Page:The psychology of insanity (IA psychologyofinsa00hartiala).pdf/11

This page needs to be proofread.

PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION

Although nearly four years have now elapsed since the publication of this book, no substantial alterations have been made in the preparation of the present edition. This is not because psychology and psychiatry have made no progress, but because the book is concerned solely with elementary principles, and recent advances have been rather in the superstructure built upon these principles than in the principles themselves.

Something must be said, however, of the rich material offered to the psychologist by the great events of the past two years. The power of emotion in the direction of human thought, the impotence of logic to affect the conclusions dictated by passion and prejudice, and the extent to which man’s mind is controlled by psychological processes of which he is himself entirely unconscious, have been so abundantly demonstrated as to become obvious to the most superficial observer. The description and explanation of these conceptions form an integral part of this book, and, were it now making its first appearance, it would unquestionably have been illustrated with copious examples from