CHAPTER X
ASSOCIATION
第十章 联系
Whence came the thought that occupies you this moment, and what determines the next that is to follow? Introspection reveals no more interesting fact concerning our minds than that our thoughts move in a connected and orderly array and not in a hit-and-miss fashion. Our mental states do not throng the stream of consciousness like so many pieces of wood following each other at random down a rushing current, now this one ahead, now that. On the contrary, our thoughts come, one after the other, as they are beckoned orcaused. The thought now in the focal point of your consciousness appeared because it sprouted out of the one just preceding it; and the present thought, before it departs, will determine its successor and lead it upon the scene. This is to say that our thought stream possesses not only a continuity, but also a unity; it has coherence and system. This coherence and system, which operates in accordance with definite laws, is brought about by what the psychologist calls association.
你此刻所想的念头从哪里来？下一个念头又将如何产生？内省显示，我们的思维以连贯有序的方式运动，而非随意杂乱。我们的心理状态不会像许多木头一样在意识的急流中随机地跟随彼此，现在这个在前，那个在后。相反，我们的思想是一个接一个地出现，因为它们是被召唤或引起的。你现在意识焦点中的思想出现是因为它从刚刚之前的那一个思想中萌芽出来；而当前的思想，在它离开之前，将决定它的继任者并将其引导到现场。这就是说，我们的思维流不仅具有连续性，还具有统一性；它具有连贯性和系统性。这种连贯性和系统性，按照明确的法则运作，是由心理学家所说的联想带来的。
1. THE NATURE OF ASSOCIATION
1.联系的本质
We may define association, then, as the tendency among our thoughts to form such a system of bonds with each other that the objects of consciousness are vitally connected both(1) as they exist at any given moment,145 and (2) as they occur in succession in the mental stream.
我们可以将联想定义为我们的思想之间形成一种纽带系统的倾向，这种系统使得意识的对象在两个层面上紧密相连：一是在任何给定时刻它们的存在状态，二是它们在思维流中连续出现的顺序。
The Neural Basis of Association.—The association of thoughts—ideas, images, memory—or of a situation with its response, rests primarily on a neural basis. Association is the result of habit working in neurone groups. Its fundamental law is stated by James as follows:"When two elementary brain-processes have been active together or in immediate succession, one of them, on recurring, tends to propagate its excitement into the other." This is but a technical statement of the simple fact that nerve currents flow most easily over the neurone connections that they have already used.
联想的神经基础——思想的联想，包括观念、图像、记忆，或是一种情景与其反应之间的联想，主要基于神经基础。联想是神经元群组中习惯作用的结果。詹姆斯阐述了其基本法则：“当两个基础的大脑过程同时活跃或紧接着连续活跃时，其中一个在重新出现时，会倾向于将其兴奋传播到另一个。”这只是对简单事实的技术陈述，即神经电流最容易沿着它们已经使用过的神经元连接流动。
It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks, because the old tricks employ familiar, much-used neural paths, while new tricks require the connecting up of groups of neurones not in the habit of working together; and the flow of nerve energy is more easily accomplished in the neurones accustomed to working together. One who learns to speak a foreign language late in life never attains the facility and ease that might have been reached at an earlier age. This is because the neural paths for speech are already set for his mother-tongue, and, with the lessened plasticity of age, the new paths are hard to establish.
教一只老狗新把戏很难，因为老把戏使用的是熟悉的、经常使用的神经路径，而新把戏需要连接那些不习惯一起工作的神经元群组；而在习惯于共同工作的神经元中，神经能量的流动更容易完成。一个在晚年学习外语的人永远无法达到如果在更早年龄可能达到的流利和轻松程度。这是因为他的母语已经设定了语言的神经路径，而且随着年龄的增长，可塑性降低，新的路径很难建立。
The connections between the various brain areas, or groups of neurones, are, as we have seen in an earlier chapter, accomplished by means ofassociation fibers. This function requires millions of neurones, which unite every part of the cortex with every other part, thus making it possible for a neural activity going on in any particular center to extend to any other center whatsoever. In the relatively unripe brain of the child, the association fibers have not yet set up most of their connections.146 The age at which memory begins is determined chiefly by the development of a sufficient number of association fibers to bring about recall. The more complex reasoning, which requires many different associative connections, is impossible prior to the existence of adequate neural development. It is this fact that makes it futile to attempt to teach young children the more complicated processes of arithmetic, grammar, or other subjects. They are not yet equipped with the requisite brain machinery to grasp the necessary associations.
正如我们在前一章中所见，大脑各个区域或神经元群组之间的连接是通过联合纤维实现的。这一功能需要数百万个神经元，它们将皮层的每一部分与其他每一部分连接起来，从而使任何一个特定中心的神经活动能够扩展到任何其他中心。在儿童相对未成熟的大脑中，联合纤维还没有建立起大部分的连接。记忆开始的年龄主要由足够数量的联合纤维的发展决定，以实现回忆。更复杂的推理，需要许多不同的联想连接，在足够的神经发展存在之前是不可能的。正是这一事实使得试图教导年幼儿童更复杂的算术、语法或其他学科的过程变得徒劳无功。他们还没有配备必要的大脑机制来把握必要的联想。
Fig. 18.—Diagrammatic scheme of association, in which V stands for the visual, A for the auditory, G for the gustatory, M for the motor, and T for the thought and feeling centers of the cortex.
