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Psychology and Social Sanity Hugo Munsterberg 9781357510985 Books

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Psychology and Social Sanity Hugo Munsterberg 9781357510985 Books

Published in 1914, the reader would be greatly served with a sense of what was occurring during the time of this works inception. Culturally, the largest items which affect the tone of the work are to include: women’s rights - especially suffrage and the feminist movement, the push towards prohibition, the great advent of psychotherapy, the burgeoning interest in sociology, culture, legal psychology and industrial psychology, not to mention the frauds, quacks and persistent deceptions which occur within the burgeoning fields.

Munsterberg covers a wide range of topics adamantly, and is the first to point out the inflammation some of his ideas have caused, but while he might not appear entirely right, there still seems at least a shade of truth if not whole nuggets of fantastic observations and aphorisms, and possibly a lesson in each of his topics. He was, after all, a professor of psychology at Harvard when these works were published.

Munsterberg, a psychologist and brilliant man in his own right (Ph.D. at 22 years old, President of the American Psychological Association in 1898, Harvard professor from 1892 until his death in 1916) had a wide variety of interests and wrote upon a wide variety of topics, many of which are seen here to a more or less superficial degree (they are expounded upon in much of his earlier work). The reason he may be so often pushed to the background is that he was frequently found to be a German sympathizer during the First World War (he was a native German and accused of being a spy), and as he says - ‘The ideas are the really decisive agencies. Only for ideas have men been ready to die, and for ideas have they killed one another.’ (986)

I propose this, however, feminists beware: he isn’t all that kind to women.

Topics include:
1. Sex Education.
2. Socialism.
3. The Intellectual Underworld.
4. Thought Transference.
5. The Mind of The Juryman.
6. Efficiency on the Farm.
7. Social Sins in Advertising.
8. The Mind of The Investor.
9. Society and The Dance.
10. Naïve Psychology.

SPOILERS:

Sex Education: The short version of the longest segment of this work is that Munsterberg feels that society and culture would be best served if the educational institution, sex educators, parents and popular cinema and stage were to remain silent about human sexuality. Munsterberg feels that once the curiosity is piqued young, inexperienced boys and girls are impelled to practice their new-found knowledge, and this also leads to the cultivation of disease in said society. Munsterberg posits of this new knowledge, that ‘Far from enforcing a less sensuous life, this only teaches them to avoid the social opprobrium by going skillfully to work.’ (203)

Also taken up in this section of the work is that of ‘white slavery’ – or young women whom are detained by men and forced to do their bidding against their will. Munsterberg, in review of Vice reports and other data finds that most women are lured into the business of prostitution because they long for a more ‘glamorous’ life, one in which money is the key motive, a quick buck or a more interesting lifestyle, with movies, stage shows and a great hurrah! Yet, Munsterberg finds that the best stage from which to teach, is in fact, the stage (plays, cinema) with silence as the policy, but because it doesn’t portray this, the sexual discussion is open and our democratic society is left to discuss it amongst themselves.

This section concludes with the reasons why silence no longer works and why there needed to be a moral descent into the vastness of immorality, and Munsterberg alludes to German literature as exemplifying the depravity currently seen in the American culture as ‘the most abstruse perversions, the ugliest degenerations of sexual sinfulness, have become the favorite topics’ (521)

In closing Munsterberg speaks of virtue and discipline in conjunction to an inhibition of the will and an adherence to higher values as the recipe for any success – not the horrors of skin lesions and venereal disease, the darkly painted picture of a life led without the human race in mind. He finds we must hold ourselves higher than simple animals for ‘shame upon him who wants to educate youth toward the view that man as an animal is the true man!’ (631)

Socialism: The aim of socialism is ‘economic development and human happiness.’ (744). Focusing, predominantly upon the latter, Munsterberg posits the notion that human happiness is a relative thing, and that by our calculated means we learn to live with what we have, grow accustomed to it and then find we’re unhappy when we have what we perceive as being ‘less’.

