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Quote by William James

“It is astonishing how many mental operations we can explain when we have once grasped the principles of association”

Quote by William James

Book:Talks to Teachers on Psychology and to Students on Some of Life's Ideals

Work

Talks to Teachers on Psychology and to Students on Some of Life's Ideals

This book compiles lectures that delve into psychological principles and explore fundamental life values, intended for both teachers and students to enhance their understanding and application of these concepts in their respective roles. more

Author

William James, born on January 11, 1842, and died on August 26, 1910, was an influential American philosopher, psychologist, and writer. He is considered one of the founders of functionalism in psychology and has had a profound impact on the fields of psychology, philosophy, and religion. more

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“The entire routine of our memorized acquisitions, for example, is a consequence of nothing but the Law of Contiguity. The words of a poem, the formulas of trigonometry, the facts of history, the properties of material things, are all known to us as definite systems or groups of objects which cohere in an order fixed by innumerable iterations, and of which any one part reminds us of the others.”

Philosophy Facts Law Order Literature Known Groups Objects Materials Consequence Property Educational Fixed Routine Formulas Definite Acquisition Material Things Trigonometry

Author:William James

“Any object not interesting in itself may become interesting through becoming associated with an object in which an interest already exists. The two associated objects grow, as it were, together; the interesting portion sheds its quality over the whole; and thus things not interesting in their own right borrow an interest which becomes as real and as strong as that of any natively interesting thing.”

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Book:Talks to Teachers on Psychology: And to Students on Some of Life's Ideals

Source: Talks to Teachers on Psychology: And to Students on Some of Life's Ideals

“An idea will infect another with its own emotional interest when they have become both associated together into any sort of a mental total.”

Ideas Philosophy Together Literature Interest Emotional Educational

Book:Talks to Teachers on Psychology: And to Students on Some of Life's Ideals

Source: Talks to Teachers on Psychology: And to Students on Some of Life's Ideals

“The most natively interesting object to a man is his own personal self and its fortunes. We accordingly see that the moment a thing becomes connected with the fortunes of the self, it forthwith becomes an interesting thing.”

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Book:Talks to Teachers on Psychology: And to Students on Some of Life's Ideals

Source: Talks to Teachers on Psychology: And to Students on Some of Life's Ideals

“From all these facts there emerges a very simple abstract program for the teacher to follow in keeping the attention of the child: Begin with the line of his native interests, and offer him objects that have some immediate connection with these.”

Children Philosophy Facts Literature Interest Lines Simple Attention Teacher Objects Offers Program Connections Educational Abstract Native Immediate Connection

Book:Talks to Teachers on Psychology: And to Students on Some of Life's Ideals

Source: Talks to Teachers on Psychology: And to Students on Some of Life's Ideals

“The difference between an interesting and a tedious teacher consists in little more than the inventiveness by which the one is able to mediate these associations and connections, and in the dullness in discovering such transitions which the other shows.”

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Author:William James

“If, then, you wish to insure the interest of your pupils, there is only one way to do it; and that is to make certain that they have something in their minds to attend with, when you begin to talk. That something can consist in nothing but a previous lot of ideas already interesting in themselves, and of such a nature that the incoming novel objects which you present can dovetail into them and form with them some kind of a logically associated or systematic whole.”

Source: Talks to Teachers on Psychology: And to Students on Some of Life's Ideals

“All that we need explicitly to note is that, the more the passive attention is relied on, by keeping the material interesting; and the less the kind of attention requiring effort is appealed to; the more smoothly and pleasantly the classroom work goes on.”

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Book:Talks to Teachers on Psychology and to Students on Some of Life's Ideals

Source: Talks to Teachers on Psychology and to Students on Some of Life's Ideals

“But when all is said and done, the fact remains that some teachers have a naturally inspiring presence and can make their exercises interesting, whilst others simply cannot. And psychology and general pedagogy here confess their failure, and hand things over to the deeper spring of human personality to conduct the task.”

Source: Talks to Teachers on Psychology and to Students on Some of Life's Ideals

“If the topic be highly abstract, show its nature by concrete examples. If it be unfamiliar, trace some point of analogy in it with the known. If it be inhuman, make it figure as part of a story. If it be difficult, couple its acquisition with some prospect of personal gain. Above all things, make sure that it shall run through certain inner changes, since no unvarying object can possibly hold the mental field for long.”