Speaker 1: Chapter eleven, the emotions. As we have seen in the
preceding lessons, an emotion is the more complex phase of feeling.
As a rule, an emotion arises from a number of feelings. Moreover,
it is of a higher order of mental activity. As
we have seen, a feeling may arise either from a
physical sensation or from an idea. Emotion, however, as a rule,
is dependent upon an idea for its expression, and always
upon an idea for its direction and its continuance. Feeling,
of course, is the elemental spirit of all emotional states, and,
as an authority has said, is the thread upon which
the emotional states are strung. Halleck says, when representative ideas appear,
the feeling in combination with them produces emotion. After the
waters of the Missouri combined with another stream, they receive
a different name, although they flow toward the gulf in
as great volume as before. Suppose we liken the feeling
due to sensation to the Missouri River, the train of
representative ideas to the Mississippi before its junction with the Missouri.
Emotion may then be likened to the Mississippi after its junction.
After feeling has combined with representative ideas, The emotional stream
will not be broader and deeper than before. This analogy
is employed only to make the distinction clearer. The student
must remember that mental powers are never actually as distinct
as two rivers before their union. The student must beware
of thinking that we have done with feeling when we
consider emotion. Just as the waters of the Missouri flow
on until they reach the gulf, so does feeling run
through every emotional state in the above analogy. The term
representative ideas, of course, means the ideas of memory and imagination.
As explained in previous chapters, there is a close relation
between emotion and a physical expression. Thereof a peculiar mutual
action and reaction between a mental state and the physical
action accompanying it. Psychologists are divided regarding this relation. One
school holds that the physical expression follows and results from
the mental state. For instance, we hear or see something
and thereupon experience the feeling or emotion of anger. This
emotional feeling reacts upon the body and causes an increased
heart beat, a tight closing of the lips of frown
and lowered eyebrows and clenched fists. Or we may perceive
something which causes the feeling or emotion of fear, which
reacts upon the body and produces pallor raising of the hair,
dropping of the jaw, opening of the eyelids, trembling of
the legs, et cetera. According to this skirl and the
popular idea, the mental state precedes and causes the physical expression.
But another school of psychology, of which the late Professor
William James is a leading authority, holds the physical expression
precedes and causes the mental state. For instance, in the
cases above cited, the perception of the anger causing or
fear causing sight first causes a reflex action upon the muscles.
According to inherited race habits of expression, this muscular expression
and activity in turn is held to react upon the
mind and to cause the feeling or emotion of anger
or fear, as the case may be. Professor James, in
some of his works, makes a forcible argument in support
of this theory, and his opinions have influenced the scientific
thought of the day upon this subject. Others, however, have
sought to combat his theory but equally forced argument, and
the subject is still under lively and spirited discussion in
psychological circles. Without taking sides in the above controversy, Many
psychologists proceed upon the hypothesis that there is a mutual
action and reaction between emotional mental states and the appropriate
physical expression thereof, each in a measure being the cause
of the other, and each likewise being the effect of
the other. For instance, in the cases above cited, the
perception of the anger producing or fear producing sight causes
almost or quite simultaneously the emotional mental state of anger
or fear, as the case may be, and the physical
expression thereof then rapidly ensues a series of mental and
physical reactions. The mental state acts upon the physical expression
and intensifies it. The physical expression, in turn, reacts upon
the mental state and induces a more intense degree of
the emotional feeling, and so on, until a mental state
and physical expression reach their highest point and then begin
to subside from exhaustion of energy. This middle ground conception
meets all the requirements of the facts, and is probably
more nearly correct than either extreme theory. Darwin, in his
classic work The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals,
has thrown a great light on the subject of the
expression of emotion in physical motions. The Florentine scientist Paolo
Mantegazza added to Darwin's work with ideas of his own
and countless examples drawn from his own experience and observation.
The work of Froissvare del Sart, the founder of the
school of expression which bears his name, is also a
most valuable addition to the thought on this subject. The
subject of the relation and reaction between emotional feeling and
physical expression is a most fascinating one and one in
which we may expect interesting and valuable discoveries during the
next twenty years. The relation and reaction above mentioned are
interesting not only from a viewpoint of theory, but also
because of their practicable application in emotional development and training.
