ABSTRACT
It is impossible to offer an adequate account of even the more important methods of psychological science, as these are far too numerous and varied, each department having its own special technique. In order to gain some idea of how psychologists attack their problems, however, we may consider the larger standpoints of technique, with a few illustrations of particular methods. Language is not merely a system of conventional symbols for conscious experiences and other facts,—it is also a form of behaviour. It often tells far more about our secret wishes and our personality than we realise. Indeed, of many prehistoric folk, fragmentary relics of these products of their busy lives are all we possess as an index to their mental activities. The experimental method deliberately interferes with the course of nature. It is not content to let things happen in the ordinary way.
