LEARNING HOW TO STUDY AND WORK EFFECTIVELY | A CONTRIBUTION TO THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PERSONAL EFFICIENCY BY WILLIAM F, BOOK AAD OF DEPARTMENT OF INDIANA 1 LOGY AND PHILOSOPHY SITY GINN AND COMPANY HOSTOS + NEW YORE CHICAGD « LONDON ATLANTA + DALLAS + COLUMBUS — SAN FRANCISCOCOPYRIGHT, 1926, BY WILLIAM F. BOOK ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PRINTED IN THE UNITED STAT 4268 The Athenaeum Press GINN AND COMPANY - PRO- PRIETORS + BOSTON + U.S.A,PREFACE Much interest has been shown of late in the study of learn- ing and in determining exactly how progress in learning takes place. One of the most important and universal types of human ac- quisition is learning how to work at one’s tasks in the most effective way. Educational leaders throughout the world, and the most ambitious individuals amongst us, are becoming in- tensely interested in this type of learning and in the facts which reveal just what must be done to facilitate improvement in this direction. Teachers are beginning to see that students waste a vast amount of time and form many harmful habits in school because they do not learn to work in the most efficient way. The recognition of this condition has given rise to a rather widespread movement toward supervised study, which in its better forms aims to produce an individual who has learned to work at all his tasks in the most effective and economical way. The chief aim of this book is to delineate as clearly and accurately as our present stage of knowledge of the subject will permit the exact road over which a person must travel who desires to succeed in this type of learning. It seeks to awaken an interest in a new type of teaching, one that aims to develop effective methods of work rather than merely to aid in the accumulation of information about a long array of more or less unrelated subjects. The facts that are here assembled, interpreted, and system- atized will be of interest and practical value to the following groups : Students enrolled in orientation classes and in special courses designed to teach them how to study will find the contents of iiiiv LEARNING HOW TO STUDY AND WORK special interest and service. This book was, in fact, primarily designed and written as a textbook for such classes. Teachers in charge of courses in supervised study may use the book as a guide in their work, because it gives the kind of help they need if they are to direct their students in the most effective way. The information given should enable such teachers to place their supervisory work on a solid psychologi- cal basis which will insure the formation in their pupils of the particular habits that must be established if they are to learn to apply themselves to all their tasks in the most effective way. Heads of departments in business and industry who are try- ing to raise the general level of efficiency of their workmen will find here a method and technic for so doing, together with a discussion of the laws that control personal efficiency in every field of work. The book will be especially useful where schools or study clubs are maintained for employees. Individuals interested in increasing their own personal efficiency also will find these discussions of value because they attempt to show just what such persons must do to learn to work in a more effective way. The general method followed throughout the book is first to illustrate and explain the important factors that contribute to the total efficiency of a worker, then to outline a procedure for the attainment of the specific habits that must be formed to achieve the desired result. This latter help is given in the form of practical exercises which accompany the explanation of each principle and law discussed. These experiments should not be slighted or omitted, for in addition to giving actual practice in the formation of these necessary habits they provide a way of measuring the kind and amount of gain that is being made. This makes it possible not only to know at any given time how one stands in regard to the particular element of personal efficiency under discussion but also to repeat the experiment on successive days or weeks, until the habit is thoroughly established.PREFACE v The particular subjects treated in the book are those which a complete analysis of this type of learning has revealed. The