The mind at work : a handbook of applied psychology / edited by Geoffrey Rhodes.

Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The mind at work : a handbook of applied psychology / edited by Geoffrey Rhodes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    14/252 (page 2)
    The greater part of our mental life is necessarily made up of impressions of the outside world that reach us by means of our senses. The eyes and ears and other receptive organs are constantly telegraphing messages to the brain along the nerve fibres. It is one of the chief functions of the mind to interpret these messages, and they eventually, in some mysterious fashion, pass into the region of our consciousness. These primary sensations of a physical origin supply the science of psychology with a convenient starting-point for its investigation, and the study of sensation forms a link between the science of the body and the science of the mind. Peculiarities of Sensation.—Before discussing the senses, such as sight, hearing, touch, etc., in detail, we have to consider certain general laws that apply to all of them. We shall find that unless forewarned there is great danger of one being seriously misled by the knowledge we get by means of our senses. We shall prove this by experiments in later chapters, but one or two simple illustrations may be given here. We all know that the same object at different distances from the eyes seems to be of a different size, and I have often heard a small child, looking out of the window of a railway carriage, exclaim “ Look at that tiny house!” or “ Aren’t the cows small!” Experience teaches the adult that the actual size