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International Library of Psychology
Philosophy and Scientific Method
Emotions of
Normal People
International Library of Psychology
Philosophy and Scientific Method 4
GENERAL EDITOR
PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES .
THE MISUSE OF MIND
CONFLICT AND DIIEAM
PSYCHOLOGY AND POLITICS
MEDICINE, MAOIC AND RELIGION
PSYCHOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY .
TBACTATUS LOGICO-PIHLOSOPHICUS
THE MEASUREMENT OF EMOTION
THE ANALYSIS OF MATTER
PSYCHOLOGICAL TYPES
SCIENTIFIC METHOD
SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT
MIND AND ITS PLACE IN NATURK
THE MEANING OF MEANING
by C. K
. C. K. OGDEN, M.A.
(Magdalene College, Cambridge)
by G. E. MOORB, Litt.D.
. by KARIN STEPHEN
by W. H. R. RIVERS, F.R.S.
by W. H. R. RIVERS, F.R.S.
by W. H. R. RIVERS, F.R.S.
by W. H. R. RIVERS, F.R.S.
by L. WITTGENSTEIN
by W. WHATELY SMITH
by BERTRAND RUSSELL, F.R.S.
. * . by C. G. JUNG
. by A. D. RITCHIE
by C. D. BROAD, Litt.D.
C. D. BROAD, Litt.D.
CHARACTER AND THK UNCONSCIOUS
INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY .
CHANCE, LOVE AND LOGIC
SPECULATIONS (Preface by Jacob Epstein)
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF REASONING
BIOLOGICAL MEMORY
THE PHILOSOPHY OF " As IF "
THE NATURE OF LAUGHTER
Tuff NATURE OF INTELLIGENCE
TELEPATHY AND CLAIRVOYANCE
THE GROWTH OF THE MIND
THE MENTALITY OF APES B .
PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGIOUS MYSTICISM
THE PHILOSOPHY OF Music
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF A MUSICAL PRODIGY
THE EFFECTS OF Music .
PRINCIPLES OF LITERARY CRITICISM .
METAPHYSICAL FOUNDATIONS OF SCIENCE
COLOUR- BLINDNESS ....
THOUGHT AND THE BRAIN
PHYSIQUE AND CHARACTER . . .
PSYCHOLOGY OF EMOTION
PROBLEMS OF PERSONALITY
PSYCHE .
PSYCHOLOGY OF TIMK
THE HISTORY OF MATERIALISM
EMOTION AND INSANITY
PERSONALITY .
NEUROTIC PERSONALITY
PROBLEMS IN PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT OF THE CHILD
CRIME AND CUSTOM IN SAVAGE SOCIETY
SEX AND REPRESSION IN SAVAGE SOCIETY
COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHY
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CHARACTER
SOCIAL LIFK IN THE ANIMAL WORLD
THEORETICAL BIOLOGY
POSSIBILITY
DIALECTIC .
POLITICAL PLURALISM
SOCIAL BASIS OF CONSCIOUSNESS
RELIGIOUS CONVERSION
THE SOCIAL INSECTS
THE TECHNIQUE OF CONTROVERSY
EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
PLATO'S THEORY OF ETHICS
THE SYMBOLIC PROCESS .
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION TO MODERN PSYCHOLOGY
JUDGMENT AND REASONING OF THE CHILD
t/y vy Jt-f ui\\JAU f JUU.uu.-LS .
. OGDEN and I. A. RICHARDS
by J. H. VAN DER HOOP
by ALFRED ADLER
. by C. S. PEIROE
. by T. E. HULMK
. by EUGENIO RlGNANO
by EUGENIO RIGNANO
by H. VAIHINGER
. by J. C. GREGORY
by L- L. THURSTONE
by R. TISCHNER
by K. KOFFKA
by W. KOHLER
by J. H. LEUBA
by W. POLE, F.R.S.
by G. REVESZ
. edited by MAX SCHOEN
by I. A. RICHARDS
. by E. A. BURTT.Ph.D.
. by M. COLLINS, Ph.D.
by H. PIERON
by ERNST KRETSCHMER
by 3. T. MACCURDY, M.D.
in honour of MORTON PRINCE
by E. ROHDE
by M. STURT
. by F. A. LANGE
by 8. THALBITZER
by R. G. GORDON, M.D.
by R. G. GORDON, M.D.
by T. W. MITCHELL, M.D.
. by CHARLES Fox
by J. PIAGET
by B. MALINOWSKI, D.Sc.
by B. MALINOWSKI, D.Sc.
. by P. MASSON-OURSEL
. by A. A. ROBACK
. by F. ALVERDES
by J. VON UEXKULL
by SCOTT BUCHANAN
by MORTIMER J. ADLER
by K. C. HSIAO
by TRIGANT BURROW, M.D.
. by SANTE DE SANCTIS
MORTON WHEELER
J. B. BOGOSLOVSKY
w W. M. MARSTON
by R. C. LODGE
by J. F. MARKET
by G. MURPHY
by J. PIAGET
by
PREPARATION
COLOUR. AND COLOUR THEORIES . by CHRISTINE LADD-FRANKLIN
THE LAWS OF FEELING
STATISTICAL METHOD IN ECONOMICS .
THE INTEGRATIVE ACTION OF THE MIND .
THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS
THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHINESE THOUGHT
by F. PAULHAN
by P. SARGANT FLORENCE
by E. MILLER
. by E. YON HARTMANN
by Hu SHIH
Emotions of Normal
People
By
WILLIAM MOULTON MARSTON
Lecturer in Psychology at Columbia University
and at New York University
LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & Co. Ltd.
NEW YORK: HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY.
1928
PRINTEb IN GREAT BRITAIN BY THE DEVONSHIRE PRESS, TORQUAY
To
MY TEACHERS AND COLLABORATORS
MY MOTIJER
CLARIBEL MOULTON WATERMAN
ELIZABETH HOLLOWAY MARSTON
MARJORIE WILKES HUSTLE Y
OLIVE BYRNE
CONTENTS
CHAPTER . PAGE
I NORMALCY AND EMOTION i
You are not a " Normal Person " when Afraid, En-
raged, Deceptive Normal Emotions are Biologically
Efficient Emotions- Present Emotion Names are
Literary Terms, Scientifically Meaningless In what
Terms can Normal Emotions be Described ?
II MATERIALISM, VITALISM, AND PSYCHOLOGY 7
What Emotional Sets Determine Diverse Types of
Psychological Concepts ? The Mechanistic Set The
Vitahstic Set Existence of Mechanistic-Type Causes
and Vitalistic-Type Causes Science must Describe
both Types of Causes Interaction of Mechanistic-Type
and Vitahstic-Type Causes Complex Matter-Units
Possess Greatest Causal Power Assignments of the
Sciences Psychology's Assignment Types of Causes
Emphasized by Different Schools of Emotion Inves-
tigators Psycho-Physiologists Mental-Tester-Statis-
ticians Behaviourists Psycho-Analysts Summary
Psychology of Emotion Tentatively Denned.
III THE PSYCHONIC THEORY OF CONSCIOUSNESS 26
Does Consciousness Exist ? Proofs of Consciousness
Consciousness is not Intra-neuronic Energy Con-
sciousness is Synaptic Energy Concept of the Psy-
chon, and of the Psychonic Impulse.
IV MOTOR CONSCIOUSNESS AS THE BASIS OS FEEL-
ING AND EMOTION 53
Total Absence of Constructive Theory of Emotions
Physiologists' Disproof of James-Lange Theory
Sherrington's Results Goltz' Results Work of Lang-
ley, and of Cannon Unsolved Problem Motor Con-
sciousness Theory Proofs of the Existence of Motor
Consciousness Motor Consciousness Not Previously
Identified with Affection Emotional Stimuli are
Central, never Environmental Analysis of Intervening
Factors between Environmental Stimulus and Bodily
Movement Summary.
viii CONTENTS
CHAPTER * PAOB
V INTEGRATIVE PRINCIPLES OF PRiMARY FEEL-
INGS 69
Wundt's Theory of Six Primary Feelings Primary
Feelings are Pleasantness and Unpleasantness Origin-
ating in Motor Alliances and Conflicts-'-How do Motor
Alliances and Conflicts Reach Consciousness ?
Theories that Feeling is an Integral Part of Sensation
Theories that Visceral Sensations are also Feelings
Unsolved Problem Feeling Tone is Motor Con-
sciousness, or Motation Integrative Principles of
Pleasantness and Unpleasantness Causal Attributes
of Pleasantness and Unpleasantness as Primary Ele-
ments of Motation Possible Objections to Proposed
Theory of Pleasantness and Unpleasantness Constant
Tonic Discharge Renders all Responses Initially
Pleasant or Unpleasant- -Summary.
VI INTEGRATIVE PRINCIPLES OF PRIMARY EMO-
TIONS 87
The Tonic Mechanisms Importance of Tonic Mechan-
isms Concepts of " Motor Self " and " Motor
Stimuli " Principles of Response of Motor Self to
Motor Stimulus Motor Self and Antagonistic Motor
Stimuli (Inferior and Superior) Motor Self and
Allied Motor Stimuli (Inferior and Superior) Differ-
ences between Psychonic Relationships of Motor Self
to Allied and to Antagonistic Stimuli The " Emotion
Circle " of Integrative Relationships between Motor
Self and Motor Stimuli Outline of Integrative Prin-
ciples of Primary Emotions and Feelings.
VII DOMINANCE 113
Dominance in the Behaviour of Forces of Nature
Contrast between Motor Stimuli and Environmental
Stimuli Dominance in Human and Animal Behaviour
Development of Dominance Response in Young
Children Borderline between Normal and Abnormal
Dominance Summary and Analysis Dominance
Behaviour of Less Extreme Character Dominance
of the Chase " Destructive Dominance " Com-
petitive Dominance Conditioning of Adult Domin-
ance Responses Sex Differences in Dominance
Summary The Pleasantness and Unpleasantness
of Dominance Distinctive Conscious Characteristics
of Dominance Emotion.
VIII COMPLIANCE 141
Compliance Response in Human and Animal Be-
haviour Compliance in Infant " Fear " Responses
Compliance in Adult " Fear " Responses Basic
Dominance and Compliance Response Mechanisms
are not Altered by Learning Dangerous Environ-
mental Stimuli are not Necessarily Adequate Stimuli
to Compliance Response Compliance Response Pre-
CONTENTS ix
CHAPTER PAGE
vented by Over-Intensity of Motor Self Suddenness
of Stimulation Tends to Evoke Compliance Pro-
longation and Frequent Repetition of Stimulation
Tend to Evoke Compliance High Connector Threshold
to Compliance Response " Passive " Dominance is
Resistance to Compliance Response " Passive " and
" Active " Compliance Difficulty of Compelling
Active Compliance Response by Imposing Intense En-
vironmental Stimuli Maximally Pleasant Environ-
mental Stimuli Evoke Active Compliance Over-
Intense Motor Self Must be Taught to " Comply with
Volume " Summary Environmental Stimuli Evok-
ing Compliance with Volume Response " Nature "
is Environmental Stimulus of Greatest Volume and
Most Harmonious Pattern Country Environment
Evokes Compliance from a Cat Country Environ-
ment Evokes Compliance from Children Dominance
is Evoked by Single Objects, Compliance by Country
as Unit Stimulus-~-Child May Comply with Superior
Volume but not with Superior Intensity of Stimulus
Compliance with Volume is Pleasant, Compliance with
Intensity is Unpleasant Human Brings can be
Controlled by Offering a Stimulus of Superior Volume
Compliance with Volume is a Learned Response
Aesthetic Emotion is Compliance with Volume
Aesthetes Possess Delicate Balance of the Motor
Self Motor Discharge to the Viscera gives Greatest
Unit Motor Pattern for Aesthetic Compliance Response
Work Contains both Dominance and Compliance ;
Aesthetic Attitude is Pure Compliance Summary
Compliance may be Unpleasant, Indifferent, and
Pleasant Distinctive Conscious Characteristics oi
Compliance Emotion.
IX DOMINANCE AND COMPLIANCE . . . .184
Passive Dominance Prevents Compliance from being
Evoked Dominance Represents the Natural Equi-
librium of the Organism Active Compliance may
Oppose More and More of Motor Self until it Evokes
Dominance Shift from Compliance to Dominance
when Whole Motor Self is Opposed is " Instinct of
Self -Preservation " Dominance Always Replaces
Compliance Compliance Protects the Organism
Against Superior Foes Compliance Responds have
Selective Value in Evoking Maximally Efficient Domin-
ance Responses Compliance must not be Carried
Beyond its Usefulness to Dominance Compliance
Normally Precedes and is Adapted to Dominance.
X APPETITE 194
Dominance and Compliance Responses Toward the
Same Object Blend or Inhibit One Another Domin-
ance and Compliance May Exist Simultaneously in
Different Centres Active Dominance and Compliance
Toward Different Objects Cannot Co-exist in Same
x CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGB
Centres Possible Combinations Active Dominance
and Passive Compliance may form an Emotional
Compound pCaD is Desire Passive Dominance and
Active Compliance may form an Emotional Compound
aCpD is Satisfaction Desire and Satisfaction Com-
pose Appetite Summary Hunger as Teacher of
Appetite Emotion and Behaviour Physiology of the
Hunger Stimulus Motor Self Discharge Predomin-
antly Sympathetic Motor Stimuli Discharge Through
Cranial Channels would be Antagonistic to the Motor
Self Autonomic Channels of Motor Self and Motor
Stimuli Summary Hunger Pangs Evoke Motor
Stimuli Antagonistic and Superior to the Motor Self
Subject Passively Complies with Hunger Pangs and
Actively Dominates Food (Desire) Subject Actively
Complies with Food and Passively Dominates Hunger
Pangs Spread of Active Compliance during Satisfac-
tion to Other Environmental Stimuli Besides Food
Summary of Physical Appetite Characteristics of
Dominance and Compliance Revealed in Eating
Behaviour Hunger Pangs can Build up Model
Integrative Pattern for Appetite Emotion.
XI SUBMISSION . . ' 222
Submission Response Requires Thalamic Motor
Centres True Submission Appears in Infant Be-
haviour Similar Submission in Behaviour of Older
Children Learning of Submission is Pleasant ; Learn-
ing of Compliance is Unpleasant Stimulus Evoking
Submission must be Allied to Subject ; Stimulus
Evoking Compliance is Antagonistic Submission not
Dependent upon Erogenous Zone Stimulation
Stimulus Evoking Submission must be Stronger than
Boy but not too Intense Allied Stimulus of Superior
Volume Effectively Evokes Submission Woman's
Strength Seldom Felt as Superior by Adolescent
Males Allied, Intellectual Superiority may Evoke
Submission Stimulus Person must Resemble Subject
to Evoke Submission Female Behaviour Contains
more Submission than Male Behaviour Active and
Passive Submission Motor Self Decreases its Strength
Sufficiently to be Controlled Summary Pleasant-
ness and Submission Distinctive Conscious Char-
acteristics of Submission Emotion.
XII INDUCEMENT 245
Inducement Emotion Requires Thalamic Motor
Centres Inducement Appears in Infant Behaviour
Inducement is Important Element in Girls' Behaviour
* Males' Inducement is Controlled by Dominance
and Appetite Male Organism Not Suited to Induce
other Males Noiroal Adult Male Transfers Induce-
ment from Sadism to Business Inducement in
BusinessConfusions between Inducement and Dom-
inance Girls Express Inducement not Mixed with
CONTENTS xi
CHAPTER ' PAGE
AppetiteForced Use of Inducement for Appetite
by Women Women's Inducement Conditioned on
Males by Appetitive Compulsion Women Inducing
Males f oi\ Appetitive Supply are Business Rivals
Except in Social Rivalry, Girls Express Pure Induce-
ment toward other Girls Characteristics of Adequate
Stimulus to Inducement Male Inducement Threshold
Varies with State of Appetitive Responses When
Inducement Serves Appetite, Inducement Threshold
is Low Resistance may Evoke Pure Inducement
Measure of Motor Self Inducement Increase Girls
More Closely Allied to other Girls than Males
Alliance Requirement of Stimulus Inversely P/opor-
tional to its Strength Summary Pleasantness of
Inducement Distinctive Conscious Characteristics of
Inducement Emotion.
XIII INDUCEMENT AND SUBMISSION . . .274
D-fS Gives Organism a Resting Balance Induce-
ment Rebponse Requires an Unstable State of Reflex^
Equilibrium I is to S as C is to D Teaching is I-fS
Learning by I-f-S is Pleasant ; Learning by Trial
and Error (C-j-D) is Painfrl Anglo-American Law
Forbids Use oi Dominance Toward Human Beings
Common Law Enforces the I-}-S Relationship in
Business Law Recognizes I+S as Proper Learning
Method.
XIV LOVE 287
Infants Manifest Active and Passive Love Behaviour
Passive Love is a Compound of pi and aS Active
Love is a Compound of al and pS Captivation
Mutual Captivation Emotion is Evoked by Struggles
Between the Sexes Males Capturing Males Experience
Dominance-Captivation Girls Punishing Girls Ex-
perience Captivation Emotion Passion Passion in
Behaviour of Young Children Captivation is Spon-
taneous Element in Girls' Behaviour, not Passion
Passion Easily Evoked by One Girl from Other Girls
Study of Passion in Inter-Class Relationships of
College Girls Conclusions from Study Summary
Development of Passion Emotion in Males Woman's
Strength Insufficient to Evoke Passion from some
Males Study of Passion in Inter-Class Relationships
of College Men Conclusions from Study Summary.
XV LOVE MECHANISMS 317
Genital Organ Mechanisms Motor Self Simultaneously
Energizes Internal and External Genitals All Motor
Stimuli Activating Genitals are Allied No Cyclic
' Love Stimulus in Male Organism Love Stimulus Cycle
in Woman pi aS Evoked During Menses (?) alpS
Follows Menstrual Period Female Seeks Male-
Male Body Suited for Passion Only Climax of Male
Response is Active Love Men Like to Confuse Lqve
xii CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
and Appetite Love, Used for Appetite, Must Never-
theless be Love Overt Love Behaviour Prior to
Sexual Union Love Union of Sexes Need for Train-
ing of Male in Coitus Reservatus Dominance Con-
trolling Love Thwarts Both Love -and Appetite-
Woman's Passion Love (plaS-f alpS) Has Character-
istic Complex Emotional Quality Genital Mechanisms
are Teachers of Love.
XVI CREATION 34*
Types of Physiological Relationships Between Mother
and Child During Pregnancy Active Creation (pAaL)
^Defined in Terms of Physiological Relationships
Passive Creation (aApL) Similarly Defined Active
Creation Emotion of Mother After Birth of Child
Conscious Characteristics of Active Creation Emotion
Sex Differences in Active Creation Response
Passive Creation (aApL) Evoked From Child
Appetitive Elements Predominate in Child's Res-
ponses to Mother Mothers Evoke Passive Creation
From Daughters Artistic Creation Expresses Passive
Creation Emotion Active Creation Motivates Physi-
cians, Teachers, C 1 orgy men Summary.
XVII REVERSALS, CONFLICTS. AND ABNORMAL
EMOTIONS 361
Over-Dominant Reversals Rage Over-Compliant
Reversals Fear Dominance and Fear in Deception
Tests Reversed Relationships Between Submission
and Inducement Over-Submission Reversals Jeal-
ousy Over-Inducement Reversals Hate Summary
Love-Appetite Reversal Emotions Reversal Emo-
tions Between Active and Passive Love and Active
and Passive Appetite Reversal Emotions Between
Active and Passive Love and Dominance Reversal
Emotions Between Inducement and Submission and
Appetitive Primaries.
XVIII EMOTIONAL RE-EDUCATION .... 389
People Evaluate Behaviour by What They See Others
Doing People Only See the Least Normal Part of
Other People's Behaviour The " Inner Conviction "
of Abnormality Psycho-Neural Normalcy of Be-
ta viour does not Depend upon what One's Neighbour
Does Appetitive Leaders are not Love Leaders
Qualifications of a Love Leader Emotional Re-
education of Women to become Love Leaders
Emotional Re-education of Men and Women to Follow
Love Leadeiship.
INDEX 399
LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE PACiE
i ASSIGNMENTS OF THE SCIENCES .... 48
2 THE SYNAPSE . . 50
3 THE EMOTION CIRCLE AND THE COLOUR CIRCLE . 104
4 INTER-CLASS COLLEGE GIRL STUDIES . . .3$
xin
EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
CHAPTER I
NORMALCY AND EMOTION
ARE you a "normal person"? Probably, for the most
part, you are. Doubtless, however, you have occasional
misgivings. Your " sex-complexes ", your emotional de-
pressions, or your " hidden fears" seem to you, at tiines,
distinctly abnormal. And so psychology might adjudge
them. On the other hand, you undoubtedly experience
milder fears, furies, petty jealousies, minor hatreds, and
occasional feelings of trickery and deception which you have
come to regard as part of your normal self. And psychology
aids and abets you in this notion, also. In fact, many psy-
chologists at the present time frankly regard " fear " and
" rage ", not only as normal emotions, but even as the
" major " emotions. By some writers 1 " choc ", or emotional
shock is suggested as the one element essential to normal
emotion. Some psychological experimenters have compelled
women subjects to cut off the heads of live rats, proudly
presenting reaction data thus obtained as a measure of normal
emotional response to an adequate stimulus. One of the
most eminent investigators of emotion 2 goes so far as to
advocate retention of " fear " and " rage " in normal human
behaviour, for the purpose of supplying bodily strength and
efficiency ! This suggestion seems to me like recommending
the placing of tacks in our soup for the sake of strengthening
the lining of the alimentary canal. I do not regard you as a
"normal person", emotionally, when you are suffering
from fear, rage, pain, shock, desire to deceive, or any other
1 D. Wechsler, The Measurement of Emotional Reaction, New York,
1925, Chapter X.
1 W. B. Cannon, Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear and Rage,
New York and London, 1920, Chapter XV. *
I B
2 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
emotional state whatsoever containing turmoil and conflict.
Your emotional responses are "normal " when they produce
pleasantness and harmony. And this book is devoted
to description of normal emotions which are so common-
place and fundamental in the every-day lives of all of us
that they have escaped, hitherto, the attention of the
academician and the psychologist.
Normal Emotions are Biologically Efficient Emotions.
If, as psychologists, we follow the analogy of the other
biological sciences, we must expect to find normalcy synony-
mous with maximal efficiency of function. Survival of
the fittest means survival of those members of a species whose
organisms most successfully resist the encroachments of
environmental antagonists, and continue to function with
greatest internal harmony. In the field of emotions, then,
why should we alter this expectation ? Why should we
seek the spectacularly dLharmonious emotions, the feelings
that reveal a crushing of ourselves by environment, and
consider these affective responses as our normal emotions ?
If a jungle beast is torn and wounded during the course of an
ultimately victorious battle, it would be a spurious logic
indeed that attributed its victory to its wounds. If a human
being be emotionally torn and mentally disorganized by
fear or rage during a business battle from which, ultimately,
he emerges victorious, it seems equally nonsensical to ascribe
his conquering strength to those emotions symptomatic of
his temporary weakness and defeat. Victory comes in
proportion as fear is banished. Perhaps the battle may be
won with some fear still handicapping the victor, but that
only means that the winner's maximal strength was not
required.
I can still remember vividly the fear I once experienced,
as a child, when threatened, on my way to school, by a half-
witted boy with an air-gun. I had been taught by my father
never to fight ; so I ran home in an agony of fear. My
mother told me, " Go straight by F . Don't attack
him unless he shoots at you, but if he does, then go after
him ". I was an obedient child, and followed orders ex-
plicitly. I marched up to F and his gun with my face
set and my stomach sick with dread. F did not shoot.
I have known, ever since that well-remembered occasion,
NORMALCY AND EMOTION 3
that fear does not give strength in times of stress. Part of the
strength with whicl'i I faced F 's air-gun came from my
own underlying dominance, newly released from artificial
control. But mosl x of it belonged to my mother, and she was
able to use it in my behalf because I submitted to her. Domin-
ance and submission are the " normal ", strength-giving
emotions, not " rage ", or " fear ".
Present Emotion frames are Literary Terms, Scientifically
Meaningless
Yet my initial researches in emotion were not concerned
with normal, biologically efficient emotions. I began to try
to measure the bodily symptoms of deception in the Harvard
Psychological laboratory, in 1913, l and later continued this
work in the U.S. Army, during the war, 2 and in some court
cases. 3 But the more I learned about the bodily symptorns
of deception, the more I realized the futility of trying to
measure complex conflict-emotions,* like " fear ", " anger ",
or " deception ", without in the least knowing the normal,
fundamental emotions which appeared in the process of
being melodramatically baffled in laboratory or court-room
torture situations.
What does the average teacher of psychology mean when
he glibly rattles off the words " fear ", " rage ", " anger ", and
*" sex-emotion " ? 4 Almost any literary light of the Victorian
era, if asked to define these words, would have answered,
readily enough : " They are names for emotions possessing
distinctive conscious qualities, experienced by everybody,
every day. These easily recognized, primitive emotions con-
stitute the very backbone of literature." I submit that the
backbone of literature has been transplanted intact into
1 For reports of these researches see : W. M. Marston, " Systolic
Blood Pressure Symptoms of Deception," Jr. Exp. Psy., 1917, vol. 2,
p. 117. W. M. Marston, "Reaction Time Symptoms of Deception,"
ibid, 1920, vol. 3, pp. 72-87. W.M. Marston, "Negative Type Reaction
Time Symptoms of Deception," Psy. Rev., 1925, vol. 32, pp. 241, 247.
2 R. M. Yerkes, " Report of the Psy. Committee of the National
Research Council," Psy. Rev., 1919, vol. 26, p. 134.
* W. M. Marston, " Psychological Possibilities in the Deception
Tests," Jour. Cnm. Law and Cnm., 1921, vol. XI, pp. 552-570. W.
M. Marston, " Sex Characteristics of Systolic Blood Pressure Be-
haviour," Jour. Exp. Psy., 1923, vol. VI. 387-419.
* The substance of the following paragraphs appeared originally
' in an article by the writer, entitled " Primary Emotions," Psy. Rev.,
and is reproduced with the kind permission of its editor, Pro& H, C
Warren,
4 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
psychology, where it has proved pitifully inadequate. The
whole structure of our recently christened " science ", in
consequence, remains spineless in its attempted descriptions
of human behaviour. Most teachers of psychology, it would
seem, are still unable to define these time-worn emotional
terms with greater exactness or scientific meaning than that
employed by literary men of the last century.
Nor can the average teacher be blamed. Theorists and
researchers utxm whom the teacher mtist depend for his
scientific, concepts have written many hundreds of thousands
of words on the subject of emotions, without attempting
definite, psycho-neural description of a single basic, or primary
emotion. On the other hand, nearly all writers seem to accept
the old, undefined literary names of various " emotions "
without question ; each writer then giving these terms such
annotation as they may happen to hold for him, individually.
Consider, for example, the term " fear ". This word seems
to find its way, unquestioned, into nearly every emotions
research reported to the literature of psychology and phy-
siology. What does it mean ? The James-Langeites say
" fear " is a complex of sensations, perhaps largely visceral,
perhaps not ; perhaps the same in all subjects, but probably
differing importantly in different individuals. Surely the
unfortunate teacher of psychology can extract little comfort
from such vague guess-work. Besides, the physiologists have!
proved, with their customary thoroughness, that the condition
of consciousness traditionally termed " fear " in popular and
literary parlance, cannot be composed characteristically of
sensory content. 1
What then of the physiologists ? They use the term
" fear ", it appears, quite as blithely and trustfully as do the
James-Langeites. Cannon uses the word " fear " throughout
the entir^ course of his extremely valuable work entitled,
Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear and Rage.
But how does he differentiate it from " rage ", or from
" pain " ? He points out physiological similarities, but no
measurable differences between these " major emotions ".
Cannon assumes that the so-called sympathetic division of the
autonomic nervous system is always activated by the " fear "
1 Foi summary of investigations touching this point see W. M.
Marstpn, " Motor Consciousness as a Basis for Emotion/' Jour. Abn,
<nnd Soc. Psy., vol. XXII, July-Sept., 1927, pp. 140-150,
NORMALCY AND EMOTION 5
pattern. But he cites various other effects of " fear ", such
as nausea, weakness, vomiting, etc., which would be ascribed,
by many writers, to vagus impulses. Moreover, " rage ",
" pain ", and other " major emotions " also discharge
characteristically into the sympathetic, as Cannon himself
emphasizes. 1 So we are left, again, high and dry in our
search for any specific meaning for the famous word " fear ".
What must be done is to give up attempts to define
conflict-emotions, and go down to the very roots of biologically
efficient behaviour and discover the simple, normal Demotions
that lie buried there. This book attempts that task. Tt
attempts to describe the emotions of normal people, and
people are not normal when they are afraid, or enraged, or decep-
tive. When the simplest normal emotion elements are
revealed, it becomes a comparatively easy matter to put them
together into normal compound emotions in real life or an
the psychological laboratory. It becomes comparatively
easy, moreover, to detect and to iemove--tfA0 reversed inter-
relationships between normal emotion elements which are re-
sponsihle for these conflicts and thwarlings in "fear ", " rage ",
" jealovsy " and the other abnormal states.
In What Terms can "Normal Emotions" be Described?
Rut a person who calls himself a psychologist is in a peculiar
position these days. Before he can write about the psychology
of emotion, or intelligence, or, in fact, about the psychology
of any human behaviour, he must define what he means by
psychology. The introspectionistic psychologists, now con-
sidered unscientific, regarded any exposition as psychological
which described its phenomena in subjective or introspective
terms. Now the introspectionists are pushed into the back-
ground. In their place we find a great variety of teachers
and researchers all naming their diverse methods and obser-
vations " psychology ". We have, for instance, in the field
of emotions, the physiologists, the neurologists, the physio-
logical psychologists, the behaviourists, the endocrinologists,
the mental-tester-statisticians, the psycho-analysts, and the
psychiatrists. Each of these types of worker confesses himself
to be a psychologist, and, moreover, each maintains that his
are the only psychologically worth-while results. Psychology
1 W B Cannon, Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear, an$ Rage,
New York and London, 1920, pp. 277-279
6 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
to-day, like Europe in the Middle Ages, is being fought over
by feudal barons who have little in commbn save tacit accept-
ance of the rule that spoils shall be taken whenever and
however possible. /
In what terms, then, can we describe simple, normal emo-
tions, with any expectation that one or all of psychology's
warring factions may regard our terminology with aught but
disdain ? I once made the mistake of using the term " will-
setting " in a discussion of bodily emotion* mechanisms ; and,
although, several American psychologists of various sorts
strove manfully to read the article in question, all gave it up
in the end. I once asked Dr. Watson a question containing,
stupidly enough, the word " consciousness ". " I'm sorry ",
said Watson, in a tone of genuine regret, " I don't understand
what you mean, and so I can't answer your question." I
once remarked to an eminent psycho-analyst, that I had
enjoyed the play " Outward Bound ". " O ho ! " this friend
triumphed. " So you have an Oedipus complex ! " then
added, plaintively, " When are you going to learn psycho-
analytical terms ? You might have told me about that
Oedipus, instead of letting it out of the bag in that round-
about fashion 1 " In the first two instances I thought I had
said something, but found I had not. In the last instance, I
did not think I had said anything, but found that I had com-
mitted myself irretrievably. What is one to do in describing
normal emotions ?
Only this. One may try, at least, to " reinterpret and corre-
late the old fog signals ", as Ogden aptly puts it, 1 and so
correct some " errors in manipulating the logos " by an
attempted application of " the science of orthology ". Which
means, of course, that we first have to find out what the various
types of psychological writers really are talking about, each
in his own^ peculiar dialect. And then we have to devise a sort
of psychological Esperanto, defining each new term, as we use
it, with meticulous exactitude. The task is not an easy one.
But to induce the different types of researchers in psychology
of emotion to unite their efforts toward describing normal
primary emotions would be worth any amount of effort. Each
of the varieties of psychologist named has something Vital
to contribute to this central problem, if he would only 'get
over his language difficulty and play the game.
1 C. C K. Ogden, Editorial : " Orthology ", Psyche. July, 1927.
CHAPTER II
MATERIALISM, VITALISM AND PSYCHOLOGY
OUR problem is : What are the underlying desires, or wishes,
that lead some scientists to insist upon mechanistic concep-
tions, and others equally eminent, to espouse some form of
scientific vitalism ? For in psychology, as in other sciences,
a materialistic or vitalistic bias may be found at the root of
nearly all factional schools, or contentious groups. Sometimes,
of course, the underlying desire relates solely to the advaffce-
ment of the personal fortunes of the workers concerned ; and
such purely egoistic motives probably play a considerable
part in the evolution of every scientific doctrine. In addition
to this, however, originators and promulgators of conceptual
systems of thought, nearly always possess hidden desires to
push science in this direction or that, " for science's own
sake ". The goal selected is the one that accords most closely
with the basic emotional set of the scientific agitator. And
the emotional sets of scientists may be classified, broadly, into
two elementary groups, materialistic and vitalistic.
The Mechanistic Set
Mechanists are " hard-boiled ". They are chronic sceptics*
and must be shown. They pretend to base all their conclusions
upon material evidence, and seldom observe that their own
aggressive disbeliefs in the existence of this or that are based
upon temperamental rejection of the very proffered evidence
which their creed holds sacred. Their rationalization of their
own emotional bias runs something like this : Science is the
study and exposition of material causation. " Material "
means always " cruder, less complex forms of energy ".
Therefore, true science is the study of the influence of simpler
energy units upon more complex energy units. And, since we
can account for everything we have experienced in tfcis way,
why waste time imagining that there exists any other.type of
8 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
cause or causation ? The mechanistic doctrine is pithy,
succinct, and easily understood. Like the emotional set
of its adherents, the mechanistic doctrine is aggressive, self-
assured, and makes for rapid and decisive action. Scientific
results, like other types of reward, are attained by action.
Materialism, therefore, has proved itself a very useful agent
in turning man's intellect from arm-chair speculation, to
laboratory research.
The Vitalistic Set
Vitalism seems to associate itself very intimately with
religion, and religion might be defined as an emotional police
force for morals. The vitalises basic emotional set is subtler,
more complex, and harder to define than is that of the mater-
ialist. It seeks a more ultimate good for the self, and, at the
sa*e time, desires opportunity to dispense loftier cheer to
others. If mere physical fact interferes, at any point, with
vitalism's sacred purposes, then escape is taken to the heights
of imagination, where no physical facts exist. Nor do these
occasional excursions prove wholly futile. Often the fugitive
from reality returns to earth with new and usable inspiration.
Physical facts frequently turn out to be chameleons, changing
to richer and more varied colours under more vivid illum-
ination.
In rationalizing his underlying desires for science, the
vitalist remains true to form, starts with a priori assumptions,
and ultimately descends to facts. He assumes, to begpn with,
that physical phenomena cannot adequately be accounted
for as mere results of physical causes. Therefore, it seems,
we must further assume the existence of a first cause, or super-
physical influence of unknown attributes. Granting the
existence ol such an ultra-material agent, it is easy to assert
that " He " produces, emanates, or is physical consciousness.
From this point on, the vitalist descends into the same world
with the materialist. Only, vitalistic causation proceeds in
an opposite direction. Consciousness is a more complex, more
ultimate form of being than is organic matter ; which, in turn,
is more complex and potent than are inorganic energy units.
Complex energy forms are regarded by the vitalist as more
compelling than the cruder units. It is held, therefore, that
higher fenergy units are the causes, and that simpler energy
units aVe effects. " God made man in His own image ", and
MATERIALISM, VITALISM. AND PSYCHOLOGY 9
set him to rule over the beasts of the field. The beasts, in
turn, rule the vegetables, and so on down the line. Science
is conceived of by the vitalist as a study and description of
the causal influences of the higher upon the lower, the more
complex upon the simpler, the more conscious upon the less
animate. This doctrine is utterly repellant to many scientists,
because it bases itself, initially, upon sheer, unproved assump-
tion, and because, with equal naivetd, it ignores countless
instances, appearing in every day life, wheie determinative
influences are exercised by cruder forms of matter upoji human
consciousness itself, which the vitalist regards as the highest
known form of energy.
Existence of Mechanistic-Type Causes and Vitalistic-Type
Causes
On the other hand, physical scientists who desire, IUF-
selfconsciously, to uplift their fellow humans, endure with
difficulty the thought that the destiny of mankind rests
supinely in the power of the unbound electron. Mechanistic
determinism is abhored just as whole-heartedly by many a man
of letters who sees no logical escape from its tentacles, as it is by
" fundamentalist " preachers who see in the triumph ot
materialism a prospective loss of their own bread and butter.
Most dreaded of all mechanistic tenets, apparently, is Dar-
winian evolution. That monkey has made man in his own
image is % felt to be a degrading thought. Why? Because
such a conclusion is taken to mean that man, once made,
continues to be controlled by the same elementary forces which
originally produced him. But biological evolution, even if
true, entails no such implications. Monkey (or the common
ancestor), may have caused man to evolve into his present
form ; but man, on the other hand, can now create new types
of monkeys at will, by exercising a controlling influence over
their breeding habits. And this is the very type of causation
idealized by the vitalists. Man, the complex, sets causes in
motion which influence the nature of monkey, the simpler
animal. Moreover, while the materialistic supposition that
monkey originally created man is beyond our present powers
of verification, the influence exercised by man over monkey
can be observed, any day, in the laboratory. In this argu-
ment, at least, we must concede that the vitalists' variety of
causation is more solidly upheld by facts than is the median-
io EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
istic type of cause raised by materialists to epic grandeur in
the saga of biological evolution. We must admit that while
the vitalists begin their theorizing with fictional flights, the
materialists conclude their doctrines with an almost equally
speculative sublimation of their underlying emotional set.
Also, in justice to both, it may be said that the vitalistic
account of causation is just as much an accurate observation
of physical fact, as is the mechanistic account. Simpler energy
units constantly influence more complex units, and may, under
favourable conditions, control their behaviour, while more
intricate assemblages of force, by virtue of new attributes
derived from their complexity, as constantly compel
comliance from cruder types of matter, and do, under
our very eyes, completely regulate the simpler energy
forms.
-""Physical science must and does include both mechanistic
and vitalistic types of causation.
Science Musi Describe Both Types of Causes
We do not know as a matter of actual observation how
organic forms of energy originate. We do know, however,
that such energy units exist, and that any life-possessing unit
exercises spontaneous influences over inorganic matter
throughout its life span. These influences are in every sense
vitalistic-type causes. Even inorganic matter may spon-
taneously generate causes of this same type. Radio-active
metals, for instance, emanate energy particles regardfess of the
nature of the environment in which these emanations take
place. Physical science, without doubt, is held accountable
for a full description of these phenomena.
At the same time, life-possessing units of matter, such
as plants and animals, are constantly undergoing modification
as a resu^: of stimuli which impinge upon their organisms from
the less complex material units of their environment. Simple,
but intensely energized forces like wind or waves may destroy
plant or animal organisms altogether ; or such forces may
influence in conclusive manner the growth or movements of
the more complex animal and plant organisms. In the case
of inorganic matter, acids or single chemical elements vastly
less complex in themselves than the radio active metals, may t
attach and destroy the latter, or may hasten or retard the
radio* activity. These are mechanistic-type causes acting
MATERIALISM, VITALISM, AND PSYCHOLOGY n
determinatively upon energy units more complex than
themselves.
Interaction of Mechanistic Type and Vitalistic-Type Causes
In addition to such wholly separable types of causation,
science has still to deal with the interaction of vitalistic and
mechanistic causes. It is in the discussion of influences inter-
acting between complex and simple energy units that the
greatest confusions and conflicts of scientific analysis arise.
For instance, let Us suppose that science is called upon to
describe the plant growing in a field. It can be shown defin-
itely that the soil is delivering a continuous series of chemical
stimuli to the plant. It is equally ascertainable that the plant
reacts to these stimuli with a series of reactions peculiar to
its own inherent nature. Some of these plant responses will
result in the delivery of counter stimuli to the soil and some
will not. Those influences which are exercised by the pl~%t
over the soil will, for the most part, alter the soil in ways
determined by the chemical power of the plant. In so far,
therefore, as soil and plant interchange influences, it may fairly
be said that the more complex units of energy composing the
plant will dominate the interplay of causal forces.
But, as we have noted, there will be many changes in the
plant, as a result of reactions to soil stimuli, which will not
direct any influence back toward the earth. Were these
plant changes directed by the soil to its own ultimate benefit,
then we might clearly assume that the simpler form of energy
was in causal control of the more complex energy unit. That
is to say, if the soil were able to use the more complex energy
of the plant to effect its own enlargement, simply by stimu-
lating the plant to act according to the plant's own principles
of action, we might conclude that, after all, the balance of
control lay with the simpler unit of energy. This would amount
to philosophical admission that mechanistic causation holds
the balance of power. But such does not appear*to be the
case. Though stimulated to action by the soil, the plant
reacts with its own energy according to its own innate princi-
ples of action, and with reaction tendencies designed for its
own ultimate benefit. With innate power to develop spon-
taneously throughout its own life cycle, with a balance of
power of interaction capable of changing the soil more radically
than the soil can change it, and, finally, with a structure
designed in such a way as always to react for its own benefit
12 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
when stimulated to action by the soil, we are forced to conclude
that the plant is a more potent generator of effective causes
than is the soil. In short, a close logical analysis of influences
interacting between complex and simple energy units would
seem to show that the responses of the simpler unit are
dependent to a greater extent upon the causal control of the
more complex form of matter, than are the reactions of the
latter upon the former. If a balance is to be struck, then,
upon the basis of empirical observation^ between vitalistic
and mechanistic types of causation, we should be obliged to
concede to the vitalistic causes the final balance of power.
But science is not called upon to strike any such balance;
it is merely required to describe both types of causation,
neglecting neither the one nor the other.
Complex Matter-Units Possess Greatest Causal Power
In the large, we may put the matter somewhat as follows.
Science finds, in this world, units of energy of varying com-
plexity. It finds that the complex units are capable ol exerting
spontaneous influences upon the simpler units, and vice versa.
It finds that simple and complex units customarily interact,
each causing changes in the other. The balance of power, on
the whole, in this interchange of causal influences, lies with the
more complex energy accretions. Even supposing, by way of
illustration, that lead was once responsible for the evolution
of uranium, it seems now the fact that radio-active metal can
create lead under our own observation ; while lead, if it still
possesses evolutionary power, manifests it in too small a
degree to be detected with available instruments. Perhaps
inorganic compounds, millions of years ago, evolved plant
structures. But now, at least, vegetable growths alter the
entire composition of their nurturing soils, in the course of
a few seasons ; while the ability of the chemical influence of
the soil to change the fundamental characteristics of plant life
is extremely uncertain. Monkey-like primates may have given
rise, in the long ago, to genus homo ; but there is now little
comparison between the influence that man is capable of
exerting over ape behaviour, and that which monkeys may
bring to bear upon man. It seems to be a principle of nature
that once a more complex form of energy appears, it forthwith
possesses greater causal power over simpler forms of energy than
the simpler forms possess over it.
MATERIALISM, VITALISM, AND PSYCHOLOGY 13
But the mere fact that a quantitative majority of causations
are of vitalistic type, does not in the least mean that science
can neglect the huge, co-existing volume of mechanistic-type
causations. Both aspects of causal description are required
in all sciences. In physics, for example, which seeks to
describe the most ultimate, or elementary reaction tendencies
of matter, the attempt is now being made to resolve all complex
masses into ultra-simple proton and electron systems. The
influence of each proton-electron microcosm, then, must be
traced in its most far-reaching effects upon the physical
behaviour of the macrocosmic mass of which it forms a single
unit. The causal influences of the total mass, on the other
hand, upon its constituent proton-electron systems, and upon
other free-lance proton-electron systems, must be described.
Chemistry, starting with already complex units of matter,
the atom and the molecule, seeks to describe the causal effect
of atoms upon molecules, and of molecules upon their con-
stituent atoms, and upon other atoms, free 01 in other mole-
cular systems of combination. Complexly organized groups
of molecules, also, are studied by chemistry, which attempts
to trace the influences which single molecules exercise upon
organic and inorganic compounds, and the causal effects of
such compounds upon the simpler, molecular units.
From chemistry we step over the border line between
inorganic and organic matter into the field of the sciences which
deal with living organisms. In botany an attempt is made to
analyze plant structures into cellular units. The effects of
these units, together with the influences of still simpler
inorganic units upon complex plant structures is then con-
sidered. Slightly more important, perhaps, is the description
of the manner in which plants utilize and react upon their
environment. In the general science of biology, which serves
as an introduction to the more highly specialized physiological
sciences, it is interesting to note that animal organisms are
classified into phyla, genera, and species, upon the basis of
the type of action which each animal exerts upon its environ-
ment, rather than according to the effect which inorganic or
vegetable environment exerts upon the animal. Both
aspects of scientific description are important in biology,
however, as we have seen them to be in the other sciences.
With the advent of the highly specialized physiological
sciences, we find a group of studies whose special objfect is
I 4 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
analysis and description of man himself. Animal organisms
below the complexity level of man are, of course, constantly
utilized in the physiological laboratory ; but such animal
subjects are studied in order to apply the knowledge thus
gained to further understanding of man. In other words,
the purpose of the physiological sciences has become frankly
vitalistic as to type of causation emphasized. It is desired to
know how man reacts upon and utilizes animals less complex
than himself, as well as to learn the influences which he is able
to wield over his vegetable and inorganic environments. This
underlying purpose of the human scientist appears greatly to
disturb mechanistic -minded writers and investigators, and
the repeated attempt is made to assert the equal scientific
importance of animal and botanical results regardless of their
ultimate bearing upon analyses of man's own creative ten-
tLncies. Similarly, attempts are frankly made by material-
istically biased persons to assert that man's behaviour is
determined in its entirety by the influences exerted upon it
by units of energy simpler than man himself.
The truth of this assertion may be tested by examination
of the nature of the nervous impulses by which, it is generally
conceded, man's bodily conduct is initiated and controlled.
Nerve impulses were formerly thought of as electrical dis-
turbances. The energy travelling along a given nerve was
conceived of as an outside force imposed upon the nerve by
an environmental or physiological stimulus; that v is, by a
stimulus less complex in energy organization than the nerve
itself. Neurologists have subsequently discovered, however,
that the nature of a nervous impulse is wholly dependent upon
the potential energy already contained within the nerve fibre.
A nervous impulse is now described as a series of explosions, 1 2
dependent for their intensity and volume, not upon the
intensity of the physical stimulus, but rather upon the in-
trinsic structure of the particular nerve fibre stimulated. The
1 K Lucas, The Conduction of the Nerve Impulse, London, 1917, p 23.
1 A Forbes, " The Interpretation of Spinal Reflexes in Terms of
Present Knowledge of Nerve Conduction, " Physiological Reviews, vol ii,
July, 1922, p 367 : "It has been likened to the burning of a train of
gunpowder, in contrast with the transmission of a sound wave whose
energy comes entirely from its initiating source This fact, now well
established, should put an end to all efforts to explain the nerve impulse
simply as a transient current of electricity conducted along the fibre
on thesame principle as in an insulated wire ; the dynamics of the two
modes of conduction are fundamentally different,"
MATERIALISM, VITALISM, AND PSYCHOLOGY 15
function of the physical stimulus is limited to an initial release
of nervous energy accumulations more complex than itself.
In no sense is the nervous impulse determined by, or causally
dependent upon the less complex physical stimulus to which
it responds, except in the single particular that the physical
stimulus is responsible for the origin of the nervous impulse.
Once the nervous impulse appears, it proceeds to operate on
its owil energy and according to its own rules of behaviour,
like all other complex forms of energy. The mechanistic
thinker assumes that causal responsibility for the origin of
the more complex form of energy implies subsequent' control
of the more complex unit throughout its life span. Only if
such continuous control were exercised by the simpler over
the more complex could this world be regarded as uniformly
mechanistic. As a matter of fact, however, the moment a
more complex energy unit, such as the nervous impulse, is-
called into being, it forthwith assumes control of its own
behaviour, and, to a considerable extent also, it exercises
control over the behaviour of the stimulus energy unit.
The analysis of human emotions hereinafter set forth will,
I trust, clearly show that man, the most complex of unit
organisms, is similarly independent of, and influential over,
the environmental stimuli which initially call into being his
responses.
Assignments of the Sciences
Psychology is the youngest and most undeveloped of the
specialized, man-describing sciences. What is psychology's
peculiar assignment ? What especial group of energy units
must psychology examine, both with respect to the influences
exerted upon these units by simpler forms of matter, and with
respect to manipulations of simpler forms by the units
described by psychology ? Physiologists, as we have seen,
undertake to examine the effects of environment upon bodily
tissues and organs. They also seek to discover the actions of
the organs themselves upon the various vegetable and mechani-
cal forces of matter which they contact. Neurology, which
is also a comparatively new branch of science, is particularly
interested in the effects of bodily organs and tissues upon the
net-work of neurons constituting the so-called nervous system.
More particularly is neurology interested in the influences
exerted by nervous impulses over the various organs and tissues
16 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
of the body. Is there any stabilized form of energy more
complex than the nervous impulse ? The common sense
answer to this question is " Yes, Consciousness ".
Psychology's A ssignment
Physiologists, neurologists, psycho-physiologists and possibly
psycho-analysts, substantially agree with this answer. All
these types of investigators assume, either tacitly or explicitly,
that consciousness is a manifestation of energy which exists
and reacts as a unit separate from mere intra-neuronic dis-
turbance. If this separate existence of the phenomenon
consciousness be conceded, then psychology's especial task
must be the description of this most complex form of energy.
And psychology, like all other sciences, must proceed to the
analysis and description of both causal aspects of its subject
.natter. The effects of nerve impulses upon consciousness must
be discovered and analyzed. None-the-less importantly must
the influences of consciousness upon nervous impulses be studied
Through the mediumship of its influence upon nervous energy
consciousness will, of course, act upon bodily tissues,
and through the mediumship of bodily tissues, consciousness
will be found ultimately to influence the organism's physical
environment. To leave out any of these essential causal
media which are interposed between consciousness and physical
environment must be to leave a gap in the totality of scientific
description. Such gaps usually make for inaccuracy. There-
fore, it would seem sensible for psychology to base itself first
of all upon neurology, relying upon the description of nerve
impulse behaviour furnished by workers in that field. Thus
may psychology find more or less ready-made its points of
departure and application.
If psychology's assignment be consciousness, and if con-
sciousness lies in immediate contact with nervous energy, then
the physiological changes which can be discovered in bodily
organs and the observable physical movements of the body
itself may be utilized for psychology's purposes in two ways.
In the first place, bodily movements may be regarded as
possibly symptomatic of a preceding psycho-neural cause.
The proof of the existence of this primary, conscious-cause
should not, as will later be set forth in detail, depend upon
introspective observations. Definitive, objective criteria,ba?ed
upon known structures and functions of the particular median-
MATERIALISM, VITALISM, AND PSYCHOLOGY 17
isms of consciousness, should be used always in deciding
whether observed body changes or movements are the result
of consciousness or not. In the second place, if such a change
or movement is not the result of consciousness, it might still
prove of interest to psychology as a causal originator of con-
sciousness. That is to say, measurable bodily changes and
movements may represent the simpler energy unit causes of
the generation of consciousness, or they may represent causes
of its modification. **Again we must emphasize the fact that
bodily changes may or may not influence consciousness, and
that the issue of whether consciousness has, in faCt, been
changed is to be decided as far as possible upon objective,
rather than upon introspective data.
In summary, then, measurable bodily changes and observ-
able bodily movements may be of value to the psychological
investigator in one of two ways. First, it is possible that th
psychologist may use the bodily change as an indicator of
pre-existing consciousness. In that case consciousness is
treated as a vitalistic-type cause, the effect of which is the
bodily movement. Or, secondly, measured modifications
may prove of value to the investigating psychologist as in-
dicators of the consciousness which is to follow. In this case
the bodily changes represent a mechanistic type cause of which
the alteration of consciousness is a predictable result.