sequence in which the materials are presented is that of the natural development of the problem. In special classes and for individual students this order may be changed where this proves desirable; for example, Part II may be omitted until the problems in Parts III and IV have been worked out or discussed. But in any event such chapters as those on “Ideals,” “Conservation and Control of the Energy Used in Study and Other Types of Work,” and “Will” should be carefully studied at some time during the course. In reading the book, however, it should not be understood that the author has attempted to settle the much-mooted question of the relative importance of heredity and environ- ment in the making of the individual, or to determine and explain the comparative importance of family and racial en- dowments and of social inheritance in bringing about the changes produced in an individual during the process of learn- ing. The author is not concerned in this book with these funda- mental or philosophical questions. He has merely taken human nature as it is, taken the surroundings in which a student or worker may be placed as they are, and tried to point out how one may best utilize his own particular endowments and his environment in making himself more efficient in doing the things that he desires to do. The task of making oneself truly efficient in his work is considered throughout the book merely as an instance of learning which the author has tried to analyze somewhat in detail in order to present the facts that would enable any worker to acquire in an economical way the par- ticular habits that make him efficient in his thinking and work. And since the book attempts to show just what a learner must do to acquire the ability to work in the most effective way, the treatment must be somewhat subjective. But in nothing that is said does the author mean to imply that a worker has unlimited control over his environment or over |vi LEARNING HOW TO STUDY AND WORK the social and objective worlds in which he is placed. If the mode of treatment should ever suggest such an idea to the reader, it should be promptly dismissed, for the author recog- nizes the great force of external stimuli in this and other types of learning as well as the value of the psychological or subjec- tive drives that operate as inner urges toward one or another type of behavior. With the more fundamental and philosoph- ical problems involved in this and all other types of learning the author does not attempt to deal. He has no philosophy or psychological system to champion or defend. He has merely tried to set forth the facts pertaining to this type of learning in a way that would make them of direct practical assistance to all who desire to make themselves more efficient in their work. That the author’s obligation to efficiency engineers, to in- vestigators in many fields of psychological research, and to writers on this and related subjects is very great will be ap- parent to anyone familiar with the literature of the field. No attempt is therefore made to render specific acknowledgments in the text, because the results of all the workers in the field have been freely consulted and used in the preparation of the book. The author is under special obligation to Professors J. R. Kantor and George S. Snoddy and to Mr. Edgar L. Yeager, colleagues in the department, for reading the entire manuscript and for helpful suggestions. Many suggestions have also been made by the author’s many extension students and by certain members of the “How to Study” classes conducted at Indiana University during the past two years, in which the manuscript of this book has been used as a text. Much credit is likewise due Miss Florence Kirlin for assistance in obtaining greater clarity of expression and a better arrangement of the materials presented in the text. WILLIAM FREDERICK BOOK Invrana University |CONTENTS PART I. THE PROBLEM OF PERSONAL EFFICIENCY CHAPTER PAGE I. NEED FOR GREATER EFFICIENCY IN STUDY AND WORK 3 x. Wasted Human Energy and Talents... 22... 0. 4 2. Ways in which Human Energy may be Conserved. . . . . 8 3. Conservation of our Supply of Time. . 2. 0. 2 2. se 9 4. The Right Selection of our Tasks . 2... Pe ee 10 5. Scientific Analysis of your Tasks and Work. 2. 0... 11 6. General Importance of Learning How to Work in the Most Effective Way. 2. ee 13 7. Need for Help in Learning How to Work Effectively... 