It is an established truth of psychology that each physical
expression of an emotional state serves to intensify the latter.
It is pouring oil on the fire. Likewise, it is
equally true that the repression of the physical expression of
an emotion tends to restrain and inhibit the emotion itself.
Halleck says, if you watch a person grow angry, we
shall see the emotion increase as he talks loud, frowns,
deeply clenches his fist and gesticulates wildly. Each expression of
his passion is reflected back upon the original anger and
adds fuel to the fire. If he resolutely inhibits the
muscular expressions of his liay anger, it will not attain
great intensity, and it will soon die a quiet death.
Not without reason are those persons called cold blooded, who
habitually restrain as far as possible, the expression of their emotion,
who never frown or throw any feeling into their tones.
Even when a wrong inflicted upon someone demands aggressive measures,
there is here no way of bodily expression to flow
back and augment the emotional state. In this connection, we
call your attention to the familiar and oft quoted passage
from the works of Professor William James. Refuse to express
a passion and it dies count ten before venting your
anger and its occasion seems ridiculous. Wishing to keep up
courage is no mere figure of speech. On the other hand,
sit all day in a moping posture, sigh and reply
to everything with a dismal voice, and your melancholy lingers.
There is no more valuable precept in moral education than this,
As all who have experience know if we wish to
conquer undesirable emotional tendencies in ourselves, we must assiduously, and
in the first instance, cold bloodedly, go through the outward
movements of those contrary dispositions which we prefer to cultivate.
Smooth the brow, brighten the eye, contract the dorsal rather
than the ventral aspect of the frame, and speak in
a major key. And your heart must be frigid, indeed,
if it does not gradually thaw. Along the same lines,
Haleck says, actors are frequently testified to the fact that
emotion will arise if they go through the appropriate muscular
movements in talking to a character on the stage, If
they clench the fists and frown, they often find themselves
becoming really angry. If they start with counterfeit laughter, they
find themselves growing cheerful. A German professor says that he
cannot walk with a schoolgirl's mincing step and air without
feeling frivolous. The wise student will acquire a great control
over his emotional nature if he will re read and
study the above statements and quotations until he has grasped
their spirit and essence. In those few lines. He has
given a philosophy of self control and self mastery that
will be worth much to him if he will but
apply it in practice. Patience, perseverance, practice and will are required.
But the reward is great. Even to those who have
not the persistency to apply this truth fully. There will
be a partial reward if they will use it to
the extent of restraining so far as possible, any undue
physical expression of undesirable emotional excitement. Some writers seem to
regard capacity for great emotional excitement and expression as a
mark of a rich and full character, noble soul. This
is far from being true. While it is a fact
that the cultivation of certain emotions tends to create a
noble character and a full life, it is equally true
that the tendency to gush and indulge in hysterical or
sentimental excesses is a mark of an ill controlled nature
and a weak rather than strong character. Moreover, it is
a fact that excess in emotional excitement in expression tends
toward the dissipation of the finer and nobler feelings which
otherwise would seek an outlet in actual doing and practical action.
In the language of the old Scotch engineer. In the story,
they are like the old locomotive, which so much steam
of the whistle that she has neh Degerebay. Emotional excitement
and expression are largely dependent upon habit and indulgence, Although
there is a great difference, of course, in the emotional
nature and tendencies of various persons. Emotions, like physical actions
or intellectual processes, become habitual by repetition, and habit renders
all physical or mental actions easy of repetition. Each time
one manifests anger, the deeper the mental path is made,
and the easier it is to travel that path the
next time. In the same way, each time that anger
is conquered and inhibited, the easier will it be to
restrain it the next time. In the same way, desirable
habits of emotion and expression may be formed. Another point
in the cultivation, training, and restraint of the emotions is
that which has to do with the control of the
ideas which we allow to come into the mind. Idea
of habits may be formed are formed, in fact by
the majority of persons. We may cultivate the habit of
looking on the bright side of things, of looking for
the best in those we meet of expecting the best
things instead of the worst. By resolutely refusing to give
welcome to ideas calculated to arouse certain emotions, feelings, passions, desires, sentiments,
or similar mental states, we may do much to prevent
the arousing the emotion itself. Emotions usually are called forth
by some idea, and if we shut out the idea,
we may prevent the emotional feeling from appearing. In this connection,
the universal rule of psychology may be applied. A mental
state may be inhibited or restrained by turning the attention
to the opposite mental state. The control of the attention
is really the control of every mental state. We may
use the will in the direction of the control of
the attention, the development and direction of voluntary attention, and
thus actually control every phase of mental activity. The will
is nearest to the ego or central being of man.