Tyfies of Causes Emphasized by Different Schools of Emotion
Investigators
With such a preliminary view of psychology as that just
outlined, we find ourselves in a position to consider the various
aspects of psychology's task in which different types of
workers specialize.
Psycho-Physiologists
The psycho-physiologists may be regarded as investigators
who are trying to make careful laboratory measures of intra-
bodily changes. More especially do we find this type of
researcher emphasizing the mechanictically causal aspect of
his data. That is, the psycho-physiologist seems especially
concerned with trying to describe the consciousness resulting
from the physiological changes measured. Following this
"bias, perhaps, psycho-physiological workers have long striven
in vain to prove that bodily changes constitute mechanistic-
C
i8 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
type causes of resulting sensations, and that these sensations
are emotion (James-Lange theory).
On the other hand, a limited number of psycho-physio-
logical researchers have tried to utilize physiological measures
as symptoms, or indicators of previously existing emotional
causes. Association reaction-time tests, systolic blood-pressure
deception tests, and galvanometric emotion-detecting tests
may be listed as investigations of this type. Bodily changes,
thus regarded, are tacitly treated as resultS'of emotion impulses
acting as vitalistic-type causes. Though physiological psy-
chologists have been severely handicapped by the senseless
assumption that all consciousness is, in its final essence, com-
posed of sensation, they have, on the whole, shown no pre-
judicial bias toward limiting the use of their results by regarding
them either as exclusive!}' mechanistic-type causes or as ex-
Thisively vitalistic-type causes. In short, the psycho-physiolo-
gists, for the most part, have made their bodily measurements,
or they have recorded their subjects 1 introspections as care-
fully, and they have icf rained from dogmatic assertion as to
the type of causal conception, if any, existing between their
two sets of data.
Mental-T ester-Statisticians
It is more difficult to place the mental-tester-statistician
within the field of psychology as we have attempted to outline
it. One is tempted to believe, at times, that this type of person
is not working in the field of psychology at all. Yet even if
this conclusion were justified, it would still remain true that
the statistical-testing type of result is throwing invaluable side
lights upon many strictly psychological problems. It is
difficult to find intrinsic psychological meaning in the state-
ment that Thomas Brown has made an army alpha score of
200. There exists, so far as I know, no available key to the
different elements of consciousness involved in securing 200
on that particular test, nor is there an extant compendium
detailing the psycho-neural mechanisms of causation employed
by the subject in obtaining this unusually high score. The
prevailing mental test meaning of the score is merely that
Thomas Brown has complied with and dominated an arbi-
trarily fixed set of tasks considerably more effectively than
several million other persons have been able to do. If one
would utilize this result in a truly psychological analysis of
MATERIALISM, VITALISM, AND PSYCHOLOGY 19
Brown, one must guess 'what psycho-neural mechanisms were
called into play in this particular individual by the tasks
imposed. Such an application of a test score to psychology
is not as difficult as it sounds. After a little practical experi-
ence with tests, one comes to realize that certain characteristics
of consciousness such as speed of reaction and finesse of
compliance emotion are necessary to the making of a high
test score. This is the sort of rough and ready analysis of test
results into heterog^neously named " mental traits " at which
mental test specialists become extremely expert. To a genius
like Thorndike, for example, who has spent many years in
analyzing mental test results, the psychologically suggestive
values of test tabulations are tremendous, if one may judge
from his theoretical contributions to the psychology of learning.
Accepting, then, this suggestive value of mental tests, rather
than the statistical formulation of their results, as the chief
psychological value of this method of investigation, we may
regard mental test procedures as specializing in the vitalistic-
type of psychological causation. The bodily performances
of the persons tested are treated as symptomatic of conscious-
ness energy and nervous energy acting as vitalistic-type causes
of the behaviour measured.
Behaviourists
John B. Watson states 1 that in 1912 the behaviourists
decided either to give up psychology or else to make it a
natural Lcience. Many people are now inclined to believe that
Watsonian behaviourists have carried out not one but both
of these threats. Certainly Watson's mechanistic bias, backed
by his extraordinarily keen scientific observation, has accom-
plished wonders in converting psychology into an objective
science. But, at the same time, there is considerable evidence
that Watson himself has given up psychology altogether. In
his latest text, he defines the subject matter of hianan psy-
chology as " the behaviour or activities of the human being "
but he explicitly excludes consciousness from human behaviour
and activity. If Watson should succeed in this bob-tailing
of psychology, he would have talked himself out of a job.
For neuronic activity has been assigned to the neurologist,
body tissue activity to the physiologist, and classification
1 J B Watson, Behaviorism, New York and London, 1925, p 16.
1 J. B. Watson, ibid., p. 3.
20 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
of gross bodily behaviour of all anirtials, including man, to
the general biologist. It might be possible, of course, for
psychology to appropriate to itself the last-named function
of biology in so far as it relates to the genus homo. In such
case psychology would act as a sort ol clearing house for the
facts of neurology and physiology, with a department for the
release of composite motion pictures of whole human beings
in action. But behaviourists, as a matter of fact, have not
behaved as though acting upon such a concept of their scientific
task. Watson, for instance, has reported to the literature
many carefully controlled experiments in which he sought to
analyze and explain the intra-bodily mechanisms by which
the final gross actions were brought about. Watson himself,
of course, is now devoting himself to business, and his recent
expressions of lack of interest in attempting to describe the
more intricate bodily mechanisms of response (particularly
those of the central nervous system) are probably attributable
to his personal lack of time for laboratory experimentation,
rather than to any radical shift in scientific attitude. On the
whole, then, we may conclude that the Watsonian type of
behaviourism is merely a mechanistically motivated attempt
to turn psychology into objectively scientific channels by the
simple expedient of eliminating whatever type of subject
matter the behaviourists feel themselves incapable of describ-
ing. That the phenomenon eliminated chanced to be con-,,
sciousness is unfortunate for " behaviourism ", not for
psychology. *
If, then, we dare to assume, in the very teeth of the
behaviouristic tempest, that consciousness is a very complex
but stabilized form of energy which must be included in the
" activities of the human being ", we may conclude that
Watson and his allies would be especially interested in the
control which physical environment and bodily tissues exercise
over consciousness. Watson insists that only mechanistic-
type causes exist He regards the central nervous system
as a mere off-shoot of the other bodily tissues which control
it completely ; and he furthermore states that the responses
of both bodily tissues and nervous system are wholly at the
mercy of the physical environment, just as Atalanta found
herself wholly at the mercy of the golden apples. 1 Almost
1 J. B. Watson, Psychology from the Standpoint of a Behaviorist, 1919, '
Philadelphia and London, p. 3.
MATERIALISM, VITALISM, AND PSYCHOLOGY 21
in the next paragraph, however, Watson attempts to show how
the human race can throw off its thraldom to religious and
social convention and other environmentally determined
influences. He has recently maintained that no more children
should be brought into the world until parents have learned
enough about them to regulate each child's life according to
the principles of the child's own nature, physical, mental, and
emotional. Surely no more striking faith in the potencies
of vitalistic-type causation can be found than this statement !
If human consciousness were truly controlled by less complex
energy forms of the environment, such dreams for human
self-regulation would be sheer madness. The actively potent
cause in the programme which Watson advocates is the com-
plex human consciousness of parents, which, when it has been
made still more complex by added knowledge, \\ atson hopes
can control and modify the simpler consciousness of the child.
It was not really the apples which over-powered Atalanta,
but the more complex consciousness of Milanion who dropped
the apple? . It seems to me probable, therefore, in light of
this unintentional self-revelation on Watson's part, that we
may, after all, expect the master " behaviourist " to lay fully
as much emphasis upon analysis of vitalistic-type causes as
upon purely mechanistic descriptions. These two aspects
of any science are, of course, inseparable. And it is not
reckless to predict that the behaviourists of to-day may be
transfer ned completely into the psycho-physiologists ol
to-morrow if procedures for objective examination and
description of consciousness can be perfected.
Psycho- A nalysts
Lastly, we may consider, briefly, the causal emphasis to
be found in the doctrine of psycho-analysis. The psycho-
analysts seem to take an especial interest in the control which
various conflicting and distorted elements of consciousness
exercise over human conduct. This clearly is a vitalistic-
type of causation. Yet when we penetrate one step further
into the psycho-analytical teachings, we discover that the
offending conscious elements themselves are regarded as being
the product of still another type of entity, the libido. If, then,
the libido turns out to be a mass of unconscious, physical, or
physiological energy, the whole foundation of the psycho-
analytical system must be regarded as thoroughly mechanistic.
22 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
If, on the other hand, the libido is discovered to partake of
the nature of consciousness itself, we might conclude that a
vitalistic theme of causation runs back into the very heart
of the psycho-analytical doctrine.
The effects which physical objects and environmental
situations are supposed to have upon the emotional conscious-
ness of children constitute instances of purely mechanistic-
type causation. That is to say, the psycho-analysts teach
that the emotional consciousness of young children is peculiarly
susceptible to being controlled, perverted, and mis-directed
by irresistible effects produced upon it by less complex forms
of matter in the physical environment. As the individual
grows older his consciousness is thought to be less susceptible
to damage or perversion from such causes, although when the
libido meets with environmental enemies, these outside
antagonists may exercise more control over the subject's
consciousness than does the libido itself. On the whole, we
may characterize psycho-analysis as a system of thought which
assumes a continuous state of bodily conflict between the
vitalistic-type causes, having their origin in the libido or in
consciousness itself, and the mechanistic-type causes springing
from environmental stimuli. The psycho-analyst's avowed
intention is to ally himself with the self-controlling conscious
causes existing in a subject, for the purpose of defeating the,
mechanistic, environmental causes. These material influences
are to be brought, if possible, into harmony with the human
being's own nature. We may, perhaps, draw a general
conclusion that the psycho-analyst believes psychology to be a
s+udy of the conflict between vitalistic-type causes and mechan-
istic-type causes, in so far as such causes relate to conscious-
ness.
Summary
It may be well to summarize the causal emphasis of investi-
gators making the most important contributions to psychology
of emotions as follows : Psychologists who seek to make
simultaneous laboratory examination of consciousness as
reported introspectively, and of physiological changes in the
subjects' body as measured by instruments of precision, are
usually interested equally in mechanistic-type causes and
vitalistic-type causes. These workers need not, and often
do not, commit themselves very definitely as to whether
MATERIALISM, VITALISM, AND PSYCHOLOGY 23
consciousness has caused bodily change, or bodily change has
controlled consciousness. No fault can be found with this
position, though a hope may be expressed that psycho-
physiologists may manifest a little more boldness in the causal
interpretation of their results, once consciousness has come
to be definitely recognized as a form of physical energy.
Mental-tester-statisticians, working by a method which
produces psychologically suggestive results of considerable
value, may be saidto seek causes of vitalistic-type in so far as
test results are regarded as revelatory of existing consciousness
or conscious tendencies.
Watsonian behaviourists, though ostensibly and aggres-
sively mechanistic in their present propaganda, are found,
nevertheless, to possess the most practical interest of all in
vitalistic-type causation. For these behaviourists maintain
that human beings, who are the most complex of physical
energy units, possess the ability wholly to free their own
behaviour from environmental control.
The psycho-analyst takes especial interest in the relations
existing between mechanistic-type causation and vitalistic-
type causation. The existing relationship between these
antithetical types of causal influence is conceived by the
psycho-analyst to be one of conflict, and this conflict he would
resolve in favour of the vitalistic-type causes. Of all classes
V)f thinkers contributing to the problem of emotional theory,
the psycho-analyst seems to be alone in his explicit recognition
of the simultaneous existence of both types of causation, and
of the scientific necessity for psychology to deal with both,
Psychology of Emotion Tentatively Defined
Applying our conclusions with regard to mechanism,
vitalism, and psychology to the psychology of emotions, we
may suggest a tentative definition of our prospective field of
research. Psychology of emotion is the scientific description of
affective consciousness. " Scientific description ", as herein-
before set forth, must include discovery and exposition of both
mechanistic-type and vitalistic-type causes and their inter-
actions within the field defined.
Concretely, we may expect to trace the origin of emotion
to mechanistic-type causes ; that is, to nerve impulses, thence
to bodily changes and, ultimately, to environmental stimuli.
These three types of cause constitute simpler forms of energy
2 4 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
than does consciousness itself. We may also expect to find
that many elements of emotional consciousness are terminated
by these same mechanistic-type causes. Unfortunately, also,
we may feel rather sure that the conditioning of emotional
consciousness upon environmental stimuli will be found under
the control, for the most part, of mechanistic-type influences.
That is to say, we shall find that the quality of emotional
consciousness which responds to and reacts upon a given
environmental stimulus frequently has been determined by
chance repetition of that stimulus, or by the conditions under
which the stimulus first happened to be presented to the subject,
by his inanimate environment. If such be the case, the in-
animate object, or simpler form of energy, is exercising com-
plete control over the nature of the emotional response, and
indirectly over the subsequent type of influence exerted back
again upon environment by the emotional consciousness
evoked. This type of causation remains predominantly
mechanistic throughout.
On the other hand, we must be prepared to regard bodily
expressions of emotional consciousness as vitalistically caused
by the conscious energy itself. In other words, we must not
forget that physical or physiological behaviour which we regard
as symptomatic of emotional consciousness, is truly a result of
the physical causation set up by the emotion energy. Emo-
tional consciousness is to be regarded as a vitalistic-type cause
whenever it expresses itself by modification of simpler forms
of energy such as nerve impulses, bodily tissues, or unconscious
objects of environment. We may expect, furthermore, to
find emotional consciousness acting as a vitalistic-type cause
over its own less complex units. Larger and more complex
units of emotional consciousness may causally control simpler
units of consciousness by the round-about method of compelling
nerve impulses, and, through their mediation, compelling
environmental stimuli to manufacture new units of emotional
consciousness made to order, as it were. Thus we find that
the complete control of one's own emotional conditioning
advocated by Watson may be brought about by vitalistic-
type causation controlling and using to its own purposes
mechanistic-type causes. This method, rather than the
method of mutual conflict between two existing units of
emotional consciousness each acting as a vitalistic-type cause,
seems to constitute the natural means of emotional self-control.
MATERIALISM, VITALISM, AND PSYCHOLOGY 25
In short, emotional consciousness, acting as a vitalistic-type
cause, may not only definitely influence nerve impulses, bodily
states, and environmental forces, but it may also influence
these simpler energy units in such a way that their powers
of mechanistic-type causation shall be utilized to prolong
or terminate the existing vitalistic-type cause emotional
consciousness.
This detailed analysis of scientific causation as it appears
in the psychology of emotion is intended as a preliminary
determination of the requirements which any sensible theory
of emotions must meet if it is to serve as a skeleton for research
I may say, at this point, that I have not found the task of
meeting these requirements an easy one. But when the re-
.quirements are eventually met I believe that the resulting
psychological structure should prove acceptable to all the
divers cults of research contributors to the psychology of
emotions. The benefit of such a truce in the present psycho-
logical civil war would be great, for it is only by the establishing
of a common working hypothesis that any substantial portion
of these divers research contributions can be given meaning
for all.
CHAPTER III
THE PSYCHONIC THEORY OF CONSCIOUSNESS*
THE question, " What is consciousness ? " has been asked,
but not answered, since the first dawnings of speculative
thought. The present age, however, can boast of a new
question all its own : " Does consciousness exist ? " To one
whose common -sense life has been spent outside the intellectual
fantasies of academic shades this question might seem ludi-
crous. Nevertheless, professors of the older school are begin-
ning to experience a considerable degree of bepuzzlement when
confronted with the task of convincing a healthfully sceptical
younger generation that there is such a thing as consciousness.
" What is it ? " ask the student readers of Watson.
" Where is it ? Prove to me that consciousness exists ! "
In vain does the instructor insist that " everyone knows
what consciousness is, because everyone is conscious " ; that
" many phenomena which cannot be ' kicked ' (seemingly the
prescribed behaviouristic test for recognizable beingj, can yet
definitely be shown to exist."
" Very well ", reply the students, " show us, then."
Objective evidence of the existence of consciousness must
necessarily be indirect evidence, just as is the case with
electricity, Hertzian waves, and even disturbances of pro-
pagation in nervous tissue. No wireless wave, electric current,
or nerve impulse is in itself sufficiently tangible to be made
subject fo observation by human senses aided by such instru-
ments as are at present available. The effects of these
various forces upon observable materials, however, are
accepted not only as proofs of the existence of the forces under
1 " The Psychonic Theory of Consciousness " made its first appearance
in the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology for July, 1926. The
theory was amplified in an article appearing in Psyche for July, 1927.
Portions of both ai tides are reproduced in this chapter, and the author
makers grateiul acknowledgment to the editors foi their kind permission
to reprint the material.
26
THE PSYCHONIC THEORY OF CONSCIOUSNESS 27
examination, but also as scientifically descriptive criteria by
which the nature of the unseen causes may be determined.
Thus, an electric current may actuate a voltmeter or an
ammeter ; a Hertzian wave may produce differences of con-
ductivity within an audion tube ; and a nervous impulse may
result in easily recorded contractions of a strip of muscle
fibre.
If, then, examination of consciousness is approached with
similar objectivity, we must assume that consciousness itself,
or the physical mechanism used to produce it, constitutes a
definite, physical force, capable of registering its presence
and nature by causing changes in some observable material.
Further, this force, consciousness, if it exists anywhere, is
to be found in the more complex reactions of the normal,
adult, human being. In terms of the preliminary analysis of
causation arrived at in our last chapter, we are now called upon
to prove that a vitalistic-type cause called consciousness
actually exists in some part of the human organism and that
this supposedly complex form of energy exerts a measurable
influence upon simpler energy units, within the body itself,
capable of observation with the unaided senses or with
laboratory instruments.
Most of the human family have observed, without the aid
o* a psychologist, that some human activities seem to the
subjects themselves to be more conscious than others. Habitual
responses, luch as walking, twirling a watch fob, or swinging
a stick, often do not seem to be accompanied by any conscious-
ness whatever. On the other hand, the making of momentous
decisions which may occupy many hours, days, or weeks,
exemplify the type of human action which seems to include
the greatest relative amount of consciousness. The question as
to whether or not habitual actions are, in truth, totally devoid
of consciousness may be regarded at the moment as t purely
academic. If our subjects unanimously report more of the
phenomenon called consciousness in one sort of behaviour
than in another, and if there are objectively observable effects
which seem to proceed paripassu with the increase in conscious-
ness, this constitutes scientifically acceptable proof that con-
sciousness is a material force acting upon our bodies as a
vitalistic-type cause. In exactly the same way, the fluctuating
needle of the voltmeter is accepted as offering scientific proof
of the invisible presence of an electric current acting as a
28 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
vitalis tic-type cause over the materials of the instrument.
Should this causally effective force, consciousness, be identified
later with nervous energy in some part of the brain, it would
still remain a vitalistic-type cause, that is, a more complex
form of energy than the materials moved. Moreover, when
psychology has properly performed its task, we shall hope to
find physical consciousness explicitly described in terms of
physical energy units.
Our first question, then, is : What changes in bodily
behavio.ur characteristically accompany this reported con-
sciousness ?
Proofs of Consciousness
1. The more conscious a reaction is, the slower it is.
It has frequently been observed that the more conscious
an action is, the longer is the observable delay between
reception of environmental stimuli and appearance of overt
bodily responses. As already noted, habitual actions occur
very quickly after contact with the stimulus ; whereas, in the
making of momentous decisions, overt activity may be delayed
for days or weeks. Reflexes like the knee jerk, where no
accompanying consciousness can be detected by the subject
himself, manifest a still shorter reaction time than the habitual
responses ; while certain " thinking " activities, which may
persist over a period of many hours, and which are, recognized
as intensely conscious throughout the entire period, may never
manifest a detectable ultimate response. One observable
effect of consciousness upon bodily behaviour, then, would
seem to be a lengthening of the time interval between stimulus
and response.
2. The more consciousness accompanying a response, the
longer ic persists after the stimulus is removed.
Quite in contrast to the first-mentioned result of the influence
of conscious energy upon bodily behaviour is a second equally
common effect. Strictly reflex, or habitual actions, tend to
cease very quickly after the removal of the environmental
stimulation that brought them about. For instance, a machine
operator in a factory does not continue to press down the
stopping lever of his machine after the machine has stopped.
One does not continue to make watch-fob-twirling movements
THE PSYCHONIC THEORY OF CONSCIOUSNESS 29
when dressed in pyjamas, nor to swing the legs in a walking
movement after stretching oneself out in an easy chair. On
the other hand, if a greater amount of consciousness is attached
to a given action, the action is likely to persist for a much
longer period after complete removal of the effective stimulus.
Suppose a young man has responded to the stimulus of a
chance remark that he is " mentally abnormal " by deciding,
after some weeks of cogitation, to become a psychiatrist (an
actual case which cajrie to my attention in clinic). He begins
to act upon this remark within a few months by entering a
medical school, but long years of training must follow before
he can even begin to analyze his own personality. During
these years he may not once have encountered any repetition
of the suggestion that he is mentally unbalanced, but his
original reaction, which was initially accompanied by intense
and prolonged " consciousness " of both emotional and
intellectual varieties, has persisted without abatement through-
out a period of years after the disappearance of the environ-
mental stimulus. Probably most physiological authorities
would agree that such a tremendously extended response repre-
sents not a single reaction, but a long series of reactions.
Since most of these responses are centrally initiated, and all
are unified to accomplish a single purpose, the original stimulus
must have evoked a large volume of energy somewhere in the
central nervous system which continued to control behaviour
for a long period of years. In conformance with this idea,
R. S. Woexlworth 1 in his theory of " tendencies to action "
and " preparatory reactions " holds that " damned up
energy " may exist in the central nervous system for periods
of months and years, escaping in tiny rivulets as the dam is
punctured by appropriate environmental stimuli.
3. The more conscious a response is, the less its rhythm
corresponds with the rhythm of the stimulus.
Habitual or reflex actions show a much closer correspondence
between the rhythm of end effect and the rhythm in which
the stimulus is received than do more conscious responses.
In the swinging of a cane or regulation of a semi-automatic
machine, the rhythms of bodily response are adjusted auto-
matically to the rhythms of stimulation. This type of adjust-
1 R. S. Woodworth, Psychology , New York, 1925, pp. 82-84. .
3 o EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
ment is still more marked in such highly reflex activities as
skilled chorus dancing, playing the piano, or using a type-
writer. On the other hand, the more conscious the action
becomes, the more the automatic correspondence between
rhythm of stimulus and rhythm of response tends to be broken
up. Let the dancer become suddenly aware of her steps, the
typist of the keys, the pianist of his notes, and the established
rhythm is shattered. Grace dissolves into jerky awkwardness,
speedful accuracy into hesitant blundering and rhythmic
harmony to lagging dissonance. " Introverted " persons, or.
those customarily given to expressing a great deal of "self-
consciousness " while reacting to a stimulus, are notoriously
awkward in games or physical exercises requiring close
approximation of the rhythm of bodily responses to the rhythm
of an environmental stimulus. Their physical actions are
jerky, and indiscriminately slower or quicker than the rhythm
of the physical stimulus to which they are attempting to adapt
their own rhythms of action. The increased consciousness
seems to interfere with the correspondence between rhythm
of stimulation and rhythm of response.
4. The more conscious a response is, the less its intensity
corresponds with the intensity of the stimulus.
Within limits, the intensity of simple reactions, involving
little consciousness, corresponds rather closely with the
intensity of the physical stimulation. A vocalist uncon-
sciously sings louder if the volume of the piano accompaniment
is increased. Small adjustments in the reactions of walking
are made " unconsciously " in response to differences in in-
tensity of pressure stimulation presented by the path along
which one is walking. A slight up grade which increases the
intensity of the pressure upon the feet and also increases the
intensity of muscular pressure upon the proprioceptive sense
organs, is " unconsciously " followed by corresponding
increase in the intensity of muscular exertion. But in re-
sponses which are reported as involving a great deal of con-
sciousness, there may be little or no correspondence between
the intensity of the stimulus and the intensity of reaction
to the stimulus. In the case of the young psychiatric student
just considered, the chance remark concerning his possible
abnormality constituted a stimulus of slight intensity indeed.
The same remark, or similar ones, had probably been made
concerning nearly all of this young man's friends with no
THE PSYCHONIC THEORY OF CONSCIOUSNESS 31
particular effect, yet in the specific case cited it released a
volume of energy regarded as " conscious ", which was pro-
bably many thousands of times as intense as the stimulus, and
which was also more intense than reactions to other stimuli
much more intense than this stimulus. On the other hand,
instances might be cited where increase of consciousness
decreases intensity of response as compared with the intensity
of the stimulus as when the singer thinks " The piano is too
loud I will sing pianissimo and force him to follow ". Or
the reduction in intensity of the response may be a positive
inhibition this in turn to be accounted for by the positive
agency of some active force within the organism. An example
of an effect of this sort is to be found in the total elimination
of overt actions which is caused by " pausing to think " after
experiencing an irritating stimulus. One child may slap
another child's face with considerable strength. Remembering
the nursery adage of " count ten before you strike back ", the
assaulted youngster finds that by the time he had counted
ten he does not feel inclined to strike back at all. Voluntary
increase of consciousness seems to have eliminated reaction
to an intense stimulus altogether. Consciousness, then seems,
on the whole, to alter markedly the correspondence between
intensity of stimulus and intensity of respose.
5. The more consciousness attaches to subliminal stimuli,
the greater is their tendency to summation.
A stimdlus evoking little or no consciousness, so far as the
subject is able to observe, and which is too weak to produce a
response, is not apt to bring about the reaction toward which
it tends, even though the " unconscious " stimulus be repeated
a large number of times. For instance, during my first two
years of residence in New York City, I passed the Metropolitan
Museum, riding in buses or automobiles, probably a hundred
times or more, without making any move toward entering
the building. On one of my earliest trips up-town a companion
had pointed out the Museum, and I had formed a habit of
looking toward that side of the street in passing. But my
subsequent visual sensations, though they controlled eye
movements, evoked no thoughts or emotions concerning the
building or its contents. In short, visual perception of the
Metropolitan Museum constituted an almost " unconscious "
Stimulus, of too slight intensity to arouse the reaction of
32 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
entering the building, toward which it tended ; and constant
repetition of this stimulus failed to bring about the final
response. After more than two years of residence in the city,
a guest from another part of the country chanced to expatiate,
in my presence, upon the wonders of the Metropolitan Museum.
This stimulus, though it intrigued my interest temporarily,
and was accompanied by many fully conscious thoughts and
feelings,also proved too weak a stimulus to result in a Museum-
seeing reaction. More than a month later another friend
expressed enthusiasm concerning the Metropolitan, arousing
still more consciousness concerning it. This stimulus, added
to the first highly conscious stimulus, sent me to the Museum.
It seems to me highly improbable that the numerous habitual-
view stimuli entered into the final summation of energy which
brought about the response, or that another two years of
viewing the building almost daily would have resulted in my
entering it. One may argue, of course, that the two descrip-
tions, by friends, of the museum's contents, were more intense
stimuli than were mere views of the outside of the building ;
and so they were. But the point to be noted here is merely
that two stimulations which evoked much consciousness added
themselves together to provoke a certain response, while a
hundred little-conscious stimuli failed to bring about the same
result. Many other instances of the same sort, from every-day
life, might be cited. A person may gaze " unconsciously V
at a store, as he walks by it, every day for months, without
entering. A " window ticker " may then appear inUhe show-
window, and the subject may become conscious of a momentary
wonder as to how the thing works. Next day this same
consciousness concerning the ticker may again occur. On
the third or fourth day the individual is likely to enter the
store and purchase the cigarette or other article advertised
by the ticket. It is not our present task to speculate as to
how the additional consciousness was aroused by the advertising
device ; it is our present purpose to note that consciously
experienced stimuli tend to add themselves together more
quickly and effectively, upon repeated presentation, to evoke
the reaction toward which they tend, than do stimuli " un-
consciously " contacted.
6. The more conscious a response is, the more subject it is
to fatigue.
THE PSYCHONIC THEORY OF CONSCIOUSNESS 33
The more consciousness accompanies any activity, the
more quickly fatigue sets in, no matter whether the response
is one of " thinking " , or one of violent physical exertion.
Many a distance runner has found himself miraculously
refreshed by some sudden roadside occurrence that " takes his
mind off " his own movements. His fatigue, in other words,
becomes less when the consciousness attached to his own
running is lessened. A person whose continuous occupation
is " thinking " aloiig scientific lines may learn to increase his
attention-span, correspondingly diminishing his mental
fatigue, by ceasing to introspect upon his own thinking while
he is doing it, thus cutting possibly in half the volume of con-
sciousness accompanying his mental activity. Eventual
physical fatigue is inevitable, of course, as a result of muscular
fatigue products generated in the course of strenuous exercise
or work ; but the tirelessness of a well-trained and hardened
body is amazing when the muscular tasks undertaken are
regarded as mere matters of course, and are performed, as far
as the subject can tell, unconsciously. The endurance feats
of the American Indian, and the astonishingly continuous
exertions of the pioneer type of person, in all lands, are illus-
trations in point. Where much consciousness is, there much
fatigue will be, also ; and the limits of endurance of uncon-
scious activities, of all sorts, are difficult to determine.
rl
7. The more conscious a reaction is, the more variable is
the threshold value of its stimulus.
Another easily observable effect which consciousness seems
to have upon responses to which it attaches is to render less
predictable the exact intensity of environmental stimuli
necessary to bring about the reactions in question. Simple
reflex reactions can usually be evoked by physical stimuli of
approximately the same intensity. There is a margin of
variability even here. The knee jerk, for example, as^Carlson 1
finds, shows marked increase of excitability, with presumable
lowering of threshold stimulus intensity, during strong hunger
contractions of the empty stomach. Nevertheless, even the
difference caused by hunger pangs in the stimulus intensity
necessary to call forth the patellar reflex, could not be measured
outside the physiology laboratory.
1 A. J. Carlson, The Control of Hunger in Health and Disease, p. 85,
Chicago, 1919.
34 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
Activities more complex than the simple reflex but still
reported to be unconscious are definitely conditioned upon a
specific intensity of stimulus. The unconscious response to
the legend naming the destination of the street car or 'bus may
frequently fail to occur if the electric illumination of the sign
be reduced only slightly. Persons frequently fail to stop a
street car because the letters of the legend on the front of the
car are smaller than those to which they have accustomed
themselves to respond. Machine operators who depend upon
a certain sound in the machine they are operating to set off a
reaction* of shifting gears, may fail to perform the required
net if the sound has slightly less than the customary volume.
A housewife, using an electric coffee percolator, and depending
for a signal that the coffee is done upon a certain sound made
by the bubbling water, may fail to turn off the electric current
at the proper moment if the crucial bubbling sound be less
in tense than usual.
On the other hand, where the activity is more highly con-
scious, it is impossible to name a fixed intensity of stimulus
which will invariably set off a given reaction. Consider, for
example, responses which necessitate a great deal of con-
sciousness such as a decision to play tennis or to take a two
hundred mile automobile ride. Upon one occasion a normal
subject may assent immediately to a casual suggestion that
the tennis be played or that the trip be undertaken. Next
day, perhaps, no amount of persuasion or even moderate
financial inducement would evoke the reaction bf playing
tennis or driving the car. Should these very reactions become
habitual, as a part of the subject's professional duties or
principal life activity, his consciousness concerning the actions
would be tremendously reduced, also the margin of vari-
ability of the intensity of stimulus to which he responded.
Again, it is necessary to call attention to the fact that we are
not considering at the moment the psycho-neural mechanisms
by which these differences are brought about. The significant
point seems to be that when a large amount of consciousness
attends a given response it may be evoked at one time
by a stimulus of very low intensity and at another
time it may require an exceedingly intense stimulus ; while
if an action is habitual or " unconscious " it is brought
about upon all occasions by stimuli of nearly equal inten-
sity,.
THE PSYCHONIC THEORY OF CONSCIOUSNESS 35
8. The more conscious a response is, the more readily
it can be inhibited.
Highly conscious actions are more easily susceptible to
inhibition than are responses carrying little observable con-
sciousness. A love response, for example, which may have
occupied the consciousness of a young woman for many days
or weeks, is frequently completely inhibited by a chance frown
or impatient gesture, on the part of the loved one. The most
fiercely aggressive purposes of an adult human male, carrying
with them both prolonged and intense consciousness, may
similarly be interrupted easily by inhibition at a crucial point,
even though the intruding stimulus be of no greater intensity
than the disapproval of a partner or the absence from the city
of another individual concerned in the enterprise. On the other
hand, habitual responses such as walking or finding one's way to
one's place of business through crowded traffic of a great city,
may fail to be inhibited or impaired in the slightest degree even
by the most intense variety of stimulus such as business
failure, or the loss of a loved member of one's family. They
are inhibited only when brought into consciousness by the loud
honk of an approaching motor. If an adult eats food with his
knife, he can only overcome such a fixed habit by making
himself fully aware of his act every time he performs it. If
^person is performing a task which requires him to think out
every move, a single suggestion on the part of another may
suffice to* inhibit the response altogether. Consciousness,
then, seems to be associated with ready inhibition of response.
9. The more conscious two or more responses are, the
more they tend to facilitate or to interfere with one another.
There is, we find, another characteristic propensity of con-
scious behaviour which very closely resembles the ease of
inhibiting just considered. Reactions of a simple refl& type
to which little consciousness is attached do not seem to be
markedly influenced by other responses which may happen to
be simultaneously taking place. Highly conscious reactions,
however, are readily facilitated or impeded by the addition
of further conscious elements of behaviour. An interesting
experiment, frequently performed by students of psychology,
is to train oneself to write automatically while performing
arithmetical sums, or while carrying on trivial conversation
36 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
with another person. When this ability has been acquired,
we have a situation where two reflex processes, each as slightly
conscious as it is possible to make them, proceed simultaneously
without any observable influence one upon the other. Similar
effects of the same sort are found in every day life. A person
with very little social training can converse readily on super-
ficial subjects, while dropping sugar or lemon in his tea.
An automobile driver is required to manipulate the wheel
with one hand, turn on the lights, perhaps, with the other
hand, regulate the accelerator by pressing down with his right*
foot, and let in trie clutch by raising his left foot from the floor
of the car. Frequently he must perform all these actions
simultaneously and without mutual influence one upon the
other.
What happens when the response is necessarily accompanied
by a great deal of consciousness ? Suppose that a couple ol
research students are deep in discussion of the apparatus
required for a given experiment. Another student brings into
the room a piece of apparatus which he has used in his own
work. Inspection of his apparatus requires the initiation of
a new and complicated group of reactions on the part of both
students concerned in the original discussion. Yet their
inspection responses will be sure to combine in some way with
the discussion already going forward. The new apparatus
may harmonize with the plans tentatively evolved. In that
case a very noticeable increase in the vigour and vglume of the
discussion will immediately occur. Or, as the apparatus is
inspected, it may present hitherto unsuspected difficulties in
the procedures under consideration. In that case the new set
of reactions produced conflict with the preceding responses,
the conflict manifesting itself to the casual observer in the form
of hesitation, argument, and disagreement. There is little
likelihood that inspection of the newly-presented apparatus
can proceed simultaneously with the preceding discussion or
that it even can alternate with this discussion without influ-
encing it by way of facilitation or conflict or both. When
responses already going forward attach to themselves much
consciousness, it usually will be found impossible to undertake
a new set of conscious responses simultaneously. If the
super-added reactions fail to inhibit the preceding conscious
behaviour altogether, which is always likely, the new reactions
cojnbine with the old either by enhancing their efficiency
THE PSYCHONIC THEORY OF CONSCIOUSNESS 37
)r by introducing obvious conflicts. Whether this result is
iue to what has traditionally been called " increase of associa-
tive connections " pari passu with increase of consciousness,
:>r whether it is to be explained by some more explicit neuro-
logical mechanism, the fact remains that the more conscious
my two reactions are, the more likely they are to inhibit one
another, to facilitate one another by alliance, or to diminish
one another's efficiency by conflict.
.
10. The more conscious a response is, the more easily it
is abolished or enhanced by drugs.
Highly conscious responses may be abolished completely
by the use of drugs, while reflex reactions of low order involving
Little consciousness proceed with only slight diminution under
moderate dosages of anaesthetic. In taking ether, the
responses carrying the largest amount of consciousness are
first abolished. The " unconscious " reactions proceed sub-
stantially undiminished after the patient has taken all the
anaesthetic he is able voluntarily to inhale.
Other drugs, such as various forms of morphia and Indian
hemp, in certain appropriate dosages, produce tremendous
enhancement of the most highly conscious reactions while
having a negligible effect upon the more unconscious types
Df behaviour. The highly imaginative writings of DeQuincy
triay be cited as examples of intensely conscious responses
greatly enhanced, according to DeQuincy 's own report, by
appropriate drugs. These same drugs at advanced stages
of their influence upon the body may abolish or inhibit the
habitual reactions, also ; but the first effect to appear as well
as the most quantitatively marked influence seems to be exer-
cised upon the most highly conscious activities of the subject.
W. W. Smith has shown 1 that moderate doses of alcohol
produce what he calls an " all or none " effect upon the emo-
tional responses of his subjects. That is, the highly Affective
reactions carrying with them a great deal of consciousness
require a much more intense stimulus to set them off. When,
however, these highly conscious responses are evoked, their
intensity is out of proportion to the intensity of the stimulus.
We have already noted that conscious emotions were subject
to greater variability of effective stimulus intensity and also
to less close correspondence with stimulus intensity than are
1 W. W. Smith, The Measurement of Emotion, ch. viii., p. 124. *
38 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
the little conscious, or " unconscious " responses. Smithes
work, therefore, seems to indicate that the influence of small
amounts of alcohol is markedly apparent in those responses
to which is attached the larger amount of consciousness.
Drugs, then, whatever be the direction of their effect upon the
body, appear to exercise their influence more clearly upon the
reactions involving most consciousness.
In summary, there are ten easily observable objective
changes in human behaviour appearing Simultaneously with
the reported increase of consciousness, namely :
1. Logger period between application of the physical
stimulus and appearance of bodily response.
2. Persistence of bodily responses after the physical
stimulus has been removed.
3. Less correspondence between the temporal rhythm or
intervals manifest in the reaction, and the time intervals at
which the environmental stimulus is received.
4. Less correspondence between the intensity of the final
bodily response and the intensity of the stimulus.
5. Increased tendency for several stimuli, each too weak
to arouse the response by itself, to add themselves together
and jointly evoke the reaction toward which they tend.
6. Greater fatiguability.
7. Greater likelihood that the same reactions will occur,
at different times, in response to stimuli of different intensity.
8. Increased tendency to be inhibited by stimuli of com-
paratively slight intensity.
9. Increased tendency to combine with, or to conflict with,
simultaneously imposed responses.
10. Increased susceptibility to the influences of drugs.
These ten behaviour variances, then, may be shown to
appear in human behaviour pari passu with the reported
appearance of consciousness. Like the sparks from Ben
Franklfn's kite-string they reveal a specific but as yet un-
described type of energy. Is this energy identical with
consciousness ?
There is, of course, a logical possibility, not to be overlooked,
that the effects noted may be ascribable to the same vitalistic-
type cause that simultaneously produces consciousness,
instead of the effects being ascribable to consciousness itself
acting as a vitalistic-type cause. Elaboration of this logical
issutf, however, is largely academic. All the effects noted
THE PSYCHONIC THEORY OF CONSCIOUSNESS 39
must be attributed, because of their positive nature, to some
form of potent energy ; and it is more of a philosophical than
a psychological issue to decide whether this potent energy
causes consciousness or is consciousness. The later form of
expression seems, for scientific purposes, more simple and
accurate.
If there exists, then, a describable form of energy somewhere
within the human organism capable of influencing behaviour
in the ways noted, and if this potent form of energy is always
found appearing simultaneously with consciousness, we ma}'
state, for psychological purposes at least, that lh form of
energy thus discovered is consciousness. Should consciousness
turn out to be an energy by-product of the primarily potent
form of force producing effects enumerated, then we should
find inevitably a new series of observable effects which the
energy by-product, consciousness, exercises, both over the
parent energy directly, or over the physical behaviour results
supposed to be produced jointly with consciousness, indirectly.
Consider an analogous situation. During electrolysis of
water, two sets of physical phenomena are readily observable
the giving off of hydrogen gas, and the formation of bubbles
on the electrodes. For a time, after the current is turned on,
these two sets of changes run parallel to one another, and
during that initial period the mistake might be made of attri-
buting one phenomenon to the causal agency of the other,
instead of considering both as results of a common cause, the
electric current. But, after a short time, the formation of
bubbles interferes, slightly, with the passage of the current,
so that the more bubbles are formed, the less hydrogen is
given off. This change in relationship reveals, at once, that
a common cause of both phenomena must be sought. So
far as my own researches reveal, there is no indication of a
change in the parallel relationship between symptomatic
behaviour and consciousness, which might suggest that both
are attributable to a common cause. In short, granted a
complete correspondence between symptomatic behaviour
effects, and the appearance of consciousness without sub-
sidiary variance, there is strong likelihood that consciousness
and the primarily potent energy cause of the behaviour
symptoms are identical. When the nature of this energy is
discovered, it can definitely be described, like any other form
of energy.
40 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
Consciousness Is Not Intra-neuronic Energy
What, then, is the nature of this conscious-energy ? Where
is it to be found ? The simplest suggestion, in answer to
these questions, seems to be that consciousness, in its physical
aspect, is merely intra-neuronic energy. When physiologists,
who naturally tend toward this hypothesis, are asked to account
for the presence of much consciousness in some responses, and
little or no consciousness in others, they^reply that only in
the more highly evolved portions of the bVain is there a suffi-
cient accumulation of nervous energy, or a sufficient intensity,
or some other attribute ol nervous energy, to produce con-
sciousness. A few theorists may, perhaps, suggest that
somewhere in the brain is a special kind of nerve cell capable
of manufacturing conscious energy ; but, so far as reported
to the literature, no new type of brain cell, differing basically
from neurones in other parts of the central nervous system,
has been discovered. Such a suggestion, therefore, repre-
sents sheer imaginative speculation, and need not be resorted
to until all known sources have failed to yield a trace of identi-
fication of any known form of energy with consciousness.
What, then, of the physiologist's proposition that a sufficient
mass of nerve impulses, per se, may constitute consciousness ?
Does nerve trunk conduction actually correspond with
consciousness ? There are many difficulties in the way of
such a theory.
First, and most important, we find that the teij types of
effect upon human behaviour enumerated above as probable
results of consciousness, do not find their physical basis in
intra-neuronic phenomena at all. They are, rather, attri-
butable to synaptic influence. The ten varieties of end -effect
mentioned, together with several other similar effects, are
listed by Sherrington 1 as inhering in reflex-arc conduction only,
and not in simple nerve- trunk conduction at all. Sherrington
further Ishows that the salient characteristic of reflex conduc-
tion is the fact that synapses are interposed in the total nerve
impulse circuit. It is at these synapses that phenomena occur
producing the effects reviewed. That is to say, the fewer
synapses in any nervous circuit, the less prominently may we
expect the effects which we have seen to be typical of con-
sciousness to appear.
1 C. S. Sherrington, The Integrative Action of the Nervous System,
p. 14:
THE PSYCHONIC THEORY OF CONSCIOUSNESS 41
The simple reflex acts, characterized by least consciousness,
would contain, on the other hand, by far the greatest propor-
tion of intra-neuronic disturbances, or simple impulses of
conduction within the nerve trunk, and by far the fewest
synapses. If these nerve trunk impulses truly constitute
consciousness, as some physiologists maintain, there is a com-
plete contradiction between evidence and theory. Where
least consciousness actually appears, the greatest proportion
of nerve trunk activity is to be found, and vice versa. It
seems impossible, therefore, to define consciousness as the
totality of changes, or energy within simple nerve tisSue, since
this does not contain the mechanisms for the effects most
characteristic of consciousness in our every-day experience.
. In the second place, the same nerve trunks may be used
for several purposes, that is, to convey impulses ultimately
associated with two or more diverse varieties of consciousness.
By the all-or-none law, each nerve fibre must respond in toto
if it reacts at all. If, then, different units of consciousness
ultimately appear due to ultimately diverse paths over tiny
lengths of nerve trunk in the brain, could they escape marked
resemblances, one to the other, when the greater portion of
their purely intra-neuronic constituents had been identical ?
Pain impulses, for example, seem to travel during the first
part of their circuit, at least, over identical sensory neurones
with cold, pressure, auditory, visual, and many other types
of afferent excitations, modally distinct in consciousness one
from the other.
This point 1 has been adversely criticised by A. Forbes, 8
of Harvard Medical School, who cites the work of Adrian and
Zotterman. C. J. Herrick,' however, states, " From this it
would appear that most sensory nerves may, upon occasion,
function as pain nerves." Herrick holds that the painful
quality of consciousness is superadded to the ordinary sensory
consciousness of the receptor apparatus stimulated, unless
the stimulation is excessively strong ". Moreover, according
to both physiological and psychological theories of vision, and
other senses, excitations ultimately producing different sensa-
tions may originate in the same sense organ, thus making the
1 The argument under discussion was advanced more briefly by the
writer in " The Paychonic Theory of Consciousness," fourn. Abnormal
and Social Psychology, July, 1926.
* In a letter to the writer.
8 C. J. Herrick, Introduction to Neurology, 1920, p, 277.
42 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
long, afferent conductor paths to the higher centres identical.
But no part of this identity seems to be left in the final sensory
consciousness.
On the motor side, the term, " final common path ", speaks
for itself. All motor impulses must travel final common paths
with impulses originating from many different sources, so that
all must have large identical elements of intra-neural excite-
ment. Physiologists, to be sure, might attempt to avoid this
further problem by denying the existence of such a thing as
motor consciousness altogether, even though, in so doing, they
introduce an inconsistency into their conception of conscious-
ness by maintaining that half the nerve impulses of the body
(motor nerves) are not conscious, while the other half (sensory
impulses) are conscious. Without pursuing further, at this
time, the arguments for and against motor consciousness, we
may emphasize the fact that the lack of similarity in various
sensory elements of consciousness initially employing identical
afferent nerve paths still stands as evidence against the
physiological theory that nerve-trunk excitement is con-
sciousness.
In the third place, different neurons appear frequently
to be used in manufacturing identical elements of conscious-
ness. Centrally aroused sensation such as, for example,
" memory " of the colour red, or of muscle sensations in the legjs
or arms, or of the tone of a violin, may be consciously no whit
different from the originals of these remembered .sensations
when the sensations were evoked directly by environmental
stimulation of appropriate sensory nerves. Yet we know
that nervous impulses cannot travel backward down the
afferent paths so that the actual nerve impulses responsible
for the remembered sensations must differ greatly from the
intra-neuronic impulses which brought about the original
sensations themselves. If consciousnass consisted of the
actual totality of nervous impulses concerned, in each case,
then a remembered red sensation might be expected to differ
substantially from red sensations which resulted from nerve
impulses travelling up the optic nerve. Granted that both
environmentally aroused red and the remembered red sensation
utilized the same final sensory paths in the visual centres of
the brain, there would still be the entire amount of optic nerve
trunk energy possessed by the original sensation but not by
its memory. Is it probable to suppose that this added incre-
THE PSYCHONIC IHEORY OF CONSCIOUSNESS 43
ment of energy, if this energy were consciousness itself, would
add nothing to the totality of consciousness in the original red
sensation ?
This proposition might indeed contain greater probability
were it not that the optic tract nerve trunks are of great length
as compared to the microscopic lengths of conducting fibres
in the higher centres of the brain. If each unit of nerve
impulse energy is cQnscious, it is hard to see how the very short
conductor tracts of* the cerebral centres could contribute a
greater total amount of simple nerve impulse energy than could
the long affeient nerve trunks ; and it is still more difficult
to guess how the relatively tiny conductor trunks in the brain
could contribute enough nerve impulses to obscure altogether
the quantity of intra-neuronic energy contribued by the
afferent nerve trunks. If, as previously noted, the presence
of large identical units of nerve energy in the manufacture of
different sensations does not make these different sensations
in the least similar, no more does the presence of a considerable
volume of nerve trunk energy in connection with a given sensa-
tion seem to cause the sensation to differ in the least from an
identical sensation manufactured without a similar volume
or locale of nerve trunk participation.
In the fourth place, although there seems to be a mnemonic
factor intrinsic in the behaviour of a single neurone in forming
habitual junctions with neighbouring cells 1 there clearly could
exist no structural changes within the nerve itself which could
actually constitute the process of functional conjunction,
since this process by definition takes place in the synapse,
externally to the intra-cellular protoplasms of all neurones
concerned. Thus no train of consciousness could be consecu-
tive or continuous, if it were regarded as being constituted by
the changes within any nerve cell in a reflex arc, for whenever
any nervous impulse passed from neurone to neurone the
propagation of energy between the cells would be of a totally
different nature 8 and so it would no longer be included in our
1 C. J. Herrick, Neurological Foundations of Animal Behavior, New
York, 1924, p. 112.
2 C. S. Sherrington states : " . . . the intercalation of a trans -
vcise surface of separation or rrembrane into the conductor must
modify the conduction," and : "It (the synaptic membrane) would be
a mechanism where nervous conduction, especially if predominantly
physical in nature, might have grafted upon it characteis ju3t such as
those differentiating reflex-arc conduction irom nerve-tiunk> con-
duction." The Integrative Action of the Nervous System, p. 17.
44 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
definition of " consciousness ". Moreover, since all facili-
tations and conflicts between impulses seeking to use a common
neural path must occur for the most part in the synapses
between the antagonistic neurones and the cell which both
sets of impulses are seeking to enter, such alliances and
antagonisms could find no counterpart among " conscious "
phenomena, were the latter confined to intra-neural activities.
Yet frequently reported " feelings of conflict ", " conscious
thwartedness ", and, on the other hand, "'relief " and " feel-
ings of harmony " seem most probably to depend upon these
very extrinsic relationships between opposed and allied nerve
impulses which we have been considering.
Finally, we know that different rhythms of stimulation,
simultaneously applied, and using the same final common
path to evoke the same muscular response, do not interfere
with each other or break up the existing rhythm of response. 1
This would indicate that two separate nervous impulses,
though they may use the same neurones simultaneously, do
not fuse or combine in any way within the conductor nerve
cells. If this be so, then identification of " consciousness "
with intra-neuronic change would leave totally unaccounted
for all those " psychological " fusions, alterations, and re-
combinations of " conscious " elements which are continually
reported by nearly all observers. If such fusions actually do
occur, as supposed, at the synapses, no possible change within
the individual neurones in any reflex chain could ever give
them " conscious " representation.
Consciousness is Synaptic Energy
We have seen, during the foregoing brief review, that there
exist substantial objections to the definition of consciousness
in terms ot nervous impulses. We have, therefore, the question
still with us : What is consciousness ? Before discussing the
intra-neuronic theory of consciousness, ten types of effect
which consciousness seems to have upon human behaviour
were mentioned. These ten types of influence were cited as
proof that an active energy is generated somewhere in the
human organism possessing the attributes of consciousness.
During discussion of the first of our reasons for rejecting the
intra-neuronic theory, the fact was disclosed that, although
1 C. S. Sherrington, The Integrative Action of the Nervous System,
p. i&.
THE PSYCHONIC THEORY OF CONSCIOUSNESS 45
the ten types of conscious influence do not have their causal
origin in nerve impulses of conduction, their origin is attributed
by neurological authorities to whatever happens at the
synapse. Sherrington lists some thirteen of fourteen phen-
omena as characteristic of synaptic influence upon nerve
conduction as follows 1 :
i latent period
2 after discharge
3 loss of correspondence between rhythm of stimulus and
rhythm of end effect
4 interference with grading of intensity
5 temporal summation
6 fatiguability
7 variability of threshold value of the stimulus
8 inhibition
9 mutual facilitation and conflict of impulses (treated
separately in Sherrington 7 s original work)
10 increased susceptibility to drugs : also, irreversibility
of direction of nerve impulses, marked refractory
period, " bahnung ", shock, dependence upon blood
circulation.
