A few notes from Isaac Watts, Improvement of Mind | for those where I mentioned this in research paper feedback

I referred a few of you to Isaac Watts in my comments on your research papers. A few quotes of potential interest below... 

For anyone working on attention, distraction, or absorption, there's a lot to potential material to work with here—and in the text at large—so I haven't tagged you as explicitly. (It also may not be relevant to the direction you're heading so only use if it makes sense to you.) For those working on things like reflection, interest, memory, etc., I tried to mark a few key passages, but skim through the whole as I was doing this quite quickly and may have missed something good.

Isaac Watts, The Improvement of the Mind (1743)

Improvement of Mind | Google Books (downloadable, searchable, citable)

*Note: page numbers below may not match this google books version. Simply search for the phrase you are looking for and find the correct page, as well as more context.

Of Conversation

Banish utterly out of all conversation...every Thing that tends to provoke Passion or raise a Fire in the blood. (141)

Mutual Instruction can never be attained in the Midst of Passion, Pride and Clamor, unless we supposed in the Midst of such a Scene there is a loud and penetrating Lecture read on by both sides on the Folly and shameful Infirmities of human Nature. (Amber, Stephanie?)

Chap V. of books

Let it be added also, that not only the Slothful and the Negligent deprive themselves of proper Knowledge for the Furniture of their Memory, but such as appear to have active Spirits, who are ever skimming over the Surface of Things with a volatile Temper will fix nothing in their Mind. Vario will spend whole Mornings in running over loose and unconnected Pages, and with fresh Curiosity is ever glancing over new Words and Ideas that strike his present Fancy: He is fluttering (260-261) over a thousand Objects of Art and Science, and yet treasures up but little Knowledge. There must be the Labour and Diligence of close Attention to particular Subjects of Thought and Enquiry, which only can impress what we read or think upon the remembering Faculty in Man. (261)

*(attention vs. absorption, Eric re: reflection? Eeb, classic "arca" model of "Furniture of their memory?")

Clear and distinct Apprehension of the Things which we commit to Memory, is necessary in order to make them stick and dwell there. If we would remember Words, or learn the Names of Persons or Things, we should have them recommended to our memory by clear and distinct Pronunciation, Spelling, or Writing… Faint glimmering and confused Ideas will vanish like Images seen in Twilight. … It must be confest that meer Sounds and words are much harder to get by Heart than the knowledge of things and real Images. (261) 

*(Eric, cloudy vs. clear mirror for reflection possibly about what's being learned as well as about the calm state of the mind?)

DUE Attention and Diligence to learn and know Things which we would commit to our Remembrance….is a Rule of great Necessity…  When the Attention is strongly fixed to any particular Subject, all that is said concerning it makes a deeper Impression upon the Mind. There are some persons who complain they cannot remember divine or human Discourses which they hear, when in Truth their Thoughts are wandering half the Time, or they hear with such Coldness and Indifferency and a trifling Temper of Spirit, that it is no wonder the Things which are read or spoken make but a slight impression on the brain and get no firm footing in the Seat of Memory, but soon vanish and are lost. (259, 60) 

*Eeb re: memory? Eric re: reflection needed to create an impression on the brain? Mark re: coldness & indifference-->no memory (possibly not relevant to you)

It is needful therefore if we would maintain a long Remembrance of the Things which we read or hear that we should engage our Delight and Pleasure in those Subjects, and use other Methods which are before prescribed in order to fix the Attention. (relationship between pleasure, attention and memory)

The mutual Dependence of Things on each other help the Memory of both. A wise Connexion of the Parts of a Discourse in a rational Method gives great Advantage to the Reader or Hearer in order to his Remembrance of it. Therefore many mathematical Demonstrations in a long Train may be remembered much better than a heap of Sentences which have no Connexion. (264)  (anyone using Swift or Tristram Shandy :)  

Memory, Distraction, Reading & the Brain

The Goodness of a Memory depends in a great Degree upon the Consistence and the Temperature of that Part of the Brain which is appointed to assist the Exercise of all our sensible and intellectual Faculties. (255)

“So for Instance in Children; they perceive and forget a hundred Things in an hour; the Brain is so soft that it receives immediately all Impressions like Water or liquid Mud, and retains scarce any of them; all the Traces, Forms or IMages which are drawn there are immediately effaced or closed up again, as though you wrote with your finger on the Surface of a River or a Vessel of Oil” (256) (Eric, helpful?, Eeb?, Anzar re: distraction on perceiving and forgetting a hundred Things in an hour?)

