ASSOCIATION

In Psychology, a name given to that property of our minds, by which any object or state of consciousne (whether image, thought, or emotion) has a tendency to recal other states or objects of consciousne with which it has been previously in some way connected. The conditions under which this tendency exists were first stated by Aristotle, in his " Treatise on Memory and Recollection." According to him they are threefold, consisting of Resemblance, Contrast, and Contiguity. If by the last word we understand connexion in space and time, and that of cause and effect, this division is the same with that given by Hume, and adopted by modern philosophers. The principle of a ociation has been applied by Hartley, Sir J. Mackintosh, and other writers on ethics, to explain the origin of our more complex emotions, and in particular of our moral sentiments..,,. [s. 109]