Munsterberg does acknowledge that ‘The real aim has nothing to do with the output and the muscle, but with the joy and happiness of the industrial workers, who have become slaves in the capitalistic era.’ (832) and he also acknowledges the nature of work is mundane and boring and that talent is wasted ineffectually. However, under the socialistic regime – to grant each man a certain amount of money and presume their happiness is ‘a psychological illusion’ (853) The matter is strictly based upon people, their internal characteristics and their ability to cope and adjust with / to the deviations from whatever may be ‘the level’. And, because of these individual characteristics, those who would commit ‘economic suicide’ (962) are no better protected under socialism than they would be under capitalism – for the wasteful and imprudent will continue to be this way unless they make a decision to cease being so.

The Intellectual Underworld: the realm of superstitious hokey-pokey and hijinks. Munsterberg here concerns himself with the mind-functions of those who buy into the graft that is palm-reading, tea leaf reading, astrology and those spiritualists who can communicate with the dead. He considers these people, not crazy, but ‘unable to live an ordered intellectual life.’ (1233 – think about it, isn’t it often the un or under-educated who fall prey to this sort of racket?)

Thought Transference: In this section Munsterberg recounts the case, and his subsequent study of Beulah Miller from Rhode Island who purportedly could read minds, discover what was in people’s pockets and spell words from cards she could only see the back-side of. Detailing his incredulity and the experiments he conducted Munsterberg soon points out that the girl’s ‘mind-reading’ is absolutely useless without the slight, and these noticed he presumes – unconsciously, ‘tells’ given to Beulah by her family members – subtleties she’s learned to pick up on through years of experience with them. In conclusion Munsterberg finds Beulah not better, nor worse, than any average person at ‘mind reading’ once she’s been experimented with in the absence of her relatives.

The Mind of The Juryman: Munsterberg posits that the jury is flawed in that the panel becomes one mass conscience, where ‘each one becomes oversuggestible.’ (1640) Utilizing an experiment which is based upon dots (variable number & placement) upon cards, Munsterberg asks his students to differentiate between the cards: more, less or the same and then allowed discourse where the proponent of each side was allowed to attempt to sway the dissenters. He conducted these experiments with both men and women and found that women judged less correctly the number of dots than men, and that they were less likely to be swayed by any argument, instead opting to hold their initial position on the issue. He, not so tactfully, then states that women should be kept out of the jury box.

Efficiency on The Farm: An argument regarding just how far industrial psychology should go to streamline the efforts of the countries farmers and farming communities, for he believes they’re the backbone of the country and any prosperity depends upon their doing well. Detailing the hardships of learning by ones own experience (as opposed to the copying that occurs in factory work), animal psychology and how to fine tune movements so as not to expend precious working energy, Munsterberg puts forth a treatise involving the abandonment of traditional practices for wont of steeping work, and more importantly – human kind, in industrial psychology, or how the mind works at work.

Social Sins in Advertising: This segment of the work details how the publishers of magazines are committing an error in selling advertising space upon segments of the magazine where there is also featured the type-written article. This breaks up the flow of the article and contributes to a lack of harmony through discontinuity thereby creating a lack of memorable material. It also fails in that the aesthetic ideal, which contributes to mental harmony, is broken. Munsterberg also details a study conducted to gauge the ability to remember advertisements to discern whether or not the current system (editorial + advertisement upon the same page) is effectively recalled – his findings indicate it is less so than if it were, as previously, divided into its own sections.

The Mind of The Investor: Munsterberg here implies that most Americans, while not afraid to invest, do so in highly irrational fashion, investing because of a desire to ‘harvest without ploughing’, because we are inclined to imitate our cohort and because we are all irreverent of our experts – this creates great waste and a bent toward national poverty, as the American is inclined to be his own amateurish expert.