图18.——联想的示意图，其中V代表视觉中心，A代表听觉中心，G代表味觉中心，M代表运动中心，T代表皮层的思维和感觉中心。
Association the Basis of Memory.—Without the machinery and processes of association we could have no memory. Let us see in a simple illustration how association works in recall. Suppose you are passing an orchard and see a tree loaded with tempting apples. You hesitate, then climb the fence, pick an apple and eat it, hearing the owner's dog bark as you leave the place. The accompanying diagram will illustrate roughly the centers of the cortex which were involved in the act, and the association fibers which connect them. (See Fig.147 18.) Now let us see how you may afterward remember the circumstance through association. Let us suppose that a week later you are seated at your dining table, and that you begin to eat an apple whose flavor reminds you of the one which you plucked from the tree. From this start how may the entire circumstance be recalled? Remember that the cortical centers connected with the sight of the apple tree, with our thoughts about it, with our movements in getting the apple, and with hearing the dog bark, were all active together with the taste center, and hence tend to be thrown into activity again from its activity. It is easy to see that we may (1) get a visual image of the apple tree and its fruit from a current over the gustatory-visual association fibers; (2) the thoughts, emotions, or deliberations which we had on the former occasion may again recur to us from a current over the gustatory-thought neurones; (3) we may get an image of our movements in climbing the fence and picking the apple from a current over the gustatory-motor fibers; or (4) we may get an auditory image of the barking of the dog from a current over the gustatory-auditory fibers. Indeed, we are sure to get some one or more of these unless the paths are blocked in some way, or our attention leads off in some other direction.
联想是记忆的基础。没有联想的机制和过程，我们就无法拥有记忆。让我们通过一个简单的例子看看联想如何在回忆中起作用。假设你经过一个果园，看到一棵树上挂满了诱人的苹果。你犹豫了一下，然后翻过围栏，摘下一个苹果吃了，离开时听到主人的狗在叫。附带的图表大致描绘了参与此行动的皮层中心以及连接它们的联合纤维。（见图147-18）现在，让我们看看你之后如何通过联想回忆起这一情况。假设一周后，你坐在餐桌前开始吃一个苹果，这个苹果的味道让你想起了你从树上摘的那个。从这个起点，整个情境是如何被回忆起来的？记住，与看到苹果树、我们对它的思考、我们摘苹果的动作以及听到狗叫相关的皮层中心都与味觉中心一起活跃，因此倾向于再次因它的活动而被激活。很容易看出，我们可能（1）通过味觉-视觉联合纤维的电流得到苹果树及其果实的视觉图像；（2）我们之前场合的想法、情绪或考虑可能通过味觉-思维神经元的电流再次浮现；（3）我们可能通过味觉-运动纤维的电流得到翻越围栏和摘苹果动作的图像；或者（4）我们可能通过味觉-听觉纤维的电流得到狗叫声的听觉图像。实际上，除非这些路径以某种方式被阻断，或者我们的注意力被引向其他方向，否则我们肯定会得到这些中的某一个或多个。
Factors Determining Direction of Recall.—Which of these we get first, which of the images the taste percept calls to take its place as it drops out of consciousness, will depend, other things being equal, on which center was most keenly active in the original situation, and is at the moment most permeable. If, at the time we were eating the stolen fruit, our thoughts were keenly self-accusing for taking the apples without permission, then the current will probably discharge148 through the path gustatory-thought, and we shall recall these thoughts and their accompanying feelings. But if it chances that the barking of the dog frightened us badly, then more likely the discharge from the taste center will be along the path gustatory-auditory, and we shall get the auditory image of the dog's barking, which in turn may call up a visual image of his savage appearance over the auditory-visual fibers. It is clear, however, that, given any one of the elements of the entire situation back, the rest are potentially possible to us, and any one may serve as a "cue" to call up all the rest. Whether, given the starting point, we get them all, depends solely on whether the paths are sufficiently open between them for the current to discharge between them, granting that the first experience made sufficient impression to be retained.