On the contrary, in Old Age, Men have a very feeble Remembrance of Things that were done of late, i.e. the same Day or Week or Year; the Brain is grown so hard that the present Images or Strokes make little or no Impression, and therefore they immediately vanish (256) … Prisco in his seventy eighth Year will tell long Stories of Things done when he was in the Battle at the Boyne almost  fifty Years ago...For those Impressions were made when the Brain was more susceptive of them; they have been deeply engraven at the proper Season and therefore they remain. Words and things which he lately spoke or did, they are immediately forgot, because the Brain is now grown more dry and solid in its Consistence, and receives not much more Impression than if you wrote with your Finger on a Floor of Clay, or a plaister’d Wall. (Eric, Eeb? those working on absorption? obsession?)

But in the middle stage of Life, ..from fifteen to fifty Years of Age… the Brain easily receives and long retains the Images and Traces which are impressed upon it. (256) and the natural Spirits are more active to range these little infinite unknown Figures of Things in their proper Cells or Cavities to preserve and recollect them. (257) (Eeb, Eric, Maura, Savannah?)

Whatsoever therefore keeps the Brain in its best Temper and Consistence may be a Help to preserve the Memory; but Excess of Wine or Luxury of any Kind, as well as Excess in the Studies of Learning or the Businesses of Life, may overwhelm the Memory by overstraining and weakening the Fibres of the Brain, over-wasting, the Spirits, injuring the true Consistence of that tender Substance [of the Brain] and confounding the Images that are laid up there. (257) (absorption folks + Byron)

P&P Pt. 1

"You began the evening well, Charlotte," said Mrs. Bennet with civil self-comman to Miss Lucas. "You were Mr. Bingley's first choice." "Yes; but he seemed to like his second better." "Oh! You mean Jane, I suppose, because he danced with her twice. To be sure that did seems as if he admired her - indeed I rather believe he did." 

"The cognitive awards of reading fiction might thus be aligned with the cognitive rewards of pretend play through a shared capacity to stimulate and develop the imagination. It may mean that our enjoyment of fiction is predicated - at least in part - upon our awareness of our 'trying on' mental states potentially available to us but at a given moment differing from our own." 

Pride and Prejudice has an interesting quality of being a fantastic novel while at the same time having characters that irk me beyond explanation. The state of society in the novel is dismal and backwards and it baffles me how it is okay to think so low of oneself just because one does not have a man in their life. I applaud Austen for so easily evoking such emotions in me because I know she in no way was part of that society and I like to think that since the book was so well received by that very same society, that she was poking fun of them without them even realizing. 

In the quote above we can see the lack of class and self-worth in Mrs. Bennet just by looking at the seriousness in which she talks about men. One dance or two and whom he admired the most and most of all of how agreeable he was - just things that are so very important to care about and they form the basis of the objectives that these women have in life.

What Austen's overarching objective was with this novel, however, is not very much related to why people read fiction, the question that Zunshine tries to answer. Nevertheless, it is interesting to read to wrap one's head around why people genuinely enjoy Darcy's story in a day and age where the society portrayed in the book is thankful declining. This quote offers just one explanation.

The Humours | Emotion and Disease

A few links of interest:

Emotion and Disease from the NIH

History of Mind, Medicine, and the Humors: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/emotions/balance.html

PET scanning (from 2011, so a bit outdated):
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/emotions/frontiers.html

The four elements, four qualities, four seasons:
http://wellcomelibrary.org/player/b11594846#0/0/-0.224,-0.0626,1.6351,0.7568

What is the difference between boredom and idleness?

Quote 1: “Boredom, however, includes as a component the "need for intense mental activity," a need that in the bored person cannot find gratification by generating its own impulse but seeks "incitements" from the outside world as a means of decreasing tension" (Spacks 4).