It will be noted that the first ten synaptic influences listed
correspond to the ten influences consciousness exerts over
human behaviour. It is quite easy, also, to discover close
correspondence between consciousness and the other synaptic
influences mentioned. Such discussion of these further
correspondences is omitted in order to avoid too technical
an excursion into neurological subject matter.
While human reactions, from the simplest to the most com-
plex, probably depend upon reflex arc conduction, each arc
containing, according to Sherrington,* at least three neurones
and, therefore, two synapses, the more complex the reaction,
the more complex must be the reflex arcs involved. That is,
the more synapses have to be passed in any response, tne more
must be the synaptic phenomena under consideration. As
the complexity of the arc is increased, the greater will be the
volume of synaptic energy as compared to the volume of simple
nerve trunk energy. And, as we have observed, the greater
1 C. S. Sherrington, The Iwtegrative Action of the Nervous System,
p. 14.
1 "The reflex-arc consists, therefore, of at Jeast thre$ neurones,"
Sherrington, %bid t p. 35. *
46 JiMOJLlOWS OF JNUKMAL
the complexity of the reaction the more consciousness is to
be found accompanying it. Simple reflexes and habitual
actions are brought about by a maximum of nerve trunk
energy and a minimum of synaptic energy. Simple reflex
responses contain little, or no, consciousness, which the subject
himself can observe. Complex subjective responses involve a
maximum of synaptic energy, and a minimum of nerve trunk
activity. These are the responses which are uniformly
regarded as containing a maximum amount of consciousness.
The intra-neuronic tlieoiy supposes that consciousness
appears cnly in the higher centres of the brain, because in
no other place is to be found sufficient concentration of nerve
impulse energy which is regarded as a physical basis for con-
sciousness. " The higher centres " referred to, however, are
located in the grey matter of the brain, and the grey matter is
characterized chiefly by the enormous number of synaptic
connections which are there operative. The grey matter is,
in fact, chiefly composed of microscopically small neurones,
each forming a large number of synapses with many similar
neurones. The cerebral centres, therefore, where some
physiologists suppose consciousness to be, are composed
almost entirely of synaptic junctures.
Granted that the physical basis of consciousness lies in tbe
higher centres, made up chiefly of tremendous numbers of
synaptic connections, this fact, together with the evidence
offered that the effects of consciousness on human behaviour
are also synaptic, lead to the conclusion that consciousness
is to be identified with synaptic energy.
Concept of the Psychon, and of the Psychonio Impulse
" Synaptic energy " is, however, a somewhat vague term.
Specific types of energy are customarily defined by describing
the type of matter within which the energy in question takes
its origin. " Matter " is a word that is somewhat out of
vogue, since it is now the fashion to conceive of matter itself
in ultimate terms of energy. Nevertheless, if one understands
by the word " matter " a form of energy so permanently
established that it gives rise to a comparatively uniform sort
of experience, it remains a very convenient word to use in a
discussion such as the one we are now undertaking.
All physical science assumes that there is some sort of
matter, moving. Description of any connected series of
THE PSYCHONIC THEORY OF CONSCIOUSNESS 47
changes in any form of matter and its movement may aptly
be termed a study of its " behaviour " in that particular level
of complexity. Physics seeks to present basic descriptions
of the behaviour of matter in its most elementary forms, the
proton and the electron, and to trace the behaviour propen-
sities of larger material masses back to the interaction of
proton and electron systems, within the atom. Chemistry
begins where physics stops, and deals with the laws of behaviour
of the atom and the molecule, each containing varying numbers
of protons and electrons. Chemistry deals especially with
the laws controlling the combinations of atoms and molecules
into more complex forms of matter. Biology deals with the
behaviour of still more complex matter units, usually called
" living organisms " of various sorts. Biology includes
botany, which describes the type of living organisms called
" plants " ; and zoology, which deals with another type of
living organism called " animals ". Animals are matter-units
of such extreme complexity, that their component parts become
subject matter for several specialized sciences. Physiology
specializes in describing certain parts of the animal termed
" bodily organs ", and their behaviour. Neurology selects
matter-units called " nerves ", upon which the behaviour of
many bodily organs largely depends, and attempts to describe
the behaviour of these nerves or neurones. If, then, there
exists no further type of matter-unit capable of modifying
neuronic behaviour, psychology, for all I can see, is out of a
job. Shomd I become convinced of this state of facts I should
feel compelled to consider psychologists in the same relation
to neurologists as are carpenters to architects, and I should,
for my own part, try to escape the fixed limits of craftmanship
by studying my way into the ranks of my immediate intel-
lectual superiors.
But, if, as suggested, there exists still another sort of matter
unit beyond the neurone, capable of undergoing iti, own
particular series of changes called " conscious " or " psychical "
changes, and capable of modifying, by these changes, the
behaviour of neurones, then, and then only is psychology
truly justified in assuming a definite place among the physical
sciences by the side of physiology and neurology.
Neurologists inform us that a specific conductive structure
does exist at the synapses in all types of nervous systems
evolutionally above those of the coelenterates. " It is generally
4 8
EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
Assignments of tKe Sciences
Dcscript/ons or the Behaviour or Eoc,rfc
Unjfs or Progressive Levels of Complexity
Physics
Profon-Eleclron
Figure i
THE PSYCHONIC THEORY OF CONSCIOUSNESS 49
admitted ", says Sherrington, 1 " that there is not actual
confluence of the two cells together, but that a surface separates
them ; and a surface of separation is physically a membrane.
... It would be a mechanism where nervous conduction,
especially if predominantly physical in nature, might have
grafted upon it characters just such as those differentiating
reflex arc conduction from nerve trunk conduction. 1 '
" In most groups of animals above the coelenterates ",
says Herrick,* " the dells of which the nervous system is com-
posed (or some of them) are related to each other quite differ-
ently from those seen in the mesh work of protoplasmic -strands
which compose the nerve net . . . there is a membrane
separating the neurones. The presence of such a barrier at
the synaptic junction does not imply that the neurones are not
in protoplasmic continuity, for the separating membrane itself
is living substance. What it does indicate is that there is
a change in the physico-chemical nature of the conducting
substance at the synaptic barriers. Langley has termed this
barrier ' junctional tissue ', and of its great physiological
importance there can be no doubt."
Physiologists, then, agree that there exists a special type
of matter unit at the synapse capable of giving rise to a special
type of energy which differs, in essential respects, from the
nervous impulse. Neurological authorities, however, are not
in such close agreement concerning the physical description
of this junctional tissue. In the case of the giant Mauthner's
cells, synapses between these cells and adjacent neurones can
be seen and studied under the microscope by means of pre-
parations in which the material has been fixed and stained.
G. W. Bartelmez originally reported 8 that the knob-like
endings of the axone fibres of the eighth nerve were seen in
contact with the surface of the adjacent cell. Bartelmez saw
a distinct plasm, or membrane, over the root fibres ; and,
where the lateral dendrite was cut squarely, a smaller *aem-
brane could be distinguished around it. There is little delay
at this synapse, yet Bartelmez found that two synaptic
membranes forming a junction by contact with one another
1 C. S. Sherrington, Integrative Action of the Nervous System, p. 16.
2 C. J. Herrick, Neurological Foundations of Animal Behavior, 1924,
pp. 104, 114, 115.
8 G. W. Bartelmez, "Mauthner's cell and the Nucleus Motorius
Tegmenti," Jour. Comparative Neurology t 1915, vol. 25, pp. 87-128,
50 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
Figure 2 THE SYNAPSE
(From Bartelmez, Jour, of Comp. Neurol.)
Uncrossed V3E
~
Capillary
Pen cellular Nef
^"Plasmic Membrane
-Lateral Dendrite
PART A. " The detail of the VHIth nerve endings, and pericellular net of
the lateral dendrite of Mautlmer's cell, drawn from a single section of an adult
Arneiurus brain fixed in osmic-Zenker and stained with iron hematoxylin . . .
The section passes obliquely through the base of the lateral dendrite, and
shows the bulb-like endings of the VIITth root fibres, and the fine meshed
neuropil of the pericellular not on its surface."
Myelin 3heotK
Glia Cells
Uncrossed Eighth Root Fibr
Lateral De.nd.rife
InferiorYenfrical Dendrite
SupenorVanfncal
PART B. " The right Mauthnor's cell from a young Ameiurus male, fixed In
a formol-osmic-Zenker and stained with iron hematoxylln. A semidiagram-
matio reconstruction of ten sections, 5/i thick, magnified 250 diameters, to
show the relations of dondritoa and axone to the cell body and the two striking
synapses of the cell, viz., the endings of the VHIth root fibres (Uncrossed VIII)
upon the lateral dendrite, and the axone cap covering the medial surface of the
cell. Only four of the cap dendrltes are shown."
THE PSYCHONIC THEORY OF CONSCIOUSNESS 51
had to be energized before conduction could continue through
the recipient neurone. Marui, who used different fixing and
staining solutions, reported, 1 on the other hand, that he was
able to trace tiny connective fibres emerging through the outer
membrane of the club endings, and that he traced these
minute, protoplasmic threads into contact, at least, with the
adjacent neurone. Says Marui, " it is clearly shown that the
intra and extra cellular neural fibres communicate with each
other ".
Bartelmez, in still a later paper 8 , criticized Marui's technique
on the ground that he had used formol in the staining solution,
and that the use of this fixative was responsible for the false
appearance of intercellular fibres. Such connecting filaments,
Bartelmez regards, therefore, as arte-facts. Sherrington 8
in a recent citation propounds a theory of synaptic phenomena
which seems to assume the existence of a membrane similar
to that described by Bartelmez. Forbes, 4 on the other hand,
has propounded a theory of the synapse based upon the idea
that the various synaptic phenomena are results of nerve
impulses in adjacent neurones being compelled, at the synapses,
to communicate their energy through intercellular fibres of
much smaller dimensions than the nerve trunk fibres. This
view would be in accord with Marui's description of the
physical appearance of junctional tissue, rather than with
the view of Bartelmez. The exact structural description of
the connective synaptic tissue must, it would seem, be left
in some doubt for the present. I believe that it will make
little difference to the theor}' of consciousness, herein proposed,
whether the junctional tissue be thought of as a pair of sheet
electrodes formed from the surface membranes of adjacent
fibres, or whether the junctional tissue may eventually be
described by comparison to the Tungsten filaments of electric
lamps. Whichever observation may turn out to be most
accurate, the evidence for placing consciousness at the synapse
remains unchanged.
1 K. Marui, Jour, of Comparative Neurology t Vol. 30, pp. 127-158.
8 G. W. Bartelmez, " The Morphology of the Synapse in Vertebrates,'*
Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry , Vol. 4, pp. 122-126.
8 C. S. Shemngton, " Remarks on Some Aspects ot Reflex Inhibition."
1925. Proc. Royal Soc., VCII, 519.
A. Forbes. " The Interpretation of Simple Reflexes in Terms of
Present Knowledge of Nerve Conduction," Physiological Reviews,
Vol. II, No. 3, July, 1922, pp. 361-414. p
52 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
In view of all the evidence, I submit the suggestion that
the totality of energy generated within the junctional tissue between
any two neurones, whenever the junctional membrane is con-
tinuously energized, from the emissive pole of one adjacent cell
to the receptive pole of the next, intrinsically constitutes con-
sciousness.
In expounding this theory during lectures, I have found it
very convenient to employ a single term descriptive of any
particular unit of junctional tissue which may be under
discussion. Neurology, the science of nervous behaviour,
dubs its structural unit the "neurone". Following this
analogy, I have ventured to term the structural unit of
psychology, which, as a science, must surely undertake the
study of " psychical " or " conscious " behaviour, the
" psychon ".
Propagation of energy upon any psychon, or unit of junc-
tional tissue, is definitely dissimilar in nature to the passage
of nervous energy through individual neurones. Following
the neurological analogy to its logical completion, therefore,
we may term any wave of physico-chemical excitation initiated
within a psychon, a " psyihonic impulse ".
It is clearly established by neurologists that the principal
function of the neurone is conduction. It is my suggestion
that the principal function of the psychon is consciousness.
Whatever conduction of energy may occur across a psychofi
seems incidental to the modifying major effect of impeding,
regulating, and generally psychon's that energy in the course
of its passage. The Tungsten filament in an electric light bulb
conducts, to be sure, a certain amount of electrical energy
from electrode to electrode; but the principal function of
the filament is, nevertheless, illumination. Thus, while we
may probably regard the psychon as a certain sort of conductor
of inter-neuronic energy, we may adequately describe its chief
property only, I believe, as the generation of consciousness.
CHAPTER IV
MOTOR CONSCIOUSNESS AS THE BASIS OF FEELING AND
EMOTION
THE importance to psychology as a whole of obtaining a
tangible psycho-neural hypothesis of emotion can hardly be
exaggerated. At the moment, investigators in the field of
emotions find themselves at sea between the Scylla of James-
Langeism, and the Charybdis of youthful-minded adventurers
in psychological research who would persuade us to hoist the
Jolly Roger, abandon all theories, and all previous results
and undertake statistical correlations of how all people react
under all possible circumstances. These young pirates urge
the irrefutable thesis that no knowledge is absolute, and them-
selves conclude that any attempted formulation of discon-
nected emotional data into anything resembling scientific
law must be nothing short of maudlin.
Such new-found insistence upon the sanctity of unrelated
fact is commendable in so far as it places just emphasis upon
objectivity of research method. But the history of psy-
chology's elder sisters among the sciences, and even
of psychology herself, reveals a certain dependence upon
constructive theory. The laws of Newton, for example, have
received important modification at the hands of Einstein and
others ; yet who can doubr the central importance of Newton's
hypothesis to the growth of physics, and allied sciences ?
The atomic theory may be inadequate as a formulation of
present-day chemical data ; yet modern chemistry has climbed
to its present height upon the scaffolding of that same atomic
theory. So it is with the James-Lange theory of emotions.
Psychology may be just at the point of outgrowing it, but must
we abandon ourselves, forthwith, to an orgy of unscientific
disorganization ?
Clearly, efforts are being made to drive the psychology of
emotion in that direction. There is a certain self-important
53
54 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
ease and nonchaiance to be obtained by the method of putting
out one's research results bare of theoretical analysis that has
its appeal. And there is less danger of being contradicted.
Yet, if psychology is to become the same sort of science that
neurology and physiology are, for example, it seems to be
necessary for somebody to take a chance and construct basic
theories.
Physiologists' Disproof of James-Lange Theory
James* theory of emotion received two radically different
formulations at his hands. The first formulation was con-
tained in the simple statements : " We are afraid because we
run away. We are angry because we attack." With this
theory duly qualified, I am in entire agreement, and this book
will be devoted to an attempted elucidation thereof.
When faced with the necessity of explaining his radical-
sounding thought, however, James slipped over into an entirely
different theory of emotion which agreed, substantially, with
that of Lange. It is easy to see how James was forced into
this contradictory transition. He had observed, intro-
spectively and objectively, that bodily changes " followed
directly the perception of the exciting fact ", and that " aware-
ness of these changes as they occur, IS the emotion ". But
when called upon to state how we could be aware of thec
changes occuring in our organism, as they occur, James found
only sensory terms in existence with which to Ascribe the
awareness in question. If we didn't have sensations of the
immediately resulting bodily changes, how could we become
conscious of them at all ? So James was compelled to suppose
that the initial bodily changes stimulated somatic sensory end
organs, in muscles and viscera, setting up a second series of
reflex arcs productive of bodily sensations. Shrewdly fore-
casting, perhaps, the reports of Lennander 1 and others con-
cerning the paucity of visceral sensory mechanisms, James did
not place the same emphasis upon visceral sensation as content
of emotion as did Lange. Nevertheless, he accepted both
visceral and kinaesthetic sensations as characteristic con-
stituents. In so doing, we may note that James denied his
primary thesis that " emotion IS the awareness of these bodily
changes AS THEY OCCUR ". If emotion is made up of
1 K- G. Lennander, " Leibschmerzen, ein Versuch, einige von ihuen
zu erklaren," Grenxgeb. d. Med. u. Chir., 1906, vol. XVI, 24.
MOTOR CONSCIOUSNESS 55
sensation, then the important sensations are those set up as
a result of initial bodily changes, and these sensations can only
occur after the primary bodily changes. The refutation of
this sensory-content formulation of the James-Lange theory,
then, could be accomplished by showing that emotion persists
after the sensations of which it was said to be composed have
been eliminated.
. Sherrington 1 s Results
This work was undertaken by Sherrington 1 , who performed
appropriate spinal transections upon dogs, eliminating visceral
and most kinaesthetic sensations following emotional stimu-
lation of the animals. Behaviouristic evidences indicated
that the dogs' emotions remained unchanged. One animal
was stimulated with dog-meat, a stimulus never applied to
this dog prior to operation. Evidences of what Sherrington
calls " disgust " immediately appeared. Neither memory
of previous sensations nor previous conditioning of sympto-
matic behaviour could have taken place in this instance.
Sherrington concluded that emotion might be supplemented
by sensations of bodily changes, but was not essentially
composed of such sensory content. ,-^| */) a t3~P~
Goltz's Results l !
* Goltz proved, conversely, that all emotions but " rage "
did disappear after decerebration of dogs, 2 an animal pre-
paration permitting the sensations of which emotion is com-
posed, according to James-Lange, to remain, but abolishing
the higher correlation and motor centres. No pleasure, sex
response, or even appetitive enjoyment of food could be
aroused in an animal thus prepared. From various supple-
mentary data, Goltz concluded that " rage ", also, was a
product of the central nervous system, but at a lower level
than that required for the other emotions. \ * ._ <^ .
Work of Langley and of Cannon
Another approach to the problem of determining the role
that visceral sensations play in making up emotion was made
1 C. S. Sherrington, " Experiments on the Value oi Vascular and
Visceral Factors ior the Genesis of Emotion," Proc. Roy. Soc., 1900,
LXV1, 390.
F. Goltz, "Der Hund ohne Grosshirn," Arch, fur d. gesam. Physiol,
1892, vol. LI, 570.
56 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
possible by the work of Langley, 1 who described the " auto-
nomic " innervation of the viscera. Langley's description
indicated that if any part of the viscera were adequately
inneivated, large allied areas must undergo identical changes,
and would, of course, produce identical sensations.
Cannon* was the first to apply this neurological fact to
criticism of the James-Lange theory. After proving experi-
mentally that practically identical visceral changes did, in
fact, occur during " rage ", " pain ", and " fear " responses
of animal subjects, Cannon pointed out that the conscious
qualities differentiating these " major emotions " could not
possibly depend upon sensory differences which did not exist.
Cannon concluded, as had Sherrington, Goltz, and others, that
emotional " response is a pattern reaction ... in which
impulses flash through peculiarly co-operating neuron groups
of the central nervous system, suddenly, unexpectedly, and
in a manner not exactly reproducable by volition. . ."
To an unprejudiced mind, not " brought up on " the James-
Lange theory in its commonly accepted formulation, these
physiological results would seem conclusive refutation of the
idea that emotion consists of sensation. One loophole,
however, has been pointed out frequently in discussion, by
those who still cling to the sensation theory. Though any
given emotion, experimentally tested, can be shown not to
depend upon sensation, may not the emotion have been built
up, originally, by compounding of sensations containing minute
differences from other major emotional compounds, and subse-
quently remembered in connection with that type of stimulus ?
If so, the sensation compounds must have been manufactured
prior to birth. For Watson has shown 8 that human infants
are inherently equipped to manifest at least three responses
of an emotional nature, " rage ", " fear ", and " love ",
without passing through any preliminary learning process.
Unsolved Problem
Thus we return, perforce, to James' simpler statement of
1 J. N. Langley, " Sympathetic and Other Related Systems of
Nerve* " ; Schafer's Textbook of Physiol., vol. II, 616-697, 1900 ; also
Ergebnisse der Physiologic, Wiesbaden, 1903, vol. II, 818.
* W. B. Cannon, Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear and Rage,
1920, N.Y.
8 J. B. Watson and Rosalie R. Watson, " Studies in Infant Psycho-
logy/ 1 The Scientific Monthly, 1921, 493-515.
MOTOR CONSCIOUSNESS 57
his own theory : We feel in a given way because we act in a
given way. And our awareness of our reaction as it occurs
IS the emotion. Unless we choose, like Watson, to deny that
" awareness " or " consciousness " constitutes a physical
phenomenon which psychologists are called upon to describe,
we find ourselves squarely faced with the same problem that
forced James into that untenable sensory-content formulation
of his theory which we have just discussed.
The problem is : * How can awareness of reaction as it occurs
be described in psycho -neural terms ?
Motor Consciousness Theory
Does anyone know why it has become so uniformly the
fashion to assume that all consciousness is sensory in its
ultimate nature ? Is not the denial of the existence of motor
consciousness the real bugbear from which Watsonian behavi-
ourists are fleeing in their insatiable insistence upon the
importance of the motor aspect of behaviour ? Watson, for
instance, inveighs with particular emphasis against " such
elements as sensations, and their ghosts, the images ". " This
thing we call consciousness ", he says, " can be analyzed only
by introspection a looking in on what goes on inside of us ".
And it is true, of course, that many very basic presumptions
of present-day psychology have been adopted by tacit assump-
tion upon originally faulty introspective evidence. Perhaps
the non-existence of motor consciousness may turn out to be
one of these unwarranted, introspective limitations upon
psychological theory. We have already, in fact, reviewed a
considerable line of emotional evidence plainly pointing to
unmistakable affective awareness of reactions as they occur.
Let me defy Watson's categorical statement that consciousness
can be analyzed only by introspection, by attemping an
objective analysis of the case for the existence of motor
consciousness on the basis of the previously suggested objective
description of consciousness itself.
We concluded, in the preceding chapter, that inter-neuronic
energy, supposed by Sherrington and other neurologists to
possess entirely different characteristics from the disturbances
propagated within the individual neurones, may be called
" psychonic energy ". The further suggestion was advanced
that there is considerable evidence for tentative acceptance
of the hypothesis that psychonic energy is consciousness.
58 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
Before continuing with this hypothesis, it might be said
that the objective evidence for the existence of motor con-
sciousness would not be any the less striking if we were to
adopt other physical theories of the nature of consciousness,
such as the physiological idea that consciousness inheres in
every propagated neural disturbance. The general plan and
structure of the central nervous system, and other points to
be considered in favour of motor consciousness would remain
equally applicable. Let us consider these points of objective
evidence very briefly.
Proofs of Existence of Motor Consciousness
i. Biologically, motor function is primary and sensory
and connector mechanisms secondary. Parker says 1 : " To
state this conclusion in the terms used in the earlier part of
this discussion, sponges may be said to have among their cell
combinations effectors, but no receptors or adjusters. They
mark the beginnings of the neuromuscular mechanism in that
they possess the original and most ancient of its constituents,
muscle, around which the remainder of the system is supposed
subsequently to have been evolved/' " This last conclusion
is reinforced ", says Herrick, " by citing a number of cases in
the higher animals where muscle may act independently of
nerves, as in the human iris/' Forbes, 2 in fact, has gonCj
so far as to point out that muscle possesses capacity for the
" single type of disturbance which seems to be a phenomenon
common to muscle and nerve fibres/'
It would be most unexpected, though of course not impossi-
ble, to find that the motor element, of which sensory and con-
nector tissues remain but slightly divergent modifications,
should itself completely fail of representation in the product,
consciousness.
2. , ^lotor neurones, in the central nervous system of human
beings, are distinguishable from sensory neurones both as to
cell structure and as to type of synaptic organization. 8 Motor
1 Quoted by C. J. Herrick, Neurological Foundations of Animal
Behavior, New York, 1924, p. 86. Quotation by Herrick, following
taken irom same page.
* A. Forbes, " The Interpretation of Spinal Reflexes in Terms of
Present Knowledge of Nerve Conduction," Physiological Review,
1922, Vol. II, 361-414.
1 C. J. Herrick, ibid., p. 237.
MOTOR CONSCIOUSNESS 59
cells have been shown to possess larger cell bodies, with a
richer supply of chromophilic substance. In fixed and stained
preparations, this substance is seen arranged in definite,
discreet granules, and not diffusely, evidently for the sake of
facilitating more rapid and powerful nervous discharge. The
motor pathway, moreover, contains a minimum number of
subsidary synapses, the large and powerful groups of motor
impulses thus sweeping onward to their appropriate organs of
discharge with a minimum number of interruptions, once
these impulse groups have won the right of way at the central
synapses. The motor cells, in short, are constructed for
carrying larger and more powerful units of energy ; while the
sensory tracts seem designed to carry smaller but more
variegated impulse groups.
What reason is there to suppose that the smaller units of
psychonic energy constitute consciousness, while the larger,
simpler units do not ? Or, if consciousness is thought of as
inherent in the nerve impulses themselves, why should more
powerful accumulations of such impulses be supposed to have
lost the conscious characteristic ? Moreover, the contrast
between motor and sensory impulse characteristics, just
emphasized, naturally suggests the corresponding contrast
between the powerful but comparatively simple sweep of
'^major " emotions consciousness, and the less insistent but
more variegated awareness of discreet sensations. If we find
two types pf neurone, two types of synaptic arrangement, and
two types of impulse groups, what objective reason can be
found for granting consciousness to one and denying it to the
other ?
3. Again, motor phenomena may occur independently of
sensory stimulation. Any given impulse or battery of
impulses may be blocked at its entrance to a common motor
path, not by rival impulse groups, but by the pre>jjously
existing chemico-physical conditions within the nervous
material itself. If sensation is the sole element of conscious-
ness, such phenomena could never attain conscious repre-
sentation, for they could only result in absence of sensation
on the arc ot stimulation. Is such an absence of awareness
of motor obstruction compatible with the commonly observed
ability of the subject verbally to report them accurately ?
4. Affective states accompanying motor discharge give
60 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
every evidence of being far more diverse than the ensuing
sensations of resulting bodily changes could possibly be. 1
Conversely, many investigators report great diversity of bodily
changes (with necessarily corresponding diversity of sensory
awareness of these changes) resulting from motor discharge
accompanied by approximately uniform emotional states.*
The emotional consciousness, in both classes of cases, is
evidenced by verbal report, and also by observed motor attitude,
or set of the subjects, both human and animal. It is amusing
to note the confidence with which various experimenters
purporting to be utter disbelievers in consciousness, name a
given emotion, and assume its existence in the subject solely
on the basis of a motor attitude naturalistically observed
without instruments of precision of any sort. Can it be that
these cynical objectivists are depending upon their own
introspection ?
If, however, we assume such reports to offer some degree
of objective evidence in favour of the existence of emotional
consciousness radically differing from resultant sensations,
but closely agreeing with the motor attitudes, or pattern of
the primary response, it becomes exceedingly difficult to
correlate such emotional states either with sensations or with
the conscious relationships between sensations. It is very
easy, on the other hand, to account for such emotional con
sciousness if we are willing to correlate it with " motations ",
or simple units of motor consciousness and their in^er-relations
in the primary motor pattern.
5. Affective tone may, apparently, be changed by altering
the motor set, without the slightest change in associated
sensations. In a series of experiments upon myself lasting
over a period of ten years, I have three times succeeded in
eliminating altogether the unpleasantness of severe toothache
by changing my " subconscious ", or " unconscious " motor
set from one of resistance to one of complete acceptance of
the stimuli imposed. Each time, this change of motor set
has been objectively evidenced by faintness, pallor, and drops
1 W. B. Cannon, Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear and Rage,
1920, New York.
* C. Landis, " Studies of Emotional Reactions," Jour. Comp. Psy. t
1924, Vol. IV, 447-509. (And other studies, all uniformly negative
in findings).
MOTOR CONSCIOUSNESS 61
in systolic blood pressure ; possibly to be accounted for by
an opening of vagus channels of motor discharge hitherto
closed against the pain stimuli. Twice the full unpleasantness
returned upon resumption of resistant motor set.
Boring 1 and Carlson 2 both mention subjects in whom the
unpleasantness of hunger pangs was absent. Instead appeared
faintness, and passivity of motor attitude, nausea taking the
place of food-seeking responses. I studied a subject of this
type for three years, and succeeded in retraining her in such
a way that hunger pangs now appear with very intense un-
pleasantness. The change in the subject's motor attitude,
from passivity to extreme food-seeking activity, which has
accompanied this restoration of unpleasantness, is very marked,
and is, to some extent, verified, also, by systolic blood pressure
readings. Another preliminary experiment, performed in
1926 under my direction, was the change in attitude of a
number of subjects toward stimulation with hydrogen sulphide,
presented at all times in a perfume bottle as a new type
of perfume. 8 No pleasantness could be induced. But one
subject, owner of a restaurant, so far lost unpleasantness,
following change of motor attitude from resistance to accept-
ance, that he failed to understand why several customers left
his lunch room after the bottle had been freshly opened
during meal hour. Olfactory fatigue or sensory adaptivity
can be excluded because of the length of the interval, twenty-
four hours between stimulations.
All these results are very difficult (although perhaps not
altogether impossible) to account for on the basis of changes
in sensory consciousness alone. But the simple, obvious,
explanation would seem to be found in the assumption that
there exists a basic awareness of motations and their inter-
relationships. Conflicts of motation, evidenced by resistant
motor set, seem unpleasant : while removal of motor conflict
seems to result in corresponding removal of unpleasant
consciousness.
1 E. G. Boxing, " Processes Referred to the Alimentary and Urinary
Tracts : A Qualitative Analysis," Psy. Rev. t 1915, vol. XXII, 306-331,
at p. 320.
2 A. J. Carlson, The Control of Hunger in Health and Disease, Chicago,
Second Edition, 1919* p. 92 ft.
8 Experiment performed by Tufts student, in 1925-1926, not yet
published.
62 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
6. I have pointed out elsewhere 1 that the work of Head
and Holmes* furnishes striking evidence of the dependence
of effective consciousness upon freedom of motor outlet, and
consequent increase in the number of motor conflicts and
alliances taking place in the central nervous system. When
the inhibitory effect of the cerebrum is removed, through
thalmic lesion, over-reaction and increase of effective con-
sciousness simultaneously occur. I spent nearly a year trying
to work out an explanation of this and' similar phenomena
without departing from the fashionable assumption that
consciousness is made up of sensations and their inter-relations,
and nothing else. Herrick and other neurologists have spent
a much longer period upon the same problem, faced with the
same bugaboo of denial of motor consciousness. 8 Yet adoption
of some such simple platform as the psychonic theory of con-
sciousness not only permits, but necessitates, acceptance of
motor consciousness as the true basis of feelings and emotions.
By doubling the number of psycho-neural elements of con-
sciousness accepted as basic, we do much more than halve
our resulting complexities ctf psychological theory. All
rouud-about influences of motor set upon sensation vanish
from discussion, and motation may be treated with the same
objective simplicity as sensation.
But we have still to face the big guns of current psycho-
logical opinion, for psychology, at the moment, unequivocally
denies the existence of motor consciousness in any form.
Whence arises this attitude ?
Motor Consciousness Not Previously Identified with Affection
The ostensible reason for denying the existence of motor
consciousness, as customarily given in the older days of psy-
chology when it was thought necessary to discuss the issue
at all, was the lack of introspective proof that discernable
elements of motor consciousness could be identified in connec-
tion with resultant bodily movements. That is, in response
to a given sensory stimulus, and with kinaesthetic sensations
1 W. M. Marston, " Thoery of Emotions and Affection Based Upon
Systolic Blood Pressure Studies, 11 Am. Jour. Psv., 1924, vol. XXXV,
p. 496 ff.
8 H. Head and G. Holmes, " Sensory Disturbances from Cerebral
Lesions/' Brain, 1911, vol. 34, p. 109.
C. J. Herrick, Introduction to Neurology, Phil., Second Ed., 1920 ;
see especially pp. 284-290.
MOTOR CONSCIOUSNESS 63
eliminated in one way or another, an arm or a leg might be
moved, yet the subject, who was, of course, prevented from
visual observation of his own movement, remained unable
to say whether or not any part of him had been moved. To
be sure, the results of some of these experiments were seriously
questioned ; and cases, equally valid, at least, were cited by
Wundt and others wherein certain paralyzed patients reported
" innervation feelings " resulting from will to move the
paralyzed members. "In these cases no actual movement or
kinaesthetic sensations of movement were possible. 1
Similarly doubtful reports concerning observation of, or
failure to observe the " innervation feeling " or supposed unit
of pure motor consciousness, have been printed from time to
time. But, of late years, the issue has given way to other
controversies of more simple and immediate interest, and
psychology has gone on, serenely, putting up as best it might
with a single basic category of consciousness, sensation, into
which all conscious experiences have been squeezed, no matter
how distorted they become in the process. It is small wonder
that many psychologists have found some comfort in assuming
that meaning, intent, and purpose, and other conscious
elements of obviously motor character must depend upon an
immaterial basis 2 , since all available material basis has been
pre-empted by the greedy presumption of sensation, and to
define motor experience in sensory terms is an agony no
accurate introspection ist cares to endure.
Actually, psychologists seem to have failed to find motor
consciousness, all these years, simply because they did not
know what they were looking for, and consequently did not
recognize motation as such, when it was repeatedly thrust
upon their attention. From earliest known speculations
concerning the nature of feeling tone, or affection, come
repeated assertions that feeling tone inheres in sensation, or
that the affective qualities of pleasantness and unpleasantness
are integral parts of sensory experience. So close has the
introspectively observed union between feeling tone and
sensation proven, that it has defied successfully the attempts
of the most severe logical analysis to pull it apart. Curiously
1 For brief s ummary and discussion of this early controversy, see
E. B. Titchner, Text Book of Psychology, New York, 1912, p. 169 ff.
8 Wm. McDougall, for instance, holds that meaning, value, purpose,
and unity of consciousness have no physical correlates in the brain,
W. McDougall, Body and Mind, 1918, pp. 175, 271, 298, etc. *
64 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
enough, it seems not to have accurred to these psychological
analysts to perceive, in feeling tone, the simplest possible
manifestation of motor consciousness, under normal conditions.
Motation has been thought of as a sensory awareness of
movement, and has, therefore, been sought in the impossible
form of consciousness of passage of motor nerve impulses
engaged in skeletal muscular innervations. Psychology has
been looking for a sort of motor-nerve sensation, informing the
subject whenever a motor impulse shall have passed over the
nerve trunk under examination. Such awareness, if found,
would still be sensory in nature. And were such an element
of consciousness as an " innervation feeling " actually to be
discovered, it must prove something of a mixture of imagined
kinaesthetic sensations informative of movement, and sensory
awareness of the object resisting movement (whether a limb
of the subject's own body, or an environmental object). Such
a composite experience would not, by any means, justify
separate classification as a basically unique type of motor
consciousness, since all its constituent elements would be
sensory. Psychology, it seems, has been searching for a new
type of being in the guize of a three-legged man, not realizing
that, were such a person found, he would represent merely
a monstrosity of the race already known.
Emotional Stimuli are Central, Never Environmental
There is, in addition, a psychological reason for psychology's
absorption in sensation to the exclusion of motation. The
stimulus to sensation is an obvious, environmental one ;
while the stimulus to motation, assuming motation to be
integrative, psychonic energy in the motor centres, is a hidden,
inaccessable stimulus. The particular motor impulses which,
in synaptic juncture, form motation, flow from a stimulus
concealed within the central nervous system and consisting
of tho resolution of sensory impulses evoked in the sensory
centres by the initial, easily observed environmental stimulus.
It is a commonly recognized fact that, while a given environ-
mental stimulus always evokes virtually the same sensation
on all occasions, these sensations may, at one time, be followed
by feelings of pleasantness, and upon another occasion, by
feelings of unpleasantness. The motor impulses evoked on
either occasion can not be directly observed, though we have
noted, earlier in this chapter, the possibility of indirect proof
MOTOR CONSCIOUSNESS 65
that different motor impulses are, in fact, evoked whenever
different affective tones result.
It is not altogether surprising, therefore, that psychology,
like Tito Melema in George Eliot's Romola, has taken the
seemingly easiest way out of a difficult problem, by denying
all claims for recognition emanating from the hidden source
of its supply. Thus have psychologists unconsciously sought,
by ignoring the central motor impulse situation altogether, to
obtain a false simplicity of scientific description which should
define feelings and emotions in terms of sensory consciousness.
Despite its present, fancied security, however, psychology
cannot hope ultimately to escape the problem of determining
the basic principles of both sensory and motor integration.
It is by these integrative processes that the initial afferent
impulses, mechanistically caused by environment, are manu-
factured into psyclionic sensory energy units or sensations.
It is by the now hidden attributes of these centrally produced
sensation units that all forms of connective integrations, and
motor integrations, are vitalistically caused.
Analysis of Intervening Factors Between Environmental Stimulus
and Bodily Movement
The central, psychonic energy stimuli, which act upon the
Afferent nerves by exciting motor impulses within them,
possess individual characteristics as distinctive and as defin-
itely discoverable as those now attributed to sensory stimuli.
They constitute intermediate, vitalistic-type causes in the
total chain of causation connecting environmental stimulus
with final bodily behaviour. Their nature and, consequently,
their influences upon motor discharge are not determined
predictably by the nature of environmental stimuli which
indirectly evoke them, because there are too many intervening
causes which are shaped, primarily, by the integrative laws
of the subject organism, and by the condition of the organism
when stimulated. If all these variables were known, then a
complete psycho-neural description would have to include the
following items :
i Mechanistic-type causes ;
(a) environmental stimulus, causing
(b) afferent, sensory, nerve impulses, causing
(c) sensations, i.e. psychonic impulses in sensory centres,
causing
F'
66 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
2 Vit alls tic-type causes ;
(d) thoughts, i.e. psychonic impulses in connector
centres, causing
(e) motations, i.e. psychonic impulses in motor centres,
causing
(f) efferent, motor, nerve impulses, causing
(g) bodily behaviour.
The older, introspectionistic schools of psychology were
inclined to skip from cause (d), thoughts, to cause (f) motor
impulses, amalgamating cause (e), motations, with one or
more of the foregoing units. It will hardly do, now-a-days,
even foi psycho-physiologists, to consider causes (c) and (d),
since both are damned by introspective colourings ; so that a
wider gap is now left, nearly all psycho-physical accounts
jumping from cause (b), sensory impulses, to cause (f), motor
impulses. In such accounts sensation and motations, both,
are usually treated as occurring somewhere along the line of
sensory excitations in the central nervous system. But the
Watsonian behaviourists are the nimblest jumpers of all.
They skip jubilantly from cause (a), the environmental stimu-
lus, to final result (g), bodily behaviour. What a world of
psychological trouble they think they are saving themselves !
But what unbridgable gaps would be left in the causal chain
between stimulus and response, if these behaviourists really
followed their own descriptive formula ! It would be like
throwing a few drops of acid into a huge vat full of unknown,
seething chemicals, and then analysing a sample of the vat
mixture to determine the control which the acid-stimulus had
exercised over the original contents of the vat.
The fault oi the fathers of psychology, the introspectionists,
lay not in trying to describe too many causes in the psycho-
neural chain, but rather in omitting one very crucial cause,
motation. For, as we have seen, the motor nerves and
synapses possess a unique structure and organization of their
own, and therefore require analysis and description as a basic
type of cause in the total picture. " In short ", says Herrick, 1
" in both reflex and deliberative (including voluntary) reactions
we may say that the nature of the neural process is abruptly
changed when it ' turns the corner ' from the afferent to the
efferent limb of the arc."
J,C. J. Herrick, Neurological Foundations of Animal Behavior, New
York, 1924, pp. 235-6,
MOTOR CONSCIOUSNESS 67
Reviewing psychology's attitude in denying motor con-
sciousness, we may compare it to that of a little child who is
able to appreciate the causal connection between his own toys
and Santa Claus, or the delivery man who brought them to
him, yet is utterly unable to understand where the new baby
came from. He thinks someone must have brought it, as his
toys were brought, and he is speciously satisfied when told
the doctor delivered his little sister. Psychology has been
able, so far, to connect its sensations with causes that it can
see and touch, }et it seems unable to connect its feelings with
causes that are hidden and inaccessible. So psychology is
satisfied with the suggestion that its feelings are brought,
ready-made, by the same general type of agent already known,
that is, the environmental stimulus. And, psychology further
reasons, anything thus obtained, including emotion, must be
a kind of sensation.
When psychology grows up, it will learn that there exist
certain end-products manufactured exclusively at home.
It will learn that, in the study of sensation, the stimulus is
outside the body, while the response, sensory consciousness,
is within ; but that, in the study of motation (emotion), the
stimulus, connector-motor consciousness, is within the body,
and the response, bodily behaviour, is outside. Both types
o ^stimuli, and both types of responses must be described with
equal objectivity. But easily observed environmental stimuli
to sensation must be treated as causes, while readily measured
bodily responses to motation must be treated as effects. If
these underlying causal relationships are clearly understood
and accepted, psychology should have a comparatively easy
time of it figuring out the unknown quantities in both
equations.
Summary
To summarize, I have tried in this chapter to set at nzyight
the professional taboo upon motor consciousness. Analysing
consciousness objectively according to either the psychonic
or physiological theories, there are no less than six types of
evidence tending toward the conclusion that motor conscious-
ness must exist, constituting an equally important classification
with sensory consciousness. Since the motor mechanisms of
the central nervous system differ essentially in structure and
organization from the sensory mechanisms, the suggestion Jias
been made that motor consciousness in its physical machinery
68 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
must be studied as a distinct and separate cause within the
total psycho-neural picture. We have tried faithfully to set
forth in order the series of causes which connect the environ-
mental stimulus with the final bodily response. We have
found one link in this chain of causation, motor consciousness
has been ignored, so far, by all schools of psychology. Upon
enquiry as to the probable reason for psychology's odd conduct
in this matter, it has seemed most probable that motor con-
sciousness has not been recognized because it has never seemed
to occur to anyone to identify it with feelings and emotion.
Psychology has been searching " innervation feelings " and
sensation-like awareness of movement upon the chance of
finding motor consciousness concealed somewhere therein.
Bilt, of course, it was not there. Motor consciousness is affective
consciousness. The simplest units of motation or motor
consciousness are the feelings of pleasantness and unpleasant-
ness ; while next in the complexity series of rnotations come
the primary emotions.
At the beginning of this chapter our analysis of physiological
refutations of the James-Lange theory showed that by far
the most important and pressing problem in psychology of
emotions is the same problem that James first recognized and
then answered erroneously. That problem is, how can aware-
ness of motor response as it occurs be described in psychor
neural terms ? This chapter has proposed a new answer to tins
problem. We are conscious of our motor responses as they
occur through motor consciousness, motation, or affective
consciousness which are all synonymous terms. Motor, or
affective consciousness is psychonic energy released within
the psychonic, or connective tissues of the motor synapse of
the central nervous system.
CHAPTER V
INTEGRATIVE PRINCIPLES OF PRIMARY FEELINGS
DENIAL of the existence of motor consciousness has., brought
psychology to an impasse in the field of theory of feeling tone,
just as it has hampered the adequate development of theory
of emotion. Wundt 's 1 tridimensional theory of feeling tone,
propounded in 1896, constitutes the only radical departure
from general agreement that pleasantness and unpleasantness
are the only two primary feelings. Wundt supposed that
there were six primary feelings : pleasantness and unpleasant-
ness, excitement and depression, tension and relaxation.
Wundt's theory was based almost altogether upon intro-
spection, probably accurate enough as far as it went, but not
linking up the four extra feeling tone elements with definite
psycho-neural mechanisms proving them to be primary
feelings.
Titchener, also highly versed in introspection, maintained
that " excitement and depression, tension and relaxation
are general names for a very large number of different
affections." 1 That is, Titchener's own introspection led him
to believe that the extra feelings named by Wundt, did, in
fact, exist, but that they should be treated as complex affective
experiences rather than primary feeling tones. The only type
of objective data advanced by Wundt in support of this sug-
gestion consisted of studies (including measurements of
physiological changes supposedly symptomatic of six affective
primaries) designed to show that all six alleged primary feel-
ings, as introspectively reported, occurred independently of
one another, and especially independently of any connection
with pleasantness and unpleasantness. S. Hayes, 8 and others,
1 W. Wundt, Grundzuge der Physiohgischen Psychologie, ii, 1902,
p. 263.
8 E.B. Titchener, A Text-book of Psychology, New York, 1912, p. 251.
S. P. Hayes, "A Study of Affective Qualities." Ph.D. Thesis
Cornell. Am. Jour. Psy. t 1906, XVII, pp. 358-393. '
69
70 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
published studies precisely refuting the results of Wundt in
this particular, tending to show that the four additional feeling
tone experiences were either intimately associated with
pleasantness and unpleasantness, or else were still more com-
plex experiences not independently correlated with any
objective criterion which could be set by experimental con-
ditions. The whole controversy gradually petered out ; and
with the decline of introspection is ts' supremacy very little
has been heard of any list of primary feelings containing other
elements than pleasantness and unpleasantness. We may,
therefore 1 , confine our attention for tiie present to a discussion
of the original pair of feeling tone primaries for the existence
of which there seems to be ample evidence of an objective
nature.
Primary Feelings are Pleasantness and Unpleasantness
Originating in Motor Alliances and Conflicts
Theories of the physiologists and neurologists seem to be
fairly well in agreement that unpleasantness is associated
with conflicts or mutual interferences between nerve impulses,
while pleasantness is characterized either by an absence of
conflict or by a free unimpeded flow of impulses in the central
nervous system. C. J. Herrick 1 , whose opinion may be taken
as fairly representative of the physiologists, says, " The normal
discharge then, of definitely elaborated nervous circuits
resulting in free unrestrained activity is pleasurable, in so far
as the reaction comes into consciousness at all (of course, a
large proportion of such reactions are strictly reflex and have
no conscious significance). Conversely, the impediment to
such discharge, no matter what the occasion, results in a
stasis in the nerve centres, the summation of stimuli and the
development of a situation of unrelieved nervous tension which
is unpleasant until the tension is relieved by the appropriate
adaptive reaction. " And again, " The unrelieved summation
of stimuli in the nerve centres, involving stasis, tension, and
interference with free discharge of nervous energy, gives a
feeling of unpleasantness which in turn (in the higher types of
conscious reaction at least) serves as a stimulus to other
associative nerve centres to participate in the reaction until
1 C. J. Harrick, Introduction to Neurologf, 1920, Phila. and London,
pp.*286-287.
PRINCIPLES OF PRIMARY FEELINGS 71
finally the appropriate avenue for an adaptive response is
opened and the situation is relieved. With the release of the
tension and free discharge, the feeling tone changes to a
distinctly pleasurable quality." It may be noted that Herrick
does not specify in which type of nerve centres, sensory or
motor, the unrelieved summation of stimuli or the normal
discharge of impulses is presumed to occur in order to evoke
unpleasantness or pleasantness. Herrick says, however, in a
neighbouring passage-, that such a stasis may be brought about
by the conflict of two impulses for the same final common path.
Such mutual facilitation and interference of nerve impulses
must be presumed to occur in some appropriate connector
or motor centre of the central nervous system.
The work of Head and Holmes 1 clearly indicates that what-
ever changes in nerve impulse behaviour are to be associated
with increases of pleasantness and unpleasantness are to be
found chiefly upon the motor side of the various reflex arcs
involved. These authors studied human subjects suffering
from thalamic lesion. The most important effect of the lesion
in these cases was to remove a considerable proportion of the
normal inhibitory influence exercised by the cerebral hemi-
spheres over the motor discharge. The behaviour changes
as noted by Head and Holmes consisted of exaggerated
physical reactions to sensory stimuli with parallel increase
in* the pleasantness or unpleasantness which was felt in con-
nection with the sensation experienced. There seemed to be
no change in the sensory threshold nor any significant altera-
tion of any part of the purely sensory reaction. The whole
effect, in short, was upon the motor side rather than the
sensory, and it was this increase in the number and degree of
motor alliances and interferences which corresponded exactly
with the increase of pleasantness and unpleasantness as re-
ported by the subjects.
As a result of this research and other similar data accruing
to psychology from the medical sciences, it is generally assumed
that the free flow of nervous energy as well as the mutual
conflicts and interferences between nervous impulses which
the physiologists and neurologists definitely correlate with
affective tone, are to be looked for primarily in the motor
centres rather than in the sensory centres. R. S. Woodworth,
1 H. Head and G. Holmes, " Sensory Disturbances from Cerebral
Lesions/' Brain, 1911, vol. 34, p. 109.
72 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
for instance, expresses his interpretation in this fashion, 1
" Putting this fact into neural terms, we say that pleasantness
goes with a neural adjustment directed towards keeping,
towards letting things stay as they are ; while unpleasantness
goes with an adjustment towards riddance." A " neural
adjustment towards letting things stay as they are " must
consist of a free flow of unobstructed motor impulses, all in
alliance, because all are directed toward a unified behaviour
pattern of the whole organism which .is meeting with no
opposition. An " adjustment toward riddance " must with
equal certainty consist of a motor set rather than sensory set ;
and carries, also, suggested implication that there is some
motor conflict with the object which the individual would rid
himself of. Motor sets, then, seem to be regarded as neuro-
logically responsible for primary feelings rather than sensory
sets.
How Do Motor Alliances and Conflicts Reach Consciousness?
This result confronts psycho-physiological theory of feelings
with the same problem faced by the theory of emotions con-
sidered in the last chapter. The p:oblem is : If our primary
feelings of pleasantness and unpleasantness depend upon
alliances and antagonisms between nerve impulses in the
motor centres, how does this motor phenomenon ever reach
consciousness ? *
Theories That Feeling Is an Integral Part of Sensation
Two different methods have been used in attempting the
impossible task of getting motor phenomena into consciousness
in terms of sensation. The first method, employed by many
psychologists of the older school, consisted of setting up the
simple hypothesis that feeling is merely an integral part of
sensation. Pleasantness or unpleasantness would then be
referred to as aspects of sensory experience, and we should be
compelled to assume there is no sensation free from affective
tone. This assumption would not be so far from the truth,
but it is far more difficult to account for the changes in feeling
tone which a given sensation may undergo without any change
whatsoever in the sensory stimulus. The change in feeling
seems to accompany a change in motor response to the sensa-
tion experienced, rather than to inhere in the sensory conscious-
1 R. S. Woodworth. Psychology, New York, 1025, p. 178.
PRINCIPLES OF PRIMARY FEELINGS 73
ness itself. There remains also, the extreme difficulty of
finding any neurological mechanism by which a motor effect
that takes place after could be reflected back in such a way
that it could become an integral portion of the sensory event
which had gone before and which might well have been com-
pleted by the time the motor phenomenon occurred.
During my own approach to the problem, being awed, at the
time, by Psychology's current taboo on motor consciousness,
I worked for the better part of an academic year in trying to
discover in the literature of either psychology or neurology
feasible mechanisms by which motor conflicts and. alliances
could be conceived of as adding feeling tone to their preceding
sensations. The best expedient which I was able to hit upon
was to suppose that a motor blockage might cause the sensory
impulse blocked to increase ils intensity in the sensory centres,
above the upper limen of qualitatively distinct sensory con-
sciousness ; while mutual facilitation of motor impulses might
be supposed to result in a drop of intensity in the sensory
impulses below the lower limen of sensation. This theory only
defined pleasantness and unpleasantness as near-sensations
(that is, supra-liminal and sub-liminal sensory awareness),
but it was the best I could do in warping motor phenomena
into sensory terms. I thought the suggestion a rather
ingenious one, at the time I worked it out, but after some two
ytftirs of observation and experiment I found that there was
just one trouble with the theory. It wasn't so. Feelings, and
the motor phenomena upon which they depend, simply cannot
be defined even in near-sensory terms. They distinctly occur
after the sensation is completed, and with entire independence
of it. I was driven, after thus disproving my own theory, to
abandon altogether, as most psychologists had done before
me, any attempt to regard affective tone as an integral aspect
of sensation.