17 8. Source of the Data and Materials used in This Book . . . 18 EXERCISES AND QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT ©. 2 2 ee 22 REFERENCES © 0 2 eee 23 IL. ANALYSIS OF THE TASK OF LEARNING HOW TO STUDY AND WORK EFFECTIVELY... 2... 2-222 ue 24 z. Elements of an Efficient Life. 2... ee 24 2. The True Basis for Efficiency in Study and Work... . 25 3- General Analysis of the Task of Learning to Work Effectively 26 4. How Progress in this Type of Learning is Made... . . 28 5. How Progress in this Type of Learning is Measured . . . . 30 6. Measuring your Ability to Use All your Available Time . . 32 EXPERMENTI. 2. ee 33. EXERCISES AND QUESTIONS ONTHE TEXT ©... ee 39 REFERENCES © 6. ee ee 39 PART II. PHYSIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL BASIS FOR PERSONAL EFFICIENCY IN STUDY AND WORK TI. CONSERVATION OF THE ENERGY USED IN STUDY AND r. Source and Measurement of Human Energy . 2... (1) Measuring the Amount of Energy Available for Study or Work, 44- (2) Real Source of the Energy Used in Study and Work, 46- viiLEARNING HOW TO STUDY AND WORK viti CHAPTER PAGE (5) Measuring an Individual’s Susceptibility to Fatigue, 49 - (4) Total Supply of Energy Limited, 50 - (5) Significance of the Small Residuum of Human Energy at the Individual’s Disposal, 5x - (6) How Human Energy is Normally Released, sr - a. Why Human Energy is Con- sumed, 51 - b. The Normal Curve of Work, 51 - (7) Effects of Over- work, 53 + (8) Cause of Exhaustion and the Feeling of Fatigue, 55 - (0) The Most Reliable Method for Determining one’s Capacity for Work and his Ability to Resist Fatigue, 57 ExpernmentiD . 2.0 ee SB 2. Conservation of one’s Available Energy... . . . 38 (x) Need for Complete Relaxation or Short Periods of Rest, during Con- tinuous Work, so - (2) Suggestions on Learning to Relax, 61 - a, Need for Learning How to Relax, 6r « b. How to Relax, 62 « (3) Need for Rec- reation and a Change of Work, 63 - (4) Difference between a Change of Work and Recuperation or Rest, 68 Expermeent II (Continued) . Se ee. 69 EXERCISES AND Questions oN THE TEXT | |... 1... 70 REFERENCES © 2. ee ee IV. SLEEP AND OTHER MEANS OF RESTORING THE EN- ERGY USED IN STUDY AND WORK ..... 92 1. Physiological and Biological Necessity for Rest and Sleep 72 2. Depth of Sleep and Recuperation during Sleep : 74 3. Morning and Evening Sleepers . . 275 4. General Nature of Sleep and its Counterfeits ee OT 5. Practical Significance of Dreams 7 6. Evolution of Sleep and of the Sleeping State ir in Man : 70 7. Proper Alternation of Periods of Work and Rest... . 79 8. Amount of Sleep and Rest Required ......... 82 ExeermentI. . 2... Dh ee 8 9. Favorable and Unfavorable Conditions for Sleep... . 84 ro. Suggestions for Getting the Most Rest during Sleep... 85 How to Go to Sleep, 85 Experment III (Continued). 2. ee. BF 11. Necessity for Temperate Hating and for Wholesome Food. 2... 2... 87 Expermeent III (Concluded). 28 89 EXERCISES AND QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT . 90 REFERENCES orCONTENTS CHAPTER V. OTHER PHYSIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FAC- TORS WHICH CONDITION PERSONAL EFFICIENCY 1. Special Factors Affecting the Release of Human Eneray and the Output of Work .......... Initial and End Spurts in Efficiency of Effort, 04 « Warming Up.os Incentives, 96 - Diurnal Changes in one’s Ability to Release and Direct his Energy, 07 2. Artificial Incentives and the Worker’s Performance-Curve 3. Need for Excitement and Novelty .......... 4. Some Native Endowments that Condition Personal Effi- ciency in Study and Other Work... 2... 2. . Capacity for Improvement, 100 . Native Capacity for Retention, ror Capacity for Endurance and Ability to Recover from Fatigue, tor « Rate of Work and Span of Mind, ro2 - The Ability to Sprint and to Concentrate, 103 - Attention Type, 103, 5. Learning to Keep a Record of your Advancement in Learning to Work Effectively... 2... 