FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97  
98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   >>   >|  
ne's own movements. As in the case of all other signs given to the horse, these movements were so slight that they were prone to escape notice even though one's whole attention were concentrated upon their detection. I also questioned whether in my attempts to disturb the horse by means of loud calls, it were really the call or some simultaneous involuntary movement which was the true cause of the interruption. The doubt was justified, for when I finally learned to cry out vehemently without making the slightest move, all my crying was in vain. Also it had seemed to me at first as if I were able to induce the horse to rear, not only by means of the proper sign or movement, but also by a mere command, but I found later that in every case there was always some movement, were it ever so slight. Finally I tried to simulate voluntarily the oft-mentioned involuntary jerks of the head. Although it is not very difficult to execute them at will with almost the same minuteness as when they were performed involuntarily, I still did not succeed in getting a series of such jerks of equal fineness throughout. In spite of (and partly on account of) the most concentrated attention, there would be from time to time a jerk of somewhat greater extent and energy. As soon as the movement had been executed, I was able to form a good judgment as to its relative extent, but I was unable to regulate the impulse beforehand. With the following comment the chapter will be concluded. Introspections are necessarily subjective in character. If they are to possess general validity, they must be borne out by evidence furnished by others--and this to a greater extent than is necessary for other forms of observation. It was hardly possible to get corroboration from the other persons who had worked with Hans, for, although some of them were excellent observers of external natural phenomena, few of them had had the necessary amount of practice in introspection. The necessary confirmation, however, was had in laboratory tests, which we shall presently describe. CHAPTER IV LABORATORY TESTS The tests which are to be briefly reported here, were begun in November, 1904, and were carried out at the Psychological Institute of the University of Berlin. The purpose was twofold: first, to discover whether the expressive movements noted in Mr. von Osten, Mr. Schillings, and others, were to be regarded as typical and to be found in the majority of ind
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97  
98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
movement
 

extent

 

movements

 

involuntary

 

slight

 
greater
 
attention
 

concentrated

 
evidence
 

furnished


observation

 

concluded

 
unable
 

regulate

 
impulse
 

relative

 
executed
 
judgment
 

possess

 

general


validity

 

character

 

subjective

 

comment

 

chapter

 

Introspections

 

necessarily

 

introspection

 

Psychological

 

carried


Institute

 
University
 

Berlin

 

November

 

briefly

 
reported
 

purpose

 
twofold
 

regarded

 
typical

majority
 

Schillings

 
discover
 
expressive
 

LABORATORY

 

external

 
observers
 

natural

 
phenomena
 

excellent