决定回忆方向的因素。——在味觉感知消失于意识之外时，我们首先得到哪个图像，哪个图像被味觉感知召唤来取代它的位置，这将取决于在其他条件相同的情况下，哪个中心在原始情境中最为活跃，以及当前最容易渗透。如果我们在吃偷来的水果时，内心强烈自责未经许可就摘取苹果，那么电流可能会通过味觉-思维的路径放电，我们将回忆起这些思考及其伴随的感觉。但是，如果碰巧狗的吠叫声让我们非常害怕，那么从味觉中心放电更有可能是沿着味觉-听觉的路径，我们将得到狗吠声的听觉图像，这反过来可能通过听觉-视觉纤维唤起它凶猛外观的视觉图像。然而，很明显，只要整个情境中的任何一个元素回归，其余部分对我们来说都是潜在可能的，任何一个都可以作为“线索”来唤起所有其他部分。是否能够从起点得到它们全部，仅仅取决于它们之间的路径是否足够开放，以便电流在它们之间放电，前提是第一次经历留下了足够的印象以被保留。
Since this simple illustration may be made infinitely complex by means of the millions of fibers which connect every center in the cortex with every other center, and since, in passing from one experience to another in the round of our daily activities, these various areas are all involved in an endless chain of activities so intimately related that each one can finally lead to all the others, we have here the machinery both of retention and of recall—the mechanism by which our past may be made to serve the present through being reproduced in the form of memory images or ideas. Through this machinery we are unable to escape our past, whether it be good or bad; for both the good and the bad alike are brought back to us through its operations.
由于这个简单的示例可以通过连接皮层中每个中心与其他每个中心的数百万条纤维变得无限复杂，并且由于在我们日常活动的一系列经历中从一个体验到另一个体验的过程中，这些不同的区域都涉及到一个无尽的活动链，这些活动如此密切相关以至于每一个最终都能引导到所有其他活动，我们在这里就有了保留和回忆的机制——通过这种机制，我们的过去可以通过以记忆图像或想法的形式被再现来服务于现在。通过这种机制，我们无法逃避我们的过去，无论它是好是坏；因为好的和坏的都会通过它的操作被带回给我们。
When the repetition of a series of acts has rendered habit secure, the association is relatively certain. If I recite to you A-B-C-D, your thought at once runs on to E, F, G. If I repeat, "Tell me not in mournful numbers,"149 association leads you to follow with "Life is but an empty dream." Your neurone groups are accustomed to act in this way, so the sequence follows. Memorizing anything from the multiplication table to the most beautiful gems of poetic fervor consists, therefore, in the setting up of the right associative connections in the brain.
当一系列行为重复至习惯稳固时，联想就相对确定。如果我向你背诵A-B-C-D，你的思维马上会联想到E、F、G。如果我重复“不要以哀伤的诗句告诉我”，149联想引导你接着想到“人生不过是一场空梦”。你的神经组习惯于这样行动，所以顺序随之而来。因此，从乘法表到诗歌中最美丽的激情宝石的记忆，都存在于大脑中正确联想联系的建立。
Association in Thinking.—All thinking proceeds by the discovery or recognition of relations between the terms or objects of our thought. The science of mathematics rests on the relations found to exist between numbers and quantities. The principles and laws of natural science are based on the relations established among the different forms of matter and the energy that operates in this field. So also in the realm of history, art, ethics, or any other field of human experience. Each fact or event must be linked to other facts or events before it possesses significance. Association therefore lies at the foundation of all thinking, whether that of the original thinker who is creating our sciences, planning and executing the events of history, evolving a system of ethics, or whether one is only learning these fields as they already exist by means of study. Other things being equal, he is the best thinker who has his knowledge related part to part so that the whole forms a unified and usable system.
思维中的联想。—所有思维过程都通过发现或识别我们思维的术语或对象之间的关系来推进。数学科学基于在数字和数量之间发现的关系。自然科学的原理和法则建立在物质的不同形式以及在这一领域运作的能量之间确立的关系基础上。历史、艺术、伦理学或任何其他人类经验领域也是如此。每个事实或事件必须与其他事实或事件相联系，才具有意义。因此，联想是所有思维的基础，无论是原创思想家在创造我们的科学、规划并执行历史事件、发展伦理体系，还是仅仅通过学习已经存在的这些领域。在其他条件相同的情况下，能将知识各部分相互关联、形成统一且可用的系统的人，就是最佳的思考者。
Association and Action.—Association plays an equally important part in all our motor responses, the acts by which we carry on our daily lives, do our work and our play, or whatever else may be necessary in meeting and adapting ourselves to our environment. Some sensations are often repeated, and demand practically the same response each time. In such cases the associations soon become fixed, and the response certain and150 automatic. For example, we sit at the table, and the response of eating follows, with all its complex acts, as a matter of course. We lie down in bed, and the response of sleep comes. We take our place at the piano, and our fingers produce the accustomed music.
联想与行动。—在我们的所有运动反应中，即我们日常生活的行为、工作和娱乐活动，或适应环境所必需的任何其他行为中，联想同样扮演着重要的角色。有些感觉经常重复出现，每次都需要几乎相同的反应。在这种情况下，联想很快就会变得固定，反应变得确定且自动。例如，我们坐在餐桌前，随之而来的就是吃饭的反应，包括所有复杂的动作，都是理所当然的。我们躺在床上，睡眠的反应随之而来。我们坐到钢琴前，手指就会弹奏出熟悉的音乐。
It is of course obvious that the influence of association extends to moral action as well. In general, our conduct follows the trend of established associations. We are likely to do in great moral crises about as we are in the habit of doing in small ones.