Theories That Visceral Sensations Are Also Feelings
The second method, a modern one, by which even at the
present moment, many psychologists are striving to drag
motor phenomena into consciousness in terms of sensation,
is the arbitrary appropriation of certain sensations, usually
visceral ones, to constitute fueling tone ipso facto. Just why
visceral sensations are so generally thought to possess especial
affective value would be very hard to say. One reason
74 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
probably is that these sensations were for a long time much
less definitely known and recognized than are the sensations
having their origin at the surface of the body. It was not
until 1912 that Cannon and Washburn succeeded in identifying
stomach sensations with hunger, 1 while the works of
Carlson, 2 Boring 3 and others in experimental examination of
sensations from the alimentary tract are also the work of the
present generation. These experimenters have definitely
shown that visceral receptors are meagre but specific, respond-
ing to extremes of temperature, pressure and pain. They
evoke recognizable sensations. They do not evoke feelings.
If, according to the James-Lange champions, primary feelings
and emotions are composed entirely of visceral sensations,
how is it possible to account for the fact that visceral sensa-
tions possess double characteristics, being felt both as
sensations and also as feelings, while other sensations
produced by corresponding receptor mechanisms from the
external surface of the body, possess but the single character-
istic of sensation ?
However, such a slight peculiarity in the psycho-physio-
logical make-up might not deter the energetic psychologist
from pursuing this visceral-affection theory, were it not for
other and more insurmountable difficulties. Unfortunately
for James-Lange addicts, there does exist definite experimental
evidence which precludes the theoretical revamping of visceial
sensations into feeling-tone consciousness. As noted in the
last chapter, Cannon has shown (following Langley's descrip-
tion of the autonomic innervation of the viscera) that visceral
changes resulting from motor discharge from the central
nervous system occur in large and uniform patterns. That is
to say, the autonomic motor nerves which influence the viscera
operate on the principle of a non-synaptic nerve net. If one
portion of the viscera, therefore, is altered in a certain way,
all the visceral regions controlled by that section of the nerve
net are similarly and simultaneously influenced. Cannon has
shown that as a result of this situation, different emotions and
affective states produce identical visceral changes. If the
1 W. B. Cannon and A. L, Washburn, " An Explanation of Hunger, 1 '
Ant. Jr. of Physiology, 1912, vol. XXIX, pp. 442-445.
2 A. J. Carlson, The Control of Hunger in Health and Disease, Chicago,
1916, Ch. VII, p. 101, The Sensibility of the Gastric Mucosa.
8 E. G. Boring, " The Sensations of the Alimentary Canal/ 1 Am.
Jou.\ Psychology, 1915, vol. XXVI, pp. 1-57.
PRINCIPLES OF PRIMARY FEELINGS 75
changes in the viscera are identical, how can the sensations
resulting from these changes be different ? Cannon states
that they cannot be : and concludes that, " It would appear
the bodily conditions which have been assumed by some
psychologists to distinguish emotions from one another must
be sought for elsewhere than in the viscera/' 1
One would think that the physiologists* conclusion in this
matter would be accepted as final, but a few psychologists,
driven on, apparently, by the frantic urge to squeeze feeling
'tone into sensation by hook or by crook, have persisted to
the last ditch in trying to find some loop hole in the phy-
siologists* dictum. One such attempt is that of Allport, who
says: 8 "The cranio-sacral division of the autonomic, . . .
innervates those responses whose return afferent impulses are
associated with the conscious quality of pleasantness. The
sympathetic division produces visceral responses which are
represented in consciousness as unpleasantness." This idea
is precisely what Cannon believed his results had disproved.
But Allport attempts to use his own version of Cannon's
results to support the visceral affection hypothesis. Allport
quotes Cannon as stating that pleasant toned emotions result
in motor discharge through the cranial and sacral branches
of the autonomic nervous system, and that all unpleasant
Demotions uniformly discharge into the viscera through the
sympathetic (thoracio-lumbar) division of the autonomic
system. I, am sure that Allport had no intention of deliber-
ately misinterpreting Cannon's results, and so we cannot but
suppose that Allporl, in his visceral-affective zeal, over-
interpreted Cannon's work in a rather surprising way. For
Cannon states 3 : "In terror, rage, and intense elation, for
example, the responses in the viscera seem too uniform to
offer a satisfactory means of distinguishing states which in
man, at least, are very different in subjective quality."
Terror, rage, and intense elation according to Cannon result
in sympathetic motor discharge, as do also emotions producing
sexual orgasm, and " anxiety, joy, grief, and deep disgust." 4
1 W. B. Cannon, Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear and Rage,
New York and London, 1920, p. 280.
2 F. Allport, Social Psychology, Cambridge, 1924, p. 90.
3 W. B. Cannon, Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear and Rage,
New York and London, 1920, p. 280.
4 W. B. Cannon, Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear and Rage,
New York and London, 1920, p. 279.
76 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
Can we believe that Allport regards intense elation, joy, and
the climax of sexual emotion as unpleasant emotional states ?
If not, then Allport 's theory that sensations caused by sym-
pathetic motor impulses constitute unpleasantness finds
itself contradicted. Similarly, Cannon emphasizes the fact
that various intensely unpleasant emotions, such as extreme
fear, may result in sacral motor discharge causing evacuation
of the bladder and colon. In this observation of Cannon's,
Allport must find singularly little support for the second part
of his theory which identifies pleasantness with sensations
caused by sacral-cranial discharge.
The acme of ingenuity in visceral-affection theories has been
reached by W. W. Smith. 1 It must first be explained that
Smith names his affective elements "positive feeling tone 1 '
and " negative feeling tone ", defined as those feelings which
promote or delay, respectively, associative recall of memorized
words. These feelings, he says, are " very close to " pleasant-
ness and unpleasantness. Smith begins discussion by com-
mitting himself " four-square " to the James-Lange theory
of emotion, and further presupposes that all affective states
are composed of nothing but " endo-somatic sensations ".
His problem then is : What endo-somatic sensations constitute
positive feeling tone, and of what sensations is negative tone
composed ? Smith's answer, like that of so many others, i?
based upon the motor-impulse situation ; and, like the others
mentioned, he identifies positive feeling tone with harmonious
motor discharge from co-operating " ideas ", and negative
affective tone with conflicting motor discharge from opposed
" ideas ".
Then comes Smith's bid for the role of miracle- worker.
He attempts to translate these harmonious and conflicting
motor impulses into sensory consciousness in an extremely
novel way. The motor impulses, he says, are subliminal ;
yet diey have the extraordinary ability to evoke, in some
way difficult to comprehend, the visceral sensations which
constitute the actual conscious content of positive or negative
feeling. If the " subliminal innervations of the physiological
mechanisms ", says Smith, are incompatible, " endo-somatic
sensations are thereby generated which, when perceived, give
rise to one variety of affective tone " (negative). Relative
1 W. W. Smith, The Measurement of Emotion, New York and London,
922'.
PRINCIPLES OF PRIMARY FEELINGS 77
relief from this war of the subliminally evoked endo-somatic
sensations gives positive affective tone, which " is in the nature
of a contrast effect ". Astounding doctrine ! Allport may
have revised Langley and Cannon to suite himself by insisting
that identical visceral sensations can be different according to
the pleasantness or unpleasantness of the emotions that cause
them, but Smith has gone him one better. Smith assumes
not only that a nerve-net type of conductor is capable of
effecting differential visceral changes, but he also appears to
suggest that subliminal motor impulses, playing about within
this nerve-net, can somehow rise above their own categorical
limitations and produce end-effects more emotionally potent
than could be brought about by the most intense supra-
liminal impulses. Long life to this theory ! May it survive
as a monument to future generations symbolizing the heights
of acrobatic mentality scaled by man in the brave though
futile cause of glorifying his visceral sensations !
Unsolved Problem
It can be seen, even from the above abbreviated review,
that many authorities are in substantial agreement as to the
physical basis underlying pleasantness and unpleasantness.
Yet, despite this fundamental agreement that feeling tone
depends upon alliance or conflict of motor set, both methods
of translating motor impulses into sensory consciousness have
fallen flat. 9 On the one hand, the facts do not support the
assumption that motor phenomena can retroactively imbue
preceding sensations with their own attributes. On the other
hand, motor discharge which is admittedly linked with strong
affective tone, has been found by the physiologists to be in-
capable of producing sensations sufficiently potent or diverse
to correspond in any way with the associated feelings of
pleasantness and unpleasantness. The problem of getting
affective or motor discharge into consciousness remains* un-
solved.
Feeling Tone is Motor Consciousness, or Motation
My own solution has already been suggested in the last
chapter. I have ventured to step in where angels fear to
tread. I have entered the gates of motor consciousness long
guarded by psychology's sacred taboo. Once one has entered
this forbidden territory, however, one finds the building
78 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
materials for affective and emotional theories ready-cut and
prepared for immediate use. Accepting the conclusion agreed
upon by the authorities cited, that motor facilitations and
conflicts underlie pleasantness and unpleasantness, I have
only to select appropriate units of psychonic energy neces-
sarily generated in the motor centres where these motor im-
pulses are integrated and, behold ! these items of motor con-
sciousness are pleasantness and unpleasantness. If one
accepts the existence of motor consciousness, then, there
is no necessity for devising a round-about way of accounting'
for our affective awareness of the result of motor discharge.
The awareness has already occurred at the psychons where
the motor impulses in question had their origin.
Integmtive Principles of Pleasantness and Unpleasantness
Connector nerve impulses arrive at certain original motor
psychons from various associative centres of the brain, and
are there integrated into specifically directed motor impulses.
These specific motor impulses in turn, are obliged to form
several sets of subsequent psychonic connections with each
other and with motor impulses previously occupying the paths
which they seek to enter. At all the psychons in this series,
between the highest motor centres of the brain and the final
common nerve paths leading to the muscles or glands inner-
vated, integrative relationships of alliance or antagonism may
exist between the various motor nerve disturbances combined
at the psychons in question. Each of these synaptic com-
binations of motor impulses, therefore, must be expected to
give rise to one of the two primary elements of motor con-
sciousness, pleasantness or unpleasantness, as well as to form
complex varieties of mo tat ion corresponding with super-
added complexities of impulse relationship.
According to this suggestion, the mutual facilitation of any
two motor impulses on a motor psychon constitutes, ipso facto,
conscious pleasantness. Antagonism between two or more motor
impulses within any motor psychon constitutes conscious un-
pleasantness.
Causal Attributes of Pleasantness and Unpleasantness as
Primary Elements of Motation
Pleasantness and unpleasantness, according to the theory
proposed, are the primary elements of motor consciousness,
PRINCIPLES OF PRIMARY FEELINGS 79
But primary elements, as here used, must not be taken to
mean an element or unit from which all more complex mo tat ion
can be derived. It seems to me a mistake in conceptual
understanding of causation, for instance, to think of water
as composed of nothing but hydrogen and oxygen. Or, to
put it the other way, it seems a mistake to think of hydrogen
and oxygen as containing within themselves all the materials
from which water is made. The correct view seems rather
to be that the simpler energy units composing the atoms
of hydrogen and oxygen possess the capacity, when brought
into more complex relationship by the combination of
hydrogen and oxygen in certain quantitative proportions, to
generate a still more complex stabilization of energy ; namely,
water. This more complex energy form contains, it is true,
atoms of hydrogen and oxygen, but it contains, also, additional
energy units which are its own and which did not exist before
in either the hydrogen atom or the oxygen atom or in both.
This concept is but another application of our fundamental
analysis of physical science into mechanistic-type and vitalistic-
type causes. The hydrogen and the oxygen, acting as mechan-
istic causes, create water which thereupon, as a vitalistic-
type cause, possesses powers not resident in either of its so-
called elements. In the same way, for the sake of clarity
qf thought and removal of prejudice against the general con-
cept of " primary elements ", it seems advisable to think of
pleasantnesj and unpleasantness as simple, integrative units,
the constituent units of which may combine in still more com-
plex ways, forming still more complex units of affective tone.
Such complex, affective units, therefore, while all of them may
contain pleasantness or unpleasantness, or both, must be
expected to possess new attributes of motation which are
actually not present in pleasantness and unpleasantness per
se.
*>
Possible Objections To Proposed Theory of Pleasantness and
Unpleasantness
What are the objections to the hypothesis that pleasantness
and unpleasantness are based upon simple facilitation and
conflict of impulses ? One objection sometimes argued,
maintains that unpleasantness can not be based upon motor
conflict because some of our swiftest reactions are intensely
unpleasant, The argument is taken that swift actions
8o EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
not result from motor conflicts and that, therefore, we find
intense unpleasantness present without corresponding motor
interference. This objection, however, like so many of our
present psychological difficulties, is based upon failure to
work out clearly the nerve impulse situation which is under
discussion. While it is certainly true that swiftness of re-
action does not result from the motor conflict element of
preceding integration, it is also true that nearly all swift
action taken in an emergency causes" motor conflicts. If,
for example, one is walking serenely along a country lane,
" day dfeaming " of pleasant experiences to come, and if a
car, rushing down from behind, honks its horn, the startled
dreamer may leap off the road in record time. There existed
no dimunition of the motor impulses which succeeded in
gaining outlet and which resulted in the jump. But what
of the impulses which had been controlling the body and mind
a moment before ? The large volume of motor discharge which
had successfully found outlet just before the horn sounded,
was interrupted, and rudely cut off altogether from motor
outlet by the jumping impulses. A motor conflict, therefore,
must have existed, and the very intensity of the successful
motor discharge bears testimony to the fact that the previously
existing motor setting was interrupted by force rather than by
harmonic readjustment. Such instances of swift and efficient
action under stress of danger seem to offer evidence tending
to identify unpleasantness with motor conflict, -rather than
offering any evidence against such identification.
Conversely, the objection has been urged that pleasantness
cannot depend upon positive facilitation since its resulting
emotions appear to be of slow, easy-going variety, like the
stroll down a country lane mentioned. This objection, again,
seems not fully to grasp the exact neurological relationships
involved. The relationship of mutual facilitation between
impulses simultaneously passing over a given psychon is not
to be confused with the intensity of the resulting motor
excitation within the final efferent paths. Forbes and Gregg
have, in fact, shown that the normal limit of excitation in any
individual nerve fibre is quickly reached and that an intense
stimulus thereafter super-imposes a sort of secondary rhythm
upon the normal disturbance within the nerve. 1 Thus,
1 A. Forbes and A. Gregg, " Electrical Studies in Mammalian
Reflexes/ 1 Am. Jour, of Physiology, vol. XXXIX, Dec. 1915. pp.
PRINCIPLES OF PRIMARY FEELINGS 81
it seems clear that complete mutual facilitation of motor
impulses free from secondary interference impulse waves
can only occur if the impulses in alliance are of notably
low intensity. The swiftness and decision of muscular
rtiovement is a product not of the completeness of facilitation
existing at any motor psychon, but rather of the intensity
of the successful motor impulses which contract the muscles
used. It is, in short, the completeness with which two motor
impulses blend, that is to be thought of as fixing the degree
of pleasantness of which we are conscious. The intensity
of motor discharge has nothing to do with the matter, except
that it will become increasingly difficult for two or more motor
impulses to effect complete alliance in proportion as the
intensity of either impulse is increased. In other words, the
more swift and abrupt any physical action becomes the
more difficult it will be to make this action completely
pleasant.
Another objection sometimes raised to the identification
of pleasantness with free and unimpeded discharge of motor
impulses rests upon the argument that practising any reaction
makes it more smooth-running, and free from synaptic
obstruction. The more habitual a given action becomes,
therefore, the more unimpeded must be the motor discharge
\yhich produces it. Yet, such actions, it is said, are not more
pleasant than less practised responses, but rather tend to
become increasingly indifferent in feeling tone. The initial
fallacy in this argument is that free discharge of motor impulses
is by no means synonymous with mutual facilitation of
impulses at the junctional psychons. While it is true that
habitual actions attain a maximum freedom of motor dis-
charge, it is not true that habitual actions are the product of
232-233. " When a mammalian nerve trunk, such as the sciatic or
one of its major branches (popliteal or peroneal) in the cat, is stimulated
with single induction shocks of graded intensity, and the resulting action
currents are recorded monophasically with the string galvanometer, the
magnitude of the electrical response normally increases with increasing
stimuli until the latter have reached a value in the neighbourhood of
40 Z units ; with further increase in strength of stimulus no further
increase in response occurs so long as this retains the form typical
of a simple action current record, in short there is a limiting maximal
value to the action current. When the increase in the strength of
induction shock is carried far enough (usually about 200 Z in round
numbers) the electrical responses no longer appear as simple curves,
but show deformation which becomes increasingly marked as the
strength of shock is further increased."
82 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
a maximal amount of facilitation between different groups of
motor impulses. Quite the contrary. The more habitual an
action becomes the more it tends to approximate the lower
reflexes of the body. That is, those reflexes which employ a
minimum number of synapses and maintain a continuously
unimpeded discharge of energy across a single motor synapse,
might be expected, according to the psychonic theory of con-
sciousness, to produce a minimum of consciousness of any sort.
While responses requiring motor impulse combinations at
hundreds, or perhaps thousands of motor synapses might be
expected to result in a maximal amount of facilitation (pleas-
antness) or interference (unpleasantness). The indifference of
habitual actions, therefore, again offers positive proof for the
theory proposed and seems in accord with it at every point.
The statement that the mere practicing of given responses
renders them indifferent or less pleasant is far from fact.
Such a proposition would suggest that the " dud " at golf
enjoys his strokes more than does the finished master of the
game ; or that one derives more pleasure from the first tennis
practice of a season than from the execution of a perfect return
after months of practice. Such simply is not the case. The
more perfectly practised a given movement is the greater
pleasantness one derives from it provided that the consciousness
attaching to the action in question is not itself diminished ; tha*
is, providing the movement is not accomplished by a more
mechanical type of psycho-neural reflex containing a smaller
number of synapses and psychons.
An objection which has been raised especially to the motor
consciousness aspect of the theory proposed brings forward
the suggestion that it would seem likely that most motor
impulses would be able to gain final discharge without being
compelled to form synaptic relationships of facilitation or
interference with any motor impulses seeking to occupy a
coirfmon path. If this were so, it is asserted, we should expect
nearly all our reactions to cause a feeling tone of indifference
whereas, as a matter of fact, nearly all human responses not
habitual or " unconscious " are felt to be noticably pleasant
or unpleasant. I would agree certainly, that a totally indiffer-
ent response is of comparatively rare occurrence and that,
therefore, our motor consciousness theory must be prepared
to account for the appearance of mutual facilitations or con-
flict of motor impulses in connection with a vast majority
PRINCIPLES OF PRIMARY FEELINGS 83
of responses. The opinion of Sherrington might be quoted 1
to the effect that it seems to him questionable whether a
relationship of complete indifference could obtain between
any two co-existing motor excitations because of the com-
plexity and close interconnection of the entire synaptic
structure of the central nervous system, especially the brain.
However, since this issue is a very important one it may be
well to discover, if possible, a fundamental condition in the
functioning of the nervous system taken as a unit which would
account' for the expectation that nearly all motor impulses
must form synaptic facilitations or antagonisms before
reaching final efferent discharge. Such a fundamental reason
may be sought in an examination of the continuous, or tonic
discharges which persist throughout the life of the organism.
Constant Tonic Discharge Renders All Responses Initially
Pleasant or Unpleasant
Recent neurological researches have tended to emphasize
the importance of the tonic motor mechanisms which act
continuously against the forces of environment to maintain
posture and preparedness for adaptive action. Speaking of
decerebrate rigidity, a condition affecting the same mechanisms
aj those concerned in tonic discharge, Sherrington writes 1 :
" llie muscles it predominantly affects are those which in
that attitude (i.e. the one maintained by tonic reflexes)
antagonize gravity. In standing, walking, running, the limbs
would sink under the body's weight but for contraction of the
extensors of hip, knee, ankle, shoulder, elbow ; the head would
hang, but for the retractors of the neck ; the tail and jaw would
drop, but for their elevator muscles . These muscles counteract
a force, gravity, that continually threatens to upset the
natural posture. The force acts continuously and the muscles
exhibit continued action, tonus. ...
" Two separable systems of motor innervation appear thus
controlling two sets of musculature : one system exhibits
1 " In presence of the arcs of the great proficient receptors and the
brain there can be few receptive points in the body whose activities
are totally indifferent one to another. Correlation of the reflexes from
points widely apart is the crowning contribution of the brain towards
the nervous integration of the individual." C. S. Sherrington, Integra-
five Action of the Nervous System, p. 147.
8 C. S. Sherrington, Integrative Action of the Nervous System, p. 30*.
84 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
those transient phases of heightened reaction which constitute
reflex movements ; the other maintains that steady tonic
response which supplies the muscular tension necessary to
attitude. Starting from the tonic innervation as initial state,
the first step in movement tends to be flexion and involves
under ' reciprocal innervation ' an inhibition of the extensor
excitation then in progress. This will be involved whether
the excitation be via local reflex or via the motor cortex. . . .
" And the tonic system will, on inhibition of it gassing off,
contribute a return movement to the pre-existing pose, thus
having it share in alternating movements and in compensatory
reflexes. These two systems, the tonic and the phasic reflex
systems, co-operate exertirg influences complimental to each
other upon various units of the musculature."
Thus it is evident that every phasic, or transitory group of
motor impulses which succeeds in winning through to motor
outlet, and thus influencing bodily behaviour, must first
conflict with (inhibit) the existing tonic discharge, or else
facilitate (co-operate with) the continuous tonic impulses.
And this same facilitation or antagonism must occur, according
to Sherrington, no matter what level of reflex centres may be
employed by the phasic impulses, from lowest (local reflex) to
highest (motor cortex). If, then, pleasantness and unpleasant-
ness are generated, in the form of psychonic motor energy,
upon each occasion that relationships of alliance or antagonism
occur in the motor centres, we must assume that some pleasant-
ness or some unpleasantness will precede every linal bodily
response ; since, prior to each final response, the motor-
impulses setting it off are compelled to ally themselves with,
or to antagonize the pre-existing tonic discharge.
This result seems to accord precisely with the facts of
experience as cited in the criticism of the motation theory of
feeling now being discussed. I should like to add, however,
that where a minimum of synaptic juncture between phasic
and tonic impulses occur, and where the response is also devoid
of any considerable interrelationship between phasic impulses,
the pleasantness or unpleasantness may be so slight as to
escape the observation of the subject. Also, in the type of
reaction where interrelationships of connector impulses pre-
dominate, with little motor energy escaping into final efferent
paths, we should anticipate little observable affective tone.
If " thinking " is based upon this connector-correlation type
PRINCIPLES OF PRIMARY FEELINGS 85
of neural picture, then its apparent emotional indifference
might stand accounted for.
Summary
In summary, there seems to be excellent neurological
authority for the assumption that pleasantness is in some way
attached, either to free, unimpeded discharge of impulses in
the central nervous system, or to positive, mutual facilitation
of impulses. Similar authority indicates that unpleasantness
is connected with central blockage, stasis, or mutual interfer-
ence of impulses. The work of Head and Holmes, corrobor-
ating this conclusion, also indicates that the facilitations and
interferences of impulses running parallel with affective tone
must occur in the motor centres rather than upon the sensory
side of the central nervous system. Marked over-reactions,
that is, motor exaggerations, accompanied increase of pleasant-
ness and unpleasantness, while no alterations in the sensory
integrations or receptor mechanisms were found.
Psychology, then, has long been faced with the problem :
How do we become conscious of the alliances and conflicts of
motor impulses ? The first attempt to answer sought to
regard feeling as a true aspect of sensation, and to establish
jsome psycho-neural mechanism by which motor phenomena
might retroactively influence their preceding sensations.
But no sirh mechanism seems to exist. Other attempts to
solve this problem have sought to set aside special groups of
sensations, supposedly caused by the initial motor impulses
in question, with the assertion that these sensory units enter
consciousness not as sensations, but as affective tone. Visceral
sensations have been the ruling favourites among those
selected. But visceral sensations, sparse and feeble at best,
cannot be evoked selectively by motor discharge from the
central nervous system, because the autonomic nerve* net,"
excitable only in large sections, intervenes between the
central nervous system and the viscera. The same visceral
sensations accompany pleasant and unpleasant emotions.
The psychonic theory of consciousness answers the problem
squarely, and without circuminvention. It holds that we
become conscious of motor alliances and conflicts at the time
they occur, in the motor synapses. A relationship of mutual
facilitation between two or more motor impulses, once fowned
86 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
upon a motor psychon, is pleasantness. A relationship of
motor antagonism, similarly formed, is unpleasantness.
Examination of the evidence advanced by several types of
objections to the theory proposed reveals the fact that all
this data is closely in accord with the theory.
CHAPTER VI
INTEGRATIVE PRINCIPLES OF PRIMARY EMOTIONS
IN the last chapter it was suggested that all phasic motor
impulses are compelled to combine with, or to conflict with,
the tonic motor impulses continuously discharging in a pattern
which may be called, for convenience, our natural reflex
equilibrium. 1 In the manufacture of pleasantness and
unpleasantness we had supposed a qualitatively simple
relationship to exist between phasic and tonic impulses.
That is, a simple one-to-one relationship. If this ultimately
simple, one-to-one relationship existed in fact, we should
have no variable in the equation except the degree of alliance
or antagonism existing between tonic and phasic impulses.
In such a theoretically simplified equation, we might expect
to find sheer pleasantness or sheer unpleasantness without
any further complicating factors due to the quantities of the
two units brought together. But the moment we consider
a 1 " combination of tonic and phasic impulses where one group
or the other clearly predominates in quantity, a new set of
integrative relationships appears.
Referring back to the same situation appearing in chemistry,
we may note that a one-to-one comparison between various
chemical atoms reveals merely a contrast or similarity between
the internal constituents of the atoms examined, but the
moment we vary the number of one or the other atoms brought
together, a new set of phenomena appears which must also be
described. That is, we must note the properties of two ajoms.
of hydrogen brought in contact with one atom of oxygen.
This new set of phenomena are termed chemical compounds,
and for each type of atom combined with another type of
atom, a long series of compounds might be arranged according
1 " Reflex equilibrium," as a term descriptive of the condition to
which the central nervous system returns after the tonic discharge has
been disturbed by an intercurrent reflex, is used by Sherrington.
C. S. Sherrington, Integrative Action of the Nervous System, p. 203.
87
88 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
to the number of atoms used in each compound. The entire
series of all possible compounds between all types of atoms
might be so arranged as to show at one end of the series the
compound resulting from the smallest possible quantity of
atoms possessing the greatest possible attraction for one
another, while at the opposite extreme of the series might lie
compounds containing a maximal quantity of atoms having
the greatest repulsion one for the other.
The problem before us with respect to integrative com-
binations of quantitatively varying intensities of tonic and
phasic impulses is first of all, to discover the general principle
of the changes resulting from the intensity variant in each
combination. That is, to put it more concretely, it is im-
portant to discover, if possible, what effect will be wrought
in the total intensity of tonic discharge by greater or lesser
intensities of allied and antagonistic phasic impulses. We
have already noted the effect which the alliance or antagonism
of a phasic group or impulses will have upon the tendency of
the tonic impulses to ally themselves with, or antagonize the
phasic group. We may look, in the second place, for the
influences which the relative intensities of the phasic group
may exercise over the intensity of the total tonic discharge.
In order to discover these basic principles of integration, it
will be necessary to examine the nature of the tonic reflexes
and their mechanisms of reinforcement, and diminution.
The Tonic Mechanisms *
In the last chapter we noted that the tonic reflexes were
designed to counteract environmental influences such as
gravitation, atmospheric pressure, etc., which if not counter-
acted, would abolish the posture and attitude necessary^o the
life and activity of the organism. Appro pi iate receptors, or
sense organs, therefore, connect with tonic motor centres
discharging into those muscles designed to react selectively
to tfie forces which must be offset. The semi-circular canals,
and probably other types of receptors of the type affected by
gravitational influence, respond quickly to changes in the
position of the head. Motor discharge evoked by sensations
of equilibrium normally contracts the muscles necessary to
hold the head and body in the required state of balance.
This is the normal or reflex equilibrium of the tonic mechanism,
and increases in the gravitational pull, or any similar influence
PRINCIPLES OF PRIMARY EMOTIONS 89
exerted upon the body by phasic reflexes moving the body
off balance, would immediately increase the intensity of
stimulation of the semi-circular canals. There would follow,
through the tonic centres, compensatory increase in motor
discharge which should continue until the body has been
restored to its normal balance.
We may also consider another and different type of tonic
mechanism which operates independently of the balancing
reflexes just considered. Sherrington shows 1 that there exist
certain proprioceptor sense organs in the skeletal muscles of the
body stimulable by the tension within the muscle itself. These
stimulations result in motor discharge back into the muscle
itself with the result that the muscle is increasingly stimulated
to contraction. Suppose, for example, that an experimental
animal in a condition of decerebrate rigidity is placed in a
holder so that the outstretched limbs and tail do not receive
artificial support, but are held rigidly extended by the tonic
reflexes under discussion. If, now, the experimenter moves
one of the limbs forcibly in a direction opposed to that in
which it is held by the extensor contractions due to tonic
motor discharge, the extensor contraction can be shown to
increase in intensity. When the pressure is removed, the
limb returns to a more extieme position than that in which it
was originally held.
This same result has been shown to occur if the limb is
moved in a position opposed to that brought about by tonic
discharge through the agency of an intervening reflex electric-
ally stimulated, thus demonstrating that the phenomenon
may be produced either by passive manipulation of the limb
or by phasic reflex movement of the limb in an anti-tonic
direction. If the afferent nerves from the limb in question
be severed, the efferent discharge is diminished or abolished
altogether, indicating that the enhancement of tonic discharge
is dependent upon sensory impulses rising from the muscles,
of the limb as they are increasingly tensed by the pressure
exerted against them. Probably when the movement is
produced by phasic reflex stimulation there is some integrative
equivalent of this mechanical effect also operative. Forbes,
Campbell, and Williams" have measured, by means of the
1 C. S. Sherrington, Integrative Action of the Nervous System, pp. 300 ff .
A. Forbes, C. J. Campbell, and H. B. Williams, " Electrical Records
of Afferent Nerve Impulses from Muscular Receptors," American
Journal of Physiology, 1924, vol. LXIX, pp. 238-303.
00 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
galvanometer, the action currents resulting from increased
tension of the muscles in reflex contraction, and have shown
that one battery of proprioceptive afferent impulses is evoked
as a result of reflex contraction of the muscle, and that a
second battery of afferent impulses is evoked as the muscle
contraction meets increased opposition from the load it is
trying to move.
Importance of Tonic Mechanisms
We may consider briefly the extent to which the entire
operation of the central nervous system depends upon the
interaction between tonic and phasic systems of reflex nerve
excitation.
The psycho-neural concept which looked upon the brain
and spinal cord as mere separately strung telephone wires with
a switch key to be turned on at the synapses, is passing rapidly.
Herrick says 1 " but the concept of the reflex is not a general
master key competent to unlock all the secrets of brain and
mind, as all seem to suppose, and it has of late been subjected
to very searching physiological analysis ". And again, " all
the parts of each such reflex system are so intimately and
variously connected with one another and with parts of other
systems by collateral branches of the nerve fibres and by
correlation neurones that anatomical mechanisms are pro-
vided for innumerable modifications of any typical or primary
reflex pattern. Which, if any, of these cross connections will be
activated in any particular response will be determined by the
aggregate of external and internal factors at the moment
operating ".
By far the most important of the internal factors operating
at any moment are the various units of tonic energy continu-
ously exciting large tracts of the brain, spinal cord, and peri-
pheral nerve trunks. It has long been known that the cere-
.bellum is chiefly concerned with maintaining the constant
tonic motor discharge necessary to keep the body in its natural
state of equilibrium. The cerebellum has been called primar-
ily the "balancing brain". " Its cortex", says Herrick, 1
" seems to be a great reservoir of latent nervous energy which
1 C. J. Herrick, Neurological Foundations of Animal Behavior,
pp. 234-6.
*C. J. Herrick, Neurological Foundations of Animal Behavior,
p. -?42.
PRINCIPLES OF PRIMARY EMOTIONS 91
may be tapped for discharge into any neuromotor apparatus
as needed. Its stabilizing influence may be compared with
the action of a gyroscope on a large steamship, ensuring the
steady progress of the vessel in its course by compensating
the buffeting of wind and waves/*
Sherrington has proved that not only is the cerebellum
to be regarded chiefly as an organ of tonic discharge, but also,
that certain centres of the brain stem are concerned with main-
taining tonic motor outflow. Sherrington found that de-
cerebrate rigidity which seems to represent a state of natural
reflex equilibrium with the normal inhibitory regulation re-
moved cannot be abolished by ablation of the cerebellum. 1
Lashley has found 2 that the cerebral cortex itself, may be
largely concerned with maintaining tonic discharge. He says,
" A normal function of the stimulable cortex is to supply a
sub-stratum of facilitating impulses which act in some way
to render the final common paths excitable by the more finely
graduated impulses ", (which emanate from phasic reflexes).
These few quotations from recent writings and research
reports will serve to show that the concept long held by many
psychologists with regard to the central nervous system as an
inert mass of conducting material within which the environ-
ment could cause phasic reflex excitations to play about with
po other control than that exercised by other phasic excita-
tidns which happen to be simultaneously aroused, is no longer
tenable. j\ more apt metaphor would represent the central
nervous system as a powerful dynamo generating energy at
high and rather regular speed throughout the life of the organ-
ism. Phasic excitations aroused by the environment from
time to time are to be thought of as passing hands upon the
rheostat switches controlling this dynamo. One phasic
influence increases the speed of the generator, others may slow
it down. Some phasic impulses may reduce the response in
conductors already energized by the dynamo while others saay
increase such excitations. But unless the mechanical and
chemical laws of the planet itself be abrogated, (that is, unless
gravitation, temperature, air pressure, etc., cease to exert
their natural influences upon the organism) the great dynamo
*C. S. Shenington, Integrative Action of the Nervous System,
p. 302-
* K. S. Lashley, " The Relation between Cerebral Mass Learning and
Retention," Journal of Comparative Neurology, August, 1926, vol. 4.
92 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
of the central nervous system may be expected to grind out
its daily and hourly quota of tonic motor discharge, pretty
much regardless of minor changes and influences of the particu-
lar environment in which the organism is placed.
What the transient phasic reflexes do very largely determine
is the particular outlet through which the energy generated
by the dynamos shall be brought into contact with environ-
ment.
Herrick says 1 " What particular motor centres will receive
the nervous impulses discharged from the cerebellum is ap-
parently determined less by what is going on in the cerebellum
than by what systems are in actual function in the rest of the
nervous system . . . The circuits acting in the brain stem
tend to capture and utilize the cerebellar discharge."
Lashley has reported evidence tending to show a result
quite astounding to the older telephone connection theory of
action. By eliminating the cerebral motor cortex in an animal
trained to certain definite motor habits, Lashley found that
impulses to particular muscles do not leave through the
pjnramidal tracts from the so-called motor area of the
cerebrum. He concluded in a later research that the phasic
motor impulses descending from the cortex by extra pyra-
midal paths thus produce the " finer shades of adaptive
movement". 8 Which may mean, as far as one is entitle^
to guess from incomplete results, that the motor area itsetf is
chiefly concerned with routing tonic discharge rpntinuously
to the so-called voluntary muscles all over the body, thus
maintaining all these different muscles in a more or less
stabilized condition of continuous excitation. Whenever this
reflex equilibrium might be changed in such a way that one
muscle receives a larger increment of tonic energy than other
muscles, an adaptive bodily movement would result. The
phasic or transient environmental stimulus would then con-
ctitate merely a hand on the lever shifting the tonic outflow
slightly from one muscle to another. This effect might be
accomplished within the nervous system either by increasing
the tonic outflow itself at an appropriate synapse, or by
1 C. J. Herrick, Brains of Rats and Men, Chicago, 1926.
1 K. S. Lashley, " The Retention of Motor Habits after Destruction
of the so-called Motor Area in Primates/' Archives of Neurology and
Psychology, 1924, vol. XII, p. 249.
* K. S. Lashley, " The Relation between Cerebral Mass, Learning
and Retention," Journal of Comparative Neurology , August, 1926, vol. 41.
PRINCIPLES OF PRIMARY EMOTIONS 93
facilitating the transmission of energy through a nerve path
and synapse common to phasic and tonic motor impulses.
Recent researches, on the whole, appear to describe the
constant tonic motor energy as a rather uniformly stabilized
mass of motor discharge which may " capture ", or " be
captured by " the transient motor energy units called phasic
impulses.
This " capture " of tonic motor discharge by phasic impulses,
or the " capture " of phasic excitations by tonic impulses,
takes place, necessarily, at motor synapses appropriate to
the psycho-neural level of the response ultimately ipanifest.
Psychons in all these centres must be in a continuous condition
of excitation, prior to the reception of phasic impulses, as a
result of the constant out-flow of tonic motor energy. Accord-
ing to the psychonic theory of consciousness, therefore, there
exists a certain residuum of motor (affective) awareness, in all
animals above the coelenterates (that is, animals possessing
synaptic nerve mechanisms), from before birth until after
death (at least as " death " is now defined by medical certifi-
cation). Normally, this residual notation should be felt
as mild, pervasive pleasantness, since motor impulses from
different tonic mechanisms, and from different tonic centres
must be supposed normally to be in closely ordered alliance,
thus affording a certain constant increment of mutual facilita-
tion at common psychons. The existence of such a continuous
background of pleasantness in the normal individual is in
close accord with results (experimental, clinical analysis, and
introspective report) from a great majority of the subjects,
friends, and students whom I have studied. It appears to be
the basis of " joie de vivre". Experience of its existence
seems to restrain from suicide most of the persons still alive,
(at least, those who have not been restrained by dread of the
suicidal instruments, as suggested by Watson 1 ).
Concepts of " Motor Self" and " Motor Stimuli " ^
The total of psychonic (synaptic) excitation, existing at any
given moment in the subject organism as a result of reft ex tonic
motor discharge, may be called, for convenience, the " motor
self". Definition of this term does not include any phenomena
not objectively described or indicated.
Phasic motor impulses forming psychonic (synaptic) con-
1 J. B. Watson, Behaviorism, New York, 1925, pp. 147-8.
94 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
junction with tonic motor excitations may conveniently be termed
" motor stimuli ", and are to be regarded as being in exactly
the same relation to the motor self as are afferent impulses
to the organism's sensory mechanisms. Motor stimuli thus
objectively defined, are not to be confused, under any circum-
stances, with environmental stimuli, which may be defined as
objects or forces acting upon the organism's sensory recoptors.
Principles of Response of Motor Self to Motor Stimulus
Using the terminology just defined, then, we may sum-
marize the possible relationships so far worked out between
the motor self and the motor stimuli as follows : Motor stimuli
may first of all either ally themselves with, or antagonize the
motor self within motor psychons at any level in the central
nervous system. Such motor stimuli will evoke, in return,
corresponding alliance or antagonism from the motor self.
The resulting situation, which is referred to by neurologists
as mutual facilitation or conflict of impulses, will thereupon
enter consciousness as pleasant or unpleasant motation. This
motation, if pleasant, will be added to the normal, pre-existing
pleasantness constituting the motor self ; or if unpleasant,
it will diminish or supersede the normal pleasantness of the
motor self. t
But, as noted, it is exceedingly difficult to find a situation
where this relationship of mutual facilitation or Antagonism
exists all by itself without some superadded effect upon the
existing intensity of the motor self. It would require a motor
stimulus of exactly the same intensity as the motor self 1 to
bring about an ultimately simple relationship of alliance with
no other relationship existing between stimulus and reagent.
Since intensity differences, then, between motor stimuli and
motor self will be found in most cases to exist, our analysis
*h:wed that this second general type of complicating relation-
ship might usually be found added to the simple pleasantness
or mutual facilitation.
1 It is necessary to emphasize the fact that this one to one relationship
might not consist of absolute equalities of intensity, but rather of equal
intensities relative to the reacting power of tonic and phasic impulses,
the former being more easily interrupted than the latter, according
to Sherrington. Comparisons between intensities of tonic and phasic
excitations should always be understood as including this qualification
with regard to the relativity of the measure.
PRINCIPLES OF PRIMARY EMOTIONS 95
Motor Self and Antagonistic Motor Stimuli (Inferior and
Superior)
Let us attempt to discover, then, in the first place, the
general principle of reaction manifested by the motor self in
changing its intensity or volume, in response to inferior or
superior intensity or volume of an antagonistic stimulus.
" Inferior " and " superior " as used in the discussion to
follow must be taken to mean " intensity or volume of motor
stimulus inferior to existing intensity or volume of the motor
self/' and " intensity or volume of the motor stimulus superior
to the existing intensity or volume of the motor self ". We
have already noted, during our brief consideration of the
regulative tonic mechanisms, that the tonic discharge may be
increased or decreased as a reaction to opposition influences
exerted upon the balance of the body or upon tension of the
muscle tonically innervated. Such a change of body balance
or muscular tension, no matter by what influence this change
is brought about, tends to increase the intensity of tonic motor
discharge. It is to be assumed in all instances of this increase
of tonic discharge which we have so far considered, that the
intensity of the motor stimulus was inferior to the intensity
of whatever rival tonic motor impulses might have successfully
retained possession of the disputed final common path to the
muscle in dispute. For if such had not been the case, how
could the increased tonic discharge have been measured by
means of the increased contraction of the muscle in question ?
That is to say, if an opposed motor stimulus tries to reach
the flexor muscle over a final common efferent path held at
the moment of stimulation by tonic impulses which are using
the final common path to reach antagonistic extensor muscles,
and if we find as a result of intervention of the phasic motor
stimulus that the contraction of the extensor is heightened,
we must assume that the tonic impulses or motor self were aVc
to hold full control of the entrant psychon to the final common
path. This would seem to mean tJmt the motor stimulus was
less intense or powerful than the already existing tonic discharge.
Had the motor stimulus been of superior intensity to the
motor self, it would have dispossessed the tonic impulses of
their control over the entrant psychon to the final common
path and we should have observed a contraction of the flexor
jnuscles instead of an enhanced contraction of the extensors.
96 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
We may assume, then, that a motor stimulus of inferior intensity
results in an increase of the motor self.
In the experiment reported by Sherrington where an in-
creased load placed upon the extensor muscles of the dog by
physical pressure exerted by the experimenter upon the limb
in a flexor direction, it is true that the physical superiority
of an antagonistic stimulus failed to dispossess the motor self
of its hold upon the efferent paths to the extensors. But a
physically superior force could not, of course, possess any
integrative power or significance whatever, unless it gave
rise to intervening phasic reflexes which this particular brief
movement of the limb did not do. When a phasic reflex of
greater intensity than the tonic discharge was evoked by
electric stimulation, the tonic discharge into the extensors
was diminished, during the persistence of the intervening
reflex, to the point where it exerted no observable power of
dimunition over its successful phasic rival. 1 The fact, then,
appears to be that a successful intervening phasic reflex of
superior intensity to the existing tonic discharge results in a
dimunition of that same tonic discJiarge (and motor self) through-
out the persistence of the superior motor stimulus.
We find, then, that the general rule of intensity relationship
between motor self and motor stimulus seems to be as follows :
(1) An antagonistic motor stimulus of inferior intensity to
the motor self evokes an increase of intensity from the nfotor
self as reagent.
(2) An antagonistic motor stimulus of superior intensity to
the motor self evokes a decrease of intensity from the motor self
as reagent.
Motor Self and Allied Motor Stimuli (Inferior and Superior)
We still have to consider whether the same principle of
change of strength by the motor self holds good for motor
~ f -ynuli allied to the motor self, since both types of motor
1 " Post-inhibitory rebound " was later found by Sherrington to have
no correlation with the amount of tonic activity inhibited, and therefore
is not attributed solely to a continued cumulative increase of tonic
energy during the interim that the intervening stimulus is in control
of the final common path. It evidently represents however a secondary
central reaction to the intervening motor stimulus which occurs as a
result of primitive integration occuring in the absence of the animal's
cerebral hemispheres. Post-inhibitory rebound is to be interpreted,
perhaps, as a subsequent resurgence of tonic energy rather than an
increase in the motor self while the superior motor stimulus is in control,
PRINCIPLES OF PRIMARY EMOTIONS 97
stimuli so far considered have been antagonistic in the effect
upon the final common path. The experiments of Forbes,
Campbell and Williams, already cited, indicate that an inter-
vening reflex allied to the tonic discharge in its end effect upon
the muscle jointly innervated, would tend to have the same
effect of increasing the tonic discharge or motor self that
occurred, as we have already seen, as a result of intervention
by an antagonistic motor stimulus of inferior intensity. So
far as one can tell, the motor stimulus evoked in experiments
of the type mentioned would be of equal or inferior volume
to the pre-existing motor self, if evoked from a normal animal
in the natural way. When a greater load is placed upon any
muscle already in a state of tonic contraction (as in the case
where the dog's leg was passively moved by Shcrrington in
an anti-tonic direction) the same effect is produced upon the
increase of tonic discharge as would be produced ultimately
by intervening allied phasic reflexes of inferior volume.
Shcrrington describes the reflex neuro-muscular situation,
in the matter of tonic reinforcement, as follows 1 : -The
extensor muscle of the knee, in the instance discussed, con-
stituted the effector organ into which the tonic impulses were
discharged. When this muscle was passively stretched by
attaching appropriately calibrated weights, afferent impulses
were evoked from receptor organs in the muscle fibres. These
excitations entered the cord, and efferent, tonic reinforcement
impulses emerged from the cord, and travelled back, over the
efferent axone trunk, to the muscle which gave rise, originally,
to the reflex. A greater number of individual muscle fibres
were stimulated to contraction, as a consequence of this motor
discharge, than were previously working. Thus the antagon-
istic weight imposed upon the muscle was compensated for,
and the muscle as a whole resumed nearly the same position
as before the weight was imposed.
The individual muscle fibres, it is held, cannot under^
partial contraction. Each fibre contracts to its maximum
or not at all. Therefore, tonic reinforcement must always
take the form of bringing more individual muscle fibres into
play. It is supposed that individual axon fibres, in the
efferent nerve, innervate individual muscle fibres. Therefore,
1 This data is reproduced from notes taken by the writer at a lecture
delivered by Sir Charles S. Sherrington, before the New York Academy
Ql Medicine, New York City, October 25, 1927,
98 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
the total muscle contraction depends upon the number of
individual muscle fibres maximally contracted ; this depends
upon the number of individual axone fibres excited (maximally
or not at all by the all-or-none law of nerve conduction) ; and
this depends, in turn, according to Sherrington, upon the
amount of nervous excitation which reaches the motor centre
where the efferent fibres receive their stimulus to excitation.
Sherrington has evidence that each motor fibre has an
individual, synaptic threshold of excitation, within the motor
centre. The afferent reinforcement disturbance, when it
arrives at this motor centre, " grips " its maximum number
of motor fibres immediately, then loses its grip on those fibres
having the highest synaptic thresholds, and continues to
activate, for some time, the motor fibres with lower thresholds.
Suppose, then, that an allied motor impulse, of less strength
than the existing tonic discharge, arrives at the same motor
centre from some other source within the higher centres of
the central nervous system. This allied molor stimulus, by
definition, is not able to " grip " as many of the individual
efferent nerve fibres as are already being activated by the
total tonic excitation at the centre. Yet there is an unused
margin of potential tonic excitation coming into the centre
over the afferents from stretched muscle fibres. This potential
increment is not able, by itself, to become kinetic, psychonic
(inter-neuronic) excitation, because it is unable to pass the
synaptic thresholds of the efferent fibres which remain to be
activated. This potential, unused increment of tonic energy
should be released, however, by the mutual facilitation between
it and its new ally, the phasic, allied motor stimulus of inferior
strength. As a result, the potential tonic increment will
become active, psychonic impulses, crossing to the hitherto
dormant motor fibres of comparatively high threshold, thus
increasing the motor self by an increment equal to the strength
>&f the allied, inferior, motor stimulus.
Suppose, on the other hand, that the allied motor stimulus
which arrives at the common motor centre is superior in
strength to the existing motor self, or tonic excitation actually
crossing the efferent reinforcement synapses. Exactly the
same release of the potential tonic increment may initially
occur. But as soon as the superior ally grips its full quota
of efferent fibres, a new type of phenomenon must result.
M0re individual axon fibres will be excited, and more individual
PRINCIPLES OF PRIMARY EMOTIONS 99
muscle fibres will be contracted than the total, compensatory
tonic reinforcement calls for. That is, compensation for the
weight constantly imposed upon the muscle will be carried
beyond the point where compensation is complete. If 25
per cent, of all muscle fibres are needed for complete com-
pensation, and 35 per cent, of the total number of fibres are
actually shortened by the superior, allied motor stimulus, then
the tension imposed by the load on the muscle will be dis-
tributed between a larger number of individual fibres, and
each fibre will undergo correspondingly diminished tension.
Parallel with the diminution of tension in each muscle fibre
activated, the intensity of stimulation of the proprioceptive
sensory organ within each muscle fibre will be decreased, and
total afferent reinforcement excitation sent to the motor
centre, will diminish by a corresponding amount. Following
this diminution, a smaller number of efferent nerve fibres will
be gripped by the tonic excitement, per se ; and, pan passu,
the total strength of psychonic excitation of tonic origin will
suffer decrement. Since this psychonic excitation is synony-
mous with the motor self, we find that an allied motor stimulus
of superior strength ultimately decreases the motor self by a
decrement equal to the amount of the ally's superiority.
The clearest indication that such a theoretically predictable
result does, in fact, occur is to be found in the apparent diminu-
tion of muscular tonicity and other bodily resultants of tonic
discharge during " sexual " (love) passion. There are easily
observable* signs of bodily lassitude and weakness, especially
in women subjects, at the same time that the passion itself
is felt as most intense and pervasive. This weakening of the
self in order to surrender utterly to a loved one of superior
strength is aptly described in Sappho's immortal lines :
" For when I see thee but a little, I have no utterance left,
my tongue is broken down, and straightway a subtile fire
has run under my skin, with my eyes I have no sight, t jpv
ears ring, sweat pours down and a trembling seizes all my
body ; I am paler than grass, and seem in my madness little
better than one dead." 1 Such a description would indicate
that tonic-type motor discharge (" sweat ", etc.) is present,
but that the motor self proper is progressively weakened
(" little better than one dead ").
1 Second Sapphic fragment, H. T. Wharton, Sappho, London, Re-
print of Fourth Edition, 1907, p. 65.
ioo EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
Moreover, systolic blood pressure records taken during love
excitement sometimes show a progressive and extensive drop
at a short interval prior to the sexual orgasm. Such drops in
systolic blood pressure perhaps indicate that the strength of
the heart beat, which is tonically maintained, has been
diminished not by inhibition but by general diminution of the
tonic outflow of motor self.
However such cardio-vascular phenomena may be inter-
preted, the decrease of muscular tonicity all over the body
seems unmistakably symptomatic of lessening of tonic dis-
charge. This decrease of the motor self does not occur im-
mediately upon initiation of love excitement, nor does it
occur very frequently with male subjects, or even with
extremely passionate women subjects, except under maximally
favourable conditions. The phenomenon seems to depend
upon the passing of a certain threshold in the volume of phasic
motor discharge produced by the entire love situation stimulus.
When this volume of motor stimuli has become sufficiently
great, the symptoms of decrease in the motor self interest
themselves, sometimes rather suddenly. May it not be the
case that this phenomenon occurs at the time that the total
volume of sexual motor discharge exceeds the volume of allied
tonic impulses ?
If our foregoing analysis is correct, then we find that the
motor self follows a general principle of increasing its volume*
of intensity in response to a motor stimulus of less strength than
itself regardless of whether the motor stimulus be allied or antagon-
istic to the motor self, and that the motor self decreases its volume
of intensity when reading to a motor stimulus of greater strength
than itself, regardless of whether the motor stimulus be allied or
antagonistic to the motor self.
