Hollingworth, H. L. (1928). The phenomena of attention. In H. L. Hollingworth, Psychology: Its facts and principles (pp. 404-423). New York, NY, US: D Appleton & Company.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/10940-021
Examines the processes of attention. Hierarchies of potency and the interrelation of attention and reflexes are examined. The author then discusses the relative coerciveness of topics. It is argued that events which are vivid or clear are subjectively effective. The most effective and best organized constitution is clearly neither the "obsessed" nor the "scatter brained." It is, instead, the sagacious and discriminating. This means openness to a large field of stimuli, with organized potencies among the elements discerned therein. Attention, as so far considered, is a description of discrimination but makes no provision for sagacity. In our present ignorance, about all we can say is that individuals differ markedly in a characteristic to which we may apply that name. Openness to all the details of a present context is as important as is the establishment of redintegrative effectiveness on the part of the several details. In effective mental activity, all or many concurrent details, in the light of their past contexts, conspire in the instigation of the consequent. This makes such a consequent appropriate to the total present situation, in the light of the whole past history of the individual. Restrictions in the scope of events dealt with vary also with the complexity or completeness of the report that is required by the motive or purpose. Fluctuations of quality and pattern of events or experiences are then examined. The author then discusses the objective and subjective aspects and determinants of attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)