Quote 2: “The Idler, who habituates himself to be satisfied with what he can most easily obtain, not only escapes labours which are often fruitless, but sometimes succeeds better than those who despise all that is within their reach, and think every thing more valuable as it is harder to be acquired”(Idler 1).

             Prior to reading Spacks’ first chapter in Boredom and the excerpt from Johnson’s Idler I assumed that being bored and being idle were similar and rooted within one another: being idle—not doing anything—causing one to be bored. When looking at how the readings for this week framed boredom and idleness, clear differences between the two can be seen. After reading both quotes I got the sense that if someone is idle they are genuinely, perfectly content with their lack of mental stimulation whereas if someone is bored they are longing to be engaged. Also I gathered that idleness is a mental state that is internalized for want of being idle while boredom occurs externally from lack of stimulation from the outside world.

In the first quote on boredom, Spacks states that that boredom requires “intense mental activity” calling it “a need” that must be fulfilled to “decrease tension.” From the urgency of language used, you can feel the sense the intense wanting one who is bored has to regain cognitive activity: it is necessary for said person to become externally engaged in order to maintain a feeling of internal wellbeing. In the second quote Johnson uses words such as “habituates” and “satisfied” to show how being idle is a mental state that the Idler has become accustomed to and has internalized as a guide for subsequent actions (or inaction) that will provide contentment. I found it interesting that Johnson describes the Idler as someone who may actually be out witting the intelligent by just getting by cognitively since their energy does not have to be put forth for tasks that may prove to be menial or unimportant. I could easily see people experiencing boredom as those who may take part in actions they are not passionate about just in order to regain mental stimulus and may ultimately be wasting their time with something that with repetition could make them bored once again.

On Boredom | A Poem by John Berryman

Dream Song 14

BY JOHN BERRYMAN

Life, friends, is boring. We must not say so.   

After all, the sky flashes, the great sea yearns,   

we ourselves flash and yearn,

and moreover my mother told me as a boy   

(repeatingly) ‘Ever to confess you’re bored   

means you have no

Inner Resources.’ I conclude now I have no   

inner resources, because I am heavy bored.

Peoples bore me,

literature bores me, especially great literature,   

Henry bores me, with his plights & gripes   

as bad as achilles,

who loves people and valiant art, which bores me.   

And the tranquil hills, & gin, look like a drag   

and somehow a dog

has taken itself & its tail considerably away

into mountains or sea or sky, leaving            

behind: me, wag.

Steven Pinker in town Today

A Note from Professor Devin McAuley, Cognitive Science Program 

A reminder that Dr. Steven Pinker will be visiting today, Monday, October 28 as a speaker in the World View Lecture Series at the Wharton Center. 

In addition to his talk at the Wharton Center, there will be a Q&A session with Dr. Pinker from 4:00 - 5:00 pm in Wells Hall room B115. The general topic of the Q&A will be on his book 'How the Mind Works'.  The Q&A session will be open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis, with a room capacity of 600.   

Please distribute this announcement broadly and encourage your students to attend.  

Given the large room size, please let the students in your classes know about this great opportunity.  It would be really super if we can pack the room.

Best,

Devin

Readings for Next Week

Week 10: Boredom and Interest

TUESDAY

                        *Tristram Shandy,

(focus on sermon scene, “chestnut” scene, and other

descriptions of boredom, interest, or disinterest)

                        Johnson’s Rambler and Idler (on ANGEL)

                        Spacks, Boredom, Intro and Chap. 1

                        *Fielding, Covent Garden Journal

                                    No. 4, A Modern Glossary, 153-157

No. 6, Taste in Books and Reading 167-172               

                       

THURSDAY

                                   

                        Smith, The Wealth of Nations (PE)

                        Mandeville, The Fable of the Bees (PE 242-253)

                       

Bring Johnson’s Rambler & Idler, cont.

*Fielding, Covent Garden Journal, cont.

No. 4, A Modern Glossary, 153-157

No. 6, Taste in Books and Reading (167-172)

                        Optional:  Pope, Essay on Criticism [A])

                                         Addison,  “The Royal Exchange” (PE, 480)

                                         Emmott, see Readings for Week 9