ABSTRACT
Purposive Thinking Equals Spontaneous Thinking Plus Selection.—We distinguish spontaneous or aimless thinking from controlled or purposive thinking. In the former ideas flow on at random, unchecked by any interference on the part of our general intentions and aiming at no desired goal. The prattle of babies, the reveries and haphazard trains of thought which come as we sit idly thinking of nothing in particular, and the majority of dreams are of this sort. In the latter some end is in view; our thoughts are kept so far as may be under control and make an intelligible sequence.