Differences Between Psychonic Relationships of Motor Self
to Allied and to Antagonistic Stimuli
It should be noted at this point, however, that the actual
phenomena occuring upon the motor psychons where the
increase or decrease of the motor self is integrated, must be
thought of quite differently when the increase or decrease is
accompanied by facilitation, than in the case where the change
in volume or intensity is coupled with mutual antagonism
between motor self and motor stimulus. When the motor
stimulus is antagonistic to the motor self, the victor in the
PRINCIPLES OF PRIMARY EMOTIONS 101
conflict wins a right of way across the disputed psychon into
the final common path, but there seems to be no neurological
evidence that the victor in such a conflict possesses power
to compel the vanquished impulse to change its rhythm or
impulse rate in such a way as to conform to and facilitate the
impulse rate of the victorious antagonist. In the conflict
under discussion, however, the motor self attains almost
precisely the same result because it reinforces itself in the
process of winning its victory by an increment as great as the
strength of the vanquished opponent. Thus, although the
weaker antagonist is not actually made over into the nature
and pattern of its conqueror, the victor is increased, in strength
or volume in its own nature or pattern by an increment identi-
cal in strength with the vanquished stimulus.
The result which occurs when the motor stimulus is the
victor is not precisely the same as in the case just considered.
When the motor stimulus wins through into the disputed
common path, it has no mechanism for self reinforcement 1
and remains, therefore, of exactly the same strength it was
in the first place. The diminution of the motor self in this
case rather represents a readjustment of tonic discharge to
permit the victorious phasic impulse to hold Us own, specific
course, than a general defeat of the motor self proportionate
to the victory of the stimulus. In short, there is a conceded
victory for the motor stimulus without any enhancement
of the latter. This is followed by a readjustment of the motor
self which, if the integration is completed, restores harmony
to the entire integrative picture. By means of this adjust-
ment, all parts of the motor self save that interrupted, and also
the motor stimulus may follow their own paths without mutual
interference.
In the case of a real alliance between the motor self and the
motor stimulus, however, each continues in union with^tjie
other, no matter which ally is in quantitative supremacy.
When the motor self decreases in reaction to an allied motor
stimulus of superior volume, it does not step aside, as it were,
and permit the victorious motor stimulus to continue on its
way unimpeded. The decreased motor self, even though
made smaller by the presence of the victorious motor stimulus,
1 According to a recent statement by Sherrington, during the lecture
referred to above, the flexor muscle of the knee, an anti-tonic muscle,
possesses no mechanism for progressive self reinforcement.
102 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
must continue to facilitate the victor across the common
psychons, and into the final common path. This relationship,
therefore, seems to represent nearly the converse of the antag-
onistic integration wherein the motor self was reinforced in
victory by the quantitative equivalent of its opponent. Yet,
in victory, the enlarged motor self could maintain no further
relationship with its vanquished opponent, while in allied
defeat the diminished motor self must continue to maintain
tributary union with its victorious ally..
In the case where the motor self was found to increase as a
result of union with a weaker ally, this same continued contact
between superior and inferior members of the alliance is found
to exist. This integrative situation would be nearly, though
not quite, the converse of that antagonistic integration wherein
the motor self was diminished, and subsequently made a forced
adjustment to the right of way won by its opponent. In the
latter instance, the motor self, following its readjustment, might
recover its internal harmonization of motor discharge, and
the victorious impulses themselves, if of sufficient volume,
might separately facilitate one another. But this would not
affect any psychonic juncture between motor self and the
victorious opponent. In the converse allied integration,
however, the victoriously enlarged motor self would continue
to receive tributary facilitation from its increased ally through-*
out the duration of the relationship.
The " Emotion Circle " of Integrative Relationships Between
Motor Self and Motor Stimuli
If the above is a correct description of the basic integrative
principles involved, we now have a complete analysis of the
self -regulatory mechanisms by which the tonic motor discharge,
or motor self, readjusts itself upon coming into contact with
plj^sic reflexes, or motor stimuli at entrant psychons to final
common paths leading to those muscles which are continuously
used to keep the body in its normal posture. According to
this analysis, we find that two separate integrative principles
appear to operate regardless of how one of these principles
may be combined with the other. The two principles may be
stated as follows :
i. Alliance and antagonism of motor stimuli toward the
motor self evoke corresponding alliance and antagonism from
the motor self.
PRINCIPLES OF PRIMARY EMOTIONS 103
2. Inferior intensity of volume of the motor stimulus
evokes increase of intensity or volume from the motor self ;
and superior volume or intensity of the motor stimulus evokes
decrease of intensity or volume from the motor self.
Thus, an antagonistic motor stimulus may possess either
inferior or superior intensity, and the motor self may respond
by an attitude of antagonism plus either increase or decrease of
its own intensity. An allied motor stimulus, similarly, may
possess either inferior or superior volume to that of the motor
self, and the motor self should thereupon react by an attitude*
of alliance plus either an increase or a decrease of its own strength*
It is convenient to think of the strength of the motor self,
plus the strength of the motor stimulus, as representing a
constant or balanced equation. Whatever intensity or
volume value is thereafter removed from one side of this
equation, must be added to the other side to keep the equation
balanced ; and whatever intensity or volume value is sub-
tracted from one side must similarly be added to the other
side to balance the equation again.
If, now, we combine in every way possible the two sets of
integrative relationships above described, we shall have a
continuous series of motor stimuli, and a corresponding series
of motor self responses, each varying from its predecessor in
the series by a just noticeable quantitative difference in degree
oi harmony, and in degree of intensity or volume difference.
Such a continuously graded series of motor stimuli and motor
self responses are represented in an accompanying diagram.
The entire series is represented in circular form, just as the
just distinguishable colour sensation series may be represented
schematically in circular form, and is frequently termed the
" colour circle " or " colour pyramid. " The four primary
colours placed at the four corners of the base of the colour
pyramid represent turning points in the entire series where a
given type of colour change has reached its maximum. Th^re-
after the alteration of hue begins to shift in a new direction.
In exactly the same way, the points D, I, S, and C represent
nodal points in the integrative emotion series. At each of
these points one type of change in one of the two sets of
integrative relationships reaches its maximum and begins to
change.
Thus, the point D at the top of the diagram represents a
maximal value of antagonism between motor stimulus and
1O4
EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
(C)
(Si-
FIGURE 3
" The Emotion Circle and the Colour Circle " l
1 Note : These terms for intermediate colours are from Munsell.
(See A. H. Munsell, A Colour Notation, p. 35).
PRINCIPLES OF PRIMARY EMOTIONS 105
FIGURE 3. The capital letters D, I, S, C, indicate responses of the
motor self. A plus ( -f ) sign near one of these letters, inside the Motor
Self, indicates an increase of the Self during response ; while a minus
( ) sign indicates a decrease.
Arrows between Motor Self and Motor Stimuli indicate relationship
between these two elements during response. Relative length of arrows
indicates preponderance of one or other element, (also indicated by plus
or minus sign near arrow). Arrows pointing in opposed directions
indicate antagonism between Self and Stimulus ; arrows pointing in
parallel directions indicate alliance.
The small letters (c), (s), (i), (d), indicate the type 01 Stimulus
adequate to evoke each response ; the Stimulus (c) being in the same
relationship to the Self as the Self is to its stimulus at C, etc. A minus
( ) sign near a small letter indicates a decrease of the Stimulus as a
result of the Self's action upon it ; while a plus ( -f ) sign^iudicatcs
an Increase.
The Colour Circle is placed with the four nodal points or colour, blue,
red, yellow, and green, in positions corresponding to the four nodal
points 01 emotion, dominance, inducement, submission, and compliance.
An identity of integrative principles has been suggested by preliminary
research in naive associations between primary colours and primary
emotions (see Psyche, October, 1927, p. 4).
The points marked " x " on the Motor Self circle suggest just-dis-
tinguishable differences of response, in between nodal points D, 1, S, C,
comparable to violet, purple, carmine, etc., on the colour circle.
motor self. As we proceed clockwise toward the point I,
this antagonism may be thought of as becoming continuously
less, until at I an alliance relationship appeals. But at this
same point, I, the inferiority of motor stimulus strength and
the,, corresponding increase of motor self energy reaches its
maximum, and begins to change toward the opposite relation-
ship, which* first appears decisively at S. At this lowest
nodal point, S, the alliance relationship between motor stimulus
and motor self has reached its maximum, and begins to fall
off as we proceed upward toward C, where alliance has dis-
appeared altogether and antagonism relationship has re-
appeared. At the point C, again, the decrease of motor self
intensity and response to superior stimulus strength has
reached its maximal value, changing again to the opposite
relationship by the time our starting point, D, is again reached.
Starting at the nodal point, C, which is the point at the
extreme left of the diagram, we may summarize the relation-
ships and reactions at the nodal or primary points of the
diagram as follows :
C
Motor stimulus (a^ Antagonistic to motor self.
(b) Superior strength to motor self.
Reaction of motor self (a) Antagonistic to motor stimulus,
(b) Decrease of strength.
106 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
D
Motor stimulus (a) Antagonistic to motor self.
(b) Inferior strength to motor self.
.Reaction of motor self (a) Antagonistic to motor stimulus,
(b) Increase of strength.
I
Motor stimulus (a) Allied with motor self.
(b) Interior strength to motor self.
Reaction of motor self (a) Allied with motor stimulus,
(b) Increase strength.
S
Motor stimulus (a) Allied with motor self.
(b) Superior strength to motor self.
Reaction of motor self (a) Allied with motor stimulus,
(b) Decrease strength.
We are now prepared to define the term " primary emotion "
with complete objectivity. We must first recall that, accord-
ing to the psychonic theory of consciousness, all relationships
between motor stimuli and motor self represented in the
diagram above, constitute complex units of motor consciousness,
or emotion, at the time they occur in the form of psychonic im-
pulses upon the appropriate motor psychons of the central nervous
system. By defining objectively the elements composing
these psychonic units of energy, we thereby, ipsc facto, define
the physical aspect of the different types of emotional con-
sciousness which we are seeking to discover. With this
premise in mind, then, we may suggest the following definitions.
An emotion is a complex unit of motor consciousness, composed
of psychonic impulses representing the motor self, and of psychonic
impulses representing a motor stimulus ; these two psychonic
energies being related to one another,
(1) by alliance or antagonism ; and,
(2) by reciprocal superiority and inferiority of strength.
A primary emotion may be designated as an emotion which
contains the maximal amount of alliance, antagonism, superiority
of strength of the motor self in respect to the motor stimulus, or
inferiority of strength of the motor self in respect to the motor
stimulus.
Emotions are complex motations, formed by conjunctions
of ^various types between the motor self and transient motor
PRINCIPLES OF PRIMARY EMOTIONS 107
stimuli. It is suggested that the possible types of conjunction
constitute a continuous series, wherein each unit represents
a quality of emotional consciousness just noticeably different
from the emotions most closely resembling it, which lie adjacent
to it, on either side, in the total series. At certain nodal
points, in this emotion series, there seem to appear definite
emotions which represent clear cut types of unit characters
of conjunction, between the motor self and the motor stimulus.
These nodal emotions are not modified by the admixture of
modifying emotional qualities from other adjacent emotions
in the series. There seem to be four such nodal points in the
entire emotion circle, and the four emotions occurring at
these points may conveniently be termed primary emotions.
The names which I have ventured to select for the four
primary emotions in the above integrative analysis were
chosen to meet two requirements. First, the commonly
understood meaning of the word employed must describe,
with as great accuracy and completeness as possible, the
objective relationship between motor self and motor stimulus
which was to be conceived of as the integrative basis for the
primary emotion in question. Secondly, the name chosen
for each primary emotion must suggest the experience in
question, as it is observed introspectively in everyday life.
AfiQther minor consideration which entered into the choice
of names for primary emotions was the advantage of new
terms not afready weighted with dissimilar affective meaning
of literary origin. No matter how clearly one may define
in objective terms words such as " fear ", " rage ", etc., the
previous connotation which an individual reader may have
attached to these words, as a result of life-long learning, will
continue reflexly to come to mind each time the term is used.
(I) Compliance is the name suggested for the primary
emotion located at " C " in Figure 3. The dictionary defini-
tion 1 of the verb " comply " is :
" i. To act in conformity with.
2. To be complacent, courteous."
Both these meanings of compliance (" the act of complying ")
seem rather aptly to characterize the integrative relationship
indicated at " C " on the diagram. The motor stimulus,
which is antagonistic and of greater intensity than the motor
1 Definitions herein quoted are taken from Funk and Wagnalls, Desk
Standard Dictionary.
io8 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
self, evokes a response of diminution of the motor self, de-
signed to readjust the self to the stimulus. The motor stimulus
is permitted by this response, to control the organism, in part
and for the time being, antagonistically to the motor self.
In the course of such a response, the motor self certainly acts
" in conformity with " the motor stimulus. In its final
adjustment, the self may be said to be " complacent " with
respect to control of the organism by its antagonist.
Introspectively, the word " compliance " seems to suggest,
to a great majority of the several hundred persons whom I
have asked, that the subject is moving himself at the dictates
of a superior force.
There is no difficulty arising from the use of this word to
designate emotion in literature, since " compliance ", in its
literary usage customarily signifies a type of action rather
than the emotion accompanying the action.
(II) Dominance is the name suggested for the primary
emotion indicated at " D " on the diagram of integrative
relationship. " To dominate ", according to the dictionary
means :
" i. To exercise control over.
2. To prevail ; predominate."
The integrative situation described by dominance (" the
act of dominating ") is chiefly characterized by victory of the
motor self over an antagonist of inferior intensity. The
motor self obviously " prevails." and " predominates " over
its phasic antagonist throughout this integrative situation.
The motor self " exercises control over " the final common
path and hence it " exercises control over " the behaviour
of the organism, removing environmental obstacles to the
pattern of behaviour dictated by means of its own superior
reinforced power. Thus the total objective situation, pro-
vided our integrative analysis is correct, is fairly described
by the term " dominance ".
Introspectively, dominance suggests to all persons of whom
I have inquired, a superiority of self over some sort of
antagonist.
The word " dominant " has been used most frequently in
literature to describe an " aggressive ", " strong-willed "
type of personality or character. This seems rather in accord
with the proposed use of the word than otherwise.
(III) Inducement is the name suggested for the primary
PRINCIPLES OF PRIMARY EMOTIONS 109
emotion indicated at " I " on Figure 3 " To induce ",
according to the dictionary is :
" i To influence to act ; prevail upon.
2. To lead to."
The integrative situation for which the term " inducement "
is proposed consists primarily of a strengthening of the motor
self in order more effectively to facilitate the passage of a
weaker motor stimulus across the common psychon. The
motor self, in such a relationship to its weaker ally, certainly
" influences " the motor stimulus by facilitation to " the
act " of traversing the final common path. If, as we shall
see later, it frequently happens that the motor stimulus* is too
weak to win its way alone to efferent discharge, then the motor
self truly " leads " its weaker ally across the synapse, " pre-
vailing upon " it, meantime, to facilitate the passage of the
stronger motor self impulses.
Introspectively, inducement (" the act of inducing ")
indicates to a majority of the subjects asked, a process of
persuading someone, in a friendly way, to perform an act
suggested by the subject. This meaning, if expressed in
bodily behaviour would be very close to the expected be-
haviour result of the integrative relationship already described.
The subjects' emphasis upon the " friendliness " of the per-
suasion is very significant in making clear the nature of in-
ducement as a primary emotion. The nature of the integrative
relationship would necessitate perfect alliance between the
interests of inuucer and induced throughout the entire response.
The power of inducement in evoking alliance from the induced
person lies entirely in the extent to which the inducer is able
to serve the other's interest, while initial weakness in the
person " induced " is the element which calls forth increase
of strength from the inducer.
The word " induce " in literary usage, like the word
" compliance ", has been employed, for the most part, to
describe a certain type of behaviour, in which one individual
persuades another person to do something which the first
individual desires him to do Little use, if any, has been
made of the term " inducement " in designating emotional
states of consciousness.
(IV) Submission is the name suggested for the primary
emotion represented at " S " in Figure 3. The dictionary
defines the verb " to submit " as meaning :
no EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
" i. To give up to another.
2. To yield authority or power ; to surrender.
3. To be submissive."
Submissive is denned as " docile ", " yielding ", " obedient ",
" humble ".
The integrative situation to which the term " submission "
is applied consists, in essence, of a decrease in the strength
of the motor self to balance a corresponding superiority of
strength in the motor stimulus. In assuming this relationship,
the motor self might certainly be described as being " humble "
and " yielding ". The motor self, in essence, is " giving up
to " its stronger ally a portion of itself. After the motor self
has completed its response as far as decreasing its own volume
goes, it continues, as a weaker ally, to be " docile " and
" obedient " in rendering facilitation to its stronger ally in
their common path. This continued rendering of alliance
to the motor stimulus might well be described as " yielding "
to the authority or power of its stronger ally, while the con-
tinuance of a motor self to render such facilitation as weaker
ally throughout the persistence of the relationship seems aptly
characterized as being " submission ". The bodily behaviour
to be expected from this type of integration would be char-
acterized as that of an obedient child toward a loving
mother.
Introspective records on the question of what suggestion is
conveyed by the word " submit " reveal that the essence of
" submission " to nearly all subjects, is voluntary obedience
to the commands of the person in authority. With women
subjects, the additional meaning of mutual warmth of feeling
between the subject and the person submitted to is introspectively
present when the submission is thought of as rendered to a
loved mother, or to lover of the same or opposite sex. The
element of mutual friendliness (represented by alliance in the
integrative picture), does not appear in the majority of male
reports concerning the introspective suggestion evoked by
the word " submission ". This is unfortunate, but I have not
been able to find any other word adequately covering the
objective description of this emotion which, at the same time,
would also include the introspective meaning of mutual warmth
of feeling between the person submitting and the person sub-
mitted to. The word " submit ", as a name for the primary
emotion designated, is intended to convey emphatically this
PRINCIPLES OF PRIMARY EMOTIONS
in
meaning of pleasantness experienced in the act of " submission "
by the person submitting.
Literary use of the word " submission " has followed rather
closely the integrative meaning as reported by my subjects.
" Submission ", in literary parlance, customarily indicates
a passive yielding, one to the other, yet not necessarily with
any great amount of pleasantness in the submission exacted.
Perhaps, this limitation found in both introspective and
literary connotations of the word " submission " indicates
that the connection between submitting to a lover and sub-
mission to a person of superior power (which is submission
closely akin to compliance) is not found properly developed
in our present civilization and its literary records.
Outline of Integrative Principles of Primary Emotions and
Concept
Psychon :
Psychonic impulse :
Consciousness :
Environmental
stimulus :
Sensation :
Motation :
Motor self :
Motor stimuli :
Integrative prin-
ciples of reaction
of motor self to
motor stimuli :
Primary feelings :
Pleasantness and
unpleasantness :
Feelings
Definition
Junctional tissue, at synapses of central
nervous system.
Completed excitation of any psychon from
emissive pole of one neuron, to receptive polo
of next.
Psychonic impulses, or psychonic energy.
Object or force exciting organism's sensory
receptors.
Psychonic energy at sensory synapses.
Motor consciousness ; affective conscious-
ness ; psychonic energy at motor synapses.
Continuous, tonic, motor discharge across
motor psychons ; psychonic impulses of tonic
motor origin.
Phasic motor impulses at motor psychons ;
psychonic motor impulses of phasic reflex
origin.
(1) Exerts antagonistic influence towards
antagonistic motor stimulus, and facilitating
influence toward allied motor stimulus.
(2) Increases intensity in response to in-
ferior intensity of motor stimulus, and de-
creases intensity in response to superior motor
stimulus intensity.
Simplest recognizable motations ; pleasant-
ness and unpleasantness.
Psychonic motor impulses in relationship,
respectively, of mutual facilitation or mutual
antagonism.
112
EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
Emotions :
Primary Emotions :
Compliance :
Dominance :
Inducement :
Submission :
Next simplest motational compounds to
primary feelings ; composed of :
(1) Psychonic motor impulses of motor self
and motor stimulus in relationships of mutual
alliance or conflict.
(2) Motor self increasing or decreasing its
intensity in response to inferior or superior
intensity of motor stimulus. Psychonic im-
pulse combinations of these two relationships
found in continuous series.
Nodal points of emotion series, where
relationships of alliance, conflict, and in-
crease or decrease of motor self reach maxi-
mum, and begin to change toward opposite
type of relationship.
Primary emotions are termed : compliance,
dominance, inducement, and submission.
(1) Motor stimulus : Antagonistic and superior
intensity to motor self, (initially un-
pleasant).
(2) Response of motor self : Decrease of in-
tensity, and antagonistic compulsion of
motor self (producing indifference and then
pleasantness in proportion to volume and
inter-facihations of superior motor
stimuli yielded to).
(1) Motor stimulus : Antagonistic and inferior
intensity to motor self, (initially un-
pleasant).
(2) Response of motor self : Increase of in-
tensity, and antagonistic compulsion of
motor stimulus, (producing pleasantness
in proportion to success, co-existing '*\ith
original unpleasantness).
(1) Motor stimulus : Allied aud inferior in-
tensity to motor self, (pleasant).
(2) Response of motor sell : Increase of in-
tensity, and allied compulsion of motor
stimulus, (increasingly pleasant).
(1) Motor stimulus : Allied and superior
intensity to motor sell, (pleasant^.
(2) Response of motor self : Decrease of in-
tensity, and allied compulsion of motor
self, (increasingly pleasant)
CHAPTER VII
DOMINANCE
ALTHOUGH the method pursued in building up an integrative
basis for primary emotions may have seemed to consist, up
to this time, of making a purely logical analysis of neurological
results, I may say that the discovery of the four nodal points
of primary emotion was the result, originally, of quite a
different type of analytical procedure. I had worked for a
number of years with systolic blood pressure and reaction-time
deception tests, and other physiological measures of emotion,
amassing a considerable quantity of unpublished material.
I found it impossible to interpret or understand this data
without the aid of some tenable hypothesis of basic psycho-
neural mechanisms of emotion.
No such hypothesis existed. The literary names for various
emotions popularly used were utterly confusing, overlapping,
ami misleading. I had found in the deception test results,
for example, what seemed to me clear enough indication of
two antagonistic emotional influences concerned with the
" deceptive " consciousness. To lump these two opposite
emotional states, which appeared to manifest observably
contrary effects upon bodily behaviour, into a single un-
analysed compound, and to label this unknown quantity
" fear ", seemed to me scientifically inexcusable. At the
same time, systolic blood pressure and reaction-time measure-
ments of emotion, by themselves, do not offer nearly meaning-
ful enough a basis for construction of such a hypothesis as
seemed necessary.
It appeared to me that the procedure best adapted for
forming a tenable hypothesis of emotional mechanisms would
necessarily contain two types of research. First, a series
of clinical studies of child and adult behaviour, somewhat
after the Watsonian fashion. Second, an objective analysis
of the behaviour observed with a view to discovering its
113 x
ii 4 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
common factors and least common denominators, if any such
existed.
I have been greatly aided in this process, begun in 1922,
by volunteer student assistants, who invariably manifest
keen interest in emotional behaviour, and who frequently
seem to possess more genuinely scientific attitude in report
iid analysis of such behaviour than do persons more highly
trained in research who are compelled, perhaps, to conform
to conventional methods of already established schools of
scientific thought.
I was also fortunate in being able to observe a great deal of
emotional behaviour " in the raw " during a mental health
survey of school children in New York City, and a similar
survey of penitentaries in the state of Texas. During the
New York survey it was my good fortune to make individual
personality studies of approximately two hundred and fifty
children who represented school behaviour-problems, of one
sort or another, under the able leadership and tutelage of
Edith R. Spaulding, M.D., who directed the survey. 1 Doctor
Spaulding's keen insight into emotional problems of delinquent
behaviour revealed in her report of the Bedford Hills studies,*
coupled with her clinical work in endocrine diagnosis and
treatment, suggested new and constructive points of view
in analysis of emotional behaviour.
During the Texas survey, we administered the usual in-
telligence tests to prisoners in thirteen prison farms scattered
throughout the state, and to the prisoners confined in the
penitentary proper, at Huntsville. After scoring and classify-
ing the group tests of all the prisoners held at a given place
of confinement, I was given the opportunity to interview
each convict individually for the purpose of making a separate
study of each individual. While interviewing the prisoner
I had before me his complete record. This included a brief
account of the crime of which he was convicted, his own
statement regarding guilt or innocence, his behaviour record
while in prison, a special physical examination record, and his
intelligence and performance-test records. 3,451 convicts
were studied in this way, approximately ninety per cent, of
1 This survey was conducted under the auspices of the National
Committee for Mental Hygiene.
"Edith R, Spaulding, An Experimental Study of Psychopathic
Delinquent Women, New York, 1923.
DOMINANCE 115
whom were men. 1,591 of the subjects were negroes, 364
Mexicans, while the balance were American born, or natives
of English-speaking European countries. The largest occupa-
tional group was that of the farmers, who numbered 656.
Fifty-eight per cent, of the prison inmates admitted having
been arrested more than once, while forty per cent, claimed
that they had never previously been charged with criminal
behaviour. Altogether, this group of prison inmates may be
taken as fairly typical of prisoners caught in asocial behaviour
in the less densely populated regions of the United States.
I was able to make rather satisfactory studies of the prisoners 1
attitudes toward their own conduct, their views of Society
and its treatment of them, and also of the homo-sexual relation-
ships inevitable in prison life.
During the personality studies of Texas prisoners, the four
primary emotions suggested in the last chapter began to take
definite shape. I classified the main behaviour trends of the
prisoners, so far as these trends could be reduced to emotional
common denominators, into four primary classes which I then
termed " acquisitiveness ", " dominance ", " creation ", and
" submission ".
After conclusion of the prison survey, I applied these four
primary emotional behaviour mechanisms, as suggested by
the previous work with students, and the survey studies, to
clLikal subjects during a year's practice as consulting psycho-
logist.
The folloW&ig year, I conducted a student's clinic at Tufts
College, Massachusetts. During this clinical work we used a
somewhat amended version of the four primary emotions
concepts previously mentioned. The problems which came
to us included not only student difficulties of adjustment to
college work and environment, but also the students' economic
problems, and affairs of the heart, which in some instances, had
serious ramifications. Parallel with the student clinic, a
course was given in emotional analysis of normal persons.
The first half year was devoted to analysis of emotional
behaviour concerning remunerative work which the students
had done or desired to do. The second half-year was given
over to behaviour studies concerning home and love adjust-
ments. A great deal of worth-while material was discovered
and reported upon by the students in the course of attempted
analysis of themselves and of their fellow students. The four
n6 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
primary emotion mechanisms received further clarification,
and revision, the term " adaptation " taking the place of
" acquisitiveness ".
I spent another half-year in fitting together the various
types of results at hand, and in attempting to work out a
definite neurological basis upon which the " emotional common
denominator ", which seemed clearly to appear in the clinical
results, might most probably be based. The results of the
entire procedure as outlined are being reported in this volume.
One of the most striking aspects of human behaviour
throughout the series of observations seemed to me to be a
close resemblance between certain human reaction tendencies
and the general principles observable in the behaviour of the
physical forces of nature.
Dominance in the Behaviour of Forces of Nature
It has become a proverb that a stream of water flows over
(i.e. dominates) the course of least resistance. If we compare
the gravity-impelled onrush of the water to the tonic motor
discharge of the human organism, we find that the reactions of
the two toward opposing obstacles follow much the same
principles. Opposition which is weaker than the rushing
water is dominated by the stream roughly in proportion to
the difference between the strength of the current and the
weakness of the opposition offered. Moreover, in propoitton
as the opposition is overcome the stream grows more powerful.
When the obstacle offered by a river bed is completely removed,
the falling water rushes downward in a cataract of terrific
force, like Niagara Falls. Other forces of nature react in the
same way toward opposing forces. Electric charges, like
streams of water, selectively dominate those conducting
materials which present the least opposition. Gases expand
into those areas where there is least opposing gaseous pressure.
The intensity, or power of all these reacting forces, each in
its individual way, increases in proportion as its opponent is
overcome. The stimulus to the dominant reaction of any
natural force may be defined in the same way that we defined
an adequate stimulus to the dominant response of a human
being, that is, an opposing force of less power than the reagent.
So far our observation concerning the reaction of one
physical force to another merely amounts to defining the
relationship between two physical forces, which obtains
DOMINANCE 117
when one force acts as adequate stimulus evoking dominance
from the other. The domination of the weaker force by the
stronger one seems so wholly axiomatic that it hardly needs
comment. Nevertheless, looking at the weaker or less complex
force as a mechanistic-type cause, it is important to observe
that by its very element of weakness relative to a stronger
or more complex physical force, it is able to control the latter
by causing the stronger force to select this particular weaker
force to dominate. Granting that the weakness of one force
constitutes the selective stimulus evoking dominance response
from a stronger physical force, what do we find to^be the
measure of increase, if any, which the stronger force gains
in the process of dominating the weaker one ? That is, in
so far as interactions between physical forces go, does the
dominant reagent increase its power in the course of dominating
its weaker opponent ? It would seem to be the fact that the
stronger reagent does increase its force in the process of
dominating its weaker opponent, and that the increase is
approximately equal to the strength of the vanquished an-
tagonist.
A river, for instance, when opposed by a dam, piles itself
up against the barrier with accumulative increase of water
pressure exerted against its opponent. This increase in the
riser's power, in the form of water pressure, increases in
proportion to the increase of the opponent's force. The
higher the dam, the more water accumulates behind the dam,
and the more total pressure is exerted by the river against
its opponent. When, at last, the river rises above the dam
and begins to flow over it (or when an opening is offered
through or around the barrier) the river's domination of its
weaker opponent is consummated. The force then exercised
by the water pouring over or through the conquered barrier
will be greater than the original force of the undammed river
by an increment of increase approximately equal to the
opposing force of the dam which the river was obliged to
overcome in attaining its dominant end.
We may summarize by the statement that, as far as the
physical forces go, it would seem to be the attribute of relative
weakness in the inferior force that constitutes the adequate
stimulus to dominance reaction by the stronger force. The
stronger force increases its power during the process of dominat-
ing the weaker by an amount approximately equal to the
u8 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
opposing power of the weaker force which was overcome in
the process of domination.
Contrast between Motor Stimuli and Environmental Stimuli
When we apply this dominance equation to dominance
reaction of the motor self to motor stimuli of inferior intensity
we must first of all distinguish sharply between environmental
stimuli and motor stimuli. The amount of dominance emotion
which will exist upon the appropriate motor psychons of the
central nervous system and the intensity of the dominance
behavieur expressive of this dominant psychonic energy will
represent not the reaction of the motor self to the observable
environmental stimulus, but rather the response of the motor
self to the motor stimulus which, as a result of past experiences,
may be released by a seemingly trivial environmental stimulus.
For example, homicide is not infrequently committed as a
reaction to an environmental stimulus furnished by the gesture
of a perfectly harmless person toward his hip pocket. The
environmental stimulus in such cases was of negligible intensity
and probably not even antagonistic in its relationship to the
subject. But upon previous occasions the gesture of reaching
toward a hip pocket where a revolver was carried constituted
an environmental stimulus requiring prompt and violent
dominance response to overcome it. Thus, as a matter *of
learning or conditioning by past experience, this mild en-
vironmental stimulus had become endowed with % ihe power to
evoke motor stimuli antagonistic to the subject's motor self.
These motor stimuli, though of great intensity, are yet known
to be less powerful than the available motor reinforcements
at the subject's command. Therefore, these motor stimuli
are adequate to evoke a dominance response to maximal
violence, and this response is called forth by an environmental
stimulus of totally different nature.
In such an instance the great discrepancy between environ-
mental stimulus and motor stimulus is clearly evidenced by
the nature of the resulting behaviour. It should also be
noted that in such an instance the increase of the intensity
or strength of the motor self which reacts dominantly toward
the environmental stimulus is measured by the intensity of
the antagonistic motor stimuli, and has no relation whatever
to the strength of the environmental stimulus which sets off
the reaction. Though the case cited is no doubt rather an
DOMINANCE 119
extreme one, incongruities of the same nature between en-
vironmental stimulus and motor stimulus should be looked for
in every instance of behaviour analysed.
Dominance in Human and Animal Behaviour
Dominance seems to comprise the most fundamental and
primitive type of emotional integration found in animals
or human beings. As we have already noted, the decerebrate
dog and monkey manifest a typical domination emotion in
response to any antagonistic motor stimulus possessing less
integrative power or intensity than the reacting motor self
of the animal possesses.
Goltz found that a decerebrate dog manifested no emotion
except what Goltz described as " rage "^ This response as
described in the animars behaviour seems to have constituted
a very uninhibited and aggressive type of dominance emotion.
The difference between this dog and a normal animal, which
evidently accounted for the absence of other emotional
responses, was the fact that no motor stimulus could be
evoked, in the decerebrate animal, which was integratively
stronger than the entire motor self.
This effect, of course, was to be expected in the absence
of higher integrative centres of the cerebral hemispheres.
-^ motor stimuli, moreover, would effect the motor self as
opposition stimuli, for the same reason. Overwhelming of
minor units* of tonic discharge on the one hand, and alliance
with minor units on the other could only occur at motor
psychons below the level of the tonic centres. Such inter-
ruptions or facilitations therefore, would be unable to effect
an antagonistic dimunition or an allied increase in the motor
self, or total tonic discharge. Hence, according to our fore-
going integrative analysis, compliance emotion on the one
hand, and the higher pleasure emotional elements of love
or " sex " (i.e. inducement and submission), on the other hand,
could not possibly occur. This was precisely the result
reported by Goltz. The only integrative mechanism intact
in this animal would apparently be reinforcement of the tonic
outflow in response to an integratively weaker opposition
motor stimulus. This response would remain so long as the
tonic reinforcement mechanisms themselves remained un-
1 F. Goltz, " Der Hund ohne Grosshirn, Arch, fur d. gesam. Physiol.
1892, vol. i. p. 570.
120 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
impaired. The behaviour resulting would be an uninhibited
aggressive attack upon the environmental stimulus, and the
only emotion remaining would be pure dominance.
When we examine the behaviour of human infants, we find,
similarly, that this same type of dominance emotion is among
the first to develop. In fact, Watson reports 1 that this
dominant type of behaviour constitutes an inherent or un-
learned emotional response. Watson, following the literary
precedent, refers to this reaction as " the emotion of rage ".
Were it not that the behaviour as described by Watson seems
clearly Jo indicate both pure dominance response and com-
plicated factors of a thwarted nature, there would be no
especial objection to following the lead of the poets and term-
ing the whole response " rage ". There is, however, distinct
evidence of a baffled or thwarted element which is not normally
present in the infant response of dominance at its inception,
both according to my own observations, and to those of
Watson. This element creeps into the child's reaction more
or less gradually as the emotion proceeds toward its climax.
Watson describes the environmental stimulus to " rage "
response as " hampering of bodily movement ". He used
the method of holding the infant's head tightly between the
hands, pressing the arms to the sides, or holding the legs
tightly together. These environmental stimuli, of course, a^e
felt by the child as opposition forces. But the opposing
stimuli are integratively inferior to the tonic me tor self of
the infant, for otherwise the pre-existing bodily position or
attitude would be altered, and new anti-tonic types of bodily
movement would appear. Instead, however, there is a
" stiffening of the whole body, free slashing movement of the
hands, arms and legs, and the holding of the breath ". All
these symptoms constitute enhancement or exaggeration of
the previously maintained tonic posture and movement,
which the opposition stimulus hampers but does not integrat-
ively interrupt. In short, the motor self of the infant increases
in the process of overcoming an opposing or hampering force
of less integrative force than itself.
Up to this point there is no evidence of any integrative
phenomenon except that of pure dominance. " There is no
crying at first ", says Watson, " then the mouth is opened
to the fullest extent and the breath is held until the face
1 J. B. Watson, Behaviorism, 1925, New York, p. 122.
DOMINANCE 121
appears blue ". Screaming and crying may also enter the
total response after the thwarted or baffled element has begun
to manifest itself. The nature of this complicating element
of thwartedness will be described at greater length in a succeed-
ing chapter. For the present it is sufficient to distinguish
clearly between pure dominance of child behaviour, and dom-
inance plus thwartedness. The latter may accurately enough
be termed " rage ", since literary meaning seems to accord
fairly well with the psycho-physical fact at this point.
Easily observable dominance emotion, then, is to be found in
decerebrate animals and in human infants ten to fifteen days
after birth.
Development of Dominance Response in Young Children
In the average child dominance emotion seems to develop
unchecked, for the most part, during the first two or three
years of infancy. Watson mentions " the never to be forgotten
experience " of arousing extreme dominance in his two year
old daughter while walking across a crowded street. The
child suddenly pulled her father in an opposite direction to
that in which she was being led. The father " quickly and
sharply jerked her back, and exerted steady pressure upon
her arm to keep her straight ". The child then " suddenly
stiffened, began to scream at the top of her voice, and lay
down stiff as a ram-rod in the middle of tl^e street yelling
with wide open mouth until she became blue in the face, and
continuing to yell until she could make no further sound ".
This bit of behaviour is given by Watson as illustrative of
" rage " and there certainly seems to be a definite amount of
baffledness or thwartedness in the total response which justifies
use of the term " rage " to characterize a part, at least, of the
episode.
But the entire reaction seems to me to reveal an underlying
basis of maximally intense dominance throughout. Every
action, even including the screaming, constituted an increase
of the force of the motor self, to overcome the opposition
stimulus represented by the father. The child was simply
determined to " have her own way ", as the current phrase
puts it, and she called on her motor reinforcement mechanism
to its utmost possible power to accomplish this result. More-
over, so far as Watson informs us, the child did have her own
way. The fact that she might have been carried bodily; in
122 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
the direction the father desired need not, and probably did
not operate as an integrative defeat to her unchecked domin-
ance. Only an environmental stimulus capable of producing
motor stimuli more powerful than the motor self of the child
could have operated to turn her dominance emotion into
compliance.
According to my own observation, little girls are apt to
develop certain emotional elements of inducement and sub-
mission about the time the earliest indications of sexual
development appear. This may occur from the third year
on. Bays, on the other hand, appear to suffer an accession
of dominance practically parallel with the appearance of
other secondary sex characteristics. I have observed in
some cases what seems to be a continuously cumulative
development of dominance in male children from birth to
adolescence. In a properly trained child this dominant
development may be fairly well controlled by a parallel
learning of compliance response. But in male children of
inadequate home training, dominance may develop, at an
extraordinarily early age, to an extreme where it cannot
thereafter be checked by environmental restraint, no matter
how physically overwhelming the restraining influence may be.
I once had occasion to observe a boy, five and a half years
old, who was spending the summer in care of an adoring feit
incompetent mother. This child seemed to possess no more
than a normal male complement of dominant emotion.
Yet a total absence of emotional training had brought the
boy to the point where no environmental stimulus which
could be inflicted upon him evoked motor stimuli more power-
ful than his own determination to do as he pleased. He
paid no attention whatever to his mother's commands to
give up other children's toys, or to come home for meals.
One day the mother had been searching some time for her
small son, when she noticed a group of children playing on
the beach.
" Is Edgar there ? " she called.
" No, he is not ", replied Edgar's voice from the midst of
the group on the beach.
To Edgar, an excited and physically powerful mother
represented an opposition stimulus capable of being brushed
aside by the slight increase in his own motor set necessary
to speak a few words of reproving denial. This was the sort
DOMINANCE 123
of thing that went on in Edgar's case throughout the greater
part of the summer.
Then the child's father came down to the shore for a two
weeks' vacation. The father was of different emotional
mould from the mother. During the first week of his vacation
he systematically chased Edgar, carrying him off forcibly
from his play when called, and taking away forbidden toys
with a considerable excess of violence when the child refused
to give them up. But a week's treatment of this sort had no
observable effect on Edgar. When his father snatched a
toy out of his hand, the child attacked the father's. leg with
both fists, howling the while for the return of his plaything.
I saw this occur perhaps twenty times, with no diminution
whatever in the boy's dominance. Then Edgar's father
decided that it was time for sterner measures. But these
likewise had no effect for some time.
Finally, the father actually injured the child by whipping
him with what looked like a good sized club. After this,
the first evidences of compliance began to appear in the child's
behaviour toward his father. Gradually under this method
of training, continued by the mother as well as by the father,
the boy began visibly to weigh in the balance the strength of
the opposition which he would be called upon to face in case
lie, failed to obey. If he decided, on the basis of his new
experience, that his parents were within easy reaching distance
of himself ,*and that they were worked up emotionally to an
intensity of feeling likely to result in a whipping, Edgar would
trot along, unconcernedly, in obedience to their commands.
On such occasions he appeared to be the most docile child
in the world. If, on the other hand (especially in the case
of his mother) the tone of voice or physical pre-occupation
of a parent seemed to argue comparative weakness in relation
to Edgar's own running ability, the boy would dash off in an
opposite direction, defying the parental dictum quite as
unconcernedly as he had previously obeyed it. Edgar now
invariably manifested, however, a very much greater increase
in his own motor energy than he had displayed in resisting
commands at the beginning of the summer.
I have given this example of child behaviour at length,
not because it is unusual in type but because it seems to
illustrate rather completely the natural development of
untrained dominance in a perfectly normal male child.. It
I2 4 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
also illustrates rather well, the difference in emotional meaning
between environmental stimuli which are more integratively
powerful than the child's motor self and those which are merely
more powerful physically than the child's body. In this case
of Edgar, actual injury was done to the child's body before the
resulting motor stimuli evoked within his central nervous sys-
tem proved to be more intense than his motor self. Had the
parents been wiser, of course, they might have been able to
devise environmental stimuli of superior intensity in a more
humane and expeditious manner. But this result is not an
easy one to accomplish once the dominance response is
permitted to develop in excess of the other primary
emotions.
Borderline between Normal and Abnormal Dominance
It should again be emphasized that Edgar was, as far as I
could determine during a rather careful study of three months,
a perfectly normal child. When a child is emotionally
abnormal, especially as a result of some continuous internal
stimulation like hypersecretion of a glandular substance,
control of dominance emotion may be still more difficult.
Many of the children who were sent to us as behaviour problems
in the public schools undoubtedly fell into this classification.
A boy between ten and eleven years of age, for instance^
had developed a singular predeliction for " gang " warfare
with boys of his own age and older. This youngster was
particularly bright mentally as indicated by the Stanford-
Binet test, and also by teachers' reports and school records.
He was alert, and attractive in physical appearance. More-
over, he possessed a certain amount of tractibility when asked
by a woman teacher, as a personal favour, to behave himself
in school ; and when under the influence of older persons
whom he liked during outside activities. But his home
training had been woefully deficient, and in addition to this
lack of emotional training, he was also suffering from endo-
crine imbalance, according to the medical diagnosis. The
emotional appeal which any sort of opposition exercised
over this lad's dominance was truly astounding. An opposi-
tion stimulus aroused a dominant response no matter how
intense or physically powerful the environmental stimulus
might be. For example, this boy led his own " gang " into
a deliberate attack upon a rival group of youths many years
DOMINANCE 125
older than the subject's crowd, and outnumbering the younger
boys almost two to one. When stones, knives, or heavy
sticks were used in a fight it seemed to stimulate the boy Jack
to almost superhuman strength and aggressiveness. In short,
an opposition environmental stimulus was not ever felt as
stronger than the boy's own motor self. The added environ-
mental intensity seemed to register only as an increase in the
opposition or antagonism.
Jack represented a type of boy whose dominance had been
developed, evidently by endocrine abnormalities, to a degree
where no amount of intensity in the environmental stimulus
was capable of evoking motor stimuli more powerful than
the boy's motor self, even though severe physical injury might
be inflicted by the environmental stimulus. This case is
cited here merely to mark the border line between unbalanced
dominance emotion resulting from lack of training, yet sus-
ceptible to being turned into compliance merely by intensifying
the environmental stimulus sufficiently ; and unbalanced
dominance emotion abnormally maintained in a state of
hyper-excitability by continuous intraorganic stimulation.
This type of over-dominance is definitely abnormal because
it is incapable of integrative conversion into compliance by
means of increasing the strength of the environmental stimula-
tion applied, sufficiently to cause bodily injury.
* There are other methods of controlling dominance, besides
this compulsory transition to compliance, which will be dis-
cussed later. In the present chapter, however, we are con-
cerned, primarily, not with the methods of emotional education,
but merely with tracing the characteristics and limits of
dominance emotion as it appears in various types of human
behaviour.
Summary and Analysis
Summarizing our analyses of dominant behaviour up to this
point, we may detect in every instance the following elements :
(1) An antagonistic motor stimulus of less intensity than
the motor self.
(2) A dominance type of response evoked by this type of
stimulus, including,
(3) An increase in the strength of the motor self equal to
the intensity of the opposition stimulus dominated.
In the decerebrated animals studied by Sherrington and
126 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
Goltz, deprivation of the integrative motor centres possessing
ascendency over the tonic centres presumably caused every
environmental stimulus to evoke motor stimuli antagonistic
to the motor self of the animal, and of inferior integrative
potency to the free tonic discharge, enhanced as it was by
removal of cortical inhibition. The animals manifested
typical domination response to these inferior antagonistic
motor stimuli. The increase of the tonic discharge in each
case was easily observable and was apparently proportionate
to the exaggerated intensity of the intervening motor stimuli.
In Watson's observation of unlearned rage emotion in young
babies, we find first of all an antagonistic environmental
stimulus consisting of " hampering of the child's movement ".
As above noted, the motor stimuli evoked by this type of
environmental stimulus must be less intense at all times than
the child's motor self since the previously existing motor set
or attitude was not altered. The response evoked was purely
dominant in type, at least at its inception. The increase in
the intensity of the motor self, in this type of reaction, seems
to approximate very closely the measurable intensity of the
environmnetal stimulus administered. That is, the observed
increase in strength of the child's muscular contractions
runs closely parallel to the increase in weight or other types of
antagonistic pressure which the child is compelled to over-
come in trying to carry out his former movements. It may >te
noted in connection with this type of dominance response that
opposition pressure sufficient to stop all movenfent of the
child's arms and legs does not suffice by itself to evoke motor
stimuli of superior intensity to the child's motor self.
In the case of the two year old child who lay down in the
crowded street rather than yield to guidance which was
opposed to her own pre-existing motor set, we find an extra-
ordinary increase of intensity of the child's motor self occur-
ing in the course of her dominant behaviour. It is, of course,
possible that this marked increase in intensity of the motor self
represents a learned incongruity between environmental
stimulus and the motor stimulus which, through previous
experience, it had acquired power to evoke. On the other
hand, if we assume that the child had not had previous
experience with " quick, sharp jerks ", administered by an
apprehensive parent, by naughty boys in the course of play,
or by experimenting psychologists in the course of testing her
DOMINANCE 127
" rage " emotions, we may regard her excessively intense
dominance response as approximately equal to the antagon-
istic motor stimuli which would probably be evoked by the
environmental stimulus consisting of a " quick sharp
jerk ".
In considering the " rage " emotion of fifteen-day-old
babies, we noted that opposing pressure sufficient to prevent all
movement did not evoke motor stimuli of superior intensity
to the motor self. A " quick sharp jerk " seems to be an
environmental stimulus peculiarly well adapted to evoking
motor stimuli still more intense than those resulting from
mere stopping of the movements. The " quick sharp jerk "
then, evidently was felt by the child as more intense opposition
to her motor self than a more steady, continuous pressure,
sufficient to prevent her from moving as she desired. Yet,
this quick, sharp jerk did not suffice, apparently, to evoke
motor stimuli more intense than the child's motor self. The
dominance response still appeared with an increase in the
intensity of the motor self again approximately proportionate
to the antagonistic environmental stimulus, even though this
time the stimulus quickly and sharply jerked the child's
whole body antagonistically to the maximal opposition of the
motor self.
With Edgar, the five and a half year old child whose domin-
ar*C had been allowed to develop unchecked, we may note
the intensity threshold of environmental stimulus necessary
to evoke mctor stimuli more intense than the motor self in a
normal organism. In Edgar's case, at least, this threshold
was not passed until actual injury had been done to the
subject's body. Not only did " quick sharp jerks " and
shakings fail to register in Edgar's organism as more powerful
than his own motor self, but even a considerable amount of
pain stimulation inflicted with a small whip and moderate sized
sticks similarly failed to pass what may be called " the com-
pliance stimulus threshold ". The intensity of the motor
stimuli evoked by an injury to the child's body may have
arisen quite as much from the idea that something very
serious had happened to him, as from the actual pain exper-
ience accompanying the injury itself. The pain, however,
was undoubtedly more severe than that which the child had
experienced from previous whippings. At any rate, bodily
injury giving rise to considerable pain did succeed, apparently,
128 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
in making itself felt by the child as a stimulus more intense
than his own motor self.
At the point of passing this threshold, Edgar's behaviour
became a mixture of dominance and compliance. Evidently
part of the environmental stimulus was still felt as of inferior
intensity, while the other part had passed the threshold and
had ceased to evoke dominance response at all. This case
illustrates, in all probability, the limit of normal, naive domin-
ance, pretty much unmodified by admixture of other primary
emotions.
In the case of Jack, the youthful gangster, we find an
abnormal condition of the dominance mechanism which raises
the compliance stimulus threshold to a point where it could
not be passed even by environmental stimulation consisting of
bodily injuries (of which Jack had received a number). In
short, no possible intensity of environmental stimulus seemed
capable, in Jack's behaviour, of evoking motor stimuli more
intense than the child's motor self. When such a condition
of the dominance mechanism is found in a child below the
age of adolescence, it almost inevitably indicates that the
child has experienced or is experiencing continuously, an
amount of dominance stimulation abnormally great in pro-
portion to adequate stimulation of the other primary emotions.
Dominance Behaviour of Less Extreme Character , e
The instances of dominance emotion so far considered
have all shown dominance responses of extreitfe intensity,
with behaviour symptoms the character of which was obvious.
When dominance occurs in more ordinary and usual behaviour,
its emotional quality is still easily discernible from objective
analysis of bodily response, and from its relation to the environ-
mental stimulus. We may note a few such instances.
When the infant grasping reflex develops, almost immedi-
ately after birth, the reinforcement of this response is particu-
larly notable. An attempt to pull away from the baby a rod
or stick which he has grasped, or about which his fingers have
been passively pressed by the experimenter 1 will be felt by
the baby's grasping the stick more tightly, to resist the experi-
menter's attempt to take the stick away. There we have the
motor self increasing its own intensity in order to overpower
1 Watson states that he employs this method of evoking the reflex
in the first place. J. B. Watson, Behaviorism, p. 98.
DOMINANCE 129
an antagonistic stimulus of less intensity than itself. This
dominance response may continue until the child is actually
suspending its own weight by means of his grasp on the rod.
Older infants, in their play, continually manifest dominance
emotion. A small boy of three or four years may persist for
a quarter of an hour or more in trying to push a velocipede
or toy wagon into a space too small for the toy. In one in-
stance of this sort which I happened to observe, the child
finally succeeded in this effort at the cost of a broken wagon
wheel. The environmental stimulus in this case was clearly
antagonistic, and to the child, with his limited experience
concerning the strength of environmental opponents, the
stimulus seemed weaker than himself. At any rate, the
motor stimuli which the wagon evoked actually proved
weaker than the child's motor self since he persisted in his
action without change of method.
Dominance of the Chase
One type of dominance response common to animals,
young children, adult males, and some women, consists of
chasing anything that runs away from the subject. Running
away is a type of behaviour which makes the fugitive a
perfect stimulus to the dominance emotion of the pursuer.
On the one hand, it makes the fleeing animal antagonistic
td (| the subject, because it diminishes the subject's visual and
other sensory perception of the disappearing object, and
may also indicate that the running animal is being driven
away by the subject's antagonistic influence. On the other
hand, it clearly stigmatizes the fugitive as inferior in strength
to the subject. Once the subject begins pursuit, his domi-
nant purpose is to stop the flight of the fugitive. The fleeing
animal opposes this purpose by continuing to run, while,
all the time, he admits himself weaker than the pursuer by
his very flight. The subject responds with the purest possible
type of dominance response ; his motor self increasing,
cumulatively, and his antagonism to the fugitive corres-
pondingly increasing at every stride.
