GENERAL CONDITIONS GIVING VALUE TO EXPERIENCE
1. Health and Vigor.
The mind and body are so intimately connected that the value of an experience is seriously affected by depletion or exhaustion of the body. The experiences acquired when one is fresh and vigorous are remembered; those acquired when one is tired are forgotten. Most college students find that lessons gotten in the morning are better remembered and are more readily applied than those learned after a day of exhaustive work. We get most out of those experiences secured when we are feeling the most vigorous, whether the vigor be dependent upon age, rest, or general health.
2. Experience is valuable proportionately as we apply ourselves to the task on hand. By intensity of application we not only accomplish <p 279> more, but each unit of work contributes more to our development. Under the stress of voluntary and spontaneous attention, under the stimulus of personal efficiency-ideals, and under such social demands as competition and imitation we develop new methods of thought and action which are thereupon adopted as the methods for future action.
3. The value of an experience depends upon what has been called the ``personal attitude'' sustained during the experience. Three forms of ``personal attitudes'' have been distinguished and are designated as follows:—
(a) The submissive or suggestible attitude.
(b) The self-attentive attitude.
(c) The objective or the problem attitude.
(a) One is likely to be thrown into the submissive attitude when a new situation arises (a business problem), if one knows that he is in the presence of others who could solve the problem with relative ease or accuracy. In such a situation the individual is hampered in his thinking by the presence of those who are more expert than he. His thinking is <p 280> therefore futile for the present difficulty and is devoid of educative value.
(b) The self-attentive attitude is similar to the submissive attitude, but is not to be confused with it. If when confronted with a difficult problem my attack upon it is weakened by the expectation of assistance from others, I am in a submissive attitude. If, however, my attack is weakened by my realization that I am on trial,—that what I do with the problem will be observed by others,—then I become self-conscious and am thrown into the self- attentive attitude. If I am conscious that I am being watched, it is quite difficult for me to hit a golf ball, to add a column of figures, or to deliver a lecture on psychology. So long as I am self-attentive my efficiency is reduced; I hit on no improved methods of thought or action, and my experience therefore has no permanent value.