James Mark Baldwin (1861-1934) Mental Development in the Child and the Race (1897)
Part III: Psychological Genesis
Chapter 16: Summary: Final Statement of Habit and Accommodation
1. Summary of Theory of Development
After the foregoing detailed statements of facts and theories, and the solution of certain particular genetic problems, we may come to a general synthesis. What is the least that we can say about an organism's development? Everybody admits that two things must be said: first, it develops by getting habits formed; and second, it develops by getting new adaptations which involve the breaking up or modification of habits -- these latter being called accommodations.
The law of habit may now be stated generally in some such way as this: Habit is the tendency of an organism to continue more and more readily processes which are vitally beneficial.
Chapter 16: Summary: Final Statement of Habit and Accommodation
1. Summary of Theory of Development
After the foregoing detailed statements of facts and theories, and the solution of certain particular genetic problems, we may come to a general synthesis. What is the least that we can say about an organism's development? Everybody admits that two things must be said: first, it develops by getting habits formed; and second, it develops by getting new adaptations which involve the breaking up or modification of habits -- these latter being called accommodations.
The law of habit may now be stated generally in some such way as this: Habit is the tendency of an organism to continue more and more readily processes which are vitally beneficial.