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AN INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY

BY

WILHELM WUNDT

PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF LEIPSIC

TRANSLATED FROM THE SECOND GERMAN EDITION

BY

RUDOLF PINTNER, M. A. (Edin.), Ph. D., (Leipsic)

Publication of the
"Pädagogische Literatur Gesellschaft Neue Bahnen"

LONDON: GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN, LTD.
RUSKIN HOUSE, 40 MUSEUM ST. W. C. I.

Published 1912—Reprint 1920

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

It is not the intention of this introduction to psychology to discussthe scientific or philosophical conceptions of psychology, or evento make a survey of the investigations and their results. What thislittle book attempts is rather to introduce the reader to the principalthoughts underlying present-day experimental psychology, leaving outmany facts and methods which would be necessary for a thorough studyof the subject. To omit all mention of experimental methods and theirresults is at the present day impossible. Yet we only need to considera comparatively small number of results of the first importance inorder to comprehend the basal principles of the new psychology. Tocharacterise the methods of this psychology it would be impossible toomit all reference to experiments, but we can and will omit referenceto the more or less complicated instruments on which the carrying outof such experiments depends. I must refer the reader who wishes afuller account of the new psychology to my Outlines of Psychology,which also contains the necessary bibliography of the subject.

W. WUNDT.

LEIPSIC, June 1911.

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE

The present volume is a popular introduction to the Wundtianpsychology. It is a shorter and simpler sketch than the same author'sOutlines of Psychology, and it should prove invaluable to theEnglish-speaking student who wishes to gain some conception of thesubject before entering upon a deeper study of the same. Its popularityin Germany has been phenomenal.

In translating the work the translator has, as far as possible, usedthe same English terms as those employed in the translations of Wundtby Judd and Titchener.

He is greatly indebted to Mr. Robert Wilson, M.A., B.Sc., for hisadvice and help in reading over the manuscript before going to press.

RUDOLF PINTNER.

EDINBURGH, May 1912.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

CONSCIOUSNESS AND ATTENTION

Psychology as a description of processes ofconsciousness—The metronome—The rhythmicaldisposition of consciousness—The scope ofconsciousness—The threshold of consciousness—Thefixation-point and field of consciousness—The focusof attention—The scope of attention—Apprehension

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