“...it provides an accurate introduction to a fascinating field of human interest.”–
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TEbe Eenturg IKicbard A. Elliott, 36ditot PHYSIQUE AND INTELLECT BY DONALD G. PATERSON PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA THE CENTURY CO. NEW YORK LONDON PREFACE In 1928 the writer was invited to participate in a sym posium on the Measurement of Mankind sponsored by the University of Minnesota Chapter of Sigma XL Four public lectures were delivered and later published in book form quot The Measurement of Man in the Mass, quot by the late Dr. J. Arthur Harris quot The Measurement of Physical Growth, quot by Dr. Richard E. Scarnmon quot Physical Development and Types, quot by Dr. Clarence M. Jackson and quot Mental Develop ment in Relaton to Physical Development and Types by the writer. 1 Within the limits of a single lecture each of these problems could be barely more than outlined. While preparation of the lecture assigned to me was in progress I noted the keen interest of students enrolled in a course on The Psychology of Individual Differences in re viewing and evaluating published research reports bearing on different phases of the problem of physical and mental traits. Undergraduate and graduate students alike were puz zled by conflicting conclusions in the literature and were eager to get systematically at the root of the available evi dence in order to clarify their own ideas. This enthusiasm prompted me to undertake for them a critical synthesis of the available literature, one which would enable the student to orient himself without consulting a relatively large num ber of scattered references. The topic falls strictly within the field of the Psychology of Individual Differences, where textbooks are surprisingly few in number. In fact, since Thorndike outlined the subject 1 J. Arthur Harris, R. E. Scammon, C. M. Jackson, and D. G. Paterson, The Measurement of Man The University of Minnesota Press, Minne apolis, 1930- vl Preface as part of his three-volume work on Educational Psychology in 1914 only one text devoted exclusively to individual dif ferences has appeared. 2 At first sight, this may seen a strange state of affairs, since differential psychology has enjoyed a more vigorous growth during the past fifteen or twenty years than any other branch of the science. Docs the ex planation lie In the fact that material, both theoretical and applied, has accumulated at such an unprecedented rate that the task of systematic presentation has become almost impossible To-day an adequate summary of all now com prised in the psychology of individual differences would nec essitate not one volume but many. Even a limited phase oi the field requires a book as extensive as the present one. The task of comprehensive synthesis will be facilitated if other aspects of the problem can be systematized in a similar manner. However much any writer might shrink from the task of presenting in toto the field of individual psychological dif ferences, he could with less misgiving and more propriety attempt a brief resume of a limited portion of the field. Even so, the writer of the present study is anxious at the outset to apologize for its numerous shortcomings. Merely to list the names of the several scientific disciplines dealt with or drawn upon in its pages is to win a hearing from all fair-minded critics for the writer s earnest plea for indul gence. These disciplines Include Physics, Roentgenology, Chemistry, Anatomy, Craniology, Phrenology, Physiog nomy, Physiology, Dentistry, Medicine, Pediatrics, Neurol ogy, Psychiatry, Endocrinology, Paleontology, Anthropol ogy, Psychology, Sociology, Metaphysics, Logic, Statistics and Biometry, Psychomctry, and Anthropometry. Recourse to these varied fields of knowledge was imposed by the bor a R. S. Ellis, The Psychology of Individual Differences, D. Appleton and Company, New York, 1928. Preface VI i derland nature of the problems discussed rather than by any compulsive desire on the part of the writer to stray from the confines of his own specialty... --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
