The Control Of The Mind (1927) by Robert H. Thouless PDF book
Robert H. Thouless’s The Control of the Mind (1927) is a classic handbook of applied psychology aimed at the “ordinary man.” It explores how individuals can train, discipline, and improve their mental life through techniques like habit‑formation, auto‑suggestion, concentration, and emotional regulation.
Overview of the Book
- Author: Robert H. Thouless (1894–1984), British psychologist and parapsychologist.
- First Published: 1927 (later editions in 1929 and reprints in modern facsimiles).
- Purpose: To provide practical methods for self‑control, mental efficiency, and psychological well‑being without requiring advanced academic training.
Key Themes & Chapters
- Systems of Mental Development — Survey of approaches to mental training and their goals.
- Auto‑Suggestion — Uses and limitations of influencing thought through repeated suggestion.
- Habit Formation — How habits can be created or broken.
- Emotions — Methods for controlling anger, fear, and other emotions.
- Instincts and Sublimation — Redirecting instinctual drives into constructive outlets.
- Concentration — Exercises for focus and attention.
- Fatigue and Rest — Understanding mental exhaustion and recovery.
- Memory — How we remember and techniques to improve recall.
- Dreaming and Reality — Distinguishing imagination from lived experience.
- Inferiority Complex — How feelings of inadequacy can be overcome.
- Mental Efficiency and Religion — The role of belief and spirituality in psychological health.
From his introduction:
For the purpose of this book, I propose to take a very simple one—mental efficiency. Our minds are instruments with which we must work.
We must be able to think accurately, to remember what is important and to forget what is trivial, to feel such emotions as will lead us to useful activities and to shut out those which are merely painful or useless; we must be able to sleep calmly at night as well as to think clearly by day; we must be able to judge correctly on disputed questions without being influenced by our prejudices or by unreasoning emotions, and we must have those dis¬ positions of character which will lead us to conduct good in itself and serviceable to other people.
Perhaps I may be asked why I have chosen to take mental efficiency and not happiness as the goal to be aimed at in our mental development. Happiness may, at first sight, seem to be the obvious thing to pursue, but the wisdom of the past and the present unite in telling us that happiness is a quarry too elusive to be captured by direct pursuit.