Society and The Dance: Detailing a brief historical cultural history of the dance, it’s meaning, implications and practicality Munsterberg poses the question of it’s possible indication of it being a societal ‘craze’ (2384) and thereby a detriment, for to Munsterberg one who engages in the fury of the dance is one who has no cares and no time for anything of practical importance. He also takes care to point out the erotic nature of the endeavor, the reticence which most stalwarts of New England Puritanism approach the matter and it’s detriment to the mind already fascinated with nothing but sexual engagements. He does state though, that in a moderate degree, it is and can be of great benefit to a society.

Naïve Psychology: In this section Munsterberg details many (near the hundreds) aphorisms as they’re seen in popular and classical literature looking for something that would indicate a learn toward summing up the psychology of humankind – a grand statement which could be taken as a universal truth. He discovers that while there are some great quotations to be had, and some rather valid lessons, on the whole they don’t point at an all encompassing psychology and instead indicate validity in situational settings or ‘picturesque metaphors, or of moral advice, of love and malice’ (2762). All of this lends a hand to the benefit of the study of individual society, which Munsterberg seems inclined to fight against.

Quotes:

‘…when the passionate desire has taken hold of the mind and the organic tension of the irritated body works on the mind, there is no longer a fair fight with those sober reasons.’ (274)

‘…the true values of life lie just in overcoming the low instincts in the interest of high aims.’ (648)

‘The greatest dissatisfaction, hopeless despair, expresses itself in suicide.’ (888)

‘If we began to measure our fate by that of others, how could we ever be satisfied?’ (939)

‘…the envy of material profits and the chase for amusements even among the poorest, leave life meaningless and cold and silly.’ (1019)

‘The sociologists who have thought seriously about the American type of civilization have practically agreed in the conviction that the shortcoming of the American mind lies in its lack of desire for harmony and unity.’ (2064)

‘The average American is his own expert in every field.’ (2334) – stated in a pseudo-disparaging fashion, used to indicate mass naivety and disrespect for the actual ‘expert’.

Product details Hardcover 332 pages Publisher Palala Press (May 19, 2016) Language English ISBN-10 1357510985

Tags : Psychology and Social Sanity [Hugo Munsterberg] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact,Hugo Munsterberg,Psychology and Social Sanity,Palala Press,1357510985,HistoryGeneral,PSYCHOLOGY General
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Psychology and Social Sanity Hugo Munsterberg 9781357510985 Books Reviews

Skipped a few chapters,otherwise a decent read.
Thank you
Quite intriguing.
Good read
Very informal.
A must read!
A good read, sadly I didn't get much out of it that I had not previously gotten from past classes. Not for beginners, but definitely worth a read.
Published in 1914, the reader would be greatly served with a sense of what was occurring during the time of this works inception. Culturally, the largest items which affect the tone of the work are to include women’s rights - especially suffrage and the feminist movement, the push towards prohibition, the great advent of psychotherapy, the burgeoning interest in sociology, culture, legal psychology and industrial psychology, not to mention the frauds, quacks and persistent deceptions which occur within the burgeoning fields.

Munsterberg covers a wide range of topics adamantly, and is the first to point out the inflammation some of his ideas have caused, but while he might not appear entirely right, there still seems at least a shade of truth if not whole nuggets of fantastic observations and aphorisms, and possibly a lesson in each of his topics. He was, after all, a professor of psychology at Harvard when these works were published.

Munsterberg, a psychologist and brilliant man in his own right (Ph.D. at 22 years old, President of the American Psychological Association in 1898, Harvard professor from 1892 until his death in 1916) had a wide variety of interests and wrote upon a wide variety of topics, many of which are seen here to a more or less superficial degree (they are expounded upon in much of his earlier work). The reason he may be so often pushed to the background is that he was frequently found to be a German sympathizer during the First World War (he was a native German and accused of being a spy), and as he says - ‘The ideas are the really decisive agencies. Only for ideas have men been ready to die, and for ideas have they killed one another.’ (986)

I propose this, however, feminists beware he isn’t all that kind to women.

Topics include
1. Sex Education.
2. Socialism.
3. The Intellectual Underworld.
4. Thought Transference.
5. The Mind of The Juryman.
6. Efficiency on the Farm.
7. Social Sins in Advertising.
8. The Mind of The Investor.
9. Society and The Dance.
10. Naïve Psychology.

