon it educationally legitimate in the degree in which the activity in question involves growth or development. Interest is illegitimately used in the degree in which it is either a symptom or a cause of arrested development in an activity.

When interest is objected to as merely amusement or fooling or a temporary excitation (or when in educational practice it does mean simply such things), it will be found that the interest in question is something which attaches merely to a momentary activity apart from its place in an enduring activity -an activity that develops through a period of time. When this happens, the object that arouses (what is called) interest is esteemed just on the basis of the momentary reaction it calls out, the immediate pleasure it excites. "Interest" so created is abnormal, for it is a sign of the dissipation of energy; it is a symptom that life is being cut up into a series of disconnected reactions, each one of which is esteemed by itself apart from what it does in carrying forward (or developing) a consecutive activity. As we have already seen, it is one thing to make, say, number interesting by merely attaching to it other things that happen to call out a pleasurable reaction; it is a radically different sort of thing to make it interesting by introducing it so that it functions as a genuine means of carrying on a more inclusive activity.

18. Interests in Arithmetic

[THORNDIKE, E. L., he New Methods in Arithmetic, p. 25. Chicago, Rand McNally & Co., 1921.]

Besides the interests in arithmetic as a game where you use your mind, win results, and show your strength and skill, there are many others to which appeal may be made. Other things being equal, work will be more interesting to children in proportion as there is physical action, variety, sociability, a chance to win, a practical gain, a connection with something or somebody that one cares for, and, most of all, perhaps, a significance for some aim or purpose that is a ruling factor in one's life at the time.

19. Motives

[WOODWORTH, R. S., Psychology, pp. 84-85. New York, Henry Holt Co., 1921.]

In the present chapter, desirous of "keeping close to the ground," we have said little of distinctively human motives. That will come later. In general, a motive is a tendency towards a certain end-result or end-reaction, a tendency which is itself aroused by some stimulus, and which persists for a time because its end-reaction is not at once made. The end-reaction is not made at once because it can only be aroused by an appropriate stimulus, acting in conjunction with the motive. But the motive, persisting in its inner activity, facilitates reaction to certain stimuli and inhibits others. The reactions it facilitates are preparatory to the end-reaction, in that they provide the necessary conditions for that reaction to occur, which means that they bring to bear on the individual the necessary stimulus which can arouse the end-reaction. The restlessness that characterizes an individual driven by an inner motive gives way to rest and satisfaction when the end-result is reached.

Motives range from the primitive or primal, like hunger, to the very advanced, such as zeal for a cause. They range from the momentary, illustrated by the need for more light in reading, to the great permanent forces of life, like amour propre and esprit de corps. But the permanent motives are not always active; they sleep and are awakened again by appropriate stimuli. In everyday speech we are apt to use the words "motive" and "reason" interchangeably, as in asking some one what his "motive," or what his "reason" is for doing so and so. A motive, however, is not necessarily, a reason, nor a reason a

motive. A reason is thought-out and conscious, which a motive need not be. On the other hand, a reason does not become a motive unless it takes hold of us and arouses a genuine tendency towards the planned result. You may prove to me, logically, the desirability of a course of action, but your reasons do not necessarily make me desire it. You can give a child excellent reasons for studying his lesson, but you have to stir some real motive of child life in order to get action. In the highest type of conduct, to be of use, motive and reason pull together, reason showing the way to the goal at which motive is aimed.

20. Motives: Classification and Principles

[BENNETT, H. E., School Efficiency, pp. 250-253; 262-263. Boston, Ginn & Co., 1917.]

The classification of motives given by Bennett may not be the kind that some of the psychologists would make. It is, however, a very workable scheme.

All activity is but a discharge of energy. . . . Every activity of a pupil, good or bad, is fundamentally a discharge of energy. The child is primarily a dynamo, a mechanism for bringing forces to school and releasing them. He comes supplied with all the motive power necessary to make the school work go.

Motives . are impulses incessantly impelling the child to activity they are forces having no moral character in themselves but capable of limitless good or bad, according as they are directed in harmony with or in antagonism to the interests of society. All motives are subjective, internal, and natural. The motives . . . with which the school has to deal are all the instinctive tendencies of childhood with all their variations and modifications acquired through experience. They diverge, converge, overlap, and intermingle endlessly. In truth, they are not different forces but different aspects or manifestations of the same infinitely complex driving force, of vital energy—of life. The child that is "full of life" is full of motives and full of activity. No classification of these aspects of life energy, of these impulses, can be final or correct to the exclusion of any other. Any inherited tendency which can be discovered with sufficient distinctness to be named is an instinct. Similarly, any attitude, habit, interest, or other acquired tendency which is effective for directing or arousing conduct of any sort may be regarded as an impulse or motive, and any listing of such tendencies which serves a useful purpose is legitimate.

CLASSIFICATION

Individualistic or Self-Seeking Tendencies

1. Virility-aspiration to "be a man," to be big or superior; and its counterpart, femininity-to be attractive, admired, and womanly; self-esteem

2. Obedience or submission to guidance and protection, changing, especially at adolescence, to self-reliance and independence

3. Self-assertion, combativeness, insistence on "rights"

4. Greed, acquisitiveness, ownership

5. Pride, envy, and jealousy

6. Partiality for one's own, as one's parents, family, friends, and possessions

All these are more or less modified by and are even dependent on the following:

Social or Group-Serving Tendencies

1. Fear of disapproval of others

2. Desire for the approval of others, especially of one's peers 3. Coöperative impulse, seeking mutual welfare

4. Spirit of service, complete unselfishness

Tendencies Which Motivate School Work Directly

1. Love of mental activity; of sensory experiences, imagery, of rational and emotional processes of every kind.

(a) Interest in any situation which appeals to one as a problem of significance; curiosity, experimentation, puzzle-solving (b) Interest in the new, unusual, vivid, striking

(c) Interest in human beings-their doings, history, customs, emotions and in personified things

(d) Tendency to organize ideas, form concepts, classify, systematize

(e) Love of emotional excitement, whether occasion be joyous, exalting, sad, horrible

2. Love of physical activity

(a) Play, dramatization, impersonations, etc.

(b) Constructiveness, love of achievement, attainment, accomplishment, overcoming difficulties

(c) Restlessness, organic need for much bodily movement, physical energy, vigor

3. (a) Tendency to imitate certain observed or suggested movements, expressions, thought processes, and emotional attitudes

(b) Tendency to repeat acts and experiences which are agree

able