n are many bearing on economy
and efficiency of mental work. This value of psychology, it will be
seen, is practical without being professional--except in so far as all
educated men can be said to adopt the profession of mental engineer.
Much more emphasis than has been customary might well be laid on this
side of the subject in elementary courses.

=Content of the introductory course in psychology=

The content of the first course in psychology is just now undergoing a
certain amount of revision. Traditionally the aim has been, not so
much, as in most other subjects, to initiate the student into a range
of facts lying outside his previous experience, as to bring definitely
to his attention facts lying within the experience of all, and to
cause him to classify these so as to refer any given mental process to
the class or classes where it belongs. This calls for definition, the
making of distinctions, the analysis of complex facts, the use of a
technical vocabulary, and in general for much more precision of
statement than the student has been used to employ in speaking of such
matters. Some laws of mental action, verifiable within ordinary
experience, are also brought to light in such a course, and some
account of the neural mechanisms of mental life is usually included;
but its chief accomplishment is in leading the student to attend to
mental processes and gain a point of view that may remain his future
possession.

With the great expansion of psychological knowledge in recent decades,
due to research by experimental and other empirical methods, it has
become possible to give a course more informational in character and
going quite beyond the range of the student's previous experience; and
this new material is finding its way into elementary texts and
courses. Many of the results of research are not at all beyond the
comprehension of the beginner; indeed, they are often more tangible
than the distinctions and analyses that give the stamp to the
traditional course. These empirical results also have the advantage,
in many cases, of throwing light on the practical problems of mental
health and efficiency; and some inclusion of such material is
desirable if only to fit the needs of the considerable number of
students who cannot become interested in a course of the traditional
sort. Practice in this matter is at present quite variable, some
teachers basing the introductory course as far as possible on the
results of exp