Emotion and the Educative Process

The material of the book consists of a report of a committee set up in 1931, and working since, ' to outline and conduct an exploratory study as to the recognition to be accorded emotional factors in the educational process, with special reference to the questions whether emotion has been unduly ignored in the stress laid upon the acquisition of knowledge. ; whether education should concern itself zvith the strength and direction of desires developed or inhibited by the educational process; whether the stress laid on the attitude of neutral detachment,desirable in the scientific observer, has been unduly extended into oilier spheres of life. ; and, in the event that it should appear desirable for education to concern itself more directly zvith the development and direction of emotion, to consider by ii'hat devices emotion may be more accurately described, measured and oriented.' Although the form of the book is clue to the chairman, Professor Prescott, all eight members of committee have contributed by discussion and suggestion, and signify their approval of the report as a whole. The ground covered in the various chapters is very comprehensive and thorough, and nowhere are the educational implications lost sight of. The committee does not hesitate to state that it regards the present work as only a beginning of the problem, but if so, its research has been detailed and painstaking.