当然，联想的影响也显然扩展到道德行为上。总的来说，我们的行为遵循已建立的联想趋势。在重大道德危机中，我们很可能会做出与我们在日常小危机中习惯的行为大致相同的选择。
2. THE TYPES OF ASSOCIATION
2.联系的种类
Fundamental Law of Association.—Stated on the physiological side, the law of habit as set forth in the definition of association in the preceding section includes all the laws of association. In different phrasing we may say: (1) Neurone groups accustomed to acting together have the tendency to work in unison. (2) The more frequently such groups act together the stronger will be the tendency for one to throw the other into action. Also, (3) the more intense the excitement or tension under which they act together the stronger will be the tendency for activity in one to bring about activity in the other.
联想的基本法则。—从生理学角度阐述，如前一节中对联想定义所述的习惯法则，包含了所有联想的法则。用不同的措辞我们可以说：（1）习惯于共同行动的神经组有协同工作的倾向。（2）这些组越频繁地共同行动，一个引发另一个行动的倾向就越强。同时，（3）它们在共同行动时所受的兴奋或张力越大，一个活动引起另一个活动的趋势就越强。
The corresponding facts may be expressed in psychological terms as follows: (1) Facts accustomed to being associated together in the mind have a tendency to reappear together. (2) The more frequently these facts appear together the stronger the tendency for the presence of one to insure the presence of the other. (3) The greater the tension, excitement or concentration when these facts appear in conjunction with each151 other, the more certain the presence of one is to cause the presence of the other.
相应的事实可以用心理学术语表达如下：（1）习惯于在思维中被联想在一起的事实有重新一起出现的倾向。（2）这些事实越频繁地一起出现，一个事实确保另一个事实出现的趋势就越强。（3）当这些事实结合出现时，张力、兴奋或专注度越高，一个事实的出现导致另一个事实出现的可能性就越大。
Several different types of association have been differentiated by psychologists from Aristotle down. It is to be kept in mind, however, that all association typesgo back to the elementary law of habit-connections among the neurones for their explanation. 从亚里士多德开始，心理学家们已经区分出几种不同类型的联想。然而，值得注意的是，所有类型的联想都可以追溯到神经元之间习惯连接的基本规律来解释。
Association by Contiguity.—The recurrence in our minds of many of the elements from our past experience is due to the fact that at some time, possibly at many times, the recurring facts were contiguous in consciousness with some other element or fact which happens now to be again present.All have had the experience of meeting some person whom we had not seen for several months or years, and having a whole series of supposedly forgotten incidents or events connected with our former associations flood into the mind. Things we did, topics we discussed, trips we took, games we played, now recur at the renewal of our acquaintance. For these are the things that were contiguous in our consciousness with our sense of the personality and appearance of our friend. And who has not in similar fashion had a whiff of perfume or the strains of a song recall to him his childhood days! Contiguity is again the explanation.
接近联想——我们脑海中许多过去经历的元素之所以会反复出现，是因为它们在某个时刻（可能多次）与现在再次出现的某些其他元素或事实在意识中相邻接。我们都有过这样的经历：遇到一个几个月或几年未见的人，一系列本以为已经遗忘的往事或事件突然涌入脑海。我们做过的事、讨论过的话题、旅行的经历、玩过的游戏，在重逢时又浮现在眼前。因为这些事物曾与我们对该朋友个性和外貌的认知在意识中相邻接。谁没有因为一缕香水味或一段旋律而回忆起童年时光呢！接近性同样是解释这种现象的原因。
At the Mercy of Our Associations.—Through the law thus operating we are in a sense at the mercy of our associations, which may be bad as well as good. We may form certain lines of interest to guide our thought, and attention may in some degree direct it, but one's mental make-up is, after all, largely dependent on the character of his associations. Evil thoughts, evil memories, evil imaginations—these all come about through the association of unworthy or impure images along with the good in our stream of thought. We may try152 to forget the base deed and banish it forever from our thinking, but lo! in an unguarded moment the nerve current shoots into the old path, and the impure thought flashes into the mind, unsought and unwelcomed. Every young man who thinks he must indulge in a little sowing of wild oats before he settles down to a correct life, and so deals in unworthy thoughts and deeds, is putting a mortgage on his future; for he will find the inexorable machinery of his nervous system grinding the hated images of such things back into his mind as surely as the mill returns to the sack of the miller what he feeds into the hopper. He may refuse to harbor these thoughts, but he can no more hinder their seeking admission to his mind than he can prevent the tramp from knocking at his door. He may drive such images from his mind the moment they are discovered, and indeed is guilty if he does not; but not taking offense at this rebuff, the unwelcome thought again seeks admission.
