How to Use Your Mind | Page 3

Tissue --Impressibility, Conductivity,
Modifiability. Pathways Used in Study--Sensory, Motor, Association. Study is a Process
of Making Pathways in Brain.
IV. FORMATION OF STUDY-HABITS
Definition of Habit. Examples. Inevitableness of Habits in Brain and Nervous System.
How to Insure Useful Habits--Choose What Shall Enter; Choose Mode of Entrance;
Choose Mode of Egress; Go Slowly at First; Observe Four Maxims. Advantages and
Disadvantages of Habit. Ethical Consequences.
V. ACTIVE IMAGINATION
Nature of the Image. Its Use in Imagination. Necessity for Number, Variety, Sharpness.
Source of "Imaginative" Productions. Method of Developing Active Imaginative Powers:
Cultivate Images in Great Number, Variety, Sharpness; Actively Combine the Elements
of Past Experience.
VI. FIRST AIDS TO MEMORY--IMPRESSION
Four Phases. Conditions of Impression: Care, Clearness, Choice of Favorable Sense
Avenue, Repetition, Overlearning, Primacy, Distribution of Repetitions, (Inferences
Bearing Upon Theme-writing), "Whole" vs. "Part" Method, "Rote" vs. "logical" Method,
Intention.
VII. SECOND AIDS TO MEMORY--RETENTION, RECALL AND RECOGNITION
Retention. Recall. Recall Contrasted With Impression. Practise Recall in Impression.
Recognition. Advantages of Review. Memory Works According to Law. Possibility of
Improvement. Connection With Other Mental Processes.
VIII. CONCENTRATION OF ATTENTION
Importance in Mental Life. Analysis of Concrete Attentive State. Cross-section of Mental
Stream. Focal Object, Clear; Marginal Objects, Dim. Fluctuation. Ease of Concentration
Requires (1) Removal of All Marginal Distractions Possible, (2) Ignoring Others.
Conditions Favorable for Concentration. Relation to Other Mental Processes.
IX. HOW WE REASON

Reasoning Contrasted with Simpler Mental Operations. Illustrated by Method of
Studying Geometry. Analysis of Reasoning Act: Recognition of Problem, Efforts to
Solve It, Solution. Study in Problems. Requirements for Effective Reasoning: Many Ideas,
Accessible, Clear. How to Clarify Ideas: Define, Classify. Relation Between Habit and
Reasoning. Summary.
X. EXPRESSION AS AN AID IN STUDY
Expression an Inevitable Accompaniment of Nervous Activity. Extent of Expressive
Movements. Relation Between Ideas and Expressive Acts. Ethical Considerations.
Methods of Expression Chiefly Used in Study: Speech, Writing, Drawing. Effects of
Expression: (1) On Brain, (2) On Ideas. Hints on Development of Freedom of
Expression.
XI. HOW TO BECOME INTERESTED IN A SUBJECT
Nature of Interest. Intellectual Interests Gained Through Experience. Many Possible
Fields of Interest. Laws of Interest.
XII. THE PLATEAU OF DESPOND
Measurement of Mental Progress. Analysis of the "Learning Curve." Irregularity. Rapid
Progress at Beginning. The Plateau. Causes. Remedies.
XIII. MENTAL SECOND-WIND
Description: (1) Physical, (2) Mental. Hidden Sources of Energy. Retarding Effect of
Fatigue. Analysis of Fatigue. How to Reduce Fatigue in Study.
XIV. EXAMINATIONS
Purposes. Continuous Effort and Cramming. Effective Methods of Reviewing. Immediate
Preparation for an Examination Conduct in Examination-room. Attitude of Activity.
Attitude of Confidence.
XV. BODILY CONDITIONS FOB EFFECTIVE STUDY
FOOD: Quantity, Quality, Surroundings. SLEEP: Amount, Conditions, Avoidance of
Insomnia. EXERCISE: Regularity, Emphasis.
SUGGESTIONS FOB FURTHER READING
INDEX

HOW TO USE YOUR MIND

CHAPTER I
INTELLECTUAL PROBLEMS OF THE COLLEGE FRESHMAN
In entering upon a college course you are taking a step that may completely revolutionize
your life. You are facing new situations vastly different from any you have previously
met. They are also of great variety, such as finding a place to eat and sleep, regulating
your own finances, inaugurating a new social life, forming new friendships, and
developing in body and mind. The problems connected with mental development will
engage your chief attention. You are now going to use your mind more actively than ever
before and should survey some of the intellectual difficulties before plunging into the
fight.
Perhaps the first difficulty you will encounter is the substitution of the lecture for the
class recitation to which you were accustomed in high school. This substitution requires
that you develop a new technic of learning, for the mental processes involved in an oral
recitation are different from those used in listening to a lecture. The lecture system
implies that the lecturer has a fund of knowledge about a certain field and has organized
this knowledge in a form that is not duplicated in the literature of the subject. The manner
of presentation, then, is unique and is the only means of securing the knowledge in just
that form. As soon as the words have left the mouth of the lecturer they cease to be
accessible to you. Such conditions require a unique mental attitude and unique mental
habits. You will be obliged, in the first place, to maintain sustained attention over long
periods of time. The situation is not like that in reading, in which a temporary lapse of
attention may be remedied by turning back and rereading. In listening to a lecture, you
are obliged to catch the words "on the fly." Accordingly you must develop new habits of
paying attention. You will also need to develop a new technic for memorizing, especially
for memorizing things heard. As a partial aid in this, and also for purposes of organizing
material received in lectures, you will need to develop ability