This type of dominance response may aptly be called
" dominance of the chase ". It has most frequently been
regarded as " hunting instinct ", or " the instinct to kill ".
Nothing more elaborate than the simplest type of dominance
integration seems necessary to explain the phenomenon in
k
130 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
its entirety. The feature that has led to such striking
uniformity in hunting behaviour of men and animals is the
peculiar aptitude of this type of stimulus to evoke pure
dominance response ; and the existence of a compliance
response mechanism also in men and animals, the untrained
development of which causes them to run away if the strength
and nature of another creature is unknown. Thus the
primary emotional response mechanism of one animal in-
evitably causes it to stimulate another animal to dominance
of the chase.
Berry reported that kittens which had been given no
opportunity to learn from older cats, made no effort to catch
or kill mice when the mice did not run away from the kittens. 1
Yerkes and Bloomfield, upholders of instinct, reported that
one kitten out of four (younger than those studied by Berry)
chased a mouse spontaneously, and after some practice
caught and killed a mouse. 2 But as nearly as one can tell
from their report, the moiise ran away first. And the other
mice did not happen to run away from the other kittens.
Once dominance of the chase is evoked by a mouse running
away, the bodily structures of the cat, tonically innervated,
and dominantly reinforced, seem sufficient to result, inevit-
ably, in catching and killing the fugitive mouse. These same
structures, activated by dominance of the chase response,
also cause the cat to chase and " kill " a fugitive mechancdal
mouse, or a wad of paper on a string. It is the integrative
mechanism of dominance emotion which is inherited, and
which activates, because of its connection with the motor
self, all body structures tonically innervated, whatever
those structures may be in any animal species. If the struc-
tures are adapted as are the muscles, claws, and teeth of a
cat, to catching and killing a smaller animal, then the fugitive
is caught and killed. A naive human child, without such
bodily structures, makes no effort to tear apart or kill a
fugitive kitten or dog which he has caught, though he may
maul the animal about in the manner to which the toni-
cally innervated muscles of his hands and arms are best
adapted.
1 C. S. Berry, " An Experimental Study of Imitation in Cats/ 'Journal
of Comparative Neurology and Psychology, 1908, vol. XVIII, p. I.
2 R. M. Yerkes and D. Bloomfield, " Do Kittens Instinctively Kill
icg ? " Psychological Bulletin, 1910, vol. VII, p. 253,
DOMINANCE 131
Cats chase mice, dogs chase cats, young children chase
cats and dogs, and adult males chase women and wild animals.
In every case, running away is the stimulus which evokes
dominance of the chase. In several of the cases cited, the
fugitive wants to be chased, (animals for purposes of play,
women for purposes of love), and runs away because ex-
perience has taught that dominance of the chase can almost
certainly be evoked by flight, and that this response once
evoked, nearly always supercedes all others in controlling
the subject's emotions.
" Destructive Dominance "
Another form or expression of dominance emotion which
frequently appears in the behaviour of boys from the ages
of two or three to the end of adolescence, is what might be
termed " destructive dominance ". A young child may
spend an hour or more erecting a structure of blocks, only
to knock it down with great violence and apparently with
great satisfaction. The blocks have worked themselves
into the position of antagonists to the child by virtue of
their refractory behaviour when he tried to place them in
unbalanced positions, in the course of his building activities.
The completed pile, however, represents an environmental
stimulus known to be very much weaker than the child's good
right arm. There follows, then, a dominance response
peculiarly satisfying to the child because the intensity of
the emotion is out of all proportion to the intensity of
the environmental stimulus as it then presents itself, which
is all the opposition that need be overcome to give the child
a dominant triumph over environment. The intensity of
the dominance emotion thus expressed is the product of
motor stimuli aroused by past building difficulties, and trans-
ferred to the blocks by a process of learning, or reflex
conditioning.
At a later age, destructive dominance of this same type
may reach rather dangerous heights. Vacant houses are
pretty sure to have their windows and doors thoroughly
smashed if there are any number of male youngsters in the
neighbourhood. I have known several instances where
deserted barns and outbuildings have been set on fire by
boys ten to thirteen years old, apparently as an expression
132 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
of sheer destructive dominance. 1 All dominant behaviour
of this type manifests, of course, a variety of emotional
transfer by which harmless environmental objects acquire
the tendency to evoke intense antagonistic motor stimuli.
Competitive Dominance
The dominance response evoked by competition with
other youngsters is of great importance, both in the school
room and on the play ground. The essence of competition
seems to be an arrangement of the total environment situa-
tion in such a way that each child feels every other child
engaged in the same task or game to be his antagonist, yet
an antagonist of inferior ability or strength. I have made
the experiment of removing this element from a competitive
situation by demonstrating conclusively to one of the com-
petitors that his opponent could undoubtedly do better
work than himself. Once the boy became really convinced
of this fact he lost all interest in the competition and turned
in a result (arithmetical sums) only about fifty per cent,
as good as his previous average under former conditions of
competition.
I have also observed, in giving mental tests both to adults
and to children, that the test scores apparently can be greatly
improved by emphasizing the possibility that the group
to be tested has an excellent chance of bettering the scsolre
made by another rival group. This result was especially
notable in certain convict groups and in the army testing.
I have also many times observed the converse situation where
unusually poor test scores appear to result from initial know-
ledge that the individuals tested do not compare well in
test passing ability with other persons tested.
In general, moreover, the two elements of the competitive
situation, antagonism to rivals and regarding the rival of
inferior ability, are very much harder to establish with groups
of women than with male subjects of similar qualifications.
In one instance, a girl art student of unquestionably superior
ability, habitually refused to work if required to do so under
conditions of competition. The explanation of this girl's
1 Of course, it might be more exciting to suppose, as some psycho-
analysts do, that all incendiary behaviour is expressive of suppressed
" sex desire ". But we must sometimes sacrifice " mental sex-stimula-
tion " to truth,
DOMINANCE 133
behaviour seems to be that the competitive situation im-
mediately imposed upon her the feeling that the work of
the other students might be better than her own. This
interpretation of the stimulus situation totally eliminated
its character as an adequate stimulus to dominance. Again,
the explanation of female incompetence in passing a mental
test may very frequently lie in the subject's seeming inability
to regard fellow students as rivals, or to feel any element
of opposition in either the test itself or the examiner. Girls
frequently appear just as weU satisfied with a poor record
as with a good one, and seem willing to submit to any degree
of harshness of criticism, or reproof from the teacher or
examiner without themselves assuming the least antagonism
of attitude.
An illustration of this type of behaviour may be found
in the case of two girls whose test scores in both the group
tests and individual Stanford-Binet tests placed them in
the feeble-minded class. The IQ of one of these girls, figured
from total test results, was about sixty-five. The other
showed an IQ of less than fifty. In the course of a person-
ality analysis, and not for the purpose of rectifying test
results, I induced one of these girls to answer accurately
nearly all the Stanford-Binct questions appropriate to her
physical age (the child having had no opportunity to learn
the correct answers, since the personality interview im-
mediately followed the Binet test). The other girl could not
be induced to answer more than half the questions, even
under the conditions of the personality conference. Of
those she answered, more than eighty-five per cent, were
answered correctly. In short, these children responded
normally to a friendly, or allied environmental stimulus,
but they did not respond at all to the element of antagonism
or rivalry in any stimulus presented to them.
Conditioning of Adult Dominance Responses
In adult life dominance is almost always found to be very-
much modified as a result of two types of emotional learning.
First, nearly all normal adults have come to regard a great
majority of the environmental stimuli presented to them
as more powerful than themselves. The motor stimuli
evoked by most environmental situations, therefore, are
more intense than the motor self of the adult subject. As a
134 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
result, the stimulus evokes compliance rather than dominance.
Secondly, nearly all normal adult males have learned to
express dominance toward certain special types of environ-
mental stimuli connected with their business or principal
occupation. Doctors, especially, exemplify this type of
emotional learning. It seems significant in this connection
that the central tendency of mental tests scores found among
medical officers in the army was notably lower than the
central tendency of test scores among most other classes of
army officers. The doctors, in other words, had become
more highly specialized with regard to the class of environ-
mental stimuli capable of evoking dominance response than
men of education in other occupations.
Examples of intense dominance emotion in adults are very
easy to find by analysis of crucial situations occurring in the
course of the subject's special business, or other occupation.
If a business man learns that a rival is getting the best of
him in competing for a certain market, he immediately
releases his utmost personal energy and financial power to
overwhelm the rival and recover the market. It has been
frequently stated in the press, for example, that Henry
Ford, finding himself in danger of being outdone in the cheap
car market, has reorganized and retooled his entire manu-
facturing plant at a cost estimated at $100,000,000, for tfce
purpose of re-establishing his control over the car market.
This seems in point as an example of sheer doitiinance re-
sponse. The environmental stimulus represented by General
Motors and other rival car interests was unquestionably
antagonistic to Ford, and was, moreover, of such intensity
that it would have evoked motor stimuli stronger than the
motor self in nearly all individuals. Ford, however, the
strength of whose motor self may be measured in terms of
both his enormous wealth and his extraordinary personal
ability, felt his rival to be less powerful than himself, and
responded to the challenge with an increase of his own power
which may well prove sufficient to overcome the opposition
offered. (There is also, of course, in Ford's behaviour, a
large element of compliance which we may refer to again
in the next chapter).
Adult males manifest dominance emotion to a consider-
able extent in sports as well as in business. International
tennis matches, polo matches, swimming competitions, and
DOMINANCE 135
Olympic games are of absorbing interest to a great majority
of men in the competing countries, no matter how little
inclined these men may be to engage personally in athletics
of any kind. The social or vicarious element in this attitude
will be dealt with in a later chapter. But at the present
moment we may note that the underlying emotional interest
which supports international athletic competitions is a
dominant one. Such athletic events merely represent highly
specialized and selective competitive stimulus situations.
In a Davis Cup tennis match, for example, the best player
on both sides is necessarily a man who possesses extraordinary
reserve reinforcements of tonic energy. His opponent is an
environmental stimulus rendered completely antagonistic
both by the rules of the game, and by the conflicting personal
and national interests involved. Each antagonist must
regard his opponent as less powerful than himself, for other-
wise, his motor self would comply instead of increasing its
intensity at the crucial moment of the game. Each en-
deavours to reinforce his motor self, then, by an increment
of energy sufficient to overcome his rival and reap the honours
in store for the winner. In addition to this rather naive
dominance response, manifested by the players themselves,
the popular press of the rival nations involved in the tourna-
r^ent endows each of these best players with a motor self
of enormous proportions, by the systematic alignment of
the national dominance, so to speak, behind the individual
dominance of the players. Thus, millions of individual
motor selves may actually be fluctuating with the changes
in the tonic energy experienced by the men on the court.
This situation is practically the only one to be found in
which the dominance response of enormous numbers of
people not only can be combined, but also even synchronized.
A large amount of compliance is involved in the athletic
competition situation, just as in the business behaviour
mentioned. The compliance elements remain to be con-
sidered in the next chapter.
Sex Differences in Dominance
Sex differences in adult dominance emotion are perhaps,
on the whole, less pronounced than are sex differences in the
dominance responses of children and adolescents. Women
are now engaging more and more extensively in business and
136 EMOTIONS OK NORMAL PEOPLE
sports. The emotional training which they thus receive
tends, apparently, to enhance their dominance emotion and
to place it more nearly on a par with that of men. The
effect of this development is now beginning to make itself
apparent in the emotional training of the younger generation.
Adolescent girls and very young women are pre-empting the
spot light of publicity in national sports contests to nearly
as great a degree as adult murderesses, mistresses of kings,
and other notable female characters pre-empted it in former
generations.
The mainstay of adult female dominance emotion, how-
ever, still remains, to a considerable extent, the same in this
generation as it was in the days of Roman intrigue and
Alexandrian revelry. That is, the seeking of " social "
prestige probably represents the most usual female expres-
sion of dominance. Rival matrons and debutantes represent
antagonistic stimuli of varying intensity, but always seem
incapable of evoking motor stimuli superior in strength to
the " society woman's " motor self. The lady in question
responds to such a stimulus by increasing her social energy
in the form of more lavish display and so-called " entertain-
ment ", or by the purchase of more expensive and fashionable
gowns or other possessions. By this increase in her motor
self, the seeker for social prestige purposes to sweep all rivals
from her path, and to control that extremely intangible but
much-talked-of " society ". Since the prize sought is itself
based upon other emotions than dominance, we may defer
further analysis of this type of dominance response until a
later chapter.
Summary
In summary, we may define dominance as an emotional
response which is evoked by an antagonistic motor stimulus
of inferior intensity to the motor self of the subject.
There frequently appears a marked incongruity between
the nature and intensity of the environmental stimulus and
the resulting intensity of dominance emotion expressed in
dominance behaviour. This incongruity simply means that
the animal or human being has undergone previous ex-
periences which have endowed an inadequate environmental
stimulus with the ability to evoke, in the subject organism,
antagonistic motor stimuli of an intensity corresponding
DOMINANCE 137
to the dominance increase in the strength of the motor se*f
actually manifested in the instance observed. The dominant
character of the emotion is determined by the inferiority of
strength which the motor stimuli are felt to possess in com-
parison with the motor self. But the amount of intensity
increase shown by the motor self in the dominance response
approximately equals the intensity of the motor stimulus
which the dominance reaction is intended to overcome.
Dominance response possessing the characteristics just
defined is to be found as a behaviour principle in the inter-
action between inanimate forces of nature, in decerebrate
animals, in children immediately after birth (suspending self
by reinforcement of grasping reflex), in adolescents, especially
boys, and in adults of both sexes, principally males.
Dominance emotion may be said to constitute by far the
largest and most important element in the emotional in-
fluence upon the behaviour of all children for the first three
to five years of life, and of a great majority of males from
birth to death. Since our civilization is man made, domi-
nance is probably the emotion most universally admired
by both sexes.
Dominance is found to be the theme expressed in countless
monuments, sculptures, musical compositions and other
wqrks of art. Of all these glorifications of dominance,
Henley's " Invictus " is perhaps the most succinct and
complete.
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeomngs of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate ;
I am the captain of my soul.
The Pleasantness and Unpleasantness of Dominance
The consciousness experienced during dominant behaviour
138 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
of the kind described, varies considerably in its pleasantness
or unpleasantness, according to introspective reports of
different observers. Jack Dempsey, former heavyweight
boxing champion, has stated (to friends, and not for publica-
tion), that he " likes " a fight, from beginning to end : but
that his " biggest kick " comes at the moment he delivers
a knock-out " sock ". Sometimes he enjoys the crowd's
enthusiasm after a victory, but sometimes he does not. As
far as one can judge, the degree of pleasantness that Dempsey
says he feels depends rather upon his consciousness of per-
sonal dominance over his opponent, than upon the attitude
of other people toward him as victor. Another type of
pleasant emotional response is no doubt felt upon the receipt
of the cash won by the fight in one way and another, but that
need not be considered here.
It is hard to say how much of this subsequently reported
pleasantness was actually felt prior to the knock-out, and
how much of it has been retrospectively injected into ex-
periences which were, at the time, unpleasant. From my
own introspection, and from the reports of students (one
a professional wrestler) who were more highly trained in
self observation than was Dempsey, I should say that the
early portion of an ultimately successful, dominant contest is
felt as a mixture of pleasantness and unpleasantness. Tliftre
is a certain " grimness ", " strain ", " over-tension ", or
" desperation " about any protracted dominant struggle,
in its initial stages, that is distinctly unpleasant. At the
same time, there is also a distinct pleasantness normally
felt by a truly dominant contestant, which seems to spring
from the feeling of " my own strength increasing " to meet
the danger, and which seems unmistakably to increase in
proportion to the subject's success in reducing the strength
of his opponent.
Dempsey's report that his greatest pleasantness is felt
as he delivers a blow which finally puts his opponent out
of the fight is probably accurate. But so long as the issue
of ascendancy between the antagonistic environmental
stimulus (the opposing contestant) and the subject's own
physical powers is undecided, there is apt to exist a parallel
struggle, on fairly balanced terms, between the antagonistic
motor stimulus and the motor self. This struggle is felt
as 4 distinctly unpleasant, according to the concensus of the
DOMINANCE 139
self -observations of subjects who have no end to serve by
pretending otherwise, and who are sufficiently trained in
self-observation to make their introspections worth while.
Several American football players of note have published
articles, within the last few years, setting forth their opinions
that the unpleasantness of successful college football greatly
exceeds its pleasantness.
It is my own conclusion that dominance emotion is a mixture
of pleasantness and unpleasantness throughout each dominant
response. Even after the " knock-out " of an opponent,
there remains a certain tinge of remembered antagonism
which gives the final pleasantness its distinctly dominant
savour. If the strength of the obstacle to be overcome is
markedly inferior to the strength of the subject (like the
child's block pile, or the windows of an empty house), the
initial unpleasantness of undecided conflict may be com-
paratively slight, with the nearly unalloyed pleasantness of
final success reaching a speedy climax. It must be remem-
bered, however, that the unpleasantness has its origin in the
psychonic struggle between motor stimulus and motor self,
while the final intense pleasantness has its source in the
facilitation clue to increased out-pouring of tonic energy
(motor self) through the motor centres. If the initial un-
plew^antness of dominance emotion be slight, because an
opponent is weak, the final accession of pleasantness due to
increase of &ie motor self necessary to overcome this obstacle
will prove correspondingly inconsiderable. // the dominance
response is successful, it will contain a much larger comparative
percentage of pleasantness at the end than it did at the
beginning.
The proportion of unpleasantness may reach a climax,
in some instances of dominant response, at the point where
self and opponent are most evenly matched, the proportion
of pleasantness increasing thereafter, and the proportion
of unpleasantness decreasing, in parallel degree with the
increase of unhampered outflow of the motor self and the
defeat of the antagonist. It is an interesting result of my
own clinical researches that I have found many women
subjects who repeatedly refuse to dominate business
situations to the maximum of benefit to themselves, apparently
for no other reason than that the dominance emotion
involved is too unpleasant to them. I think that most
140 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
men devote their lives to dominance not because they
actually find it pleasant, but because they can't help it.
Distinctive Conscious Characteristics of Dominance Emotion
What is thought of, introspectively, as the peculiar emo-
tional quality of dominance emotion has been variously
characterized in literature, pseudo-psychology, and psych-
ology. It has been named " ego-emotion ", " aggressive-
ness ", " fury ", " rage ", " self-assertion ", " initiative ",
"will", "determination", "high spirit", "self seeking",
" courage ", " nerve ", " boldness ", " dare-deviltry ", " pur-
posiveness ", " persistency ", " unconquerableness ", " stick-
to-itiveness ", " go-getiveness ", " force of character ",
" force ", " power ", " pioneer spirit ", " strength of char-
acter ", " strength ", " stubbornness ", " bulldog character ",
" doggedness ", " fighting instinct ", " instinct of self-pre-
servation ", " superiority complex ", " inferiority feeling ",
(Alfred Adler), " ego-centricity ", and many other nom-de-
plumes. Sometimes the passive aspect of dominant resistance
to the antagonist is emphasized, sometimes the active aspect
of dominant removal of the opponent from the subject's
path is stressed. Sometimes the term used carries the sugges-
tion that dominance is despicable (this is usually when the
writer feels himself or his hero to have been dominated),
and sometimes the word employed implies a certain sancti-
fication of dominance (as in the press enconiums tff Lindbergh,
following his flight over the Atlantic, or in the religious
praises of the " Almighty "). But whatever attitudinal
meanings may be included in the term used, and whatever
aspect or behaviour expression of the emotion ma> be se-
lectively suggested by the word used, the common denominator
of emotional meaning is always dominance emotion, consisting
oj increase of the self to overcome an opponent,
Introspectively, there is unanimous agreement among
reports obtained from many different types of subjects that
the essence of dominance emotion (no matter what name
the subject may know it under), is a feeling of an outrush
of energy to remove opposition. This feeling, with an admixture
of unpleasantness accompanying the obstruction of the out-
rushing energy in so far as it is obstructed, and an admixture
of pleasantness accompanying the increase of energy outrush
in so far as it is increased, constitutes dominance emotion.
CHAPTER VIII
COMPLIANCE
THE forces of nature comply with one another under appro-
priate conditions, just as they dominate each other, as we
have already noted, under other circumstances. A river
may be turned from one channel into another by a wall of
rock which chances to crop out across its former course. The
stream does not continue to attack an opponent stronger than
itself, but complies with such an antagonist by letting the
opponent have its own way, and by turning its own energies
in another direction. If the path which a stream or other
natural force will dominate is determined by the inferior
strength of the materials dominated, so in the same way is the
course which a river will not follow determined by the super-
iority of strength possessed by an opposed barrier.
It is certainly a part of the fundamental essence of any
physical force that it must go on dominating whatever oppon-
ent proves weaker than itself. But it is also just as essential
a part of the innate nature of the same physical force to comply
with any opponent which proves stronger than itself. If
unable to dominate any of the forces surrounding it, a physical
force must cease to act upon them. In so far as it may con-
tinue to exert pressure upon the stronger opponents which
hem it in, the force has not yet been completely dominated
by those opponents. Complete compliance can always be
imposed upon any physical force by a sufficiently strong
physical opponent, although the opponent may have to exert
its power upon the compliant reagent in such a way as to com-
pel the reagent to change its physical form, (from solid to
liquid, or from liquid to gas). But, according to the funda-
mental law of conservation of energy no physical force can be
destroyed. It can only (i) dominate, or (2) comply. If it
continues to act in its existing form, it may comply with a
hundred stronger opposing forces, but it must also find at
least one weaker opponent to dominate. If any physical force
141
I 4 2 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
is compelled to ultimate compliance, it must change its form
in such a way that its new physical expression can find weaker
antagonists to dominate.
For example, a river dammed up, as in the instance
analysed at the beginning of the last chapter, may be com-
pletely dominated by the opposing dam so far as the free
flowing of the stream goes. That is, one type of activity
or expression of the river is completely dominated by a dam
so strong and so high that the river cannot pass it. If, then,
the soil of the river bank at one end of the dam proves suffi-
ciently soft to be dominated by the river, the stream may
simultaneously comply with the unpassable dam and also
dominate its weaker opponent, the river bank. But if such
outlet cannot be made around or under the dam then the river
still continues to exert increased pressure against the barrier.
In this particular, the dam cannot dominate or over-power the
river, and the river, therefore, is not compelled to comply
with an opponent which is weaker than itselt in this particular.
The sun, however, constitutes another type of opponent
which is stronger than the river in the matter of reducing its
pressure. The action of the sun's rays upon the water is
able to compel the water to change its form of physical expres-
sion altogether, from a fluid to a gas. The water thus vapour-
ized no longer exerts pressure against the dam. Plants and
other vegetable growths upon the bank of the dammecf-up
river also are able to dominate the water by compelling it to
change its form chemically, and to enter into organic mole-
cular structure of a new type, composing the cells of the
various plant organisms. The fish and amphibia which make
their home in the darnmed-up river also possess sufficient
dominance over the river to compel a chemical metamorphosis
even more radical, by absorbing the river water into the
chemical structures of their own body cells. All types of
inanimate physical forces must behave in the same way
according to the fundamental reaction principle of compliance,
whenever they are confronted by antagonistic forces more
powerful than themselves.
' If the physical forces faced by an opponent of superior
strength comply with that opponent by decreasing the force
of their opposition to the stronger antagonist, what is the
measure of this decrease which the compliant reagent must
undergo ? In the case where the river, dominated by its
COMPLIANCE 143
opposing dam, was able to find its way around or under the
dam, the volume of water which thus escaped evidently would
represent the difference between the former total overflow
of the river and the value of the opposed holding power of the
obstacle to the river's progress. In the same way, the amount
of water vaporized under action of the sun's rays represents
a total volume of loss to the water pressure power of the
dammed up stream equal to the difference between the initial
volume of water and the strength of the antagonistic sun's rays
acting upon it. The total volume of loss to the river of its
molecular chemical structure H 2 O, as a result of the superior
chemical forces exerted by plants and animals upon it, must
approximately equal the difference between the initial quantity
of H 3 O molecules present in the dammed-up river and the
antagonistic forces exerted by plants and animals with which
it was necessary for the water of the river to comply.
A rule may be formulated from these examples as follows :
A physical force decreases Us power in making a compliance
reaction by an amount approximately equal to the difference
between its own initial strength and the force of its superior
opponent.
Compliance Response in Human and Animal Behaviour
Compliance response is to be found in the behaviour comple-
ment of a decerebratc animal such as those studied by Sherring-
ton and Goltz. Such compliance, however, as is manifest in
the reactions, of artificially simplified organisms of this type
does not carry with it compliance emotion as we have defined
it in the integrative analysis of chapter six. Although a
physical reflex can be made integratively to supersede a single
tonic discharge unit of the motor self, the mechanism by which
this conquest is brought about by a motor stimulus is of a
nature comparable with the interaction of inanimate physical
forces. The motor stimulus appears merely to overpower one
specific unit of the motor self at a motor centre leading to the
final common path but below the centres through which the
intensity of the entire tonic self is regulated. Though the
central nervous system interacts between higher and lower
levels in such an exceedingly complicated manner that we
cannot say with certainty what neural units are involved even
in the simplest reflex response, we may yet feel fairly certain
that the strength of the motor self is neither increased nor
144 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
diminished throughout the persistence of the control of the
lower motor centre by the intercurrent reflex. That is to say,
in this type of conquest of tonic discharge by intercurrent
motor stimuli, we apparently find the result accomplished
by means of a greatly simplified antagonistic mechanism.
One small unit of the motor self seems initially to contest
possession of a motor psychon with a stronger antagonistic
motor stimulus. When the stronger motor stimulus has
won its way through to discharge there seems to be no further
integrative action taking place because the higher centres
capable of bringing about a further adjustment of the entire
tonic discharge in reaction to the supremacy of this motor
stimulus have been removed from the animal by operation.
If this analysis of results is correct, we may conclude that all
primary emotions except dominance require the presence of
motor areas of the central nervous system integratively pre-
dominant over the tonic centres involved in that particular
emotion.
The work of Head and Holmes 1 already mentioned, seems
to indicate that both dominant and compliant adjustments
of the motor self may be mediated through the thalamic centres
alone, after these centres have been freed from the influence
of the cerebral cortex. Many of the physical reactions to
affective stimuli made by patients suffering from unilateral
thalamic lesion described by Head and Holmes were reactions
of the so-called adaptive type. That is, many of these re-
sponses were of a compliant nature giving free rein to the
influence of an antagonistic motor stimulus upon the organism,
by diminishing and readjusting tonic motor discharge. Such
reactions were clearly compliance responses. They were all
over-reactions, and all were unpleasant at their inception so
far as one may judge from the reports, with indifference or
even marked, contrasting pleasantness accomplished as a result
of the adaptive readjustment. Does this behaviour indicate
an integrative picture of exaggerated compliance response ?
It seems to be a justifiable guess that it does.
Compliance in Infant " Fear " Responses
Watson has described a certain type of infant behaviour 1
1 H. Head and G. Holmes, " Sensory Disturbances from Cerebral
Lesions," Brain, 1911, vol. 34, p. 109.
8 J. B. Watson, Behaviorism, pp. 121 ff,
COMPLIANCE 145
which he calls " fear ". Only two situations, according to
Watson, are capable of producing this " fear ". One is a
removal of all support from an infant's body, and the other
is a sudden loud sound near the infant's head. The " fear "
response described by Watson consists, first, of " a jump, a
start, a respiratory pause followed by -more rapid breathing,
sudden closure of eyes, clutching of hands, puckering of lips ".
Following this initial response occurs an entirely different
type of behaviour. This second group of reactions consists of
" crying, falling down, crawling, walking, or running away,
often defecation and urination." The first group of behaviour
symptoms clearly indicate an access of tonic energy cal-
culated to combat and dominate the motor stimuli in various
ways. The second group of the behaviour symptoms just as
clearly indicates a decrease of the strength of the motor self
and a yielding to whatever effect the motor stimulus may
have upon the organism. Mixed up in the subsequent symp-
toms, however, there are behaviour indications of certain
thwarted or defeated elements, which perhaps, when present,
justify use of the time-worn literary term " fear ". Without
the admixture of this defeated element, however, the second
group of symptoms described by Watson show only two
types of environmental stimulus capable of evoking motor
stimuli of sufficient intensity to integratively overpower the
me tor self. It is probable, of course, that many other types
of environmental stimuli too severe to be inflicted upon a
human infant experimentally might possess this same power.
Watson reports that this compliant type of response was more
pronounced in infants without cerebral hemispheres, a
result in accord with our interpretation of the findings of Head
and Holmes mentioned above.
The Watsons also found that normal human infants grasped
all objects with no regard for the nature of the stimulus,
even though it might be a furry animal, a noise-making
stimulus, such as a pigeon in a paper bag, or even a lighted
candle. It was found, however, that the child could be
taught not to reach for an object by a varying number of
burns inflicted by a candle flame, or by rapping the hand
of the child sharply with a ruler when he reached for the
object. It is to be noted that compliance response could
not be brought about by an environmental stimulus of com-
paratively mild intensity such as the sight of a candle flame
146 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
or the combined tactual sensations and visual perceptions
of an animal which might be capable of biting and injuring
the child. Compliance response could, however, be compelled
by an environmental stimulus as intense as the tactual pain
administered by contact with the flame, or by the painful
sensations following a brisk stroke of the ruler upon the
child's knuckles. The compliance response, once learned
in this way, was readily transferred to whatever environ-
mental stimulus might be associated with the pain in the
child's experience. To put the matter in our own terms,
the environmental stimuli of burns and blows administered
to the child's hands proved inherently capable of evoking
motor stimuli of superior intensity to the motor self. By
administering such burns or blows simultaneously with
perception of an environmental stimulus which naturally
aroused motor stimuli weaker than the motor self, this in-
adequate environmental stimulus could be endowed with
the power of evoking antagonistic motor stimuli more powerful
than the motor self.
Compliance in Adult " Fear " Responses
Blatz 1 has performed an experiment with adult subjects
which indicates that adults manifest much the same type of
compliance response as that reported by Watson in infant
behaviour. Blatz constructed a chair in the laboratory in
such a way that it could be made to fall backward suddenly
by pressing a lever in an adjoining room. Subjects were led
into the laboratory blindfolded, and were then seated in the
chair and bound securely to it. Electrodes connected to an
electrocardiograph were attached to the subject's body
together with apparatus for recording the breathing. A
majority of the subjects were women. Each subject was
told that the purpose of the experiment was only to record
the breathing and heart beat during a fifteen minute period
of quiet. After several periods of quiet had been given each
subject, as promised, the chair was suddenly pulled over,
without warning, causing the subject to fall backward.
All subjects reported an experience of fear when they felt
themselves falling backward without support. This situa-
1 W. E. Blatz, " Cardiac, Respiratory, and Electrical Phenomena
Involved in the Emotion of Fear," Journal of Experimental Psychology ,
1925, vol. 8, pp. 109-132.
COMPLIANCE 147
tion precisely duplicated Watson's experiments during which
he pulled the bed clothes from under babies, or suddenly
dropped them on pillows while they were in the process of
falling asleep. The behaviour symptoms also closely dupli-
cated the infant behaviour reported by Watson. Blatz's
subjects first struggled sharply to escape from the chair while
it was falling, and after it had come to rest in a horizontal
position. When they found that they could not escape the
bonds which held them to the chair, they called out to the
experimenter, believing that an accident had occurred.
When they found that they could not escape, and that the
experimenter paid no attention to their cries, the subjects
accepted the situation and remained quiet in the chair in its
down-tilted position (practically horizontal).
This behaviour indicates that the adults reacted in pre-
cisely the same way as did Watson's infants ; first reacting
with dominance response, and then with compliance emotion.
The initial struggle to escape clearly required increase of the
motor self in an effort to overcome the motor stimuli evoked
by the loss of bodily support. The cry for help to the ex-
perimenter indicated that the subject had realized the superior
intensity of the antagonistic motor stimuli, and this call for
assistance represented his last dominant effort to escape
from the awkward and unusual position imposed upon his
body. Thereafter all subjects showed complete compliance
response, consisting of acceptance of the environmental
stimulus imposed, and a readjustment of their own bodies
to meet the new situation without attempting to alter it in
any way. This necessitated an initial decrease in the motor
self to permit the dominant environmental stimulus to effect
the body in any way it pleased.
Bodily measurements of heart and breathing, recorded
automatically while the subject was falling and for a period
of ten minutes or more thereafter, revealed a double series
of alternations between dominance and compliance response.
1, For a period of five seconds following the fall, the pulse
rate jumped from 88 to 102, with other bodily symptoms
similarly indicating increase of the motor self running par-
allel. This might be termed " unsuccessful dominance
response ".
2, Next followed a ten second period during which the
pulse was retarded and tonic energy, expressing itself in
148 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
strength of heart beat, pulse rate, and breathing, was clearly
decreased below its initial status. This period might be
termed one of " compulsory compliance ".
3, Next followed a second period during which the pulse
was accelerated, not so high as during the unsuccessful
dominance response, but of longer duration. Other bodily
symptoms also indicated increase of the motor self during
this period. This might be called a period of " dominance
readjustment " to the superior environmental stimulus.
4, Gradually the pulse rate and other symptoms of bodily
tonicity declined. This decline continued until the third
minute after the fall. This again may be regarded as a
compliant decrease of the motor self possibly designed to
permit the triumphant motor stimuli to exercise whatever
effect they were capable of exerting upon the readjusted
balance of energy, in order to insure complete conformity
of the decreased motor self in its readjustment condition
to the dominant motor stimuli. It might be termed a
compliance testing period.
5, This final compliance period in turn gave way to a final
increase in heart rate and other tonic symptoms, to a level
slightly higher than the initial one. At this level, the motor
self seems to have remained constant throughout the re-
mainder of that particular day's record. This final period
represents a continued compliance with the motor stimuli
imposed, yet a slightly increased dominance exerted toward
other stimuli than the one of superior intensity. The com-
pliant element, of course, was evidenced in the bodily symp-
toms only by way of comparison between the strength of
the motor self during the final period and its strength during
the first period of unsuccessful dominance response while
attempting to overcome the intruding stimulus. This final
period might be termed the " successful dominance period."
Basic Dominance and Compliance Response Mechanisms
are not Altered by Learning
It is important to observe that the emotional reactions
of the adult subjects examined by Blatz showed no important
differences from the emotional reactions of infants as
described by Watson. This may be taken to indicate that
the operation of the dominance and compliance mechanisms
remain pretty much unaltered throughout life, provided that
COMPLIANCE 149
environmental stimuli can be found intrinsically adequate
to evoke antagonistic stimuli of inferior strength to the
motor self of the subject. The similarity of dominance and
compliance emotions expressed by infants and adults indicates
that emotional learning does not alter the integrative character-
istics of these two primary emotional responses in the least.
In the case of Edgar, considered in the last chapter, a
true compliance response was found to be evoked for the
first time by an environmental stimulus, bodily injury, which
was intrinsically capable of evoking antagonistic motor
stimuli of superior intensity to the motor self. Edgar's
first compliance response was evoked in just the saftie way
that similar compliance responses were evoked from infants
by loud noises and by falling, and in just the same way com-
pliance response was evoked from Blatz's subjects by falling
backward. Physical pain stimuli of severe character were
felt, by Edgar, to be superior to his bodily powers of resistance,
just as similar pain stimuli, resulting from candle burns or
ruler blows, were felt by infants as superior to their own
organisms. Edgar, in short, represented a case whose com-
pliance response mechanisms remained normal, though in a
completely naive condition so far as the learned conditioning
of compliance response upon inadequate environmental
stiqiuli was concerned.
Dangerous Environmental Stimuli are not Necessarily
Adequate Stimuli to Compliance Response
Environmental stimuli of the most dangerous character to
human or animal organisms may yet be of such a nature as not
to possess power to evoke motor stimuli more intense than the
motor self and to thus bring about compliance response. This
fact, of course, is one of every day experience. But it is
also a phenomenon, the mechanism of which is not, appar-
ently, understood. Parents and other educators of children
of the newer schools seem prone to assume that first hand
experience with the antagonistic forces of the environment
is the best form of compliance teaching. Such is far from
being the case even if the child survives his first contests
with crowded streets, dangerous implements of various
kinds, and other children. For, if the dangerous environ-
mental stimulus is incapable in itself of evoking compliance
from the child before the full force of its destructive character
150 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
is directly experienced, the resulting response (inevitably
transferred to other environmental stimuli also) is rather
sure to be of an exaggerated nature, preventing efficient
reaction to this type of stimulus in later life even though no
actual " fear " results.
Compliance Response Prevented by Over- Intensity of Motor Self
In the case of the boy Jack, we noted, in the last chapter,
that he responded with dominance reaction even to environ-
mental stimuli that should have the intrinsic capacity of
evoking compliance response in child or adult. Working
against' these environmental compliance stimuli in Jack's
case, however, there probably existed endocrine stimuli in
his blood stream. These endocrines had the effect, perhaps,
of raising the compliance threshold. This result may have
been accomplished in several ways, notably : (i) by stimu-
lating the motor self continuously to greater than normal
intensity ; or (2) by interfering in some inhibitory way with
the connective units in the central nervous system by means
of which environmental stimuli such as pain, normally evoke
motor stimuli of superior intensity to the motor self. In
Jack's case it seemed fairly clear that the endocrine stimulus
evoked a result of the first type, that is, it seemed to be pro-
ducing a continuous over-intensity of tonic discharge.
Although Jack failed to respond compliantly to physical
pain inflicted in the course of his gangster activities, he showed
some compliance reaction when reasoned with. Once, in fact,
according to a report which we received from the teacher,
the child had genuinely given up his marauding activities
after being convinced by the principal of the school that he
could enjoy life better in other ways. But the boy's incessant
restlessness and physical over-intensity seemed to make it
impossible for him to continue for a long period in a compliant
manner of living. After a couple of months of compliance,
his motor self evidently became so intense that it could no
longer be dominated by argument (a connective type of cause
in the total integrative picture, i.e. (d) in the causal analysis,
Chapter IV).
Suddenness of Stimulation Tends to Evoke Compliance
I was also able to evoke brief compliance responses from Jack
during my interview with him by sudden startling remarks
COMPLIANCE 151
and movements. Suddenness of stimulation by an environ-
mental stimulus of superior intensity often produces compli-
ance response, in cases where no amount of sheer intensity
of stimulation is able to bring about this result if the increase
of stimulation intensity is applied gradually rather than
suddenly. The explanation of this phenomenon is a simple
one. So long as the motor stimulus remains inferior to the
motor self, dominance emotion will persist. If, then, the
intensity of the environmental stimulus be increased gradually
enough, time will be allowed for the motor self to increase
its own strength prior to attack of the motor stimulus upon
it. But if a great intensity of environmental stimufation be
suddenly applied, motor stimuli of superior intensity to the
motor self in its initial state of strength may be evoked before
the reinforcement mechanism can operate to make the motor
self superior once more to the motor stimulus. It is an every
day experience with nearly all of us to be " startled " by some
sudden, loud noise, or perhaps by a jovial friend's clapping
us on the shoulder suddenly from behind.
No matter how exaggerated the continuous motor self
intensity may be it is easy to produce an environmental
stimulus capable of evoking a motor stimulus more intense
than the motor self, if the latter is not given time to reinforce
itself. As far as my observations to date can be depended
upon, it seems the fact that a motor self which remains
continuously more intense than that of the average individual
tends to be rather more susceptible to suddenly applied motor
stimuli of superior intensity, than is the motor self of lower
intensity level. The reason for this seems to be that the
greater the continuous intensity of tonic motor discharge,
or motor self, the more quickly does it react to any motor
stimulus which may be applied to it (i.e. the latent period
is shorter). Such an intense motor self, therefore, tends to
react to a motor stimulus of superior intensity before the self
has had time to be reinforced sufficiently to dominate the
stimulus. There is, therefore, very frequently, a momentary
flash of compliance emotion before the reinforcement mechan-
ism is able to re-establish the normal dominant balance. The
fact that Jack could be thus startled or compelled to
momentary compliance by application of a sudden intense
stimulus seems to indicate that his abnormality of dominance
response was attributable to continuous over-intensity of
152 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
the motor self, rather than to any interference with the
connector mechanism necessary to the evoking of superior
motor stimuli by an intense environmental stimulus.
In studying convicts, I found many of the prison incor-
rigibles to be men whose compliance response was exceedingly
difficult to arouse because of this same, constant, over-intensity
of the motor self. One prison farm camp was given over to
confinement of younger criminals ; that is, boys between
eighteen and twenty-five. Among these prisoners the per-
centage of incorrigibles of the type mentioned was very high.
Many of these youths appeared to me to be over-sexed. The
male sexual hormone produces, according to my own observa-
tions, increase of dominance as a secondary sex characteristic,
quite as definitely as it produces hair on the face and a deeper
toned voice. The over-intensity of motor self from which
many of these boys suffered might very probably be attribut-
able to a surplus male sexual endocrine. These cases might
prove almost exactly comparable to that of the child Jack.
Other cases, where the continuous motor self seemed even
stronger could not be accounted for on the same basis. In
fact, the physiological causes underlying such over-intensity
of the motor self are at best extremely speculative in the
present state of our medical knowledge. Some of the youths
at the prison farm in question seemed to suffer principally
from lack of early compliance training, which had led them
into various types of activity tending to intensity the con-
tinuous tonic discharge or dominant set. A few cases of war
veterans seemed to fall into this category.
Prolongation and Frequent Repetition of Stimulation Tend to
Evoke Compliance
In addition to suddenness as a condition tending to produce
compliance response, we may also list duration or repetition
at frequent intervals o/an over-intense environmental stimulus,
as a second condition sometimes capable of producing compli-
ance emotion, when a single application of an environmental
stimulus, no matter how intense, will Have no effect.
A physician who had been connected with army work at
the federal prison at Fort Leavenworth told me that incor-
rigible prisoners at that institution, who refused to go out to
work with the other men, and who could not be shaken in
their rebellious attitude by any extreme of rough treatment,
COMPLIANCE 153
were frequently compelled to work by prolongation of a com-
paratively mild punishment. They were handcuffed to the
door of their cells, in a normal standing position, with their
hands at no higher level than their shoulders, during the time
that the other men were at work. These incorrigible prisoners
were evidently able to resist environmental stimuli of any
intensity whatever without manifesting compliance response.
But they yielded compliance to an environmental stimulus
of comparatively mild intensity, when that stimulus was
applied for seven or eight hours a day three or four days in
succession.
On the other hand, one instance which came to the* personal
attention of the survey staff during examination of the Texas
prisoners indicated that repetition of environmental stimulus
of great intensity might be expected to overwhelm a prisoner
who showed an almost abnormal lack of compliance response.
A young and exceedingly incorrigible prisoner, possessed,
apparently, of a motor self so intense that his condition of
restless tenseness was evident even to guards totally inexperi-
enced in personality analysis, finally refused to go to work
in the fields with the other convicts. This refusal was the
result of a punishment which had been given him for a com-
paratively slight breach of prison rules. The manager of
tlje prison farm tried in various ways to compel the prisoner
to go to work, but without result. Finally, he made appli-
cation, as provided by the Texas penal code, for permission
to whip this prisoner. The Texas law provided that a warden
or farm manager might administer a maximum of twenty
strokes of a leather strap, of prescribed size and weight, to an
incorrigible prisoner, upon permission being granted by the
prison commissioners. This punishment was used fairly
frequently, and was of such severity that mere threat to apply
for permission to whip a prisoner was usually sufficient to
compel the most incorrigible convict to comply with the
manager's orders.
The young prisoner in question, however, knowing that
twenty strokes was the maximum allowed by law, defied the
" captain ", and received his whipping in due course.
Although the man's suffering was undoubtedly severe, he still
refused to comply. Now the Texas law did not limit the num-
ber or frequency of whippings to which the prisoner might be
subjected, provided only that permission be granted by the
154 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
commissioners. The prison manager, therefore, immediately
put in another application, and received a second permission
to give the prisoner twenty strokes. This time, however,
instead of delivering all the blows at one time, he decided to
give the prisoner four or five strokes every day until this
second permission was exhausted. He told the convict what
he proposed to do, and added a statement that he intended
to apply for further permission to whip the prisoner as soon
as this present permit was exhausted. The man still refused
to comply, and the " captain " administered several strokes
that day, as he promised. Next day he came back again with
the strap, and began to deliver another instalment of blows.
After two strokes had been administered, however, the prisoner
yielded, and complied with the order to go to work. This
convict told me, when I interviewed him, that he could not
endure the strain of taking a whipping every day because
" fear lasted over from one whipping to the next" He said that
no matter how much pain one punishment might cause he
" knew that he could stand it if it was going to be over all
in one ' lick * ".
The potency of persistent, or frequently repeated antagon-
istic environmental stimuli in evoking compliance emotion
seems to depend upon the inability of the motor self to sustain
itself at a greatly increased intensity level for any considerable
length of time. If, therefore, antagonistic motor stimuli of
considerable intensity can be made to persist for a period
longer than that during which the reinforcement mechanism
can be operated, defeat of the motor self will result and com-
pliance response must necessarily follow.
High Connector Threshold to Compliance Response
There is another type of insufficiency of compliance which
seems to be due to the second type of integrative cause men-
tioned above, that is, to a lack of adequate connector
mechanisms enabling environmental stimuli of overwhelming
intensity to evoke motor stimuli superior in strength to
the motor self. In other words, individuals suffering from
this type of compliance difficulty exhibit extraordinary
resistance to physical pain and other similar types of over-
intense environmental stimulation. This sort of person
manifests many symptoms of chronically low motor self
COMPLIANCE 155
intensity, though when aroused to action such an individual's
motor self may be increased to a point of unusual strength.
One subject of this type whose behaviour I was able to
observe, was a college youth of considerable athletic ability.
He played football, basketball, and other sports successfully,
being a member of the varsity teams for several successive
years. In basketball his game was peculiar and erratic.
On certain occasions, he played extraordinarily well, while
on other occasions he seemed completely phlegmatic and
failed to respond aggressively to any amount of rough hand-
ling by an opponent. The basketball coach told me that on
several such occasions he had " given him hell " in every way
he could possibly think of. He had taken him out of the
game several times, had threatened to drop him from the
varsity squad, and had insulted him personally in every way
that he knew. All to no avail. The boy only looked at
the coach apathetically, and in a pitying sort of way, some-
times saying that lie didn't feel like playing, and sometimes
making no reply whatever. I asked the boy himself what
he thought of the coach, and he told me, " Blank if alright, a
very good fellow, but I can't say he ever taught me any
basketball. I don't think he can teach anybody. I just
have to go on and play my own way "
This boy was a student in one of my courses where a great
deal of discussion was required. He seemed to follow the
lectures Either well, but consistently refused to incorporate
the material given him into his own methods of thought.
Occasionally he would utter a surprisingly keen criticism
or comment, but once his own idea was expressed he could
never be induced to comply with the general discussion of
the other students. His speech was excessively slow, and
so low one could hardly hear it at times. Frequently he
seemed actually to fall asleep in the middle of a sentence,
his eyes closing, and his whole body slumping somnolently
into his chair. This was in appearance only, however, for
he never failed to complete the thought which he was ex-
pressing. The whole picture presented by the behaviour
of this youth was one of a motor self of very low intensity,
able to reinforce itself almost without limit upon the rare
occasions when an antagonistic motor stimulus could be
evoked. The difficulty, however, of evoking such motor
stimuli by means of environmental stimulation was extreme.
156 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
Moreover, never once, during my study of the boy, did I
see any evidence that a motor stimulus of superior intensity
to his reinforced motor self had been evoked.
In one instance, at least, environmental stimuli of an
intensity adequate to evoke compliance from any ordinary
subject were administered to this youth without avail. It
was a college custom for a certain sophomore society to
" rag " or haze the freshmen systematically. The most
popular method of compelling the freshmen to obey their
tormentors was to " paddle " the disobedient ones with con-
siderable energy, using an instrument very similar to a short-
handled canoe paddle. I was informed by the sophomore
who had charge of ragging a group of freshmen, including
the youth under discussion, that he had hit this boy more than
twenty times with all his strength, finally breaking the paddle
over the subject's buttocks without compelling the boy to
comply in the slightest degree with the commands which the
sophomores were attempting to impose. I asked the boy
himself, some time after the punishment had been inflicted,
how he was able to endure such a severe beating.
" Oh ", he replied with an interested expression on his
face, as if he were describing an event that had happened
to somebody else, " there was nothing to that. I didn't
mind it."
" Didn't you feel like hitting the fellow who did that to
you ? f> I asked. i
" No ", he answered thoughtfully, " it didn't make any
difference to me especially, so long as he couldn't make me
do anything I didn't want to do."
In subjects of this type it seems safe to assume that what-
ever antagonistic motor stimuli are evoked by an intense
environmental stimulus must be exceedingly feeble in com-
parison to the strength of the subject's motor self. That this
comparative weakness of motor stimuli is not due to lack of
acuity or high threshold in the sensory mechanisms is indicated
by the fact that the college boy whose behaviour has just
been reported showed unusually keen sensory perception,
with very low auditory and visual thresholds. It will be
remembered also that he was able to follow the subject matter
of lectures rather well and to reproduce it if he chose.
This sort of integrative situation may be characterized
by the statement that the connector threshold between en-
COMPLIANCE 157
vironmental stimulus and motor stimulus is unusually
high.
" Passive " Dominance is Resistance to Compliance Response
Cases of high connector threshold like that of the college
student just mentioned illustrate very well an aspect of
dominance response which may be called " passive "
dominance. The motor self fails to take the initiative, in
such cases, because it is sensible of no threat to its supremacy.
It is able, therefore, to manifest a high degree of what is
ordinarily called " resistance ". Resistant behaviour when
attributable to passive dominance emotion, is a type of re-
sponse during which the reagent remains satisfied with
resisting any change in the motor set maintained by tonic
discharge. Active dominance in contrast to passive would
be defined as a condition where the motor self, becoming
sensible of a motor stimulus obstructing its path, actively
hurls its increased energy, as it were, against the obstacle.
Although no very hard and fast line can be drawn between
active and passive dominance, the contrast between these
two phases of dominance behaviour, in the conduct of subjects
analysed, is often sufficiently extreme to make the use of
specific teims representing the two extremes convenient and
justifiable. In literary and psycho -literary terminology we
find the distinction between active and passive dominance
fairly well marked. " Aggressiveness ", " initiative ", " self-
assertion ", and similar terms emphasize clearly enough the
active aspect of dominance, while " stubbornness ", " dogged-
ness ", and " resistance " refer particularly to passive domi-
nance expressed in various different ways.
" Passive " and " Active " Compliance
It may prove advisable to emphasize, at this point, similarly
contrasting active and passive aspects of compliance emotion.
First the contrast may be taken with respect to the behaviour
of interacting of physical forces. In the case of a river
whose flow is completely stopped by an opposing dam, the
emphasis is upon the passive aspect of compliance emotion.
The dam, as we noted at the beginning of this chapter, is
unable actively to remove the river from its present bed and,
is similarly incapable of compelling the water of the river
158 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
to change its form physically or chemically. Thus no new
motion, or active response is required of the dammed-up
stream. When, however, the sun begins to heat the river
water, additional energization of the water occurs, and it
undergoes a form of active physical change from liquid water
to water vapour. Thus the sun, acting dominantly upon the
river water, compels the latter to comply actively by under-
going physical change. In a similar way plants, fish,
amphibia, or an electric current might compel active compli-
ance from the river water by forcing its atoms to move in
new ways conducive to chemical changes imposed.
Simple illustrations of active compliance may be found
also, in the case of stones rolled down a mountain side by the
impact of sliding earth, or other debris from above. The
stone is not only compelled to move in active compliance
with the force applied to it during the length of time that it
is being acted upon by the force in question, but also must
continue to move in that same direction until gravity ceases
to control it, and the momentum imparted to it is exhausted.
