Human Nature and Conduct · Chapter
Habit and Social Psychology explained
Dewey argues that a psychology based on habit is inherently social and objective, rejecting the traditional notion of an independent, separate mind.
What happens
Dewey argues that a psychology based on habit is inherently social and objective, rejecting the traditional notion of an independent, separate mind. He contends that individuality arises from the conflict of habits and impulses, which leads to the reconstruction of customs. The chapter critiques both orthodox psychology and clinical psychology for retaining the false premise of a separate psychic realm, and emphasizes that mind as individual is a product of social conditions and habitual adjustment.
Themes in this chapter
Social Psychology as the Study of Collective Habit
Dewey argues that habit is inherently social, formed through adjustment to environing conditions, especially the activities of others, and that social psychology must abandon the premise of separate, independent minds.
Impulse and Intelligence as Agents of Change
The chapter introduces impulse as the beginning of individuality in mind, arising from conflict of habits and leading to deliberate efforts to transform customs and environment.
Key passages
“Settled and regular action must contain an adjustment of environing conditions; it must incorporate them in itself. For human beings, the environing affairs directly important are those formed by the activities of other human beings.”
Stable, habitual behavior inherently involves adapting to and incorporating surrounding conditions, especially the actions of other people.
Dewey establishes the social foundation of habit.
“The traditional psychology of the original separate soul, mind or consciousness is in truth a reflex of conditions which cut human nature off from its natural objective relations.”
The old idea of an isolated mind or soul is actually a reflection of social conditions that separate human nature from its real, objective connections.
Dewey critiques the historical and social origins of psychological individualism.
“Conflict of habits releases impulsive activities which in their manifestation require a modification of habit, of custom and convention.”
When habits clash, they free up impulsive actions that demand changes in established habits and social customs.
This describes the mechanism by which impulse leads to social change and individual mind.