Show YOUR CHILDREN He lIe wont won't p pay attention 1 Ever hear it before Ive I've heard It so 00 much from Irom parents and teachers alike aHke that I looked up up this interesting little word In my i psychology It is always bad to lift Jilt unsupported sentences from a n treatise and quote them flatly without qualification but butI I II I think these few sentences may be passed on safely without attendant explanation ion tion M My idea is to show how that words we ve pa pass on so glibly arc really rather Complicated things and this question Is no exception Breese says bays What is commonly spoken of or as inattention is not a state of inattention at all but absolute When we say that a schoolboy is II inattentive to hi his lessons It is oftentimes true that he is deeply attentive to something el else the else the e-the- the the- drawing of the teacher he hc Is making or the bent pin in that he lie Intends placing on the seat eat of his enemy across the aisle alse The enterprise on which he Is engaged has completely I displaced the lesson There Is however however however how how- ever a positive e state of attention which has Inappropriately been called inattention It is attention ofa of a low 10 order and exists In the general gentral forms of wandering attention and I dispersed attention In Iii wandering attention conscious consciousness conscious I ness is unstable flitting from one thin thing to another so 50 rapidly that it is inefficient nt I In Iii dispersed attention objects and ideas do not stand out clearly and distinctly Mental states are arc re not lo localized to- to sharply and nd so o consciousness conscious conscious- ness Is b blurred and hazy These two forms of attention are frequently the signs of inanition anemia a general lowered bodily condition fatigue or even of a mental dis disease ase That is not hard to understand Is It S IMPORTANT NT The next is a bit more involved but It shows an interesting point He says The particular way we may attend to the given ghen stimulus the thing we are being attentive to Is determined by the way we have ha perceived perceived perceived per per- it in the thc past and by tho the nature na na- na- na lure ture of or our consciousness at that time lime the way by which we attend to the ringing of a bell outside for in instance In- In stance whether stance whether we vc know it to be a street car bell bel or that of a n bakers baker's ers er's wagon depends wagon depends on our past e experiences perl- perl and our pl present ent surroundings He explains the last paragraph by going oin into mental processes and asso asso- I elated ideas but we vc need not bother I with ith that The thing I want to stress in m both of these paragraphs is that I the childs child's attention will wUl always be vague ague and dissipated if his previous I Impressions have ha not been clear or orif if he lie i Is not Interested |