Applied Psychology for Nurses | Page 3

chemistry, biology have all in their day been merely
speculative. They were bodies of theory which might prove true or
might not. When they worked, by actually being tried out, they became
bodies of accepted facts, and are today called sciences. In the same way
the laws of the working of the mind have been tested, and a body of
assured facts about it has taken its place with other sciences.
It must be admitted that no psychologist is willing to stop with the
known and proved, but, when he has presented that, dips into the
fascinations of the yet unknown, and works with promising theory,
which tomorrow may prove to be science also. But we will first find

what they have verified, and make that the safe foundation for our own
understanding of ourselves and others.
What do we mean by "mental life"?--or, we might say, the science of
the life of the mind. And what is mind?
But let us start our quest by asking first what reasons we have for being
sure mind exists. We find the proof of it in consciousness, although we
shall learn later that the activities of the mind may at times be
unconscious. So where consciousness is, we know there is mind; but
where consciousness is not, we must find whether it has been, and is
only temporarily withdrawn, before we say "Mind is not here." And
consciousness we might call awareness, or our personal recognition of
being--awareness of me, and thee, and it. So we recognize mind by its
evidences of awareness, i. e., by the body's reaction to stimuli; and we
find mind at the very dawn of animal life.
Consciousness is evidenced in the protozoön, the simplest form in
which animal life is known to exist, by what we call its response to
stimuli. The protozoön has a limited power of self-movement, and will
accept or reject certain environments. But while we see that mind
expresses itself in consciousness as vague, as dubious as that of the
protozoön, we find it also as clear, as definite, as far reaching as that of
the statesman, the chemist, the philosopher. Hence, the "phenomena of
mental life" embrace the entire realms of feeling, knowing, willing--not
of man alone, but of all creatures.
In our study, however, we shall limit ourselves to the psychology of the
human mind, since that concerns us vitally as nurses. Animal
psychology, race psychology, comparative psychology are not within
the realm of our practical needs in hospital life. We would know the
workings of man's mind in disease and health. What are the instinctive
responses to fear, as shown by babies and children and primitive races?
What are the normal expressions of joy, of anger, or desire? What
external conditions call forth these evidences? What are the acquired
responses to the things which originally caused fear, or joy, or anger?
How do grown-ups differ in their reactions to the same stimuli? Why
do they differ? Why does one man walk firmly, with stern, set face, to

meet danger? Why does another quake and run? Why does a third man
approach it with a swagger, face it with a confident, reckless smile of
defiance?
All these are legitimate questions for the psychologist. He will
approach the study of man's mind by finding how his body acts--that is,
by watching the phenomena of mental life--under various conditions;
then he will seek for the "why" of the action. For we can only conclude
what is in the mind of another by interpreting his expression of his
thinking and feeling. We cannot see within his mind. But experience
with ourselves and others has taught us that certain attitudes of body,
certain shades of countenance, certain gestures, tones of voice,
spontaneous or willed actions, represent anger or joy, impatience or
irritability, stern control or poise of mind. We realize that the average
man has learned to conceal his mental reactions from the casual
observer at will. But if we see him at an unguarded moment, we can
very often get a fair idea of his mental attitude. Through these outward
expressions we are able to judge to some extent of the phenomena of
his mental life. But let us list them from our own minds as they occur to
us this work-a-day moment, then, later on, find what elements go to
make up the present consciousness.
As I turn my thoughts inward at this instant I am aware of these mental
impressions passing in review:
You nurses for whom I am writing.
The hospitals you represent.
What you already know or do not know along these lines.
A child calling on the street some distance away.
A brilliant sunshine bringing out the sheen of the green grass.
The unmelodious call of a flicker in the