0... EXPERIMENT IV . EXERCISES AND QUESTIONS ON THE Text . REFERENCES VI. IDEALS AS AN AID TO THE RELEASE AND PROPER DI- RECTION OF OUR ENERGY AND POWERS . . Practical Significance of an Ideal or Clearly Formulated Plan How a Purpose or Plan Affects our Actions and Thoughts 3. The Réle Played by Clearly Defined Purposes and Plans (2) Kinds of Purposes which a Student or a Worker May Have, 113 - (2) Ways in which Such a Purpose may Aid a Student in his Work, 113 - (3) Importance of the Attitude and Reactions of the Learner, 115 - (4) Proper Organization of the Facts, 116 4. Four Kinds of Ideals which a Successful Worker Must Have Plans for Specific Tasks, 116 - Immediate Ideals and Purposes, 117 - Life Ideals and Purposes, 117. Ideals about the Ultimate Future, 117 5- Adjustment to the Three Futures in which These Ideals Must Operate. 2... 2. ee ee 6. Proper Codrdination of All your Purposes and Plans . . 7- Effect of a Perverse or Wrong Ideal. . . - 8. Normal Effect of Vague Ideals or Action Without any Controlling Purpose or Plan... 2... 2 eee 9. How Proper Ideals or Right Purposes and Plans are Acquired 2. ee pw PAGE 92 94 98 99 TOs 106 108 108 09 109 110 IIT 116 118 120 120 20x LEARNING HOW TO STUDY AND WORK CHAPTER VIL. a 10. Measuring the Practical Value of a Definite Purpose or Plan. . Experiment V . EXERCISES AND QUESTIONS ON THE TANT REFERENCES . . . wee THE DEVELOPMENT AND USE OF ATTENTION AND WILL . 1. Relation between Personal “ficiency a and the Will to Do 2. Failure to Do All that we Can . . . 3. How These Hidden Stores of Human. Energy are Released 4. True Meaning and Function of “Will” 2... . . 5. The Cultivation and Control of Attention or Will. . (1) Place of Attainable Desires in Developing the Will, 136 « for Strengthening your Purposes and Desires, 138 « (3) Role Ph by Success in the Development of Will, 138 - (4) Importance of a Proper Attitude toward one’s Tasks, 140 + (5) Practical Influence of the Faith and Attitude of one’s Associates and Friends, 142 6. Planning to Make the Right Use of your Available Time EXPERIMENT VI . EXERCISES AND QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT REFERENCES . ees . TYPES OF DECISION AND FATIGUE OF WILL x. Importance of Promptness in Decision and of Persistence and Drive ... 2... 2. Necessity for Conserving our Strength of Will . (1) Fatigue of Will, rso - (2) Resting the Will, 154 + (3) Economy in the Use of the Will, r5s 3. Types of Decision and Will-Temperament Tests (x) How Decisions are Normally Made, 157 « (2) Typical Acti Patterns and their Significance for Personal Efficiency in Study and Work, 161 . (3) Will-Temperament Tests and the Special Features of Will which they Attempt to Measure, 162 - (4) Will-Temperaments Most Favorable for Success in Different Lines of Work, 164 4. Relation between Intelligence and Will we 5. Determination of your own Action-Pattern or Type of Will sae Exrerment VIT EXERCISES AND QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT REFERENCES PAGE 124 124 126 127 144 144 147 147 148 148 150 157 168 169 169 ut 172 oaCONTENTS xi PART HI. LEARNING HOW TO STUDY AND WORK IN THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY CHAPTER IX. ROLE OF HABIT IN LEARNING HOW TO WORK EF- FECTIVELY . 2... ....., rt. What a Habit ReallyIs ee 2. General Significance and Uses of Habit... ..... 3. Learning to Work Effectively a Matter of Establishing CertainHabits .........0,..-2..... 4. Some Principles which Control the Formation and Fixing of Habits. 2... ee (1) Make a correct start, 182 . (2) Make an emphatic and deter- mined start, 183 - (3) Never permit an exception to occur until the new habit is securely rooted in your life, 183 - (4) Do not slight or fail to repeat the correct response after it has been originated, 186 - (5) Seize every opportunity to act upon your resolution to succeed, 187 « (6) Aim to keep your faculty of effort alive while you work, 188 5. Some Difficulties Normally Encountered in Establishing Efficient Habits of Work .. 2.2... 2... 6. Measuring your Efficiency in Preparing an Assignment in your Text RCISES AND QUESTIONS ON THE TEXT REFERENCES X. PLANNING YOUR WORK TO MAKE THE MOST EFFEC- TIVE USE OF YOUR ENERGY AND TIME... . ~ 1. Need for Successful Planning in Study and Work. . . . 2. What Effective Planning Includes 2... 2 1 2. (1) Necessary Steps in Successful Planning, 196 - (2) How to Pre- pare for Taking These Essential Steps, 197 3- Two Mental Characteristicsrequired forSuccessful Planning 4. Determining the Value or General Results of Successful Planning EXPERI 5. Effect of Planning upon the Ability to Use your Time in a Profitable Way 2... ee 6. Results of Defective Planning oN THE TEXT PAGE 175 176 178 189 190 91 192 193 194 194 196