A Review of Psychology The Will to Live. By J.
H. Hadley. (Allen and Unwin. 10s. 6c1.) MR. J. H. BADLEY, the distinguished Headmaster of Bedales School, has written an interesting review of the science of psychology. Bedales is perhaps the best known co-educa- tional school in this country. It is, he tells us, from the needs which his pupils have felt for such a book that the volume
arose.
Although Mr. Badley does not commit himself to any particular school of psychology, the net result of the book will be to suggest to the reader that he adheres in the main to what has been called the English school. It is true that he by no means rejects the two definite and clear psychological systems which have arisen—the behaviourism of Dr. Watson and the psycho-analytic school of Dr. Freud. He sees some good in them both. Both, however, are too extreme for him. An idea of his method and point of view can, perhaps, be given from a quotation of the passage in which he deals with the critical question of "Sex and Conflict"
"These various methods of resolving mental conflict may be illustrated by the various ways in which it is possible to attempt to deal with what are undoubtedly the commonest and Moat painful conflicts in most people's experience, those arising in connexion
with sex. . . In man . the sex-urge has ceased to be a seasonal matter occupying a definite and restricted place in the cycle of hig activities. He is subject throughout the greater part Of his life to impulses arising from this instinct which constantly affect his other activities. We may be glad that this is so, and may trace much of our humanity (in the best sense of the word) to the fact that emotions and sentiments that are associated with the sex-instinct are not limited to particular times, but are continually active and give their colour to the greater part of life. But great as is the gain there is also a heavy price to pay. Instead- of having a fixed season when it is supreme and then in turn giving place to others, in man the sex-impulse is apt to be insistent at times when it cannot _claim supremacy, and so to come into conflict with other sentiments and conditions of his social life."
, This passage is typical of Mr. Badley's wide biological approach to the subject. While such an apProaeh has its disadvantages in that it leads to a somewhat vague and hazy impression being left in the mind of the reader yet it is no doubt, very suitable for the objects which the author had in view in writing his book. Indeed, Mr. Badley is at his best in those passages which discuss 'psychology in general. lie has a good passage. in his introductory chapter, fol. example, in which he gives an account of the present state of the sc ience of psychology :— "At present psychology can only be regarded as a science in the making. It may be compared to a vast new country such as the middle-west of Canada, much of it hitherto unexplored territory now being surveyed and accurately mapped for the first time ; more and more of it continually being occupied, and towns, still very sketchy and provisional, laid out on a great scale, with the certainty of a great future. Now and then the discovery, real or rumoured, of gold (here we have an analogy with the discoveries and theories of the psycho-analysts) causes a rush to the place, and budden new settlements grow up which, even if the gold-field does not prove to be so rich as was believed, lead to permanent gains of occupation. But the most real gains lie in the less sensational advance of permanent settlers, lumbermen and tillers of the soil, and the workers and traders that supply their needs."
We can recommend The Will to Live as a useful introduction to psychology, especially for students.
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