In the integrative mechanisms of animals and human
beings the existence of mechanisms for active compliance
response have already been noted. The phasic reflexes,
whenever able to supplant the tonic motor discharge in the
control of a final common path, may contrast the opposing
or anti-tonic muscle. The total effect of such a procedure
is to enable a victorious or dominant motor stimulus to
compel active compliance from the organism by injecting
new energy into it initially just as the sun compelled active
physical compliance by causing the river to vapourize, and
the electric current compelled still more active compliance
by causing the water to manifest new chemical behaviour.
Whenever a compliant motor stimulus succeeds in com-
pelling a subject organism to comply actively in the manner
suggested, the principal influence upon the subject's behaviour
will cease with the removal or cessation of the motor stimulus.
There will, however, be a certain persistence of the active
compliance movement after the motor stimulus itse]f has
actually ceased, due to the integrative phenomena of after
discharge, central spread of phasic excitations, etc. This
continuation of active compliance may aptly be compared
to the law of momentum in the behaviour of inanimate
physical objects.
COMPLIANCE 159
Difficulty of Compelling Active Compliance Response by
Imposing Intense Environmental Stimuli
We have previously considered the threshold of compliance
response as this threshold was affected by increased intensity
of an environmental stimulus. We have had occasion several
times to note, however, that over-intensity of nerve impulse
is not a condition especially conducive to smooth and maxi-
mally effective integration. Bearing this fact in mind, we
should not expect to find that over intense environmental
stimuli, such as those furnished by physical pain or bodily
injury, would be by any means maximally efficient in producing
the active aspect of compliance response. In othe? words,
we might expect to train an infant not to grasp the lighted
candle by rapping his knuckles sharply each time the candle is
presented, but this would be passive compliance. Similarly,
we might expect that it would be comparatively easy to
train an older child, or even an adult person to refrain from
being impertinent to his mother, or " talking back to " a
prison guard or warden by administering a comparatively
light whipping. Again, such responses would represent an
extremely passive type of compliance.
If, on the other hand, the attempt is made to compel
positive action on the part of the infant, child or prisoner,
a problem of much greater difficulty is faced. An environ-
meftial stimulus must be administered of such a nature that
it will be atye to evoke motor stimuli more powerful than the
motor self of the subject, yet at the same time not intense
enough to jeopardize the smooth and efficient functioning
of the compliant integrations which it is desired to produce.
This is, so to speak, the problem of the ages. It has been
faced by all tyrants of every imaginable type and degree
who have attempted to control the behaviour of other human
beings by sheer force. The mechanisms by which atoms and
molecules can be compelled actively to comply with the
dominant individual's desire are extremely simple compared
to the integrative mechanism which must be used forcefully
to control a human being. The human body may be forcibly
confined or kept from certain activities by barriers
of superior physical force. It may also be compelled to
cease from selected activities or from all activity, if desired,
by administering to it sufficiently intense physical stimulation
to produce integrative inhibition or central stasis. But
160 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
neither of these types of environmental stimulus is capable
of compelling active compliance of a maximally efficient
variety.
Maximally Pleasant Environmental Stimuli Evoke Active
Compliance
How. then, can active compliance be evoked ? Sherring-
ton 1 states that reflexes tend to be prepotent which provoke
strongly affective consciousness. He further cites two
opposite types of prepotent active reflexes, the nociceptive,
painful reflexes, on the one hand, and the sex reflexes, accom-
panied hy maximal pleasantness, on the other hand. Defining
unpleasantness as motor conflict, and pleasantness as motor
alliance, we should then interpret Sherrington's statement
as meaning that there are two maximally prepotent types of
reflexes : (i) Those producing the most motor conflict
possible, and (2) those producing the most alliance possible.
Since compliance response depends by definition upon the
prepotency of motor stimulus evoked, we should anticipate,
according to Sherrington's result, that those motor stimuli
producing greatest integrativc conflict, and those producing
a maximum of motor alliance, would constitute the maximally
effective stimuli to compliance. There seems little doubt
but that environmental stimuli capable of producing severe
physical pain are those causing greatest unpleasantness.
Therefore, we may say, according to our own pre-suppositions,
that painful environmental stimuli evoke motor stimuli
causing a maximum of motor conflict. This motor conflict
is precisely the factor which results in extreme passive com-
pliance. That is to say, a pain stimulus ultimately producing
a maximum amount of central conflict and inhibition, thereby
is able to produce a maximum amount of blockage to integra-
tions which it is desired to break up. But, as we have seen,
this process, by very definition, is incapable of originating
new integrations of the type which it is desired to dictate
to the organism. If, then, the purpose is to originate and
carry forward successfully such new integrations, a different
sort of prepotent reflex must be resorted to. This second
type of prepotent reflex is, according to Sherrington, the
class of reflexes which are accompanied by a maximum
amount of pleasantness, or motor alliance.
1 C. S. Sherrington, Integrative Action of the Nervous System, p. 230.,
COMPLIANCE 161
It should be possible, then, to evoke compliance response
by means of any environmental stimulus which, though
antagonistic to the motor self, is nevertheless capable of pro-
ducing, infra se, an amount of pleasantness of motor alliance
superior to that accompanying the tonic discharge at the
moment of stimulation. In short, a motor stimulus, though
antagonistic to the motor self, might nevertheless prove of
greater strength than the motor self, provided the motor
stimulus were of greater total volume, and provided this
total volume, in its assemblage from various sensory connector
sources, produced a greater total amount of motor alliances.
If these conditions were fulfilled the motor stimulus need
not be of greater intensity than the motor self at any time.
Over-Intense Motor Self Must be Taught to Comply with Volume
It might well prove true, however, that a motor self of too
great intensity might fail to yield to, and comply with a motor
stimulus depending for its victory upon greater harmonious
volume of motor discharge. The very intense motor self
might, however, be taught to comply with an antagonistic
motor stimulus of greater harmonious volume.
Such teaching might follow one of two methods. First,
a motor self of great intensity might be initially defeated by
a motor stimulus of great intensity and might, while in such
a state of defeat, be stimulated with a motor stimulus of super-
ior harmoncous volume only. In the second place, a motor self
of great intensity might be taught, initially, to submit to an
allied stimulus of greater volume, and transfer of the yielding
element in this submissive response might then be made to an
antagonistic motor^stimulus of greater volume.
Summary
In summary, then, we are able to predict, on neurological
grounds, that a stimulus of greater harmonious volume than
the motor self may be able to evoke compliance response from
a motor self of moderate or low intensity, even though the
motor stimulus be antagonistic to and of less intensity than
the motor self. We may further predict that a motor self
of great intensity will not yield spontaneously to a motor
stimulus whose superiority consists only of greater harmonious
volume than the motor self possesses. Such a motor self
of great intensity might, however, be taught to comply with
1 62 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
a motor stimulus of this type in two ways, (i) By transferring
defeat of the motor self brought about by an antagonistic motor
stimulus of superior intensity, or (2) by transferring surrender
brought about in the course of submissive response to an allied
motor stimulus of greater volume.
Environmental Stimuli Evoking Compliance With Volume
Response
In examining human behaviour for the purpose of verifying
or refuting the foregoing suggestions, what types of environ-
mental otimuli should be sought for as likely to evoke motor
stimuli of greater volume than the motor self though antag-
onistic to it ? In the instances of compliance enforced by
bodily pain which we have already considered, we discovered
a certain rough correspondence between intensity of environ-
mental stimulus and intensity of motor stimulus correspond-
ingly evoked. This correspondence of intensities between
environmental and motor stimuli, though by no means
infallibly present, is in a one to one ratio and furnishes the
only rough basis upon which parents, prison officials, or
college students could proceed in their attempts mechanically
to control the bodies of their subjects. Following this analogy,
then, we might seek, first, environmental stimuli of large volume
as probably productive of motor stimuli of correspondingly 'targe
volume. In a similar way, we might expect to find environ-
mental stimuli which are objectively ordered in a definitely har-
monious pattern producing correspondingly harmonious pattern
of the connector-motor integrations which must contribute the
element of harmony to a given group of motor stimuli. En-
vironmental stimuli of large volume and harmonious inter-
relationship in respect to the manner in which they stimulate
the sense organs of the body, might be expected to evoke,
correspondingly, motor stimuli of large volume and harmonious
interrelationship of constituent elements.
" Nature " is the Environmental Stimulus of Greatest Volume
and Most Harmonious Pattern
The greatest possible volume of environmental stimulation
of moderate intensity which can be simultaneously adminis-
tered to a given subject may probably be found in " nature ".
COMPLIANCE 163
That is, if a human being is placed all alone in an unbroken
pine forest, for instance, or upon the top of a mountain from
which no human habitation is visible, the element making
the greatest impression upon the consciousness of the indi-
vidual so situated is usually found to be the immensity of his
surroundings. This appears to be especially true of persons
who have spent a major portion of their lives in large cities.
Country residents, and especially mountain guides, and
frontiersmen, seem to have acquired, to a considerable extent,
the habit of limiting their sensory attention to particular
objects which it is necessary for them to manipulate in some
way, in order to adjust themselves efficiently to the "outdoor
environment. But even persons of this sort, I have found,
when they return to their previous habitat after spending
some time in the city are again impressed by the immensity
and openness of the country landscape. This consciousness
of immensity (which is evidently in itself a connector or
ideational element) appears to have its origin in the tremendous
volume of sensory stimulation of moderate intensity simul-
taneously received by the subject's organism.
There also appears to be a certain amount of naturally
ordered regularity and harmoniousness of pattern in this
type of sensory stimulation. Neither the tinkling, gurgling
noises of the brook, nor the sighing, rustling sounds made
in tfe trees by wind of moderate intensity are loud enough
to drown eatfi other out or to prevent the twittering of birds
from being perceived simultaneously. The sun's rays produce
a mild temperature stimulus of warmth upon the face and body
while the breeze brushing across the cheek gives a co-existant
sensation of coolness and also various light touch or pressure
sensations. If the landscape viewed by the subject contains
woods or forests, the colour stimuli are balanced in such a way
as to permit simultaneous perception of light yellow-green
foliage, dark blue-green masses of shrubs or leaves chancing
to be seen against a darker background together with browns,
reds, grays, and purples visible in tree-trunk shadows, rocks,
and other natural objects usually to be seen. The shapes of
a thousand trees, perhaps all following roughly the same
pattern, may stimulate the retinae simultaneously. The
turning of leaves in the wind, and the tossing, and rise and
fall, of tree branches, give kaleidoscopic change and variety
to the stimuli of both colour and form without ever completely
164 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
disarranging their basically symmetrical pattern. One might
go on with such an analysis of stimuli almost endlessly without
exhausting the possibilities of harmonious arrangement and
tremendous simultaneous volume of sensory stimulation to
be obtained from a country landscape. But the brief sugges-
tions given above may suffice to indicate that nature constitutes
a total stimulus situation satisfying both requirements of
large volume and harmonious interrelation of constituent
stimulating units.
Country Environment Evokes Compliance from a Cat
I once made the experiment of taking a cat to the seashore
after it had been living in a city apartment for some time.
Just prior to its residence in the city, this animal had spent
three months in the same shore house to which I took it.
When placed on the sand near the house, and some distance
from the shore, the cat gave every appearance of being desper-
ately frightened. It shrank close to the ground and looked
around apprehensively for some moments. It then dashed
toward the house and made its way immediately to the second
floor, where it cowered under a bed in a far corner of the room.
The cat was later brought down forcibly and was given milk and
other food. It showed evidence of remembering the house,
and also the premises outside. So long as the animal remained
indoors it was only troubled, apparently, by the dull rhythmic
pounding of the surf on the beach. But when It was again
brought out and placed in the sand with large open spaces on
every side, and the open water not more than two hundred
yards distant, it behaved exactly as it had before. I repeated
this procedure four or five times with identical results. The
cat was clearly overwhelmed by the large volume of sensory
stimulation administered to it simultaneoulsy. There was
no single environmental stimulus or any combination of
environmental stimuli nearly as intense as the sound of traffic
in New York City to which the cat had been adapted during
the preceding months. I concluded that it was not the
11 strangeness " (what is strangeness ?) of the stimulus situation
which affected the cat in the manner described, since the animal
showed familiarity with the house and surroundings. It
seemed to me possible that the cat was compelled to compliance
response by the greatness of harmonious volume of environmental
stimuli simultaneously received.
COMPLIANCE 165
Country Environment Evokes Compliance from Children
Children who have been born in the city and have remained
there continuously up to the age of seven or eight years,
frequently manifest a similar type of response when taken
to the country for the first time. Such children have been
accustomed, it is true, to great volume of simultaneous
stimulation, caused by city traffic and by enormous numbers
of people in the city tenement districts. But all these city
stimuli are not harmoniously arranged in such a way that they
produce the type of stimulus under discussion. City sights
and sounds are of extreme intensity, and probably to a certain
extent the intensities of various sights and sounds* may be
summed together to produce greater total intensity than any
one alone. The child's sensory receptors, therefore, must
become accustomed to this high intensity of stimulation and
the child's motor self must clearly become adjusted to a con-
stant level of rather great intensity, in order to meet the almost
continuous stream of disconnected antagonistic motor stimuli
evoked by the city stimulus situation. In short, the city child
is one whose motor self has become adjusted to combat dis-
connected stimuli of considerable intensity and comply with
separate stimuli of extreme intensity. A country stimulus
situation, by way of contrast, presents a total stimulus of low
intensity but very great volume. Any one unit in this country
stimulus can easily be combated and overcome by the child's
dominance Reaction toward it. But the overcoming of one
unit in the total stimulus has no appreciable effect in diminish-
ing the volume of the total stimulation. This volume is over-
whelmingly greater than the volume of the motor self adapted
to meet disconnected, though intense, opposition. The
reaction of the city child to the country stimulus situation is
one frequently described as " awe ". The child seems tem-
porarily overwhelmed and unable for the time to select appro-
priate reactions to meet the situation. When responses are
finally selected, perhaps after a period of hours or days, these
responses seem to correspond, compliantly, with the environ-
mental stimulus. That is, the child's activity decreases some-
what in intensity but increases greatly in volume. All the
numerous units composing the complex environmental stimulus
produce individual units of behaviour many of which can
occur simultaneously and all of which together constitute a
very large volume of compliant response. The child, for in-
166 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
stance, breathes more deeply and perhaps less quickly. His
heart, after a time, begins to beat more strongly and probably
with less rapidity. His vision becomes adjusted to focussing
over long distances. All the child's physical movements,
while less intense and sudden, perhaps, than were his jumps
and short dashes to avoid traffic in the city, are, on the other
hand, much more continuous and extensive. He covers three
or four miles in the country to every mile traversed in the city.
He climbs trees, wades in brooks, walks up hill and down,
and perhaps wanders many miles over pasture and hillside
looking for berries, etc., all of which activity could never be
called forth by a single disconnected environmental stimulus
no matter how intense such a stimulus might be.
In summary we may say that when the city child is trans-
ported into the country, the overwhelming volume of environ-
mental stimulation of moderate intensity, tends to evoke a
totality of behaviour preponderantly compliant in nature, and
much greater in volume than that previously occurring.
Dominance Is Evoked by Single Objects, Compliance by
the Country as a Unit Stimulus
Not all city children react in this manner when placed in
the country stimulus situation. I once had occasion to
observe a boy of about eleven years, who was spending a
summer with his mother in the country for the first time.
This lad possessed a motor self of apparently gre&t intensity.
He was restless, tense, self-centred, and very dominant. He
seemed never to perceive the country or rural surroundings
as a single unit stimulus, but rather appeared to react separ-
ately to each object with which he was confronted. This
child's chief purpose in regard to each separate object seemed
to be to get that object out of his way as quickly and as
destructively as possible. For instance, he would not accom-
pany the farmer's boy on his search for the cows in the pasture,
but if he happened to find one or two of these animals drinking
out of the trough in the farmyard he would take a big stick,
or a handful of stones, and start the cows running at full
speed. His mother tried upon one occasion to make him
turn the handle of a churn with which the farmer's wife and
daughter were accustomed to make butter. The boy, how-
ever, managed to break the handle of this churn in some way,
and thereafter paid no attention to it. Similar incidents
COMPLIANCE 167
multiplied to such an extent that the farmer asked the mother
to leave. This she did, moving to an hotel at a near-by
resort, where there were many other city children, with games
and amusements much like the average summer resort.
In these surroundings, the boy behaved acceptably, and no
further difficulty was experienced according to the mother's
report. It was evident that the child responded separately
to the various units in the total " country " situation, finding
each one of these units antagonistic to his motor self, and of
inferior strength. This would seem, perhaps, to illustrate
the situation suggested in our foregoing analysis, wherein
mere superiority of volume of the total stimulus might fail
to be felt as of superior strength by a motor self of high
intensity.
Child May Comply with Superior Volume but not with
Superior Intensity of Stimulus
In direct contrast to the last case cited, I have found at
least one case of a child whose compliance could not be evoked
by extreme intensity of environmental stimulus, but who
yielded compliance very readily to environmental stimuli
of superior volume, harmoniously arranged. This child,
M, showed a marked liking for flowers and for the woods,
and fields at the age of six to seven. In " telling fortunes "
by enumerating the petals of a daisy, M was unwilling to
pluck the .petals from the flower as the other children did.
Instead, she would touch the petals with her finger, reciting
the appropriate " fortune " rhyme with each petal as she did
so. When asked why she did not pluck the petals out and
throw them away, she replied that she " couldn't bear to
hurt the flowers ". She also said that she hated to step
on any sort of flower. Several years later, when entering
early adolescence, this same child would gaze at sunsets
until the last light had faded. At this time also, she would
seat herself on a hill side and stay for hours apparently ab-
sorbed in the shifting lights and colours of the rustic panorama
spread below her. She said that she ielt herself " drinking it
all in " and also that she felt that she " understood nature "
and " seemed to be one with it ".
On the other hand, when M's mother commanded her
to do things that the child did not wish to do, M would
defy the utmost parental penalty rather than comply with
168 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
the command. When M. was six to seven years old, the
mother, who was a strict disciplinarian, sometimes used up
half a dozen beech switches in whipping the child without
exacting obedience. M's father was still less successful
in eliciting compliance. After numerous unsuccessful at-
tempts, he seems to have given up the effort to discipline
M altogether. M, at a later age (i.e., at about the beginning
of adolescence), developed a very great fondness for her
mother, and submitted to her commands thereafter quite
readily. From this submissive behaviour, an additional
increment of compliance developed. Nevertheless, the young
girl still showed and continues to show a very high compliance
threshold toward environmental stimuli of great' intensity.
She has continued to show also, an extremely low compliance
threshold toward harmoniously arranged environmental
stimuli of large volume.
Compliance with Volume is Pleasant, Compliance with
Intensity is Unpleasant
The contrast between what might be termed compliance
with intensity and compliance with volume is a contrast, pri-
marily, between unpleasant and pleasant compliance A
compliance with stimuli of overwhelming intensity is not
only unpleasant at the beginning, before the conflict has
been resolved in favour of the stimulus, but it attains in-
difference, at best, after the compliant adjustment has been
accomplished. Compliance with superior volume, on the
other hand, is certainly pleasant throughout a major portion
of the entire experience. The initial period during which
the stimulus is overwhelming the motor self, may contain a
considerable tinge of unpleasantness : though to subjects
like the girl M., even this initial period seems altogether
pleasant. The degree of unpleasantness, if any, at the be-
ginning of the response appears to depend upon the readiness
with which the motor self yields to the environmental stimulus
of superior volume. If the initial surrender is made virtually
without even a momentary struggle, then the response con-
tains no observable unpleasantness. If on the other hand,
the subject is intensely active, a brief initial period of un-
pleasantness may occur before an harmoniously arranged
environmental stimulus of great volume can evoke complete
compliance. In either case, however, once the motor self
COMPLIANCE 169
has diminished its intensity and volume sufficiently to 'permit
the organism to comply freely with the stimulus, the com-
pliance response is wholly pleasant.
The pleasantness is a product of the alliance between the
different motor stimuli units evoked by different constituent
units of the environmental stimulus. The more units the
environmental stimulus contains, therefore, harmoniously
arranged as far as their stimulus function goes, the more
harmonious motor stimuli will be evoked, and the greater
total pleasantness the entire compliance response will contain.
Human E kings Can Be Controlled by Offering a Stimulus
of Superior Volume
Compliance with volume is not only a primarily pleasant
response, but also, when properly combined with dominance
(a full description of which will be taken up in a latter chapter)
constitutes the only method by which one human being can
efficiently control another. That is to say, compliance with
intensity, while most effective for the enforcement of passive
compliance, is as we have seen, extremely inefficient in evoking
active compliance. When compelled to comply with an
overwhelmingly intense stimulus, a human or animal subject
invariably minimizes the amount of active compliance given.
Moreover, if the stimulus is too intense, causing bodily pain
and injury, the subject no longer possesses capacity for
maximally efficient active compliance. When compliance
is evoked by a superior volume, however, as in the case of
city children transported to the country, the response of
active compliance corresponds in volume very closely with
the volume of the environmental stimulus. Since compliance
with volume is a fundamentally pleasant experience, there
is no tendency on the part of the subject organism to minimize
the quantity of active compliance rendered. Really efficient
work in any line of commerce, industry, or intellectual or artistic
endeavour can only be obtained from workers who have learned
compliance with volume. Prison labour or other services
exacted under threat of punishment (overwhelmingly
intense environmental stimulus) can never be maximally
efficient, unless the prisoners or other subordinates can be
taught compliance with volume, after their motor selves
have been initially conquered by environmental stimuli of
superior intensity. If a prison or other disciplinary pro-
170 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
gramme were arranged with this in view (which, in my ex-
perience, it seldom is) incalculable benefit could be done to
the subjects by thus training them to a pleasant compliance
with volume as a substitute for unpleasant compliance with
intensity.
Compliance with Volume is a Learned Response
Whether compliance with volume can ever properly be
termed an unlearned reaction is extremely doubtful. We
have already noted that compliance with intensity is a re-
sponse which the child must learn, apparently by either
painful or submissive experiences. Watson has shown
that babies grasp lighted candles, and other potentially
injurious objects, quite as readily as they grasp a rattle
or stick. We will have occasion to note in a following chapter
that the hunger-pang mechanism, which seems to be inherent,
is capable of administering over-intense stimulation which
ultimately evokes compliance response. But hunger-pangs
are a stimulus mechanism and not an integrative mechanism.
Therefore, we may still regard compliance with intensity
as a learned emotional response. Similarly, compliance
with volume is probably a learned emotional response
also.
It is true that, as in the case of M, we may find an inhererjt,
integrative balance, making possible a very low threshold
for compliance with volume. But even in the r.ase of M,
a close analysis of the child's history showed that M.'s mother
had trained the child very efficiently, along lines calculated
to teach the child the pleasantness to be experienced in
complying with flowers, trees, and other objects of nature.
M, at the age of five, had believed that fairies lived in flowers
and that, therefore, to destroy a flower was to deprive the
fairy of her home. Other similar evidences of the mother's
teaching made it apparent that the compliance threshold
had been considerably lowered, at least, by a line of teaching
ingeniously adapted to what amounted to an individual
peculiarity in the child's inherent integrative balance. Thus,
M's marked response of compliance with volume, though no
doubt made possible by neural mechanisms especially sus-
ceptible to this response, was none the less learned as far
as the compliance itself was concerned. One of my students,
experimenting with a baby three weeks old, was unable to
COMPLIANCE 171
evoke the slightest compliance behaviour as a reaction to
flowers presented to the child in various ways, including
olfactory and visual stimulation. Preyer 1 maintained that
a child is able to distinguish disagreeable smells from agreeable
ones a few days after birth. Preyer based this conclusion
upon the expression of the child's face. The examples cited
by Preyer have to do with the smell of milk and the mother's
breast. It is possible that the hunger-pang mechanism,
to be considered shortly, which teaches compliance with
volume following compliance with intensity, has begun to
make evident its effect within a few days after birth. But
this would not detract from the character of res all ing com-
pliance emotion as a learned reaction. It seems safe to
conclude that compliance with volume, like compliance with
intensity, as an emotional response wherein the integrative
patterns of emotional consciousness must be learned. (This
may be contrasted to dominance emotion, wherein both
integrative mechanism and integrative pattern are apparently
present at birth, since the motor self may very probably
have been reinforcing itself to overcome stimuli of less in-
tensity during spontaneous movement of the embryo for
some time before birth.)
Aesthetic Emotion is Compliance with Volume
The em)tion of compliance with volume finds its greatest
pleasantness and subtlest expression in the so-called
" aesthetic attitude ". Certain adult subjects, who are
probably endowed with an inherently low threshold for this
response, and who have developed it extensively to the
exclusion of dominant pursuits, regard aesthetic attitude
as the highest development of human emotion. The aesthete
is a person who enjoys to the full the experience of permitting
his motor self to be overwhelmed by the harmonious volume
of motor stimuli, evoked by an environmental stimulus of
moderate or low intensity but of large volume. The greatness
of the volume of the stimulus, however, need be only relative
to the compliance threshold of the aesthetically developed
individual. We have every reason to believe that a beautiful
flower, for instance, would not succeed in evoking compliance
from the most aesthetically inclined infant ever born. But
1 W. Preyer, Mental Development in the Child, pp. 3 ff .
172 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
we may be equally sure that the average adult has developed
compliance with volume response to the point where the
balance of his motor self may be overturned by the har-
moniously arranged stimulus units of a single rose or violet.
Aesthetes Possess Delicate Balance of the Motor Self
Aesthetes, as a rule, possess motor selves which are to be
described as delicately balanced, rather than as weak or of
low intensity. The aesthete's attitude seems to be a matter
of elaborate training of the motor self, to respond selectively
to motor stimuli whose constituent units possess a high degree
of alliance or harmony, inter se. In the process of learning
this aesthetic attitude, environmental stimuli are first selected
which possess large volume as well as harmonious arrange-
ment. The girl M, for instance, had the beginnings of an
unusually well developed aesthetic attitude. A landscape
or rural scene, containing flowers and trees, evoked such
complete compliance from M that even a " temper fit " (over-
intense dominance emotion) could be overwhelmed and super-
ceded by a few moments spent in viewing such a scene of rural
beauty. As his aesthetic development is continued, the
subject learns to respond in the same way to any environmental
stimulus, the stimulating elements of which are harmoniously
arranged in relation to the subject's organism ; regardless
of how great or how small a total volume of mo f or stimuli
may be evoked. That is to say, aesthetic training consists,
for the most part, in learning to obtain the pleasantness of
compliance with volume emotion from any environmental
stimulus whose units are harmoniously arranged, no matter
how little the total volume of stimulation may be. This
development is sometimes carried to an extreme where non-
aesthetic persons regard the aesthetic pleasure gained as
exceedingly anaemic. In fact, any person of balanced
emotional development continues to feel the need of consider-
able volume of aesthetic stimulus in order to yield com-
pliantly to it. If such an emotionally balanced individual
is induced by training or example to comply with (take an
aesthetic interest in) an harmonious environmental stimulus
of inconsiderable volume, the resultant emotional tone is apt
to carry very little pleasantness, and is apt to be characterized
as " formal " or " artificial ".
COMPLIANCE 173
Motor Discharge to the Viscera Gives the Greatest Unit Motor
Pattern for Aesthetic Compliance Response
Aesthetic attitude is a form of compliance with volume
which excludes all dominance, because the aesthetic or har-
monious environmental stimulus is always reacted to as a
unit. Breaking up this unit response into particular reactions
of the skeletal muscles to different parts of the unit stimulus,
would mean that a certain amount of the harmonious volume
must necessarily be sacrificed in the interest of a smaller,
though more energetic group of reactions. Such a reduction
of the total possible harmony or alliance of motor stimuli
would be wholly opposed to the aesthetic principle 'of seeking
always the maximum volume of compliance emotion in
response to the aesthetic stimulus. If, then, the purpose is
deliberately to keep the harmonious response volume at its
maximum, the only method of doing this is to condition the
organism in such a way that only visceral reactions will be
evoked by aesthetic environmental stimuli. Visceral reactions,
because of the nerve-net principle of the autonomic
ganglia, offer much greater possibilities for a large, simul-
taneous, unit pattern of motor discharge. Therefore it
becomes part oif the aesthetic attitude to learn to respond
viscerally, and not with the skeletal muscles, to environmental
stijnuli selected with reference to their aesthetic value, that is,
with reference to the large volume of harmoniously inter-
related nJbtor stimuli which the environmental stimulus is
able to evoke.
Many aesthetes who also possess very well developed
dominance, and who can be induced to make introspective
reports in language more explicit than gasps and fragmentary
phrases which are frequently considered to be necessary parts
of the aesthetic expression, report that along with the more
vague and general " aesthetic one-ness with the object ",
they are also aware of subliminal " feelings of movement " in
various skeletal muscles, " as though dancing " or " gliding
through the air ". It is interesting to note in these reported
subliminal or " imaginary " movements which take place
during the typical aesthetic experience, that there is almost
always a notable absence of the dominant phase of each move-
ment described.
For instance, one young man whom I had occasion to study,
and who appeared to possess an unusually complete aesthetic
174 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
development, frequently felt himself swinging on a high
trapeze. He had the feeling, he said, of making graceful
curves and loops, as his body swung passively over the bar
of the trapeze, and sometimes passed from one trapeze to the
next. I had half a dozen clinical conferences with this young
aesthete, cross-examined him closely in regard to the muscular
sensations accompanying his trapeze imaginings, and analysed
the neural components of the movements he said be felt.
The notable feature in all these trapeze movements seemed to
be the absence of all voluntary or dominant effort. For example,
there was no feeling whatever ol clinging to the trapeze bar
with his hands, which would be practically the only portion
of the swing requiring any muscular support or tension. In
all the movements reported gravity did the work, not the subject.
He felt his body passively moved by a force larger in volume than
his own but not as intense. He also felt all the movements
enforced upon his body to be graceful harmonious movements
devoid of purpose to himself yet perfectly co-ordinated one with
the other. This case seems to typify aesthetic compliance
with volume emotion, in an instance where the motor stimuli
are permitted some outlet to the skeletal muscles as well as
unlimited outlet to the viscera.
Work Contains Both Dominance and Compliance ; Aesthetic
Attitude in Pure Compliance
In the instance cited above wherein the citu children
transported to the country were first overwhelmed by the
superior volume of the country stimulus, and thereafter
reacted to the various component parts of the country stimulus
one unit at a time, dominance was injected into the total
response each time that a specific reaction was undertaken.
If, for example, a child complied with the brook by beginning
to move toward it, the initial movement might be a purely
compliant one, antagonistic to the customary position of the
foot as maintained by the motor self. But the moment the
body was swung out of balance by this compliant movement,
the motor self must compensate by dominating the motor
stimuli once more in bringing the body back into a proper state
of equilibrium. Thus every specific group of compliant
responses must be compensated by a correspondingly strong,
antagonistic group of dominance responses. The child's
wanderings over hill and dale, therefore, would consist,
COMPLIANCE 175
roughly, of a mixture of half compliance and half dominance.
In the same way all useful work which has its origin, as we
have seen, in compliance with volume response, must contain,
nevertheless, an admixture of fifty per cent, or more domin-
ance. Some types of very strenuous work, though they may
be initiated as compliance with volume responses, necessarily
require a much larger proportion of dominance than of com-
pliance before the task can be successfully completed. The
contrast, therefore, between such behaviour and aesthetic
response is a contrast between a mixture containing the two
ingredients of compliance and dominance, and a pure primary
emotional consciousness, containing only the ingredient of
compliance. The actual quantitative amount of compliance
in the activity of work or exploration may exceed by far the
total quantity of compliance in an aesthetic response. But
the latter, in so far as it is aesthetic, contains only compliance
emotion and nothing else. When Buddha held up the lotus
flower before his pupils, he did not wish them to diagram it,
or otherwise express dominance over it. He was delighted
when a disciple utterly complied with the flower, i.e. aesthetically
appreciated it.
Summary
We may summarize compliance response, then, as follows.
Intimate physical forces comply with antagonistic forces
stronger tl^an themselves by decreasing their own strength
in the particular wherein it is opposed. This may be termed
passive compliance. If the stronger force, by injecting fresh
energy into the reagent, compels the latter to move actively
in a new direction, or to change its form or physical expression
this may be termed active compliance. In either case, the
measure of the decrease in the original force or form of activity
will be the difference between the initial strength of the
reagent and the superior strength of its successful opponent.
The work of the physiologists in attempting to evoke
emotional responses from decerebrate animals seems to lead
to the conclusion that compliance response does not occur
unless there remains some motor area of the central nervous
system integratively predominant over that portion of the
motor self which is compelled to comply by a motor stimulus
of superior intensity. There is some evidence from cases of
thalamic lesion in human adults, and from studies made upon
176 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
infant^ born without cerebral hemispheres, that thalamic
motor centres free from cortical inhibition may produce an
exaggerated type of compliance.
Compliance response in human beings seems to be entirely
of a learned variety. While the integrative mechanism of
compliance is, of course, inherent, the individual compliance
pattern appears to be formed only as a result of experience
wherein the infant's motor self is overwhelmed by a motor
stimulus of superior intensity. The compliance which
follows consists of :
(1) Decrease of the motor self sufficiently to permit the
motor stimulus to obtain complete control of the disputed
motor centres, and
(2) Unhampered discharge by the triumphant motor
stimulus through the conquered motor centres. By means
of the synaptic principle of after discharge, the compliant
movement may be continued for some time after the cessation
of the environmental stimulus which evoked compliance,
just as, by the principle of momentum, a physical force or
object may continue to move compliantly after its opponent
of superior strength has ceased to exert its force upon it.
The normal compliance threshold in infants seems to be
reached at the point where an environmental stimulus is
sufficiently intense to evoke physical pain (burning of hand by
candle), or where the environmental stimulus is of sufficient
intensity, combined with suddenness of presentation, to over-
whelm tonic motor discharge by evoking motor stimuli of
paralysing intensity, though without previous occurrence of
physical pain (sudden loud noise near infant's head, throwing
body wholly off balance at mercy of unopposed gravity).
Compliance emotion thus can be transferred to, or conditioned
upon inadequate environmental stimuli of comparatively
slight intensity, which serve to give warning of the approach
of any destructively intense stimulus. In laboratory experi-
ments upon normal adults, it has been shown that compliance
response in every way similar to that of the infant, can be
evoked by the same environmental stimuli of overwhelming
intensity, without physical pain.
The compliance threshold may be raised above the usual
level in various ways.
(i) A child can be protected from environmental stimuli
of overwhelming intensity until his dominance response has
COMPLIANCE 177
developed out of all proportion to compliance (cases of Edgar
and youthful criminals).
(2) Constant dominant stimulation may occur due to bodily
abnormality, or other cause, rendering the motor self over
intense, and practically undefeatable by antagonistic motor
stimuli, no matter how great their intensity (cases of endocrine
imbalance, precocious sex development in young convicts).
(3) High connector threshold between environmental
stimulus and motor stimulus due to integrative cause inherent
or unknown.
Two factors of environmental stimulation are effective in
producing response over and above sheer intensity of the
environmental stimulus.
(1) Suddenness of presentation of the stimulus may evoke
motor stimulus which overwhelms the motor self before it
has opportunity to reinforce itself.
(2) Long duration of over intense environmental stimulus
or repetition of same at sufficiently brief intervals, may
maintain motor stimuli of great intensity in a state of antagon-
ism to the motor self for a period longer than that during which
the motor self is able to keep itself reinforced to the un-
naturally high intensity level necessary to overwhelm these
motor stimuli (case of incorrigible prisoner whipped on
successive days).
Sherrington has shown that reflexes of high affective tone
tend to be r\repotent. Environmental stimuli of overwhelming
intensity such as those just considered, evoke reflexes of
maximum unpleasantness, causing a maximum of conflict
between motor stimulus and motor self. An environmental
unit stimulus composed of a large volume of stimuli of moderate
intensity harmoniously arranged with respect to their sensory
effect upon the subject, may evoke motor stimuli harmoniously
interrelated and sufficiently great in volume to surpass the
volume of the motor self. Such a total motor stimulus should
contain within itself a high degree of pleasantness, while at
the same time possessing the ability to overwhelm the motor
self and evoke compliance response. This type of compliance
emotion may be termed compliance with volume, as contrasted
with compliance with intensity evoked by over intense stimuli.
Compliance with volume is a pleasant response after the
initial yielding of the motor self to the motor stimulus has been
evoked. Since there is no prolongation of the central antagon-
N'
178 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
ism or conflict throughout the persistence of compliance with
volume response, this type of integration constitutes the only
mechanism by which the subject may be made to comply
actively with an environmental stimulus. Compliance with
volume is the only primary emotional response whereby any
consistently large volume of efficient work can be performed.
Compliance with volume may readily be evoked from some
other types of subjects, especially those whose motor selves
have been trained to yield only to environmental stimuli of
superior intensity. Such subjects may be retrained, however,
by conditioning or transfer of response to compliance with
volume. This training can be done
(1) By initially overwhelming the motor self with an over-
intense stimulus (prisoners injuriously punished).
(2) By evoking submission emotion toward a loved one
(allied stimulus of superior volume, and subsequently trans-
ferring surrender of dominance to respond to antagonistic
stimulus of superior volume).
While compliance with volume which takes the form of
activity of the skeletal muscles must involve an equal or
greater volume of compensatory dominance response, in order
to restore balance to the body after each compliant movement,
it is possible to respond viscerally with complete compliance
to an harmonious environmental stimulus of superior volume
without any admixture of dominance. Such a response of
compliance with volume without any admixture of> dominance
is customarily termed " aesthetic response " or " aesthetic
attitude ". Development of the aesthetic attitude by self
training or conditioning leads to a response of pure compliance
with any environmental stimulus, all the constituent elements
of which are harmoniously interrelated, even though the total
volume of motor stimuli evoked is less in volume than the
motor self.
Compliance May Be Unpleasant, Indifferent, and Pleasant
When compliance response is completely learned, so that
the integrative decrease in the motor self to make room for
the superior stimulus opponent is accomplished without
struggle, compliance emotion may be freed wholly from
unpleasantness. Compliance then becomes either pre-
dominantly indifferent in feeling tone, or positively pleasant,
depending upon the volume of the motor stimulus which is
COMPLIANCE 179
being complied with, and upon the degree of alliance between
the constituent elements in the total motor stimulus.
Compliance with intensity may contain an admixture of
" fear " throughout, and this " fear " element is probably
the most thoroughly unpleasant of all emotional states. But
' fear," as we shall note at length in a subsequent chapter,
results not from successful compliance with a stimulus, but
rather from integrative failure to comply completely. Com-
pliance with a stimulus of superior intensity contains, at best,
little pleasantness, because over-intensity of any neural
excitement, as we have several times noted, tends to interfere
with alliance relationship between the different groups of
impulses composing the total excitation. Unpleasantness can
be wholly removed, however, and a rather complete indifference
established (as in the case of affective adaptation to hydrogen
sulphide, mentioned in Chapter IV, above).
The reason that voluntary compliance may always avoid
unpleasantness seems to be that the motor self is physically
under control of the organism (that is, under control of higher
centres of the central nervous system), so that the motor self
can be retired at any time from conflict with a motor stimulus.
The moment one integrative opponent is completely eliminated
from the battle, no matter which antagonist it may be, un-
pleasantness ceases, and indifference reigns. In the emotion
oi dominance, on the other hand, the purpose is to eliminate
the motor .stimulus, and to keep the motor self's energy dis-
charge intact. The motor stimulus, in so far as it can be
mechanistically forced upon the organism by an environmental
stimulus, is not under control of the subject. Therefore,
during dominance emotion, some degree of unpleasantness
inevitably persists until after complete success of the domin-
ance reaction in physically removing its environmental
opponent. When that has been done, the typical dominance
quality of emotional consciousness ceases, unless the un-
pleasantness removed is voluntarily remembered in order to
experience the dominant emotional " thrill ", known as
" triumph ". Compliance emotion, on the other hand,
measures its success not by removal of the opponent, but by
the completeness of readjustment of the motor self to that
opponent. When complete retirement of the motor self from
conflict has been accomplished, indifference of feeling tone always
announces that accomplishment.
I8o EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
This initial indifference may persist throughout compliance
response, or it may give way to positive pleasantness, de-
pending upon the nature of the motor stimulus complied
with. The subject organism is powerless to produce this
element of positive pleasantness. It is always able, however,
if the motor self be under sufficiently complete control, to
maintain indifference of feeling tone, by keeping the tonic
motor discharge from all conflict with the motor stimulus,
no matter how antagonistic or intense the latter may be.
The difficulty with establishing and maintaining such indifference
seems to consist solely of a difficulty in establishing control
over the Ionic innervations of so-called "involuntary" type.
Could these innervations be suspended at will, no stimulation
need ever be felt as unpleasant provided the subject elected
to comply with it completely.
There appear to be fairly well authenticated cases of
Oriental " adepts " who can endure, with seeming indifference,
the thrusting of needles and knives through their flesh, and
other stimuli of even more severe nature. Systolic blood
pressure and pulse rate are both found to decrease considerably
during such stimulation, though the subject may continue
to converse equably, with no evidence of central inhibi-
tions or conflicts. Lowering of cardiac energy indicates
decrease of tonic discharge, integrated reciprocally with t}ie
antagonistic motor discharge ultimately flowing from 'the
environmental stimuli (knife thrusts, etc,). Perkaps many
of the seeming miracles of this particular variety, performed
by " occultists " may be attributed, after all, not to hypnotism
of the audience, but to hard work in learning compliance
response.
My own experiments in self-training along this line have
given positive results, though upon a few occasions only,
when other bodily and environmental conditions were most
favourable. One must be willing to accept the pain as one's
sole occupation during whatever time it may continue, just
as any work dictated by environmental stimulation ma;y be
accepted as all absorbing. Any slightest attempt to engage
in any motor activity preventing full discharge of the motor
impulses set up by the painful stimulus brings back un-
pleasantness to its full initial extent. For instance, announce-
ment of a visitor, followed by turning my attention to the
subject-matter to be discussed with him, made an ulcerated
COMPLIANCE 181
tooth pain unbearably unpleasant, though previously I had
reduced it to indifference by complete compliance with it.
After more extended compliance training, such secondary
activities might also be adjusted in such a way as not to
interfere with the motor discharge from the pain stimulus ;
but I have only been working on this type of compliance
learning intermittently for ten years. " Adepts " devote
their entire lives to it.
Another condition of motor set that I have found necessary
to remove unpleasantness from pain experience is acceptance
of whatever weakness of the motor self may be imposed by
the necessity of making room, as it were, for the entire volume
of antagonistic pain-excitement motor discharge. En-
vironmental pain stimuli are, by definition, over-intense.
As long as over-intensity of psychonic energy persists in the
motor centres, there necessarily will be some conflict of
impulses and some corresponding unpleasantness. To remove
this over-intensity, a sufficient number of efferent paths
must be opened, free of all obstruction, to drain off the centrally
dammed up excitement, thus keeping its intensity level
within the normal conduction capacity of the motor psychons
involved. In order to do this, if the pain is extreme, a reduc-
tion must be made in the tonic outflow which results in marked
symptoms of faintness, collapse, and general physical weak-
ne^s. This condition also might be minimized, after long
compliance learning, by more selective reduction of the motor
self ; but, in any case, the subject must accept, without
reserve, whatever weakness may result from complete com-
pliance, since reservations bring back unpleasantness.
Positive pleasantness of compliance response seems only
to occur when the compliance is a reaction to a motor stimulus
of superior volume and moderate intensity, and when the
constituent elements of such a motor stimulus are intrinsically
harmonious. Compliant pleasantness, then, depends ulti-
mately, upon the nature of the environmental stimulus.
Compliance with volume response becomes indifferent, as
we have already noted, when artificially conditioned upon
an environmental stimulus of inadequate, or inferior volume.
The pleasantness of compliance, in short, may be gained
only by seeking an adequate environmental stimulus never
by learning to respond compliantly to whatever stimulus
happens to present itself. The heroine of " Main Street "
182 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
was represented quite accurately, as a woman whose emotional
nature insatiably craved this sort of stimulus (aesthetic
stimuli), and who could find no substitute among the dis-
harmonious surroundings of Main Street. In the same way,
we frequently find that a one-sidedly developed aesthete's
life consists of little else than a never-ending search for new
objects possessing the power of harmonious stimulation
evoking compliance with volume, or aesthetic emotion.
Distinctive Conscious Characteristics of Compliance Emotion
The quality of emotional consciousness peculiar to com-
pliance i&- somewhat more difficult to discover adequate
terminology for than is the corresponding quality of domi-
nance emotion Compliance has been identified frequently
with fear, on the one hand, and with religious and aesthetic
attitude on the other. Some of the more common literary,
pseudo-psychological, and psychological terms for emotional
states consisting chiefly of compliance emotion when com-
pliance is with superior intensity, are : " fear ", " being
afraid to do " some dominant act, " being afraid of " some
stronger force, person or object, " timidity ", " caution ",
" weak will ", " conforming ", " trimming one's sails to fit
the gale ", " swimming with the stream ", " open minded-
ness ", " candour ", " getting down to brass tacks ", " being
a realist ", " fall in with " a stronger force or person,
" adapting ", " yielding to ", " resignation ", " resigning one's
self to fate ", " doing God's will ", " fear of God ", " being
well disciplined ", " bearing one's burdens ", " bearing one's
cross ", " taking what is coming to you without whining ",
" humility ", " respect " for the strength of the antagonist,
" awe ", and " tolerance ".
Terms especially relating to pleasant compliance with
volume are : " Oneness with nature ", " joys of nature ",
" looking to the hills from whence cometh my strength ",
" tuning to the infinite ", <f mystical experience ", " nirvana ",
" Buddha", "oneness with God", "harmony", "peace",
" receptivity ", " feeling of beauty ", " aesthetic feeling ",
" fineness of feeling ", " empathy ", " aesthetic attitude ",
" susceptibility to beauty ", " rapture ", and " aesthetic
appreciation ".
It is easy to observe a marked difference in affective tone
between terms popularly expressive of compliance with
COMPLIANCE 183
intensity, and literary or religious terms employed -in the
description of aesthetic or religious compliance with volume,
the former indicating associated unpleasantness of varying
degrees, and the latter implying pleasant associations, for
the most part. ' Fear ", or at best, suffering stoically
endured, seem to be thought of as inevitable accompaniments
of compliance with intensity in a great majority of occidental
writings. There seems to exist, in short, little or no under-
standing of compliance with intensity as a voluntarily accepted
emotional response. Compliance with volume, on the other
hand, is evidently regarded in literary circles as one of the
highest possible forms of emotional development. But there
appears, in most of the terms mentioned above, ~a curious
personification, or anthropomorphic idealization of the in-
animate stimuli capable of evoking this response. Does
this mean, perhaps, that compliance with volume, also,
is not clearly accepted as an emotional primary by itself,
but always tends to be thought of in mixture with submission
to a being possessing glorified human love qualities ?
Nearly all the popular emotional terms included in both
groups above, however, seem to contain as a common de-
nominator of emotional meaning, compliance consisting of
decrease of the motor self to let an opponent move the organism
as it will ; either passively, by making the self give up some
dominant activity, or actively, by compelling the organism to
move in sgme anti-dominant way.
Introspection upon compliance emotion, elicited with
difficulty because persons possessing most compliance de-
velopment tend to be most incoherent and least explicit,
generally suggest the essence of compliance consciousness
to be a feeling of acceptance of an object or force as inevitably
just what it is, followed by self-yielding sufficient to bring about
harmonious readjustment of self to object. This feeling, un-
pleasant if the stimulus is too intense to be completely adjusted
to, indifferent if the stimulus is of small volume or is composed
of inharmonious elements, and pleasant if the stimulus is of
moderate intensity, large volume, and is composed of units
cumulatively harmonious, constitutes compliance emotion.
CHAPTER IX
DOMINANCE AND COMPLIANCE
We have considered in the last chapter the integrative
mechanisms which are responsible for the emotional responses
of dominance and compliance, and we have analysed a few
simple illustrations of actual human behaviour exemplifying
the occurrence of these emotions in as isolated a form as
possible. We have still to consider the normal inter-relation-
ship between dominance and compliance when the two
emotional responses occur successively. We have also to
consider, thereafter, the normal integrative combinations of
dominance and compliance when these two emotional re-
sponses occur simultaneously.
Passive Dominance Prevents Compliance From Being
Evoked
The response of passive dominance may be evoked by
an adequate dominance stimulus without previous interven-
tion of any compliance response. If, for example VJ an infant
is holding tightly to its rattle, and if the mother tries to pull
the toy from the child, exerting less force upon the rattle
than the infant is able to exert in holding it, the child's motor
self may simply reinforce itself so promptly and efficiently
that the infant's actual grip upon the rattle is never loosened.
This result may be carried to the point where the infant
actually suspends his own weight from a rod or stick, which
he was grasping firmly at the time the experimenter started
to pull it away. Such a response represents almost pure
passive dominance because the motor self was in control
of the disputed efferent channels of motor discharge before
the motor stimulus began its contest for these paths, and
throughout the response the motor self similarly continued
to resist all encroachments upon its occupied territory. In
short, passive dominance consists of simple resistance to the
attack of an antagonistic motor stimulus upon the motor
184
DOMINANCE AND COMPLIANCE 185
self. No compliance whatever enters into this type of
emotional response, and the general motor set of the organism
is not changed in any way by reaction to the environmental
stimulus except that more effort, or energy, has been released
to preserve the pre-existing set.
Dominance Represents the Natural Equilibrium of the
Organism
If compliance response actually succeeds, even momentarily,
in supplanting the dominant control exercised by the motor
self over the final motor paths of the organism, then two
integrative possibilities appear. First, the compliance
emotion may continue undisturbed until the environmental
stimulus has ceased to evoke a motor stimulus of superior
intensity or volume. In this case, which might consist,
for example, of an aesthetic response, the emotion experienced
is one of compliance without the admixture of dominance.
This corresponds, it would seem, to the situation just con-
sidered where pure dominance emotion of passive type
remained uninterrupted. Ihere is one important difference.
The compliance emotion which persists without any ad-
mixture of dominance is an active compliance response whereas
the uninterrupted dominance just considered was of passive
type only. In short, compliance can continue to rule the
subject organism only for so long as it keeps the organism
actively moving in an anti-dominant way. The moment
the organism ceases to comply actively witli a given stimulus,
the natural reflex equilibrium automatically re-establishes
itself, and dominance emotion inevitably supplants compliance.
For example, a beautiful picture may control the attention
and main avenues of involuntary motor discharge to the
viscera so long as the harmonious volume of motor stimulus
evoked by the art object is sufficiently superior to the volume
of the motor self. But if the studio light begins to wane,
or if the individual sense organs become fatigued in gazing
at the picture, the environmental stimulus at once ceases to
evoke a motor stimulus of superior volume. The immediate
result of this change in the motor stimulus is to bring about
a cessation of active compliance motor discharge of an anti-
tonic sort. This, of course, frees the tonic impulses from
their previous restraint and the motor self automatically
re-establishes its control of the efferent centres. This process
186 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
of re-establishing control constitutes a response of active
dominance. It will be felt by the subject himself in most
instances of the type cited as a feeling of active criticism
of, or boredom with, the picture (this of course assumes that
no other stimulus intrudes to claim the subject's attention).
Another type of reassertion of dominance after aesthetic
compliance with an art object might consist of a sudden
determination to possess the admired object, followed im-
mediately by behaviour appropriately directed toward its
purchase or acquisition.
Active^ Compliance may Oppose More and More of the
Motor Self Until it Evokes Dominance
If, then, compliance is permitted to continue without
interruption to the point where the stimulus ceases to be
effective, it must necessarily be followed immediately by
dominance emotion accompanying the mere automatic return
of the organism's natural integrative balance. A second
type of termination of compliance appears in the case last
mentioned, where continued aesthetic compliance with a
beautiful picture was superseded by dominant attempt to
possess the picture itself. It seems clear that the compliance
response did not merely run itself out but rather brought
about the dominance emotion which superseded it. The
mechanism for this type of integrative causation would sem
to be a sort of passing of the quantitative limit beypnd which
the motor self cannot comply with the motor stimulus because
a large enough proportion of the motor self has become
involved in the reaction to make it superior in strength to
opposed motor stimuli. That is to say, if the motor stimulus
opposes only a comparatively small portion of the motor self
the stimulus may be more powerful than the self ; but, when
the same stimulus opposes more and more of the self a point is
sooner or later reached where the increment of motor self involved
in the conflict has become more powerful than the motor stimulus.