受我们联想的支配——通过这样的法则，我们在某种意义上受到我们联想的支配，这些联想可能是好的，也可能是坏的。我们可以形成某些兴趣线路来引导我们的思考，注意力在一定程度上可以指导它，但一个人的心理构成毕竟在很大程度上依赖于他的联想的性质。邪恶的想法、糟糕的记忆、恶劣的想象——这些都是由于在我们的思维流中不良或不纯的图像与良好的图像相联系而产生的。我们可能试图忘记卑鄙的行为并将其永远从我们的思考中驱逐出去，但看！在不经意间，神经电流射入旧有的路径，不洁的思想突然闪现在脑海中，未经请求也不受欢迎。每个认为自己必须在安定下来过上正确生活之前放纵一下的年轻人，因此涉足不值得的思想和行为，就是在为自己的未来设下抵押；因为他会发现他那不可阻挡的神经系统机制就像磨坊将磨坊主喂进料斗的东西返回给他一样，肯定地将这些令人厌恶的图像重新碾回他的大脑。他可能会拒绝容纳这些思想，但他无法阻止它们试图进入他的心灵，就像他无法阻止流浪汉敲他的门一样。他可能在发现这些图像的那一刻就将其从脑海中驱逐出去，而且如果他不这么做，确实是有罪的；但是不受欢迎的思想并不因此受挫，再次寻求进入。
The only protection against the return of the undesirable associations is to choose lines of thought as little related to them as possible. But even then, do the best we may, an occasional "connection" will be set up, we know not how, and the unwelcome image stands staring us in the face, as the corpse of Eugene Aram's victim confronted him at every turn, though he thought it safely buried. A minister of my acquaintance tells me that in the holiest moments of his most exalted thought, images rise in his mind which he loathes, and from which he recoils in horror. Not only does he drive them away at once, but he seeks to lock and bar the door against them by firmly resolving that he will never think of them again. But alas! that is beyond his control. The tares have been sown among the wheat, and will persist153 along with it until the end. In his boyhood these images were given into the keeping of his brain cells, and they are only being faithful to their trust.
唯一防止不受欢迎的联想回归的方法是选择与之尽可能无关的思维线路。但即便如此，尽我们所能，偶尔还是会有“联系”被建立起来，我们不知道是如何发生的，不受欢迎的图像就站在那里盯着我们的脸，就像尤金·阿拉姆的受害者的尸体一样，尽管他认为它已经被安全地埋葬了，却每次转身都面对着他。我认识的一位牧师告诉我，在他最神圣的思考时刻，他脑海中会浮现出他厌恶并恐惧退缩的图像。他不仅立即将它们赶走，还试图通过坚定地决定不再思考它们来锁紧并挡住这扇门。但是，唉！那是他无法控制的。杂草已经和小麦一起播种，将一直持续到最终。在他的童年时期，这些图像被交给了他的脑细胞保管，而它们只是在忠实地履行自己的职责。
Association by Similarity and Contrast.—All are familiar with the fact that like tends to suggest like. One friend reminds us of another friend when he manifests similar traits of character, shows the same tricks of manner, or has the same peculiarities of speech or gesture. The telling of a ghost or burglar story in a company will at once suggest a similar story to every person of the group, and before we know it the conversation has settled down to ghosts or burglars. One boastful boy is enough to start the gang to recounting their real or imaginary exploits.Good and beautiful thoughts tend to call up other good and beautiful thoughts, while evil thoughts are likely to produce after their own kind; like produces like.
相似性和对比联想——所有人都熟悉这样一个事实，即相似的倾向于引发相似的联想。当一位朋友表现出与另一位朋友相似的特质、相同的行为习惯或具有相同的言语和手势特征时，他会使我们想起那位朋友。在一群人中讲述一个鬼怪或盗贼的故事会立即让每个人联想到一个类似的故事，不知不觉间，谈话就围绕着鬼怪或盗贼展开了。一个爱吹牛的男孩足以让整个团队开始谈论他们真实或想象中的壮举。好而美的思想倾向于唤起其他好而美的思想，而邪恶的思想很可能产生同类；相似产生相似。
Another form of relationship is, however, quite as common as similars in our thinking. In certain directions we naturally think inopposites. Black suggests white, good suggests bad, fat suggests lean, wealth suggests poverty, happiness suggests sorrow, and so on.
然而，另一种形式的关系在我们的思维中与相似性一样常见。在某些方面，我们自然而然地会想到对立面。黑色让人联想到白色，好让人想到坏，胖让人想到瘦，富有让人想到贫穷，快乐让人想到悲伤，等等。
The tendency of our thought thus to group in similars and opposites is clear when we go back to the fundamental law of association. The fact is that we more frequently assemble our thoughts in these ways than in haphazard relations. We habitually group similars together, or compare opposites in our thinking; hence these are the terms between which associative bonds are formed.
