The principles of psychology

Abstract

Human cognition progresses from simple sensation—a primitive acquaintance with qualities—to complex perception, which integrates immediate stimuli with reproductive processes and associated memories. Spatial awareness originates from an inherent feeling of extensity in three dimensions, later organized through local signs and the measurement of sense-spaces against each other. Mental imagery varies significantly across individuals, categorizing them into visual, auditory, or motor types. The perception of reality is a psychological state of belief fundamentally anchored in bodily existence and emotional urgency. Reasoning transcends mere associative thinking through the extraction of essential properties from concrete data, a process predicated on association by similarity. Physiological reactions precede rather than follow emotional states; emotions represent the mind’s perception of bodily changes triggered by specific stimuli. Similarly, instincts function as reflex impulses that provide the foundation for habitual behavior. Voluntary action is characterized by the dominance of a mental representation of an act’s sensory effects, with volitional effort defined as the sustained attention to a difficult or unwelcome idea. Finally, necessary truths and mental categories arise not solely from external experience but from internal cerebral variations that prove congruent with the natural world. – AI-generated abstract.