Genetic Psychology: an Introduction to an Objective and Genetic View of Intelligence. By E. A. Kirkpatrick. New York, The Macmillan Co., 1909. pp. xv., 373.
"In working out the general principles of mental genesis it was found that the more specific problem of mental phenomena as organized in individual minds could not be satisfactorily treated till the general truths of organic activity and of mental genesis had been formulated, and that space would not admit of the treatment of both in a single volume. The author hopes to treat of mental development in individuals and some of the pedagogical implications in a subsequent volume." The present work, which may thus be considered as the first volume of a complete Genetic Psychology, contains eleven chapters. Chapter i., Introduction, discusses the nature and scope of genetic psychology, the general characteristics of organisms, evolution and the genesis of behavior and of mind, the psychical factor in behavior. Chapter ii. treats of the structural basis of behavior, and Chapter iii. of types of animal behavior. Chapters iv. and v. consider instinct, that is, complex behavior characteristic of species, and the acquisition of habits and ideas, that is, the behavior of individuals; and Chapter vi, sets forth the structures concerned in complex behavior and in ideation. Chapter vii., Consciousness, discusses the objective and subjective criteria of consciousness, and the probable general characteristics of the consciousness of animals; Chapter viii. characterizes some specific conscious states (pain, intellectual states, volitional activity). Chapters ix. and x. deal with types of adaptive activity or intelligence, and types of learning activity; and the concluding Chapter xi. outlines the general theory and principles of racial and individual development.
The work originated in lecture-courses given to summer students at Columbia and Chicago universities, and parts of it have been read as lectures in a normal school. In origin and plan of treatment, the author says, pedagogical interest has played a large part. "It is probable, also, that popular interest is great enough to make the book acceptable to the more serious of those interested in animal behavior." On the scientific side, "it is hoped that this tentative formulation of the truths supplied by various sciences may help to promote more harmony of effort on the part of the workers in the several related fields."
However, as a scientific work, the Genetic Psychology cannot compare with Washburn's Animal Mind. Probably, indeed, the author would resent the comparison. It seems fairer to consider the book as a frankly popular work, intended to catch the interest of the beginning student and of the general educated public, and to lead on beyond itself to a strictly scientific interest in the problems of mental development. If we regard it in this way, we have a readable work, logically planned, and kept almost always at the level of common-sense intelligence, so that it may be understood without effort. Interest is maintained by illustrations, anecdotes and examples; and that the interest may at once find sustenance, a selected bibliography of easily accessible sources is appended to every chapter.
If we apply scientific standards, on the other hand, the author must be convicted of looseness of argument and over-hasty generalization. Take, for instance, the concrete case by which he seeks to demonstrate the mode of operation of natural selection (p. 9). "Why are not sparrows as large as geese or as small as flies instead of being just about the size they are? After a severe storm a large number of sparrows were picked up in a helpless condition and as many as possible resuscitated. All were then weighed and measured to determine
