Short talks on psychology
From the preface:
The progress of psychology has been so marked that we might be said to be living in the psychological age. Psychology is now being applied in office and factory, in army-camp and college ante-room, in literature and journalism. As a result of this mental activity, people generally have become curious to know what psychology is like, and how it may be applied personally by those who are desirous of becoming acquainted with their own inner lives.
The Short Talks on Psychology, which have seen the light of day in various newspapers, are intended to aid the general reader and general thinker in coming to an understanding with himself. Almost everybody has the wistful desire to go behind the returns of concrete experience; almost all of us would like to know why we think as we do, why our friends act as they do.
It is the calculated purpose of this book to make the reader feel what Socrates felt — the impressiveness of the Delphic oracle: Know thyself! to which the individualistic injunction might be added, "Know thy neighbour as well as thyself." The recent war has given an exhibition of what man is and can do when aroused, for mankind has done and felt the impossible. Yet mankind is always a mystery to himself so that psychology is a study that is both desirable and imperative. If these Short Talks enable anyone to get at the mystery of conscious life as shown by that one person they will not be in vain.
There is no lack of formal textbooks on the subject of psychology, or is there any want of near- psychological studies of a "psychic" character. The present work seeks to get at consciousness, not from the standpoints of either science or spiritualism, but from the angle of Life.
Some contents:
I What is Psychology? 1
II The Psychology of Charm .... 3
III Psychology and the Pay Envelope . 5
IV The Secret of Selling 7
V The Raw Material of Mind .... 9
VI What Type of Mind Have You? . .11
VII Making Your Temperament to Order . 13
VIII The Passing of Fear 15
IX The Psychology of the Agitator . . 17
X Psychology and Citizenship ... 19
XI Short Cuts and Short Circuits . . 21
XII Pleasure is Power 23
XIII The Psychology of Work .... 25
XIV Psychology and Play 27
XV More Than Five Senses 29
XVI Plodders and Dreamers 31
XVII Have You a Fallen Arch? .... 33
XVIII A Sneeze 35
XIX The Hang-Dog Look 37
XX Are You Rim Fire? 39
XXI False Windows in the Brain ... 41
XXII The Muzzle Velocity of Mind ... 43
XXIII Are You Getting Dog Eared? ... 45
XXIV Skull Practice 47
XXV Laughing Before Breakfast ... 49
XXVI Conscripting Your Own Brain Cells. 51
XXVII The Other Man's Mind 53
XXVIII Where Delay is Dangerous .... 55
XXIX The Power of Attention .... 57
XXX Your Will Works All the Time. 59
XXXI Why We Welcome Obstacles ... 61
XXXII The Terra Firma of Facts .... 63
XXXIII Why Do You Laugh? 65
XXXIV Where Common Sense Ends .... 67
XXXV Psychological Moments .... 69
XXXV Psychological Moments .... 69
XXXVI Food for Thought 71
XXXVII Have You a Judicial Mind? .... 73
XXXVIII Feeling Your Way 75
XXXIX What is the Horse-Power of the Will? 77
XL Habits Good and Bad 79
XLI States of Mind 81
XLII Energy or Bluster? 83
XLIII How We Become Partisan .... 85
XLIV The Long and Short of Memory . . 87
XLV The Pin Cushion Brain 89
XLVI Psychological Substitutes for Alcohol 91
XLVII Emotional Reaction Upon Life ... 93
XLVIII Practical Hypnotism 95
XLIX How Sensations Affect Feelings . . 97
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