There is today widespread recognition of the fact that the future of human civilization depends to a high degree upon Man's capacity to understand the forces and factors which control his own behaviour. Such understanding must be achieved, not only as regards individual conduct, but equally as regards the mass phenomena resulting from group contacts, which are becoming increasingly intimate and influential. Until this present volume, nowhere have the three sciences of sociology, psychology and social anthropology been properly mobilized to deal with the social problems which yearly grow more pressing. The essays in this book aim to address this.

There is today widespread recognition of the fact that the future of human civilization depends to a high degree upon Man's capacity to understand the forces and factors which control his own behaviour. Such understanding must be achieved, not only as regards individual conduct, but equally as regards the mass phenomena resulting from group contacts, which are becoming increasingly intimate and influential. Until this present volume, nowhere have the three sciences of sociology, psychology and social anthropology been properly mobilized to deal with the social problems which yearly grow more pressing. The essays in this book aim to address this.

Originally published in 1927, this book contains the text of lectures delivered to Cambridge undergraduates between 1920 and 1926, which demonstrate the possible applications of psychological techniques to the training and deployment of soldiers. Bartlett examines features in the life of a soldier, including fatigue and the effects of battle, and offers some suggestions on how modern psychology can better be employed in the service of the army. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in the history of psychology and the role psychology can play in the armed forces.

First published in 1925 as the third edition of a 1911 original, this second volume of Dr Charles Myers' two-part textbook suggests practical experiments to test psychological phenomena, such as reaction times and optical illusions. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in the history of experimental psychology, or the work of Myers, one of the most ground-breaking English psychologists of the twentieth century.

The Problem of Noise by F. C. Bartlett was published as part of the Cambridge Miscellany series in 1934. The volume contains two Heath Clark Lectures delivered by the author at the invitation of the National Institute of Industrial Psychology, printed together with a preface by C. S. Myers. The purpose of the lectures was to provide a concise account of some facts - rather than opinions - about unwanted sounds and their effects.

PSYCHOLOGY AND PRIMITIVE CULTURE BY F. C. BARTLETT, M. A. Fellow of St Johns College, Reader in Experimental Psychology, and Director of the Psychological Laboratory in the University of Cambridge CAMBRIDGE AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 1923 PREFACE r OR the psychologist the unity of primitive and modern society is as important as their differences. In primitive society the groups are smaller, more localised, and less diversified and individual initiative is probably less prominent. The underlying psychological mechanisms, however, remain much the same at all stages of social development. Since these mechanisms stand out more clearly in the early stages, and are there, on the whole, less intricately intermingled, the psychological study of primitive culture forms the best introduction to the psychology of contemporary social life. This is the position which is adopted and maintained in the present book. The book falls naturally into three parts. First the principles which the psychologist should use in his attempt to understand the behaviour of man in society are set forth secondly these principles are applied to the psychological treatment of certain outstanding problems of primitive culture and in the third place it is shown how the use of the principles must be modified as the psychologist passes from the study of the social life of remote times, or peoples, to that of modern civilised society. Throughout I have tried to keep closely in touch with concrete problems, and, except in the chapter on the formation of folk tales, I have chosen to consider questions which have so far been dealt with by the viii PREFACE ethnologist, rather than by the psychologist. Thus I have discussed thepsychology of the contact of peoples of how elements of culture are borrowed, and so transferred from one group to another and of the psychological mechanisms of the diffusion of culture within a group, and its consequent elaboration or simpli fication. All of these I have tried to put in terms of the psychological tendencies which they express. In modern life precisely the same tendencies are at work. I have shown, for example, how they help to produce the broken contracts which are a noteworthy feature of much modern political and econonic bargaining. What is peculiar to contemporary society, I have urged, is not the tendencies, but their arrangement. The book is based on some lectures which I delivered in 1922 at the Bedford College for Women in the University of London. It was mainly on the advice of the late Dr W. H. R. Rivers that I undertook these lectures. He died before the book was completed, but I many times discussed its subject-matter with him, and owe more to him for his friendship and interest than I can ever adequately express. To Dr C. S. Myers I am as deeply indebted. He has helped, criticised, and en couraged me throughout. He read the book in type and improved it in many ways. A similar kindness in reading the typescript was shown me by Dr Paul Radin, to whom I am particularly indebted for help in regard to the discussion on borrowing. It will be obvious that I have profited greatly from the writings of various American anthropologists. In PREFACE ix particular the ethnological and anthropological publica tions of the Smithsonian Institution appear to me to be mines from which the psychologist may quarry a great quantity of treasure. I desire to thank the SmithsonianInstitution for permission to reproduce the drawings which appear on p. 233, and to make numerous quota tions from various publications. And most of all I wish here to acknowledge gratefully the constant help which has been given to me by my wife. F. C. BARTLETT. CAMBRIDGE, April, 1923 CONTENTS OHAP. PAGE I. THE APPROACH TO THE PROBLEM . 1 II. THE FUNDAMENTAL FORMS OF MANS SOCIAL REACTIONS 28 II. PSYCHOLOGY AND THE FOLK STORY . . 57 IV. THE CONFLICT OF TENDENCIES AND THEIR MUTUAL REINFORCEMENT .... 105 V. THE PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE CON TACT OF PEOPLES 133 VI...