Review of Present Day Psychology: An Objective Study in Educational Psychology

Abstract

Reviews the book, Present Day Psychology: An Objective Study in Educational Psychology by Alene Ralston and Catherine J. Gage (1931). The reviewer notes that in presenting this book, the authors, according to their statement, are attempting "to put the fundamental facts of educational psychology in a language simple enough for the uninitiated to read and understand." Although they have succeeded, they have also created an impression of simplicity and certainty which does not exist in psychology. The authors should have been more critical in their "gleanings," and more careful in their interpretations. A great amount of material from many authors is presented, but not all of it is the result of careful experimentation. The book is divided into three parts: Living, Learning, and Measuring. This book might be recommended to the parent or to anyone who has no further ambition or need than to be simply "initiated." It might even be recommended to the secondary school teacher who must fulfill a psychology requirement for secondary teaching. This text should be recommended no further and should be avoided as so much poison, particularly by the student who plans to take more than one course in psychology and in the later courses would have to "unlearn" many of the things which he learned here. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)