当我们回顾联想的基本法则时，我们的思维倾向于将相似性和对立性分组的倾向就变得显而易见。事实上，我们更频繁地以这些方式组织我们的思想，而不是随意地关联。我们习惯性地将相似的事物归为一组，或在思考中比较对立面；因此，在这些术语之间形成了联想性的联系。
Partial, or Selective, Association.—The past is never wholly reinstated in present consciousness. Many elements, because they had formed fewer associations, or because they find some obstacle to recall, are permanently154 dropped out and forgotten. In other words, association is always selective, favoring now this item of experience, now that, above the rest.
部分或选择性联想——过去从未完全在现在的意识中重现。许多元素，因为它们形成的联想较少，或者因为它们发现有些障碍阻碍回忆，被永久地排除并遗忘了。换句话说，联想总是有选择性的，有时偏好这项经验，有时又偏好那项，高于其他所有。
It is well that this is so; for to be unable to escape from the great mass of minutiæ and unimportant detail in one's past would be intolerable, and would so cumber the mind with useless rubbish as to destroy its usefulness. We have surely all had some experience with the type of persons whose associations are so complete and impartial that all their conversation teems with unessential and irrelevant details. They cannot recount the simplest incident in its essential points but, slaves to literalness, make themselves insufferable bores by entering upon every lane and by-path of circumstance that leads nowhere and matters not the least in their story. Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot, Shakespeare, and many other writers have seized upon such characters and made use of them for their comic effect. James, in illustrating this mental type, has quoted the following from Miss Austen's "Emma":
幸好事实如此；因为无法从过去大量的琐碎细节和不重要的事情中逃脱，将会令人难以忍受，并且会使心智充斥着无用的垃圾，从而破坏其实用性。我们肯定都遇到过这样的人，他们的联想如此完整和公正，以至于他们所有的谈话都充满了非本质和不相关的细节。他们无法仅用要点来叙述最简单的事件，而是成为了文字的奴隶，通过进入每一条无关紧要、无关紧要的小路和旁道，使自己变得无法忍受的乏味。狄更斯、萨克雷、乔治·艾略特、莎士比亚以及其他许多作家都抓住了这样的角色，并利用它们产生喜剧效果。詹姆斯在阐述这种心理类型时，引用了奥斯汀《爱玛》中的以下内容：
"'But where couldyou hear it?' cried Miss Bates. 'Where could you possibly hear it, Mr. Knightley? For it is not five minutes since I received Mrs. Cole's note—no, it cannot be more than five—or at least ten—for I had got my bonnet and spencer on, just ready to come out—I was only gone down to speak to Patty again about the pork—Jane was standing in the passage—were not you, Jane?—for my mother was so afraid that we had not any salting-pan large enough. So I said I would go down and see, and Jane said: "Shall I go down instead? for I think you have a little cold, and Patty has been washing the kitchen." "Oh, my dear," said I—well, and just then came the note.'"
“可是你从哪儿听说的呢？”贝茨小姐叫道。“你怎么可能听说呢，奈特利先生？因为就在五分钟前我才收到科尔夫人的便条——不，不可能超过五分钟——或者至少十分钟——因为我已经戴上帽子和披肩，准备出门了——我只是又下去跟帕蒂再说一遍关于猪肉的事——简就站在走廊里——是不是，简？——因为我妈妈非常担心我们没有足够大的腌肉盘。所以我说我要去看看，简说：‘我替你去怎么样？因为我觉得你有一点点感冒，而且帕蒂一直在洗厨房。’‘哦，亲爱的，’我说——就在这时便条来了。”
The Remedy.—The remedy for such wearisome and155 fruitless methods of association is, as a matter of theory, simple and easy. It is to emphasize, intensify, and dwell upon the significant and essential in our thinking. The person who listens to a story, who studies a lesson, or who is a participant in any event must apply a sense of value, recognizing and fixing the important and relegating the trivial and unimportant to their proper level. Not to train one's self to think in this discriminating way is much like learning to play a piano by striking each key with equal force!
解决之道——对于这种令人厌烦且无果的联想方式，理论上的解决办法简单易行。那就是在我们的思考中强调、加强并专注于有意义和本质的内容。无论是听故事的人，学习课程的学生，还是任何事件的参与者，都必须运用价值感，识别并确定重要的内容，同时将琐碎和不重要的内容降至适当的水平。不训练自己以这种有辨别力的方式思考，就像学习弹钢琴时用相同的力量敲击每个键一样！
3. TRAINING IN ASSOCIATION
3.训练联系能力
Since association is at bottom nothing but habit at work in the mental processes, it follows that it, like other forms of habit, can be encouraged or suppressed by training. Certainly, no part of one's education is of greater importance than the character of his associations. For upon these will largely depend not alone thecontent of his mental stream, the stuff of his thinking, but also its organization, or the use made of the thought material at hand. In fact, the whole science of education rests on the laws and principles involved in setting up right systems of associative connections in the individual.
