Abstract
THERE is much in Dr. Varendonck's book which will be of interest and of value to psychologists not only of the newer schools but also to those who are nowadays spoken of as “academic.” The central aim is to disentangle under distinguishing analysis the part (1) played by “affective thinking” (or what Prof. Freud in the introduction prefers to call “freely wandering or phantastic thinking”) in normal life, from (2) that which is played by psychical processes in which a higher order of reflective thinking takes some share. To this end, day-dreams are discussed with much patience and insight. The conclusion reached is that affective thinking may take place in the three levels of consciousness, but that unconscious and fore-conscious thinking are always affective. Where so much turns on the role of the affect, chapters on its relation to memory, apperception, ideation, and visualisation, and one on the issues of affective thinking, are helpful to an adequate grasp of the author's position.
The Psychology of Day-Dreams.
Dr.
J.
Varendonck
By. With an Introduction by Prof. S. Freud. Pp. 367. (London: George Allen and Unwin, Ltd.; New York: The Macmillan Company, 1921.) 18s. net.
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The Psychology of Day-Dreams . Nature 111, 12 (1923). https://doi.org/10.1038/111012c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/111012c0