Note 287 — LECTURE XIX (THE SAME CONTINUED)—THE B PERSONALITY

The science of human personality is becoming a special branch of psychology and is based upon the recognition and study of the innate psycho-physiological systems of which a few are mentioned here. Of the most recent works on this subject, those of Alexander F. Shand (The Foundations of Character) and William McDougall (Social Psychology) are the most important contributions. They are based on the study of normal behavior. Abnormal alterations, such as are met with in the psychoses and multiple personality, will prove to be a more fruitful field for study and will provide more valuable contributions to our knowledge of normal mechanisms, just as the pathology of the nervous system has done for our knowledge of its anatomy and physiology. Disease dissects the mind far better than can introspection or observation.