既然联想归根结底不过是在心理过程中起作用的习惯，那么它就像其他形式的习惯一样，可以通过训练来鼓励或抑制。当然，一个人的教育中没有什么比他的联想的性质更重要的了。因为这些联想在很大程度上不仅决定了他思维的内容、思考的材料，还决定了其组织方式，或者说是对现有思想材料的利用。事实上，整个教育学的科学基础就在于建立正确的联想联系系统所涉及的规律和原则。
The Pleasure-Pain Motive in Association.—A general law seems to obtain throughout the animal world that associative responses accompanied by pleasure tend to persist and grow stronger, while those accompanied by pain tend to weaken and fall away. The little child of two years may not understand the gravity of the offense in tearing the leaves out of books, but if its hands are sharply spatted whenever they tear a book, the association between the sight of books and tearing them will soon cease. In fact, all punishment should have for its156 object the use of pain in the breaking of associative bonds between certain situations and wrong responses to them.
联想中的快乐-痛苦动机。——在动物界似乎普遍存在一个规律，即伴随快乐的联想反应倾向于持续并变得更强，而伴随痛苦的联想反应则倾向于减弱并消失。两岁的小孩子可能不理解撕书页的严重性，但如果每当他们撕书时手被狠狠地拍打，那么看到书和撕书之间的联想很快就会停止。事实上，所有的惩罚都应该以利用痛苦来打破某些情境与错误反应之间的联想联系为目的。
On the other hand, the dog that is being trained to perform his tricks is rewarded with a tidbit or a pat when the right response has been made. In this way the bond for this particular act is strengthened through the use of pleasure. All matter studied and learned under the stimulus of good feeling, enthusiasm, or a pleasurable sense of victory and achievement not only tends to set up more permanent and valuable associations than if learned under opposite conditions, but it also exerts a stronger appeal to our interest and appreciation.
另一方面，正在接受训练表演特技的狗在做出正确反应后，会获得一小块食物或一次轻拍作为奖励。通过这种方式，通过使用快乐来加强这个特定行为的联想联系。所有在良好感觉、热情或胜利和成就的愉悦感的刺激下学习和研究的事物，不仅倾向于建立起比在相反条件下学习更持久和有价值的联想，而且还对我们的兴趣和欣赏产生更强的吸引力。
The influence of mental attitude on the matter we study raises a question as to the wisdom of assigning the committing of poetry, or Bible verses, or the reading of so many pages of a literary masterpiece as a punishment for some offense. How many of us have carried away associations of dislike and bitterness toward some gem of verse or prose or Scripture because of having our learning of it linked up with the thought of an imposed task set as penance for wrong-doing! One person tells me that to this day she hates the sight of Tennyson because this was the volume from which she was assigned many pages to commit in atonement for her youthful delinquencies.（R: So, a good teacher should have his lessons more appealing to students. When students are interested in what is being taught, he will set up connections of pleasure between his feelings and learning, strengthening his or her motivation to spend more time on the lesson and make more efforts for it.）
我们学习的内容受到心态的影响，这就提出了一个问题：将背诵诗歌、圣经经文或阅读一定数量的文学名著作为某种过错的惩罚是否明智。我们中有多少人因为将其学习与被强加的任务联系起来，作为对错误行为的忏悔，而对某些诗歌、散文或经文产生了厌恶和痛苦的联想！有人告诉我，直到今天她都讨厌看到丁尼生的作品，因为这是她因年轻时的过失而被要求背诵许多页的书。
Interest as a Basis for Association.—Associations established under the stimulus of strong interest are relatively broad and permanent, while those formed with interest flagging are more narrow and of doubtful permanence. This statement is, of course, but a particular application of the law of attention. Interest brings the whole self into action. Under its urging the mind is active and alert. The new facts learned are completely157 registered, and are assimilated to other facts to which they are related. Many associative connections are formed, hence the new matter is more certain of recall, and possesses more significance and meaning.
兴趣作为联结的基础。在强烈兴趣的刺激下建立的联结相对广泛而持久，而在兴趣减弱时形成的联结则更为狭窄且持久性存疑。这一陈述当然只是注意力规律的一个特定应用。兴趣使整个自我投入行动。在其驱使下，思维活跃，新学的知识被完整地记录并与其他相关事实相融合。许多关联性联系得以形成，因此新知识更易于回忆，并且具有更多意义和内涵。
Association and Methods of Learning.—The number and quality of our associations depends in no small degree on our methods of learning. We may be satisfied merely to impress what we learn on our memory, committing it uncritically as so many facts to be stored away as a part of our education. We may go a step beyond this and grasp the simplest and most obvious meanings, but not seek for the deeper and more fundamental relations. We may learn separate sections or divisions of a subject, accepting each as a more or less complete unit, without connecting these sections and divisions into a logical whole.
