The Principles of Psychology
Habit as Part of the Human Condition
In James' book he provides solid theories and supporting data from extensive research of human life and interactions regarding instincts, habits and the human condition. Nearly every point that he makes (in 1890) is totally relevent and useful when dealing with today's challenges and especially in understanding and helping people survive disasters and extreme situations.
Understanding how the human mind functions in relation to the perpensities, experiences, and habits acts as a master key to unlocking the potential of how people make decisions that are often negative for themselves. Such clues and insights allow us to help ourselves and others "course correct" and move in a better direction for our health, safety and happiness.
William James
(1842-1910)
William James; the father of American Psychology grappled with the human psyche and it propensities in relation to life, survival, religion and life after death. In Jame’s book: The Principles of Psychology (1890), he posited a series of ideas that have serious and valuable importance in the understanding of how humans are driven psychologically and we can simply draw some very important points that can increase our ability to survive dire circumstances.
William James Illustrates
How Habit Defines Human Actions and Survival
in Principles of Psychology
CHAPTER IV [1]
Habit
When we look at living creatures from an outward point of view, one of the first things that strike us is that they are bundles of habits. In wild animals, the usual round of daily behavior seems a necessity implanted at birth; in animals domesticated, and especially in man, it seems, to a great extent, to be the result of education. The habits to which there is an innate tendency are called instincts; some of those due to education would by most persons be called acts of reason. It thus appears that habit covers a very large part of life, and that one engaged in studying the objective manifestations of mind is bound at the very outset to define clearly just what its limits are.
The moment one tries to define what habit is, one is led to the fundamental properties of matter. The laws of Nature are nothing but the immutable habits which the different elementary sorts of matter follow in their actions and reactions upon each other. In the organic (animal and human) world, however, the habits are more variable than this. Even instincts vary from one individual to another of a kind; and are modified in the same individual, as we shall later see, to suit the exigencies of the case.
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