The Mind and Its Education | Page 2

mental
efficiency. 3. How we attend: Attention a relating activity--The
rhythms of attention. 4. Points of failure in attention: Lack of
concentration--Mental wandering. 5. Types of attention: The three
types of attention--Interest and nonvoluntary attention--The will and
voluntary attention--Not really different kinds of attention--Making
different kinds of attention reënforce each other--The habit of
attention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
CHAPTER III
THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM

1. The relations of mind and brain: Interaction of mind and brain--The
brain as the mind's machine. 2. The mind's dependence on the external
world: The mind at birth--The work of the senses. 3. Structural
elements of the nervous system: The neurone--Neurone
fibers--Neuroglia--Complexity of the brain--"Gray" and "white" matter.
4. Gross structure of the nervous system: Divisions of the nervous
system--The central system--The cerebellum--The cerebrum--The
cortex--The spinal cord. 5. Localization of function in the nervous
system: Division of labor--Division of labor in the cortex. 6. Forms of
sensory stimuli: The end-organs and their response to
stimuli--Dependence of the mind on the senses . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
CHAPTER IV
MENTAL DEVELOPMENT AND MOTOR TRAINING
1. Factors determining the efficiency of the nervous system:
Development and nutrition--Undeveloped cells--Development of nerve
fibers. 2. Development of nervous system through use: Importance of
stimulus and response--Effect of sensory stimuli--Necessity for motor
activity--Development of the association centers--The factors involved
in a simple action. 3. Education and the training of the nervous system:
Education to supply opportunities for stimulus and response--Order of
development in the nervous system. 4. Importance of health and vigor
of the nervous system: The influence of fatigue--The effects of
worry--The factors in good nutrition. 5. Problems for introspection and
observation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
CHAPTER V
HABIT
1. The nature of habit: The physical basis of habit--All living tissue
plastic--Habit a modification of brain tissue--We must form habits. 2.
The place of habit in the economy of our lives: Habit increases skill
and efficiency--Habit saves effort and fatigue--Habit economizes moral
effort--The habit of attention--Habit enables us to meet the

disagreeable--Habit the foundation of personality--Habit saves worry
and rebellion. 3. The tyranny of habit: Even good habits need to be
modified--The tendency of "ruts." 4. Habit-forming a part of education:
Youth the time for habit-forming--The habit of achievement. 5. Rules
for habit-forming: James's three maxims for habit-forming--The
preponderance of good habits over bad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
66
CHAPTER VI
SENSATION
1. How we come to know the external world: Knowledge through the
senses--The unity of sensory experience--The sensory processes to be
explained--The qualities of objects exist in the mind--The three sets of
factors. 2. The nature of sensation: Sensation gives us our world of
qualities--The attributes of sensation. 3. Sensory qualities and their
end-organs: Sight--Hearing--Taste--Smell--Various sensations from the
skin--The kinæsthetic senses--The organic senses. 4. Problems in
observation and retrospection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
CHAPTER VII
PERCEPTION
1. The function of perception: Need of knowing the material
world--The problem which confronts the child. 2. The nature of
perception: How a percept is formed--The percept involves all relations
of the object--The content of the percept--The accuracy of percepts
depends on experience--Not definitions, but first-hand contact. 3. The
perception of space: The perceiving of distance--The perceiving of
direction. 4. The perception of time: Nature of the time sense--No
perception of empty time. 5. The training of perception: Perception
needs to be trained--School training in perception. 6. Problems in
observation and introspection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
CHAPTER VIII

MENTAL IMAGES AND IDEAS
1. The part played by past experience: Present thinking depends on past
experience--The present interpreted by the past--The future also
depends on the past--Rank determined by ability to utilize past
experience. 2. How past experience is conserved: Past experience
conserved in both mental and physical terms--The image and the
idea--All our past experience potentially at our command. 3. Individual
differences in imagery: Images to be viewed by introspection--The
varied imagery suggested by one's dining table--Power of imagery
varies in different people--Imagery types. 4. The function of images:
Images supply material for imagination and memory--Imagery in the
thought processes--The use of imagery in literature--Points where
images are of greatest service. 5. The cultivation of