The attention is the chief tool and instrument of the will.
This fact cannot be repeated too often. If it is
impressed upon the mind, it will prove to be useful
and valuable in many emergencies of mental life. He who
controls his attention controls his mind, and in controlling his mind,
controls himself end of chapter eleven. Chapter twelve, The instinctive Emotions.
Many attempts to classify the emotions have been made by
the psychologists, but the best authorities hold that, beyond the
purpose of ordinary convenience in considering the subject, any classification
is scientifically useless by reason of its incompleteness. As James
cleverly puts it, any classification of the emotions is seen
to be as true and as natural as any other
if it only serves some purpose. The difficulty attending the
attempt to classification arises from the fact that every emotion
is more or less complex, and is made up of
various feelings and shades of emotional excitement. Each emotion blends
into others. Just as a few elements of matter may
be grouped into hundreds of thousands of combinations, so the
elements of feeling may be grouped into thousands of shades
of emotion. It is said that the two elements of
carbon and hydrogen form combinations, resulting in five thousand varieties
of material substance, from anthracite to marsh gas, from black
coke to colorless naphther. The same thing may be said
of the emotional combinations formed from two principal elements of feeling. Moreover,
the close distinction between sensation and feeling on the one hand,
between feeling and emotion on the other, serves to further
complicate the task. For the purposes of our consideration, let
us divide the emotions into five general classes as follows.
One instinctive emotions, two social emotions, three religious emotions, four
esthetic emotions, five intellectual emotions. Which wall now consider each
of the above five classes in turn instinctive emotions. Instinct
is defined as unconscious, involuntary, or unreasoning prompting to any action,
or the natural, unreasoning impulse by which an animal is
regarded to the performance of any action without thought of
improving the method. An authority says, instinct is a natural
impulse leading animals, even prior to all experience, and to
perform certain actions tending to the welfare of the individual
or the perpetuation of the species, apparently without understanding the
object at which they may be supposed to aim, or
deliberating as to the best method words to employ. In
many cases, as in the construction of the cells of
the bee, there is a perfection about the result which
reasoning man could not have equalled except by an application
of the high mathematics to direct the operations carried out.
Mister Darwin considers that animals in time past as now
have varied in their mental qualities, and that those variations
are inherited. Instincts also vary slightly in a state of nature.
This being so natural selection can ultimately bring them to
a high degree of perfection. It was formerly the fashion
to describe instinct in the lower animals and in man,
to something akin to innate ideas implanted in each species
and thereafter continued by inheritance. But the application of the
ideal evolution to the science of psychology has resulted in
brushing away these old ideas. Today, it holds that that
which we call instinct is result of gradual development in
the course of evolution, the accumulated experience of the race
being stored away in the race memory, each individual adding
a little there too by its acquired habits and experiences.
Psychologists now hold that the lower forms of these race
tendencies are closely akin to purely reflex actions, and the
higher forms, which are known as instinctive emotions, are phenomena
of the subconscious mind, resulting from race memory and race experience.
Cloud says instinct is the higher form of reflex action.
The salmon migrates from sea to river. The bird makes
its nest, or migrates from one's zone to another by
an unvarying root, even leaving its young behind to perish.