SPOILERS

Sex Education The short version of the longest segment of this work is that Munsterberg feels that society and culture would be best served if the educational institution, sex educators, parents and popular cinema and stage were to remain silent about human sexuality. Munsterberg feels that once the curiosity is piqued young, inexperienced boys and girls are impelled to practice their new-found knowledge, and this also leads to the cultivation of disease in said society. Munsterberg posits of this new knowledge, that ‘Far from enforcing a less sensuous life, this only teaches them to avoid the social opprobrium by going skillfully to work.’ (203)

Also taken up in this section of the work is that of ‘white slavery’ – or young women whom are detained by men and forced to do their bidding against their will. Munsterberg, in review of Vice reports and other data finds that most women are lured into the business of prostitution because they long for a more ‘glamorous’ life, one in which money is the key motive, a quick buck or a more interesting lifestyle, with movies, stage shows and a great hurrah! Yet, Munsterberg finds that the best stage from which to teach, is in fact, the stage (plays, cinema) with silence as the policy, but because it doesn’t portray this, the sexual discussion is open and our democratic society is left to discuss it amongst themselves.

This section concludes with the reasons why silence no longer works and why there needed to be a moral descent into the vastness of immorality, and Munsterberg alludes to German literature as exemplifying the depravity currently seen in the American culture as ‘the most abstruse perversions, the ugliest degenerations of sexual sinfulness, have become the favorite topics’ (521)

In closing Munsterberg speaks of virtue and discipline in conjunction to an inhibition of the will and an adherence to higher values as the recipe for any success – not the horrors of skin lesions and venereal disease, the darkly painted picture of a life led without the human race in mind. He finds we must hold ourselves higher than simple animals for ‘shame upon him who wants to educate youth toward the view that man as an animal is the true man!’ (631)

Socialism The aim of socialism is ‘economic development and human happiness.’ (744). Focusing, predominantly upon the latter, Munsterberg posits the notion that human happiness is a relative thing, and that by our calculated means we learn to live with what we have, grow accustomed to it and then find we’re unhappy when we have what we perceive as being ‘less’.

Munsterberg does acknowledge that ‘The real aim has nothing to do with the output and the muscle, but with the joy and happiness of the industrial workers, who have become slaves in the capitalistic era.’ (832) and he also acknowledges the nature of work is mundane and boring and that talent is wasted ineffectually. However, under the socialistic regime – to grant each man a certain amount of money and presume their happiness is ‘a psychological illusion’ (853) The matter is strictly based upon people, their internal characteristics and their ability to cope and adjust with / to the deviations from whatever may be ‘the level’. And, because of these individual characteristics, those who would commit ‘economic suicide’ (962) are no better protected under socialism than they would be under capitalism – for the wasteful and imprudent will continue to be this way unless they make a decision to cease being so.

The Intellectual Underworld the realm of superstitious hokey-pokey and hijinks. Munsterberg here concerns himself with the mind-functions of those who buy into the graft that is palm-reading, tea leaf reading, astrology and those spiritualists who can communicate with the dead. He considers these people, not crazy, but ‘unable to live an ordered intellectual life.’ (1233 – think about it, isn’t it often the un or under-educated who fall prey to this sort of racket?)

Thought Transference In this section Munsterberg recounts the case, and his subsequent study of Beulah Miller from Rhode Island who purportedly could read minds, discover what was in people’s pockets and spell words from cards she could only see the back-side of. Detailing his incredulity and the experiments he conducted Munsterberg soon points out that the girl’s ‘mind-reading’ is absolutely useless without the slight, and these noticed he presumes – unconsciously, ‘tells’ given to Beulah by her family members – subtleties she’s learned to pick up on through years of experience with them. In conclusion Munsterberg finds Beulah not better, nor worse, than any average person at ‘mind reading’ once she’s been experimented with in the absence of her relatives.

