We TIPSters, led by the redoubtable Stephen Black, have long searched for the source of the iceberg metaphor of the mind that is often, and incorrectly, attributed to Sigmund Freud. I have just run across a source, authored by a famous American psychologist and first published in 1910 in a widely-circulated magazine, that I believe to be the (at least proximal) source of that metaphor. (I do not recall anyone spotting this source before, but please let us know if I have slighted you).
The author was none other than G. Stanley Hall, and the source is an article entitle "A Children's Institute" that appeared in /Harper's Monthly/ (Sorry for the ellipses. I have drawn the passage from a quotation that appeared in a 1912 /AJP/ article by E. B. Titchener): "Formerly everyone supposed that self-observation, or looking in upon our own psychic processes, or the intensification of self-consciousness, was the oracle and muse of philosophic studies. Now, however, . . . it is coming to be seen that this method gives us access to but a very small part of the soul, as, like an iceberg, nine-tenths of which is submerged under water and only one-tenth is visible above the surface of the sea, in the same way unconscious and instinctive forces now seem to be dominant in human life, . . . and these can be studied only objectively by natural-history methods." Although Titchener quotes it as a "dissentient note" in an article in which he defends his method of introspection, there can be little doubt that Hall was referring, at least in part, to Freud, who had, just the year before (1909), been hosted by Hall at a 20th anniversary conference for Clark University (of which Hall was president), and at which Freud had presented the only lectures he would ever give in the US -- the lectures that were later published as _The Origin and Development of Psychoanalysis_. Regards, Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ "Part of respecting another person is taking the time to criticise his or her views." - Melissa Lane, in a /Guardian/ obituary for philosopher Peter Lipton ================================= --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
