Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 67.djvu/487



HE purpose of the present study is to set forth the range of certain common and normal types of thought and conduct that reach expression without the usual and attentive guidance of consciousness. Such subconscious direction of what we think and say and do plays a constant part in the ordinary, and occasionally in the extraordinary, operations of our mental machinery. So long as the operations are successful in purpose, there is little occasion for bringing to the light of our own awareness the process by which the result is accomplished. This is, indeed, the normal emphasis of nature, which places a premium upon the issue, but is relatively indifferent as to the means, giving its sanction of survival to such processes as effectively and economically lead to the desired end. It thus comes about that a variety of procedures may be developed for a common purpose. Owing to the similarity of human needs and endowment, there arise familiar types of mental habits, which become established without definite awareness of their nature or of the manner of their use. It is a peculiar type of straying of the process from the intended path that directs attention to it and makes one aware of a momentary lapse in the relation of issue and