The Mind of The Juryman Munsterberg posits that the jury is flawed in that the panel becomes one mass conscience, where ‘each one becomes oversuggestible.’ (1640) Utilizing an experiment which is based upon dots (variable number & placement) upon cards, Munsterberg asks his students to differentiate between the cards more, less or the same and then allowed discourse where the proponent of each side was allowed to attempt to sway the dissenters. He conducted these experiments with both men and women and found that women judged less correctly the number of dots than men, and that they were less likely to be swayed by any argument, instead opting to hold their initial position on the issue. He, not so tactfully, then states that women should be kept out of the jury box.

Efficiency on The Farm An argument regarding just how far industrial psychology should go to streamline the efforts of the countries farmers and farming communities, for he believes they’re the backbone of the country and any prosperity depends upon their doing well. Detailing the hardships of learning by ones own experience (as opposed to the copying that occurs in factory work), animal psychology and how to fine tune movements so as not to expend precious working energy, Munsterberg puts forth a treatise involving the abandonment of traditional practices for wont of steeping work, and more importantly – human kind, in industrial psychology, or how the mind works at work.

Social Sins in Advertising This segment of the work details how the publishers of magazines are committing an error in selling advertising space upon segments of the magazine where there is also featured the type-written article. This breaks up the flow of the article and contributes to a lack of harmony through discontinuity thereby creating a lack of memorable material. It also fails in that the aesthetic ideal, which contributes to mental harmony, is broken. Munsterberg also details a study conducted to gauge the ability to remember advertisements to discern whether or not the current system (editorial + advertisement upon the same page) is effectively recalled – his findings indicate it is less so than if it were, as previously, divided into its own sections.

The Mind of The Investor Munsterberg here implies that most Americans, while not afraid to invest, do so in highly irrational fashion, investing because of a desire to ‘harvest without ploughing’, because we are inclined to imitate our cohort and because we are all irreverent of our experts – this creates great waste and a bent toward national poverty, as the American is inclined to be his own amateurish expert.

Society and The Dance Detailing a brief historical cultural history of the dance, it’s meaning, implications and practicality Munsterberg poses the question of it’s possible indication of it being a societal ‘craze’ (2384) and thereby a detriment, for to Munsterberg one who engages in the fury of the dance is one who has no cares and no time for anything of practical importance. He also takes care to point out the erotic nature of the endeavor, the reticence which most stalwarts of New England Puritanism approach the matter and it’s detriment to the mind already fascinated with nothing but sexual engagements. He does state though, that in a moderate degree, it is and can be of great benefit to a society.

Naïve Psychology In this section Munsterberg details many (near the hundreds) aphorisms as they’re seen in popular and classical literature looking for something that would indicate a learn toward summing up the psychology of humankind – a grand statement which could be taken as a universal truth. He discovers that while there are some great quotations to be had, and some rather valid lessons, on the whole they don’t point at an all encompassing psychology and instead indicate validity in situational settings or ‘picturesque metaphors, or of moral advice, of love and malice’ (2762). All of this lends a hand to the benefit of the study of individual society, which Munsterberg seems inclined to fight against.

Quotes

‘…when the passionate desire has taken hold of the mind and the organic tension of the irritated body works on the mind, there is no longer a fair fight with those sober reasons.’ (274)

‘…the true values of life lie just in overcoming the low instincts in the interest of high aims.’ (648)

‘The greatest dissatisfaction, hopeless despair, expresses itself in suicide.’ (888)

‘If we began to measure our fate by that of others, how could we ever be satisfied?’ (939)

‘…the envy of material profits and the chase for amusements even among the poorest, leave life meaningless and cold and silly.’ (1019)

‘The sociologists who have thought seriously about the American type of civilization have practically agreed in the conviction that the shortcoming of the American mind lies in its lack of desire for harmony and unity.’ (2064)

‘The average American is his own expert in every field.’ (2334) – stated in a pseudo-disparaging fashion, used to indicate mass naivety and disrespect for the actual ‘expert’.