On selective thinking.

In a recent publication 2 1 have used the phrase 'selective thinking ' in a certain broad sense, and at the same time arrived at a view of the mechanism of the process which seems in a measure in line with the requirements both of psychology and biology. By ' selective thinking' I understand the determination of the stream of thought, considered as having a trend or direction of movement, both in the individual's mental history and also in the development of mind and knowledge in the world. The considerations suggested in the work mentioned are necessarily very schematic and undeveloped, and I wish in this address to carry them out somewhat further. Looking at the question from a point of view analogous to that of the biologists, when they consider the problem of ' determination ' in organic evolution, we are led to the following rough but serviceable division of the topics involved-a division which my discussion will follow-namely: i. The material of selective thinking (the supply of'thought-variations') ^; 2. The function of selection (how certain variations are singled out for 'President's Address, American Psychological Association, Cornell Meeting, December, 1897. The paper aims to present rather a point of view, and to indicate some of the outstanding requirements of a theory, than to defend any hard and fast conclusions. 2 Social and Ethical Interpretations in Mental Development, Macmillans, 1897. 'Wherever the word 'variation' occurs, the full term 'thought-variation' should be understood; this is necessary in order to avoid confusion with the congenital ' variations' of biology.