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In this book McDougall endeavours to make practical application of his psychology for the benefit of those who desire (to quote the dust cover) 'to be usefully happy and blamelessly successful'. He hopes (this time to quote the preface) 'that it may be found to go a little farther than
others of similar aim in affording practical guidance in the conduct of life', and whatever view we may take of the attempt, it can scarcely be denied that this modest hope is amply justified. There can be little doubt that the book really does apply psychological knowledge to the concrete problems of life with greater success than any previous attempt on the same scale.
The book falls into two fairly distinct parts—the first dealing with the more formal and general aspects of conduct, the second with the more material and specific aspects. From the scientific point of view these two parts are of rather unequal worth. The first part (including the first 170 pages) consists very largely of an elaboration in certain particular directions of the author's psychological system, as it has already been developed in his previous works, notably in the Social Psychology and the Outline of Psychology. It abounds in the carefully made and usefully applied distinctions that are such a prominent feature of these other books—distinctions which, whatever may be their ultimate value, help very materially towards the preliminary classification of many obscure and hitherto confused problems. Of such distinctions may be mentioned in particular: that between Ambitions (aiming chiefly at success as measured by the opinions of others) and Ideals (aiming chiefly at success as measured by an individual's own view of ultimate reality); that between Principles (which are intellectually important but in themselves sterile as regards behaviour) and Sentiments (which imply the organization of conative tendencies and which therefore are bound to influence conduct); that between (the more complex and adaptab