PATTERNING OF TIME.
By Leonard W.Doob '29. New Haven and London: YaleUniversity Press, 1971. 472 pp. $15.
Few issues in the history of philosophy science have attracted more attention than the problem of "time." In this book Professor Doob thoroughly explores the psychological aspects of time: its perception, function, and diverse role in human affairs. While providing an original theoretical structure for considering the psychology of time, this work also manages to consider an impressive array of recent empirical results.
Actually, the author has written three books and placed them between two covers. The first part describes experiments on topics ranging from the effects of personality on time perception to the importance of an internal biochemical clock. Many alternative methods have been used to study the psychology of time, and they do not yield entirely compatible results. Professor Doob clearly points this out and offers a real challenge for the laboratory scientist who would attempt to resolve these discrepancies and to make psychological theory amenable to every-day naturalistic situations.
The second major part consists of "addenda" at the end of many chapters. Here the reader is brought deeper into the material through the discussion of technical details. This level of analysis will mainly be of interest to the specialist.
The third and final section can be read with profit by anyone who is curious about "time" and its crucial role in a wide range of human endeavors. The topics covered here include The Arts (which allow one to transcend the present), the temporal sense in deviant members of society (who may show anomalies in their understanding and use of temporal information), and the effects of age on temporal judgement (which may help explain communication problems across age levels).
In brief, this book offers a complete treatment of a highly complex topic. The approach is problem-oriented rather than method-oriented, and, consequently, a host of information sources are drawn upon. The variety of sources discussed makes it a difficult book in places, but one well worth the time required to digest its scholarly contents.
As Associate Professor of Psychology atDartmouth College, Mr. Baird teachesFoundations of Psychology, ExperimentalStudy of Perception, Environmental Psychology, and a Seminar in MathematicalModels.
