ow many times the one is contained in the other, on
the other hand, focuses his attention more strongly upon them; since the
end to be reached will awaken his curiosity and set an interesting
problem.

=Non-voluntary Attention in Education.=--On account of the ease with
which attention seems to centre itself upon its object in non-voluntary
attention, it is sometimes erroneously claimed that this is the type of
attention to be aimed at in the educative process, especially with young
children. Such a view is, however, a fallacious one, and results from a
false notion of the real character of both non-voluntary and voluntary
attention. In a clear example of non-voluntary attention, the mind
dwells upon the ideas merely on account of their inherent
attractiveness, and passes from one idea to its associated idea without
any purposeful end in view. This at once shows its ineffectiveness as a
process of learning. When the young lover's thoughts revert in a
non-voluntary way to the fair one, he perhaps passes into a state of
mere reminiscence, or at best of idle fancy. Even the student whose
thoughts run on in a purposeless manner over his favourite subject, will
merely revive old associations, or at best make a chance discovery of
some new knowledge. In the same way, the child who delights in musical
sounds may be satisfied to drum the piano by the hour, but this is
likely to give little real advance, unless definite problems are set up
and their attainment striven for in a purposeful way.

=Voluntary Attention and Interest.=--A corollary of the fallacy
mentioned above is the assumption that voluntary attention necessarily
implies some conflict with the mind's present desire or interest. It is
sometimes said, for instance, that in voluntary attention, we compel our
mind to attend, while our interest would naturally direct our attention
elsewhere. But without a desire to effect some change in or through the
problem being attended to, the mind would not voluntarily make it an
object of attention. The misconception as to the relation of voluntary
attention to interest is seen in an illustration often given as an
example of non-voluntary attention. It is said, rightly enough, that if
a child is reading an interesting story, and is just at the point where
the plot is about to unravel itself, there will be difficulty in
diverting his attention to other matters. This, it is claimed, furnishes
a good example of the power of non-volu