Page:American Journal of Psychology Volume 21.djvu/609



The following report appears in advance of a more exhaustive introspective analysis of the "complex," begun by Miss E. T. Burr and the present writer in the Psychological Laboratory of Cornell University during the Summer Session of 1910. This study is to be continued during the present year. The experiments were conducted by Miss Burr; and the author, whose introspections are here reported, was one of the four principal observers. The material consisted of pairs of pictures or stories, presented to the observer at the beginning of the hour so that he could choose the one member of the pair without the experimenter's knowing which had been selected. The reaction-time was taken by a stopwatch, registering fifths of seconds. After every association the observer gave a detailed description of his state of mind and its contents, from the "ready-signal" until he had given his association word. He was also asked to adhere as closely as possible to the temporal sequence of his experiences, and to notice in particular the background processes.

The introspections of G seem to be significant for three special points, (1) They indicate the general frame of mind during an association-reaction experiment. (2) They show that some of the mental processes occurring in G's reactions are entirely indifferent to the presence or absence of a "complex." And (3) they furnish a clue to the nature and symptoms of certain kinds of "complexes."

The ideational type of G is predominantly verbal-motor. He is so largely dependent upon his general bodily attitude that he is not in the right mood toward the experiment, that is, in the attitude of passive, impartial indifference, until he has assumed the exact position in the chair which he happened to take at the beginning of the hour. His mental attitude at the moment of the "ready-signal" was as a rule one of calm, expectant attention, and indifference to extraneous stimuli; in the background was a vague sense of being "on guard." No further details of this state can as yet be given. Most of the insignificant stimulus-words made no material change in this state. The focus of attention shifted quickly