关联与学习方法。我们的关联数量和质量在很大程度上取决于我们的学习方法。我们可能仅仅满足于将所学内容记忆下来，不加批判地将其作为教育的一部分存储起来。我们可以更进一步，理解最简单和最显而易见的含义，但不寻求更深层和更基本的关系。我们可以学习一个主题的不同部分或划分，将每个部分视为一个或多或少完整的单元，而不将这些部分和划分连接成一个逻辑整体。
But all such methods are a mistake. They do not provide for the associative bonds between the various facts or groups of facts in our knowledge, without which our facts are in danger of becoming but so much lumber in the mind. Meanings, relations, definitely recognized associations, should attach to all that we learn. Better far a smaller amount ofusable knowledge than any quantity of unorganized and undigested information, even if the latter sometimes allows us to pass examinations and receive honor grades. In short, real mastery demands that we think, that is relate and associate, instead of merely absorbing as we learn. (R: How to set up relations or connections is what a teacher should consider when preparing a new lesson for students.)
但所有这些方法都是错误的。它们没有为我们知识中的各种事实或事实群之间提供关联性的纽带，如果没有这些纽带，我们的事实就可能会在思维中变成一堆杂乱无章的废物。我们应该明确地认识到所有学习内容的含义、关系和关联。宁可拥有少量可用的知识，也不要大量未经组织和消化的信息，即使后者有时能使我们通过考试并获得优异成绩。简而言之，真正的掌握要求我们在学习时不仅要吸收，更要思考，即建立联系和关联。
4. PROBLEMS IN OBSERVATION AND INTROSPECTION
4.供观察和反省的问题
1. Test the uncontrolled associations of a group of pupils by pronouncing to the class some word, asblue, and having the members write down 20 words in succession as rapidly as they can, taking in each instance the first word that occurs158 to them. The difference in the scope, or range, of associations, can easily be studied by applying this test to, say, a fourth grade and an eighth grade and then comparing results.
2. Have you ever been puzzled by the appearance in your mind of some fact or incident not thought of before for years? Were you able to trace out the associative connection that caused the fact to appear? Why are we sometimes unable to recall, when we need them, facts that we perfectly well know?
3. You have observed that it is possible to be able to spell certain words when they occur in a spelling lesson, but to miss them when employing them in composition. It is possible to learn a conjugation or a declension in tabular form, and then not be able to use the correct forms of words in speech or writing. Relate these facts to the laws of association, and recommend a method of instruction that will remove the discrepancy.
4. To test the quickness of association in a class of children, copy the following words clearly in a vertical column on a chart; have your class all ready at a given signal; then display the chart before them for sixty seconds, asking them to write down on paper the exactopposite of as many words as possible in one minute. Be sure that all know just what they are expected to do.
Bad, inside, slow, short, little, soft, black, dark, sad, true, dislike, poor, well, sorry, thick, full, peace, few, below, enemy.
Count the number of correct opposites got by each pupil.
5. Can you think of garrulous persons among your acquaintance the explanation of whose tiresomeness is that their association is of thecomplete instead of the selective type? Watch for such illustrations in conversation and in literature (e.g., Juliet's nurse).
6. Observe children in the schoolroom for good and poor training in association. Have you ever had anything that you otherwise presumably would enjoy rendered distasteful159 because of unpleasant associations? Pass your own methods of learning in review, and also inquire into the methods used by children in study, to determine whether they are resulting in the best possible use of association.160
1. 通过向全班学生大声说出某个词，如“蓝色”，并让学生们尽可能快地连续写下20个词，每次都是他们脑海中首先想到的词，来测试一群学生的非控制性联想。通过将此测试应用于不同年级的学生，比如四年级和八年级，然后比较结果，可以很容易地研究联想范围或广度的差异。
2. 你是否有遇到过这样的情况：一些多年未想的事实或事件突然在你的脑海中出现？你是否能够追溯出导致这个事实出现的联想连接？为什么我们有时在需要时无法回忆起我们完全知道的事实？
3. 你观察到，在拼写课上能够正确拼写某些单词，但在写作中使用它们时却会出错。有可能以表格形式学习一个动词的变化或名词的变形，然后在口语或书面语中无法使用正确的形式。将这些事实与联想法则联系起来，并推荐一种教学方法，以消除这种差异。
4. 为了测试一个班级孩子的联想速度，请清晰地将以下单词按垂直列复制到图表上；让你的班级在给定信号下做好准备；然后在他们面前展示图表60秒，要求他们在一分钟内尽可能多地写下每个单词的确切反义词。确保所有人都知道他们应该做什么。
坏、里面、慢、短、小、软、黑、暗、悲伤、真、不喜欢、贫穷、好、遗憾、厚、满、和平、少、下面、敌人。
计算每个学生得到的正确的反义词数量。
5. 你能想到你认识的人中有喋喋不休的人吗？他们的讨厌之处的解释是他们的联想是完整的而不是选择性的类型吗？在对话和文学作品中寻找这样的例证（例如，朱丽叶的奶妈）。
6. 观察教室里孩子们在联想训练方面的好与坏。你是否有过因为不愉快的联想而使本该享受的事物变得令人厌恶的经历？回顾你自己的学习方法，并询问孩子们在学习中使用的方法，以确定它们是否导致了最佳可能的联想使用。