The bee builds its six sided cell. The spida spins
its web. The chick breaks its way through the shell
its itself and picks up grains of corn. The newborn
babe sucks its mother's breast. All in virtue of like
acts on the part of their ancestors, which arising the
needs of the creature and gradually becoming automatic, have not
varied during long ages, the tendency to repeat them being
transmitted within the germ from which insect, fish, bird, and
man have severally sprung. Schneider says, it is the fact
that men, especially in childhood, fear to go into a
dark cabin or a gloomy wood. This feeling of fear arises,
to be sure, partly from the fact that we easily
suspect that dangerous beats may lurk in these localities, a
suspicion due to stories we have heard and read. But
on the other hand, it is quite sure that this
spear at a certain perception is also directly inherited. Children
who have been carefully guarded from all ghosts stories are
never the less terrified and cry if led into a
dark space, especially if sounds are made there. Even an
adult can easily observe that an uncomfortable amidity steals over
him in a lonely wood at night, although he may
have the fixed conviction that not the slightest danger is near.
This feeling of fear occurs in many men, even in
their own houses after dark, although it is much stronger
in a dark cavern or forest. The fact of such
instinctive fear is easily explicable when we consider that our
savage ancestors, through immemorial generations were accustomed to meet with
dangerous beasts in caverns, especially bears, and were for the
most part attacked by such beasts during the night and
in the woods, and that thus an inseparable association between
the perceptions of darkness, caverns, woods, and fear took place
and was inherited. James says, nothing is commoner than the
remark that man differs from lower creatures by the almost
total absence of instincts, and the assumption of their work
in him. By reason, we may confidentially say that, however
uncertain man's reactions upon his environment may sometimes seem in
comparison with those of the lower mammals, the uncertainty is
probably not due to their possession of any principles of action,
which he lacks. On the contrary, man possesses all the
impulses that they have, and a great many more. Besides
high places cause fear of a peculiarly sickening sort, though
here again individuals differ. The utterly blind instinctive character of
the motor impulses here is shown by the fact that
they are almost always entirely unreasonable, but that reason is
powerless to suppress them. Certain ideas of supernatural agency, associated
with real circumstances produce a peculiar kind of horror. This
horror is probably explicable as a result of a combination
of simple horrors. To bring the ghostly terror to its maximum,
many unusual elements of the dreadful must combine, such as loneliness, darkness,
inexplicable sounds, especially of a dismal character, moving pictures half discerned,
or if discerned of dreadful aspect and a vertigenous baffling
of the expectation. In view of the fact that cadaveric, reptilian,
and underground horrors play so specific and constant a part
in many nightmares and forms of delirium, it seems not
altogether unwise to ask whether these forms of dreadful circumstance
may not, at a former period have been more normal
objects to the environment than now. The evolutionists ought to
have no difficulty in explaining these terrors and the scenery
that provokes them as relapses into the consciousness of the
cave men, a consciousness usually overlaid in us by experiences
of a more recent date. Instinctive emotion manifests as an
impulse arising from the dim recesses of the feeling or
emotional nature, an incentive toward a dimly conscious end. It
differs from the almost purely automatic nature of certain forms
of reflex process, for its beginning is a feeling arising
from the subconscious regions, which strives to excite an activity
of conscious volition. The feeling is from the subconscious, for
the activity is conscious. The end may not be perceived
in consciousness, or at least is but dimly perceived, but
the action leading to the end is in full consciousness.
Instinct is seen to have its origin in the past
experiences of the race, transmitted by heredity and preserved in
the race memory. It has for its object the preservation
of the individual and of the species. Its end is
often something far removed in time from the moment, or
the welfare of the species rather than that of the individual.
For instance, the caterpillar providing for its future states, or
the bird building its nest, or the bees building cells
and providing honey for their successes. For very few bees
lived partake of the honey which they have gathered and stored.
They are animated by the spirit of the hive. The
most elementary forms of the instinctive emotions are those which
have to do with the preservation of the individual is
comfort and purely physical welfare. This class of emotions comprises
what are generally known as purely selfish feelings, having little
or no concern for the welfare of others. In this
class we find the emotional feelings which have to do
with the satisfaction of hunger and thirst, the securing of
comfortable quarters, and warm clothing, and a spirit of combatant strife,
arising from the desire to obtain these. These elemental feelings
had their birth early in the history of life, and
indeed life itself depended very materially upon them for its
preservation and continuance. It was necessary for the primitive living
thing to be selfish. When man appeared. Only those survived
who manifested these feelings strongly. The others were pushed to
the wall unperished. Even in our civilization, the man below
the average in this class of feelings will find it
difficult to survive.