CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY DR. E. C. BRAGG - Trinity College

patterns. In some it is confusion, discord, a mere jumble of everyday memories gathered
haphazardly, while on the part of some it takes the form of a well-ordered desk or filing
cabinet. Memory is stored with learning in a systematized manner. Education properly
received tends to put the mind in order. (Here again is the necessity of good habits of
studying.)
Our studying should be looked upon as a capital investment. God has called us out into
His service; our equipment shall be two-fold: Mental and Spiritual. We see the failure of
those who emphasize either one to the exclusion of the other. The development of the mind
by systematic study and learning is as important to our future ministry as the spiritual
development under the means of grace. In fact, spirituality will follow learning if the wills
assent unto the things learned. We grow by the sincere milk of the Word. The whole of our
treatment of learning and retention or the psychology of learning is wrapped up in three
operations of the same mental act. Learning is memory being stored or memory in
acquisition, retention, or memory proper, as we call it, memory in retention; forgetting is
memory slipping or losing its store (at least conscious memory). This acquiring of
knowledge can be more careless, accidental, or effort toward some specific goal. This latter
is, of course, our goal as "Workmen approved of God."
1. In the acquiring of knowledge there are three elements: Perception, Conception,
and Apperception. Perception is awareness with interpretation. All learning is
perception, the mind evaluating as it is aware of the reports of the senses.
Apperception has to do with my own particular and peculiar mental interpretation of
what I have perceived in relation to myself. Conception is the reasoning upon it. All
those byways must be overlooked for our immediate subject, attention. Attention is
awareness or consciousness focused upon one specific detail. It is the gateway to
learning. Husband calls it, "The process which clarifies sensations." Illustration: Hear
a light scratching at the door; we focus our attention upon it and identify it as our
door, so "Attention is a mental flashlight; whatever it is focused upon is made more
distinct." This throws a lot of light upon attention as the doorway to learning. That
thing which is learned with a diffused attention, distracted attention, or passive
attention is soon forgotten because it wasn't clarified by focused attention. There are
three forms of attention:
a. Passive attention. There are stimulations, which come to us as compulsions
forcing themselves on our attention, such as a loud noise, brilliant lights, and
swiftly moving objects, etc. We cannot refrain from attending to it. It
momentarily blinds us to all other stimuli.
b. Active attention. This is true selective attention, the holding of the mind
forcibly to attend to certain things. This involves effort and is the first fruits of
study.
c. Secondary passive attention. This is when active attention passes over into
passive, the becoming so absorbed in the thing you have given voluntary
attention to until buried or sunk into the study or work. Many other stimuli go
unnoticed: conversation, noises, and interruptions. This we call concentration.
Most all learning from studying is at first active attention, and only becomes
secondary passive attention after there is mastery of the mind’s focusing ability