they are all
potentialities with the birth of the child--and continue to develop in
turn, certain ones being more pronounced in the various stages of the
child's life. Colvin in his _The Learning Process_, runs through the
complete list of possibilities. According to him man, in a lifetime, is
characterized by the following tendencies: Fear, anger, sympathy,
affection, play, imitation, curiosity, acquisitiveness,
constructiveness, self-assertion (leadership), self-abasement, rivalry,
envy, jealousy, pugnacity, clannishness, the hunting and predatory
instincts, the migratory instinct, love of adventure and the unknown,
superstition, the sex instincts, which express themselves in sex-love,
vanity, coquetry, modesty; and, closely allied with these, the love of
nature and of solitude, and the aesthetic, the religious, and the moral
emotions.

Sisson, in a little book that every teacher ought to know, _The
Essentials of Character_, emphasizes the importance for teaching of ten
tendencies: bodily activity, sense-hunger and curiosity, suggestibility,
tastes and aesthetic appreciation, self-assertion, love, joy, fear, the
growing-up impulse, the love of approbation.

As already indicated, the teacher should give attention to these
tendencies that he may the better know how to proceed. If he knows that
the one great outstanding impulse of a boy of seven is to do something,
he perhaps will be less likely to plan an hour's recitation on the
theory that for that hour the boy is to do nothing. If he knows that one
of the greatest tendencies of boys from ten to fourteen is to organize
"gangs" for social and "political" purposes, he will very likely
capitalize on this idea in building up a good strong class spirit.

Knowing that children naturally respond to certain stimuli in very
definite ways, the teacher can better set about to furnish the right
stimuli--he can be in a better position to _direct and control
behavior_.

* * * * *

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS--CHAPTER VII

1. What significance attaches to the statement, "Children are born
'going'"?

2. Why is it of vital importance that teachers give attention to the
native tendencies in children?

3. What constitutes instinctive action? Illustrate.

4. Name the instincts that are essentially individualistic. Those that
are essentially social.

5. What native tendencies are of most concern to teachers?

6. Discuss the relative significance