At that point the stimulus becomes an adequate dominance
stimulus instead of an adequate compliance stimulus, and
the subject's response similarly transforms itself from com-
pliance into dominance.
In the instance where the subject first feels aesthetic com-
pliance emotion toward a picture, and later, as the response
progresses, suddenly assumes a dominant attitude toward
DOMINANCE AND COMPLIANCE 187
the picture in trying to acquire it for himself, it seems reason-
able to assume that the original compliance with volume
response was able to control the organism for only so long
a time as a comparatively small portion of the motor self
was engaged in compliance. When the reaction to the
picture had spread sufficiently in the higher motor centres
of the central nervous system and a larger portion of the
motor self consequently became involved, this total increment
of the motor self was no longer of suitable size for compliance
response, but rather proved sufficient for dominance over
the picture.
In instances like this, where the intensity of the* environ-
mental stimulus, and consequently the intensity of the motor
stimulus is comparatively slight, there would be an ever
present likelihood throughout the response that the strength
of the stimulus might be felt at any moment as inferior to
the strength of the motor self. The aesthetic attitude,
in other words, is an extremely unstable one and difficult
to maintain over any considerable length of time of response.
That is, there seems to come a point in any compliance re-
sponse where the environmental stimulus ceases to be felt
as an adequate compliance stimulus, and in the type of
instance now under examination, its effect upon the organism
in ^ evoking compliance response appears to endow it sub-
sequently with positive potency as an adequate dominance
stimulus. !n persons of extreme aesthetic training, it is true,
this change from aesthetic reaction to dominance response
might be long deferred or might, in fact, never occur. But
with the ordinary individual there seems to be a certain
piling up, or summation of the motor self during an extended
compliance response, which, when the point of overflow is
reached, transforms the compliance emotion into dominance
of equal or greater strength.
The Shift from Compliance to Dominance When the Whole
Motor Self is Opposed is " Instinct of Self-Preservation "
The fact that rats will fight when cornered has become
proverbial. I would suggest that this response is probably
expressive of the same mechanism as that underlying the
change from aesthetic to dominance response just con-
sidered. The rat complies with the antagonist of superior
strength by running away from his opponent. This con-
188 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
tinues' for as long a period as the proportion of the rat's motor
self which is overwhelmed by his superior enemy is a com-
paratively small one. When, however, every avenue of
escape is cut off, the animal's entire motor self is brought to
bay, as it were. The full intensity of this animal's motor
self when increased by its reinforcement mechanism to
maximum strength, and when the entire motor self is involved
in the conflict, evidently proves stronger than the sum total
of motor stimuli which can be evoked by the most dangerous
foe. This is the so-called " instinct of self-preservation ".
It is a type of behaviour shown frequently by the most timid
of human beings when suddenly confronted by an extreme
danger from which there is no possible escape by flight.
In fact the " instinct of self- preservation " might be defined
as a change from compliance response to dominance response
at the point where a sufficient proportion of the motor self becomes
involved in conflict with the stimulus to render motor self more
Powerful than motor stimulus. The state of emotional con-
sciousness involved in this shift is frequently termed
" desperation ".
Dominance Always Replaces Compliance
If, then, active compliance is followed in any event by a
dominant re-establishment of control of the organism by
the motor self, it might be permissible to formulate the -rule
in some such way as follows : Active compliance is normally
followed by active dominance.
The same rule evidently holds also with respect to passive
compliance. That is, if the motor self is compelled by a
stimulus of greater intensity to give up control of certain
disputed paths, the tonic discharge will automatically re-
assume control of these paths as soon as the prohibitory
barrier has been removed, even though the contest has been
a mutual stand-off, as it were, and the motor stimulus has
not succeeded in itself moving the organism actively. There
seems, however, this qualification to be made concerning
the reversion to dominance following compliance of passive
aspect only. If the subject's motor self happened, in the
first place, to be in a condition of marked reinforcement, or
increased intensity for the purpose of dominating object A,
and if the motor self were compelled passively to comply
with stimulus B by giving up its dominance over object A
DOMINANCE AND COMPLIANCE 189
then should stimulus B cease to operate, the motor self
would not necessarily return to its previous condition of
increased intensity, but only to its normal strength when no
antagonistic motor stimulus was operating upon it. Nor
would the motor self necessarily return to the process of
dominating object A, which might by that time have passed
entirely out of the subject's environment. Passive com-
pliance, therefore, might be followed by a state of dominance
more passive than active, though there must always be some
active dominance m the process of re-establishing reflex
equilibrium after the compliance stimulus has ceased to
operate. It seems, in short, to follow from the very nature
of dominance response as an enforcement of the integrative
system's normal equilibrium that dominance must always
eventually supersede active or passive compliance.
Compliance Protects the Organism Against Superior Foes
Such an arrangement obviously makes for maximal
efficiency in adapting the organism successfully to its en-
vironment. If an animal or human being is already well
enough adapted to his surroundings to be able to maintain
his existing posture and position despite the utmost antagon-
istic influence which can be brought to bear against him at
any* given moment, the mechanism of passive dominance
provides ? means for counteracting minor fluctuations of
posture and position which could serve no useful purpose,
and which would result only in disturbing the progress of
the organism's vital functions. On the other hand, if any
antagonistic factor in the subject's immediate physical en-
vironment be sufficiently powerful to destroy or seriously
injure the subject's organism, the compliance mechanism
permits the stronger antagonist to expend its force in moving
the subject rather than in destroying part of the motor self which
must serve throughout life as the dynamic source and main-stay
of the subject's entire behaviour.
Were it not for this possibility of integrative compliance,
an antagonistic motor stimulus of superior intensity, operat-
ing through a centre of the central nervous system above
the tonic centre, might eventually succeed in inhibiting
the entire mass of tonic discharge in toto, with extremely
serious consequences to the organism.
igo EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
Compliance Responses Have Selective Value in Evoking
Maximally Efficient Dominance Responses
The tendency of the dominant balance of the organism
always to re-establish itself following compliance response
gives to the intervening compliance reaction another im-
portant value. The separate compliance emotions enforced
by an antagonistic environmental stimulus act as selective
agents arousing to special activity the specific tonic reflexes
recriprocally opposed to the intervening compliance reflexes.
That is to say, in the response of passive dominance there
appears a general blanket type of reinforcement of the motor
self, not specifically directed against the environmental
stimulus which is being responded to. But, if the environ-
mental stimulus in question is permitted first to effect a
compliance response, then selective reinforcement of those
portions of the motor self best adapted to oppose and remove
the antagonistic stimulus can be made, with resultant con-
servation of energy and increasing efficiency of the dominance
response. Examples of this selective value of initial com-
pliance with a stimulus which is later to be dominated are
to be found in all the rudimentary behaviour patterns of
the human organism in which tonic and phasic reflexes
alternate to bring about progressive movement of the body
or limbs.
The fingers of the hand, for instance, if extended in com-
pliance with the object to be grasped, automatically bring
about the reinforcement of the particular tonic grasping
reflexes best adapted to seize and handle that particular
environmental object. The more completely extension of
the hand is permitted to comply with the size, shape, and
position of the object to be grasped, the more efficiently
will that object subsequently be mastered or dominated.
The difference in this respect between infant and adult be-
haviour is well marked. When an infant naively extends
his fingers to grasp a proffered object of very small size,
he opens his hand wide, extending all the fingers equally
regardless of the shape and small size of the thing to be
grasped. In other instances infants may fail to extend the
fingers sufficiently to surround the object to be grasped.
In either case, the extending of the hand would seem to be
more in nature of general, unselective reaction to the obiect.
DOMINANCE AND COMPLIANCE 191
than a compliance response closely controlled by the object
itself.
We have noted several times previously that compliance
is a learned response, and so when we compare the behaviour
of infant subjects with the reactions of adults we should
expect to find compliance response much more highly de-
veloped in the latter as, in fact, it is, in nearly all types of
reaction. The interesting point for the purpose of our present
discussion is that such increase in delicacy and completeness
of compliant response to any given object automatically
produces corresponding increase in the strength and effective-
ness of the dominance response which follows. Any number
of examples of this increase of dominant efficiency following
increased learning of compliance might be cited. All the
finer and more powerful movements of attack upon an
opponent, whether in mortal combat, or in some ultra-civilized
sport like tennis or baseball, depend for their accuracy and
power upon the completeness of the preceding compliance
responses.
In savage combat, the spear must be directed toward a
vital spot in the antagonist's body by a careful and accurate
compliance response, evoked by the antagonist's body itself.
The power of the dominant driving home of the attacker's
weapon bears a fixed and constant relationship of dependence
upon the extent and intensity of the preceding compliance
response o,f withdrawing the arm and hand holding the spear
in an initial direction away from the individual to be attacked.
In tennis a never-ending series of very subtle compliance
reactions must be performed in order to bring the body,
arm, and racquet into postures which themselves determine
maximally effective dominance reactions to follow. All
preparedness, in short, consists of compliance reactions,
whose principal function is to serve as selective agents within
the integrative centres of the subject's organism, to pick
out the dominance reactions most effectively antagonistic
to the compliance responses themselves. The normal re-
lationship, then, between compliance and dominance emotion
is a relationship in which compliance is used for the success
of the dominance responses. We may say that active
dominance is effective in reaching its antagonist directly in
proportion as it is immediately preceded by compliance with
the opponent.
192 EMOTIONS OF NORMAt PEOPLE
Compliance Must Not Be Carried Beyond Its Usefulness
to Dominance
It is necessary to qualify this statement in two particulars.
First, compliance response may be carried to such an extreme
that it postpones the ultimate dominant reaction too long
for maximum efficiency, or lowers the strength of the motor
self to such a degree that it is unable to cope with the an-
tagonist. Secondly, the organism may comply with an
antagonist which it has not the strength to dominate, even
when the motor self is at its maximum intensity. An illus-
tration of the first qualification to the usefulness of compliance
as a servant of dominance may be found in over-careful
adjustment of bodily position, in baseball or tennis, before
the actual swing of the bat or tennis racquet toward the ball
is begun. The timing of the stroke has been delayed too
long for success, by an over extensive preparatory compliance
response. In wrestling or boxing, it frequently happens
that one contestant withdraws an arm or leg too far, so that
the tonic muscles, which otherwise would have brought the
limb back with maximum force, are no longer able to exert
maximally efficient leverage upon the limb in question. Or,
in terms of nerve impulses, the same result may occur when
an aesthete permits such volume of compliant motor discharge
to control his organism that he subsequently finds himself
lacking in strength to arrange his art collection in a manner
most effective for his own aesthetic enjoyment. ..
Illustrating the second qualification placed upon the value
of compliance to dominance, we may cite the very common
instance of an individual who allows himself, while swimming,
to be carried too far from the shore by the current. Such a
person has complied with a force stronger than his own
physical power at its best. He finds himself, therefore,
shut off from shore by a barrier of water which it is beyond
his physical strength to conquer or dominate. In both
types of instances cited, compliance, though undertaken
in the service of dominance, was carried to such an extreme
that the compliance response had the effect of rendering
subsequent dominance less effective, or altogether impossible.
Compliance Normally Precedes and Is Adapted to Dominance
It seems clear from the foregoing analysis, that if dominance
DOMINANCE AND COMPLIANCE 193
is to maintain maximal efficiency, it must be preceded by
compliance response. But the compliance must not be
carried too far or continued for too long a period. In short,
the simplest normal combination between dominance and com-
pliance responses beneficial to the organism consists of initial
compliance response adapted to dominance emotion to follow.
This relationship between these two primary emotional
responses may conveniently be expressed by the simple
formula C -f D. When this formula is used, it should be under-
stood that the order of the letters represents the temporal
order in which the emotinal responses occur, and the plus
sign represents the relationship of adaptation of the, response
indicated by the first letter to the response symbolized by the
following initial. Thus, in the formula C + D, C,, compliance
is adapted to D, dominance, as well as occurring prior to the
beginning of D, the dominance response.
CHAPTER X
APPETITE
IN the preceding discussion we have attempted to discover
the normal relationship between dominance and compliance
when th/ise responses occur successively. We have now to
discover the normal relationship between compliance and
dominance when these emotions occur simultaneously. In
the first place, there are certain logically conceivable simul-
taneous combinations of dominance and compliance which
may be eliminated by brief consideration of the behaviour
elements involved. Active compliance and active dominance,
for example, may occur simultaneously as an emotional
mixture but not as an emotional compound. When active
dominance and active compliance, evoked by the same stimu-
lus, take place simultaneously, they tend to cancel each other
out, or at least, mutually to modify one another in such a way
that the integrative description of the resultant emotional
state would consist of a relationship between the motor self
and the motor stimulus which would be half way Between the
nodal points, C and D as indicated on the emotion circle
diagram (see Chapter IV).
Dominance and Compliance Responses Toward the Same Object
Blend or Inhibit One Another
For instance, a person when confronted by a dangerous
animal several yards distant, would undoubtedly feel the
environmental stimulus to be an antagonistic one and would
assume in response, an attitude of antagonism. This element
of antagonism, would, however, be common to both dominant
and compliant types of response. If it was perfectly clear to
the subject that the animal was a fox, or other prey distinctly
weaker than himself, his response would tend to be a dominant
advance upon the animal with the purpose of attacking it,
that is, a dominance of the chase. On the other hand, if the
subject were equally sure that the animal was a mountain cat
194
APPETITE 195
or tiger, distinctly stronger than himself, this response would,
no doubt, be the compliant one of moving away from the animal
cautiously, and as rapidly as possible. In the instance
supposed, the animal is at such a distance from the subject
that he cannot be sure whether the environmental stimulus
is weaker or stronger than himself. In such a case, or in an
instance where the animal is actually recognized, and is known
to be stronger than the subject in some particular, and weaker
in others, both active dominance and active compliance may
tend to be evoked simultaneously. If these reaction tenden-
cies are equal and perfectly simultaneous, they will counter-
balance one another and the subject will go on about his
previous business without either attacking or running away
from the animal.
Dominance and Compliance May Exist Simultaneously in
Different Centres
If different parts of the same environmental stimulus evoke
different primary emotional responses, these two may well
occur simultaneously in comparatively unrelated motor
centres, without forming integrative relationships one with
the other. This may be called an emotional mixture rather
than an emotional compound. Dominance and compliance
might thus occur in an emotional mixture. For example,
while fleeing on horse-back from a pursuing enemy, a man
might tur.i in his saddle and shoot at the pursuer. His
compliance flight need not be broken, or altered in any way
by this simultaneous attack upon his enemy. Yet, the
emotional consciousness evoked does not constitute any new,
compound, emotional quality, or characteristic. Dominance
and compliance may alternate in the fugitive's consciousness ;
they may modify one another to the point of eliminating one
or both for a brief interval; or they may co-exist in con-
sciousness simultaneously as responses to different portions
of the same stimulus. The pursuer's superior physical strength
may evoke compliance response, while his lack of firearms and
conspicuous position against the sky line might evoke domin-
ance in the form of a rifle shot. Simultaneous feeling of being
overpowered by an opponent in one particular, while attacking
the antagonist with intent to dominate him in some other
respect, are not at all unusual or difficult to account for.
But, they do not constitute a truly compound emotional
196 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
quality or integrative picture, because the two primary
emotional elements are integratively unrelated.
Active Dominance and Compliance Toward Different Objects
Cannot Co-exist In Same Centres
One more set of logical possibilities of simultaneous com-
bination of dominance and compliance responses may also be
eliminated by examination of the integrations involved.
Such an examination leads to the discovery that active
dominance and active compliance with different objects
cannot occur simultaneously in the same, or closely related
motor centres. If we suppose that the tonic motor discharge
innervates extensor muscle A 1 , then any dominance reaction,
no matter what object it may be directed toward, must utilize
the final common cfierent path to contract the muscle A 1 ,
while any compliant response involving the same motor
mechanism must use the final common path to contract the
reciprocally opposed flexor muscle B 1 . If, then, the organism
attempts simultaneously to dominate environmental stimulus
A by contracting the extensor A 1 , and to comply with the
environmental stimulus B by permitting it to contract the
flexor muscle B 1 , there will result a conflict in the entrant
motor psychons, which must be resolved definitely in favour
of one or the other opponent before either the dominant, or
the compliant response can occur. In cases where final com-
mon paths or closely related motor centres arC, involved,
therefore, it would seem impossible to form an integrative
compound from active dominance and active compliance
reactions no matter how diverse the environmental stimuli
evoking these responses may be.
Similarly, it will be found impossible, integratively, to
combine passive compliance and passive dominance even
though these responses be directed toward different environ-
mental stimuli. If, for example, environmental stimulus A
evokes a reaction of passive dominance with respect to the
muscle A 1 , it simply means that the tonic innervation of muscle
A 1 is increased sufficiently to resist any attempt of stimuli
evoked by object A to utilize the final common path to contract
muscle B 1 . If, then, object B tends to evoke a reaction of
passive compliance in this same motor centre, it will be seen
that the stimulus B tends to prevent any dominant reinforce-
ment of the tonic contraction of muscle A 1 . We should, then,
APPETITE 197
have the same conflict in the common motor centres in the
case of a passive dominance response and a passive compliance
response, evoked simultaneously in this common centre, by
different environmental stimuli, that we had in the case of
active dominance and compliance response simultaneously
evoked by different objects. The passive dominance response
to object A would be attempting to prevent the passive com-
pliance evoked by object B from utilizing the common efferent
path, and the passive compliance response would similarly
be acting to inhibit reinforcement of the path to muscle A 1
called for by the compliance response before mentioned. It
would not seem possible, therefore, for passive compliance to
co-exist in the same or closely related motor centres with pas-
sive dominance response, even though opposing reactions
were evoked by different objects.
Illustrations in human behaviour of the incompatability
between simultaneous dominance and compliance responses
are not far to seek. If a metal container full of some attractive
food or drink is set to heat upon the stove, then the food, when
heated, will tend to evoke dominance response consisting of
grasping the pan, and moving it toward the lips. The stove's
heat, however, and the heat from the metal pan itself will
bring about the compliance response of withdrawing the hand
from the pan. In this case active compliance triumphs over
act/ve dominance, when both are simultaneously aroused.
In the ca^e where a baby has grasped one of its playthings
and the mother raps the child's hand with a ruler, to compel
it to release its grip upon the toy, we have a contrast between
passive dominance and passive compliance. The mother's
antagonistic pull upon the toy in trying to remove it from
the child's hand evokes simple resistence or passive dominance
on the part of the infant. The rap on its knuckles, however,
tends to make the child comply passively by giving up its
grip upon the toy. In many instances of this sort which I
have observed the passive dominance response is successful
in the contest with its passive compliant antagonist. The
child retains its grip upon the toy.
Possible Combinations
What possibilities remain for simultaneous combinations
of dominance and compliance responses ? Two further possi-
bilities of such combination may be considered. First, we
198 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
may examine the possible compounding of passive compliance
with one object and active dominance toward another object.
Secondly, we may consider the compounding of active com-
pliance with one object while simultaneously reacting with
passive dominance toward another object.
A dive Dominance and Passive Compliance May Form an
Emotional Compound
Any situation in which we are confronted by an antagonistic
force stronger than ourselves, and to escape from which we are
obliged to seek the aid of another opposite force of our environ-
ment, weaker than ourselves, is based upon the mingling or
compounding of passive compliance and active dominance
for just so long as we are seeking and obtaining the weaker
environmental object. Let us cite a concrete example. A
man is walking through the forest toward some important
objective, such as a settlement where he plans to obtain
supplies. He comes out upon the bank of a swift stream, and
finds himself confronted with a barrier which it is beyond his
own unaided strength to pass. The strength of the current
and the jagged rocks over which the stream is rushing make it
absolutely impossible for him to swim the river and come out
alive upon the other bank. Here is an antagonist stronger
than the subject, yet one that docs not compel the subject
to perform any positive action, but only to give up a typ'e 'of
dominance behaviour in which he was previously engaged. The
subject must, for the time being, comply passively with the
impassable river by giving up his journey toward the settle-
ment.
But the man sees a tree on the bank of the stream winch,
if felled, would stretch from bank to bank. The tree in ques-
tion is growing out at a precarious angle from the river bank
over the stream, its roots clinging insecurely to the shallow soil.
The tree in this unstable position seems to represent an antag-
onist stronger than the river but weaker than the man. If, then,
the subject can dominate this weaker antagonist by pushing
it down, across the river, he will immediately be in a position
to cross the hitherto unconquerable barner. In pushing
or dominating the tree, the subject, of course, must continue
to comply passively with the nver by refraining from all
actions incompatible with the force exerted by the stream
upon his organism, throughout his dominance response
APPETITE 199
directed against the tree. In short, this subject complies
passively with a stronger antagonist, the river, simultaneously
with his attempted dominance over the weaker antagonist,
the tree.
Integratively, there is no difficulty in the simultaneous
occurrence of passive compliance response to one stimulus
and active dominance response to another within the same
or closely allied motor centres, provided only that the motor
stimulus to be dominated is not one of those which the passive
compliance response requires the motor self to give up domin-
ating. There might be, conceivably, a large number of motor
stimuli which might be dominated by the motor self without
running counter to the superior motor stimulus simultaneously
influencing the same motor centres. Or, as in the case
mentioned, there might exist but a single motor stimulus
(evoked by the one available environmental stimulus, the over-
hanging tree) which the superior motor stimulus enforcing
passive compliance permitted the motor self to dominate.
The psychonic picture might be thought of as an inhibitory
control of the crucial group of psychons by the compliance
stimulus excitation of great intensity which, however, was not
capable of exercising its inhibitory influence upon one or more
selected types of motor stimuli. These motor stimuli, there-
fore, might be conceived of as energizing the motor psychons
simultaneously with the compliance stimulus. Undoubtedly
the actuai/y existing integrative picture is a far more compli-
cated one, involving different levels of the central nervous
system and a multitude of cross connective nerve paths and
psychons. But with this complex picture reduced to dia-
grammatic form it might be represented in some such way as
suggested.
pCaD is Desire
A compound emotional quality of consciousness comes into
existence as a result of the integrative compounding of pabsive
compliance and active dominance. This compound emotion
is popularly termed " desire ". " Desire " (the integrative
formula for which may be written pCaD) contains two types
of conscious elements so intricately intermingled and inter-
dependent that it becomes exceedingly difficult to analyse
them with introspective clearness.
From the self observations of many subjects, I have found
200 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL* PEOPLE
that two types of consciousness are nearly always recognized
in the emotional state of " desire ". First, there seems to be a
feeling of restless seeking, dissatisfaction with the existing
state of dominance activity, and a feeling of necessity to satisfy
some arbitrarily prescribed inner requirement. This somewhat
laboriously expressed aspect of desire seems to comprise the
passive compliance element altered somewhat, and carrying
new emotional qualities as a result of its integrative com-
pounding with active dominance. Secondly, self-observations
indicate the existence of a somewhat more definite and active
aspect of desire consciousness. Introspective reports upon
this element may be boiled down to " wanting to dominate "
a particular environmental stimulus. This active determina-
tion to possess or to change a given object in some way seems
attributable to the active dominance emotion modified and
given new qualities by its integrative compounding with
compliance.
Desire, as a unit emotional response, may be characterized,
because of its prevailing active dominance, as the active aspect
of the entire emotional consciousness connected with the using
of an environmental object of inferior strength to overcome an
environmental antagonist superior in strength to the subject.
That is to say, of the two possible combinations between
dominance and compliance, the combination of passive
compliance with active dominance produces a compound
emotion in which the motor self is more active tfcin in the
compounding of active compliance and passive dominance.
Passive Dominance and Active Compliance May Form an
Emotional Compound
Let us continue, then, to analyse the compounds of domin-
ance and compliance contained in the incident discussed
above. As soon as the man who had been stopped, on his
journey, by a river too swift to cross, has succeeded in pushing
the over-hanging tree across the river, a complete shift of
emotional responses occurs. The strength of the tree trunk
lying across the river from bank to bank may now be added
to the strength of the subject in his struggle with the swift-
flowing stream. In order to increase his own strength, how-
ever, the subject must comply with the fallen tree. The tree
trunk, instead of representing an antagonist of inferior in-
tensity, now represents an environmental stimulus of superior
APPETITE 201
volume to the subject's motor self, because its strength is
measured by its ability to overcome the river which the subject
himself did not previously possess. In short, the superiority
of volume of the fallen tree over the motor self of the subject
has been transferred, like most superiorities of volume, from
the superior intensity of the antagonistic river. The entire
volume of fallen tree stimulus is superior to and, therefore,
takes the place of the superior intensity of the river. This
effect is exactly the same as that previously considered in the
cases of children or prisoners whose motor selves might be
initially over-powered with the whip, and might thereafter
learn to regard as of superior volume the environmental
stimulus of useful work to be performed. Compliance with
this work, once it is learned, would be a pleasant compliance
with volume, and not an unpleasant, or at best indifferent
compliance with intensity. So in the situation of the traveller
who has pushed a tree across the hitherto impassable river
compliance with the volume of the fallen tree represents a
learned or transferred response, acquired in the course of this
single emotional experience.
Integratively, we may think of the motor stimuli aroused
by the river and thereafter taking the position of intcgrative
control as the motor centres formerly occupied by the merely
inhibitory excitations constituting the original passive com-
pliance. The motor stimuli representing the fallen tree or
bridge we uld then find the way clear to free, efferent discharge ;
and the behaviour result of such discharge would be active
compliance with the tree in place of the previous passive
compliance with the river. This active compliance would,
at the same time, remove the over-intense motor stimuli
evoked by the river and permit the motor self to go on domin-
ating its original avenues of discharge (that is, the interrupted
journey for supplies). In short, active compliance with the tree
reduces the strength of the opposing river to that of an antag-
onistic inferior to the motor self in intensity. The motor self
then immediatel)' is enabled to resist the influence of the motor
stimuli evoked by the river, which constitutes the emotional
response of passive dominance.
The traveller then complies actively with this tree-bridge,
by walking across it to the opposite bank of the river.
Throughout this activity he is passively dominating the river
by resisting its antagonistic influences upon the conduct of
202 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
the journey on which he had been initially engaged. Here,
then, we find a simultaneous combination of active compliance
and passive dominance. Neither of these responses need
interfere with the other, even though both occur through the
mediation of the same or allied motor centres. The active
compliance, though superseding active dominance directed
toward the accomplishment of the journey, is nevertheless
of such a nature that it performs the passive part of the motor
self's task by successfully resisting the river's intensity. The
motor stimuli evoking active compliance may be thought of,
schematically, as permitting the motor self to resist certain
selected antagonists just as the motor stimuli to passive
compliance, in the last instance, permitted the motor self
actively to dominate certain selected stimuli. Reducing
this type of integration to diagrammatic simplicity, we might
think of the motor stimuli evoked by the tree-bridge as con-
trolling the psychon for the same purposes of conduction into
their own paths of discharge ; while, at the same time, this
controlling excitation did not exert any antagonistic influence
upon the increase of the motor self impulses necessary to check
antangonistic excitations which had previously inhibited
them together.
aCpD is Satisfaction
^ r*
The integrative compounding of active compliance and passive
dominance gives rise to distinctive emotional consciousness
customarily called " satisfaction ". Just as in the case of desire,
introspective analysis of satisfaction is usually difficult because
the two compounded primary emotions each give and receive
new qualities in the process of integrative compounding.
Consensus of self observations, however, indicates, as before,
a certain possible separation of two aspects of satisfaction, the
first attributable to active compliance and the second resulting
from passive dominance. The first aspect of satisfaction is
variously reported as " quiet pervasive pleasantness ",
" acquisitiveness ", " enjoyment of gifts ", " acceptance of
assistance ", and " aesthetic pleasantness ". Perhaps the
phrase most expressive of this aspect of satisfaction according
to my own observations is " pleasant active acquisitiveness ".
This phase of satisfaction emotion seems attributable to active
compliance modified and given special qualities by its integra-
tive compounding with passive dominance.
APPETITE 203
The remaining aspect of satisfaction is a more easily dis-
tinguishable one to most subjects. It has been regarded
as " relief ", " triumphant self expansion ", " pleasant self-
enlargement ", " owning the world ", " being on top of the
world ", and " elation ". These introspective characteriza-
tions seem to refer especially to the aspect of satisfaction
attributable to passive dominance, which consists, it must
be remembered, of the motor self enlarged and made able
to resist successfully its previous victorious antagonist.
" Triumphant self enlargement " seems to me to characterize
this aspect of satisfaction acceptably.
The compound emotion, satisfaction (the integrative
formula for which can be expressed by aCpD) is distinctly
a passive type of response with respect to the motor self
as contrasted to desire, in which the motor self is the active
agent.
Desire and Satisfaction Compose Appetite
In proportion as satisfaction is attained, it replaces and
supersedes desire. Desire is related to satisfaction, integra-
tively, in a way not hitherto considered. We noted, in the
last chapter, that compliance normally precedes dominance
(when in successive combination with it), is adapted to domi-
nance and finally is superseded by dominance. This same
relationship appears to exist between the active dominance
of desire, expressed toward the object needed (a tree-bridge,
in the illustration used), and the active compliance of satis-
faction, expressed toward this same object. An identical
relationship, moreover, seems to appear between the passive
compliance of desire expressed toward the river-barrier, and
the passive dominance of satisfaction expressed toward this
same stimulus, now no longer an obstacle to progress.
There is a sort of kaleidoscopic shifting of emotional pattern,
from desire to satisfaction, wherein the controlling element,
dominance, becomes passive instead of active, and the sub-
sidiary response, compliance, changes from a passive to an
active type of emotion. The active compliance, also, is
compliance with volume (object of desire) which is very
pleasant, as contrasted to the replaced passive compliance
with the intensity of a superior antagonist, which is distinctly
unpleasant throughout a major portion of its duration. This
change gives a gradual elimination of sharp, decisive unpleasant-
204 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL' PEOPLE
ness, 'and a gradual gaining of deep pervasive pleasantness.
The change from active to passive dominance gives a gradual
elimination of restless, active, craving, and a gradual gaining
of restful passive, self -sufficiency.
Still another series of changes may be noted in the succession
of satisfaction to desire. Desire is an emotion wherein there
is felt a continuous demand upon the external environment,
and a forced harmony with the demands and requirements
of the organism's own, inner purpose (completing the inter-
rupted journey). Satisfaction gradually reverses this situa-
tion, until, when it has wholly supplanted desire, there is felt a
grateful harmony with the external environment (helpful tree
bridge), and a stabilized successful dominance over the subject's
own inner purpose (completing journey).
The blending of desire in satisfaction, as thus analysed
begins at the very moment when the possibility of conquering
the river with the tree is first perceived ; and the blending
continues until the river is actually crossed, and the traveller
looks back at it safely, from the other side. Only at the
very first of the whole proceeding, when the subject is balked
by the river and has not yet realized the possibilities of the
leaning tree, is desire alone experienced. Only after crossing
the river and looking back at it is satisfaction alone felt.
During all the time in between, desire is being gradually
adapted to satisfaction and supplanted by it. This complex
inter-relationship of the two compound emotions, Desire and
satisfaction, may aptly be termed the emotion of appetite.
Appetite emotion, because of the blending and ordered tran-
sition of its compound elements, attains a certain new,
characteristic emotional quality of consciousness, not dis-
coverable in either of its elements when experienced separately.
A formula conveniently symbolizing appetite emotion may
be devised, using the formula for desire pCaD, and the
formula for satisfaction aCpD, with a plus sign ( -h ) between
signifying that desire precedes and is adapted to satisfaction.
Appetite would then be represented by the complex formula
pCaD+aCpD. Since the active element of appetite, is desire,
it might be written aA ; and since satisfaction is the passive
appetitive emotion unit, it might be written pA. Appetite
would not, then, be symbolized by the formula aApA but
by the formula aA+pA.
The term " appetite " receives dictionary definition as
APPETITE 205
follows : " A physical craving, as for food a mental craving
longing ". This definition suggests at least two limitations,
which must be eliminated in the use of " appetite " as an
emotional term in the way proposed. First, appetite as
defined and customarily used, refers principally to a series
of bodily hunger mechanisms. While the emotional com-
pounds evoked during the satisfaction of bodily hunger conform
precisely to the emotion of appetite as above analysed and defined,
it is by no means possible or desirable to limit the use of the
emotional term appetite to physical ingestion of food.
Appetite, as we shall hereafter use it, is to be taken as the
name of an emotion made up of the compound emotion
desire and satisfaction whether these emotions be aioused
by physical hunger stimulation, or by other stimuli of vastly
different type such, for instance, as the river and tree in the
instance analysed, or desire for money and property, and the
acquisition of such objects.
The second difficulty suggested by the dictionary definition
of appetite is to be found in its disproportionate stressing of
the desire aspect of appetite, rather than its satisfaction
aspect. This difficulty, however, is not serious, and needs no
corrective comment beyond the statement that appetite
as a unit emotion is not to be taken as terminating at the
beginning of satisfaction, but must rather be considered as
persisting until satisfaction is finally completed. As already
noted, desire may predominate throughout the early stages
of appetitive behaviour, and satisfaction may predominate
throughout the later period. But both must be present in
proper inter-relationship to give the characteristic emotional
quality recognized as appetite emotion. Neither desire
alone, nor satisfaction alone constitutes appetite emotion.
What literary usage has been made of the term appetite
as designating a definite emotional state has been based,
for the most part, upon introspective recognition of the
typical emotional experience connected with physical hunger
and its satisfaction. This use of the term appetite is quite
in accord with its meaning as defined above, provided only
that physical hunger be considered as only one among many
conditions giving rise to appetite emotion.
Summary
In summary, then, we may define dominance and compliance
206 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
as primary emotions, expressed conveniently by the letters
D and C. Each of these primary emotions possesses an
active and passive aspect. Active aspects may be expressed
by the small letter a, and passive aspects, by the small letter
p, immediately preceeding the emotion symbol to which
the a or p is intended to attach. Thus " aD " indicates
active dominance, and " pC " passive compliance.
pCaD indicates a simultaneous combination of passive
compliance and active dominance. The emotion thus in-
tegratively compounded may be called " desire ". aCpD
represents an emotion integratively compounded in the same
way, which may be called " satisfaction ".
When the symbol for one emotion is placed immediately
before that for another emotion, with a plus sign between,
the relationship between the two thus indicated is a successive
occurrence, or combination of the emotions, in the order
in which the letters occur, and the plus sign placed between
signifies that the first emotion is adapted to its immediate
successor. Thus, C + D indicates compliance followed by
dominance, with the compliance adapted to the dominance.
Such a successive combination and relationship between
desire and satisfaction may be indicated by the formula
pCaD 4- aCpD. According to this formula desire precedes
and is adapted to satisfaction.
This successive combination of compound emotions may be
termed appetite, " A ". Desire constitutes the active aspect
of appetite and satisfaction its passive aspect. Thus the
formula pCaD might be written instead aA, and the formula
aCpD might be written pA. Activity and passivity, when
used as descriptive of the emotion A, refer to the relative
activity and passivity of the motor self in the particular
aspect of the total emotional response indicated.
There seems to be little doubt but that the emotion of
appetite is an acquired, or learned response in the same
sense that compliance emotion must be learned. I have
emphasized elsewhere, the fact that all the mechanisms of
physical appetite were inherent in the organism, 1 including
the adequate, intra-organic stimuli causing hunger pangs.
This inherency of stimulating mechanism is quite a different
1 W. M. Marston, " A Theory of Emotions and Affection Based Upon
Systolic Blood Pressure Studies," American Journal of Psychology,
1924, vol. XXXV, pp. 469-506,
APPETITE 207
matter from the conceivable inheritance of neural patterns,
upon which many physiologists have based their theories
of emotion. It is against the inherent existence of any such
predetermined neural pattern, in the case of any emotion
save dominance, that I wish particularly to inveigh. The
pattern of dominance, depending as it does upon the tonic
discharge pattern, must be truly inherited ; or at least, the
neural structures upon which it is based must be energized
by environmental stimuli prior to the birth of the child.
With regard to the other emotional patterns, it would be my
own suggestion that the structures of the integrative mechan-
isms alone are inherited, while the actual integrative patterns
constituting the emotions themselves are actually formed
after birth, by the reactions of the organism to environmental
stimuli.
Hunger as Teacher of Appetite Emotion and Behaviour
The role of the bodily hunger mechanisms by which human
beings and animals are compelled to seek and eat food at
regular intervals throughout life, is to be thought of as that
of a teacher of appetite emotion. Even though the organism
comes ready equipped with integrative mechanisms capable
of producing dominance emotion, compliance emotion and
the two simultaneous compounds of dominance and cornpli-
aiico already designated as active and passive appetite, the
actual initiation and development of all these emotional
responses would be a very haphazard matter nevertheless,
if the new born human being or animal were dependent
upon chance stimulation from the environment to evoke
the various emotional patterns in adequate sequence and
degree. Such is not the case, however. Not only are
animals and human beings equipped, at birth, with integra-
tive mechanisms capable of manufacturing D, C, and A,
but also their organisms are equipped with chemico-
physiological stimulating mechanisms which automatically
compel the formation of the emotional patterns pCaD and
aCpD. The stimulus mechanism of hunger continues to
evoke appetite emotion with its constituent primary emotional
patterns, at regular intervals of two to five hours throughout
the life of the organism. It would seem, then, that the
natural, or normal pattern of appetite emotion is properly
to be learned only from a study of the integrative patterns
208 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
imposed by this inherent hunger mechanism of the organism
itself. In studying adult appetitive behaviour we must
recognize the possibility that chance environmental stimula-
tions, rather than the bodily hunger mechanism, may have
determined the appetitive emotional pattern in whole or in
part. The results of these environmental influences, in so
far as they differ from the hunger-model are to be regarded
rather as perversions or variations imposed upon the natural
pattern, than as norms on which description of appetite
emotion should be shaped. It is my own suggestion, there-
fore, that our understanding of the natural or normal appeti-
tive pattern be based upon examination of inherent integrative
emotional mechanisms, already considered, and upon physio-
logical accounts of how these integrative patterns are arranged
by the equally inherent orgemic mechanisms of hunger
stimulation.
Physiology of the Hunger Stimulus
Carlson and Ginsburg have shown that hunger pangs occur
in infants two hours after birth and in pups born eight to ten
days before term. 1 Contractions of the infants' stomachs
resembled those of adults except that the infant hunger con-
tractions showed relatively gi eater vigour and frequency.
Carlson and Luckhardt have shown that these hunger contrac-
tions may be started up in the full stomach of a dog just after
feeding, by injection of blood taken from an animal kept in
a state of hunger for several days. 2 These results indicate
that the hunger contractions of the stomach may be set up,
at least partially by a " hunger hormone ", generated by body
tissues in need of nourishment. The authors cited state their
belief, however, that the origin of hunger pangs is also to be
attributed in part to a specific nervous automatism, both
central and peripheral, independent of afferent impulses.
Cannon and Washburn 3 first showed that these contractions
1 A. J. Carlson and H. Ginsburg, " The Tonus and Hunger Contrac-
tions of the Stomach of the New Born," American Journal of Physiology,
1915, vol. 38, p. 29.
a A. J. Carlson and A. B. Luckhardt, " On the Chemical Control of
the Gastric Hunger Mechanism,' 1 American Journal of Physiology, 1914,
vol. 36, p. 37.
8 W. B. Cannon and A. L. Washburn, American Journal of Physiology,
vol. XXIX, p. 441. ' ' ' '
APPETITE 209
of the stomach were felt by the human subject as hunger pangs,
followed by a desire for food. Carlson and Ginsburg showed
that such hunger pangs occurred in the stomach of both human
infants and animals before any food had been taken into the
stomach.
As a result of the researches mentioned, therefore, we may
summarize the inherent, appetitive, stimulating mechanism
of the body as follows : A hunger hormone, together with an
inherent nervous automatism, initiate stomach contractions,
in both animals and human beings. Such contractions may
occur immediately after birth and before any food has been
taken into the stomach. These hunger contraction? begin as
a constriction in the cardiac end of the stomach, and sweep
rapidly toward the pyloric end, increasing in strength as they
proceed. 1 These automatically initiated hunger contractions
are the organic sensations which are felt by the normal adult
as hunger pangs, followed by desire for food.
Motor Self Discharge Predominantly Sympathetic
Bearing in mind, then, these automatic hunger contractions
as an environmental stimulus, we must next determine the
nature of the motor stimuli evoked by hunger contractions.
In order to discover whether the motor discharge from hunger
contractions is antagonistic to the motor self, we must also
examine the natural tonic condition of efferent discharge over
final paths common to the motor self and to the motor stimuli
evoked by hunger. In other words, it is necessary, first, to
discover the discharge paths of the motor self ; and then to
examine the effect of the motor stimuli of hunger upon the
tonic discharge.
Cannon has shown 1 that wherever the viscera are innervated
by both sympathetic and vagus impulses the sympathetic
impulses prevail. That is, the tonic balance maintained by
the motor self distinctly favours sympathetic motor discharge
as against vagus innervations. The esophagus, stomach, and
intestines are, in general, contracted by vagus impulses, and
inhibited by sympathetic motor discharge. Both these
influences are probably exerted upon the digestive tract
1 A. J. Carlson, Control of Hunger in Health and Disease, Chicago,
1919, p. 60.
W. B. Cannon, Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear, and Rage,
Chapter I, " The Effect of the Emotions on Digestion."
P'
2io EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
continually to a certain extent as shown by Patterson. 1 But
Cannon has shown that emotions which are followed by
sympathetic discharge tend to inhibit the vagus contractions
of the stomach, slowing up digestion or abolishing it altogether.
All these effects seem to be results of the simple fact that
sympathetic impulses to the viscera naturally dominate vagus
or cranial impulses. We might express this fact, in our own
terms, by saying that the motor self tends to energize the blood
vessels and other viscera contributing to activity of the skeletal
muscles predominantly at the expense of the blood vessels and
smooth muscles used in the process of digestion.
Motor Stimuli Discharging Through Cranial Channels Would
be Antagonistic to the Motor Self
Thus, reinforcement of the motor self would be expected
to lead to increased supply of blood to the skeletal muscles,
increase of adrenalin in the blood, and other visceral pre-
paration for activity of the skeletal muscles. Reinforcement
of the motor self would be expected, similarly, to inhibit the
movements of the esophagus, stomach and intestines, to slow
up or stop altogether the secretion of gastric juice, and to
interfere with the normal output of saliva into the mouth
and throat. Any motor stimulus which had the effect of
increasing the flow of saliva and gastric juice, and of enhancing
the digestive movements of the stomach and intestines would
be described, in our own terminology, as a motcr stimulus
antagonistic to the motor self.
Such an antagonistic motor stimulus would throw the reflex
balance over to the vagus side, as opposed to the natural
reflex equilibrium where sympathetic impulses predominate.
If a motor stimulus could be shown to tend toward this vagus
outlet of discharge, but only resulted in an increased sym-
pathetic motor discharge, we might assume that the motor
stimulus though antagonistic to the motor self, was of inferior
intensity. The increased energy in skeletal muscles and
sympathetically innervated viscera might be taken as evidence
of a dominance response, wherein the motor self had reinforced
itself in order to maintain its natural reflex balance despite
the attempted upsetting of this balance by the weaker antagon-
1 L. L. Patterson, " Vagus and Splanchnic Influence on Gastric
Hunger Movements of the Frog," American Journal of Physiology.
vol. 53, p. 239.
APPETITE 211
istic motor stimulus. If, however, we found an initial re-
inforcement of motor discharge through sympathetic channels,
followed by a marked decrease in this sympathetic outflow
together with a sudden appearance of vagus motor discharge,
evidenced by increased secretion of saliva and similar symp-
toms, we might assume that the antagonistic motor stimulus
had proved of superior intensity to the motor self. As a conse-
quence of its superior strength, such a motor stimulus might
force its way through the barrier which the motor self sought
to set up, the superior, antagonistic motor stimulus finally
expressing itself through its own vagus channels. Such an
occurrence, in short, would constitute an emotional response
of compliance with intensity.
Autonomic Cliannels of Motor Self and Motor Stimuli Summary
We may summarize as follows : the natural reflex balance
maintained by the motor self seems to call for a predominance
of sympathetic motor discharge over vagus discharge. Sym-
pathetic motor impulses inhibit digestive movements and
gastric secretions, while at the same time increasing blood
supply to the muscles and release of adrenin into the blood
stream. Sympathetic visceral impulses of this sort have also
been shown to run parallel, usually, to tonic impulses increasing
the tonus of the skeletal muscles.
V^gus impulses increase the digestive processes, and tend
to inhibit^ blood supply and tonic impulses to the skeletal
muscles. A motor stimulus, therefore, which sought vagus
channels of discharge would be antagonistic to the motor self.
Such a motor stimulus would tend to upset the natural reflex
equilibrium maintained by the motor self in which sympathetic
impulses predominated. If an antagonistic motor stimulus
were weaker than the motor self, we should expect to find
exaggeration of the natural reflex equilibrium ; that is,
increased nervous energy sent through sympathetic channels.
If, on the other hand, an antagonistic motor stimulus were
stronger than the motor self, we should expect to find, first,
an attempted reinforcement of sympathetic resistance by the
motor self ; and secondly, a marked decrease in sympathetic
motor discharge accompanied by a corresponding increase
of vagus discharge, swinging the reflex balance over to the
vagus side, and signalizing a defeat of the motor self by the
antagonistic motor stimulus.
212 EMOTIONS OF NORMAt PEOPLE
Increase of sympathetic discharge would, in short, indicate a
successful dominance response of the motor self ; while initial
increase of sympathetic discharge followed by decrease of sym-
pathetic discharge and corresponding ascendency of vagus dis-
charge would constitute a compulsory response of compliance
with intensity.
Hunger Pangs Evoke Motor Stimuli Antagonistic and Superior
to the Motor Self
With the situation thus outlined, we may hope to discover
whether -the motor stimuli evoked by hunger pangs are
antagonistic to the motor self ; and, if they are, whether they
are stronger or weaker than the tonic motor discharge. Carl-
son, of Chicago, with his collaborators, has made a series of
studies of the effect of hunger pangs upon various other
functions of the body. 1 Carlson was fortunate in obtaining
a subject, Mr. F. V., who had a complete closure of the
esophagus and a permanent gastric fistula. When eleven
years old, this subject accidentally drank a strong solution of
caustic soda, and ever since that time, for more than twenty
years, has fed himself through the gastric fistula. Carlson
reports that F.V. has enjoyed good health through this period
and is in every respect, with the exception of the closed
esophagus, a normal individual. Stomach balloons and other
recording devices could be inserted very easily into the
stomach through the gastric fistula, which opened into the
fundic end of the stomach, without producing the somewhat
abnormal condition of consciousness necessarily caused by
swallowing a stomach balloon with connecting tubes. In
this way Carlson and his associates have been able to make
studies of extraordinary accuracy and reliability, and they
have given us a rather complete picture of the different types
of motor stimuli, or motor discharge resulting from hunger
contractions of all degrees of intensity.
In the first place, Carlson has shown that no marked hunger
is felt unless the stomach contractions are very strong. Accom-
panying strong hunger contractions the following phenomena
have been found :
1 The results of these studies are found in A. J. Carlson's Control of
Hunger in Health and Disease, Chicago, 1919, which is cited as authority
lor the account of Carlson's findings here rendered.
APPETITE 213
(1) Increased knee jerk,
(2) increased heart rate,
(3) increased blood volume of the arm,
(4) a brief gush of saliva at the maximum point of each
strong contraction,
(5) marked irritability, restlessness, and inability to retain
fixed attention.
The blood volume of the arm increases up to a point near the
height of the stomach contractions, and then begins to diminish
before the contraction is complete. The knee jerk has been
found by Lombard to be less during hunger than after satisfac-
tion of hunger (although Carlson holds that it is greater during
hunger than when neither hunger nor satiety is present). All
these physical symptoms, taken together, present a clear
picture symptomatic of antagonistic motor stimuli, superior
in intensity to the motor self. The gush of saliva, and irrit-
ability and restlessness (evidently representing an interference
with energy to the skeletal muscles) appear only at the height
of strong hunger contractions. Salivary secretion is produced
by vagus innervation only, and interruption of sympathetic
impulses by vagus discharge might also account adequately
for the interruption of previous dominant activities in which
the subject had been engaged, as evidenced by restlessness and
irritability. The blood volume of the arm also increased by
sympathetic innervations during the early part of each hunger
contraction, begins to shrink before the contraction reaches
its maximum height indicating once more a triumph of vagus
over sympathetic innervations. The results of Lombard, if
verified, might indicate that the knee jerk, though enhanced
by hunger contractions, was reduced below its possible
maximum by partially successful vagus opposition. Measure-
ment of the knee jerk, however, is scarcely fine enough a
determination to make comparison of this sort absolutely
accurate. The heart rate is frequently found to increase
pari passu with a decrease in strength of the heart beat, as
evidenced by dimunition of blood volume in an arm or leg,
or by systolic blood pressure measure at the brachial artery.
The only dependable measurements of bodily changes
caused by hunger pangs indicate exaggeration of the tonic
balance (dominance response) up to a point close to the maxi-
mal intensity of the stimulus. At this point, the antagonistic
motor stimuli evoked by the pangs seem to break through the
214 EMOTIONS OF NORMAE, PEOPLE
barrier set up against them by the motor self, just sufficiently
to compel the motor self to give up its previous dominance
response, and to seek some form of dominant activity which
will be compatible with the hunger pang stimulus. This
analysis indicates that hunger pangs constitute a stimulus
antagonistic to the motor self and of superior intensity nicely
calculated to compel a response of passive compliance with
intensity. (Passive because only sufficient victory is attained
by vagus impulses to compel the motor self to give up its
previous dominance).
Subject Passively Complies with Hunger Pangs and Actively
Dominates Food (Desire)
This analysis seems to be confirmed by examination of
certain subjects with very strong stomach contractions, who
experienced only nausea, weakness, and faintness during the
contractions. Boring 1 and Carlson have both reported sub-
jects of this type. I myself studied a woman subject of this
type for about a year and a half. During stomach contractions
she felt nausea and marked bodily weakness. At such times
systolic blood pressure measurements showed marked drops
apparently parallel with the stomach contractions. Because
of the absence of conscious hunger, and the presence of
nausea during hunger contractions, this subject could eat very
little food, and was in an under-nourished physical condition.
She had consulted a number of medical specialists* and bad
tried various diets without result. After analysing her
emotional responses, I came to the conclusion that the case
was a psychological rather than a medical one. It seemed
to me that she had developed compliance to a point where
compliance response was controlling the visceral functions
which normally are not under voluntary control. The case
seemed not unlike that of the Hindu adept, with the additional
complication that her excessive bodily compliance was not
suited to an active strenuous life, and was not, in fact, physi-
cally possible under conditions of dominant occidental civiliza-
tion. Treating the case on this theory, I induced the subject
to take an active, aggressive attitude toward her stomach
pangs, regarding them as opponents which she must destroy
1 E. G. Boring, " Processes Referred to the Alimentary and Urinary
Tracts : A qualitative Analysis," Psychological Review, 1915, vol. XXII,
P- 320.
APPETITE 215
by forcing food into her stomach, even though nausea made
this very difficult (the esophagus also seemed to be in a
hypertonic condition). At first the subject experienced great
difficulty, and frequently could not retain the iood swallowed.
Eventually, however, under repeated suggestion, she began
to regard the stomach pangs with aggressive antagonism.
Soon after this she was able to swallow food with no great
difficulty, her hunger pangs coming at two hour intervals.
Within six months, feelings of nausea and faintness which had
formerly accompanied the pangs had turned into feelings of
ravenous hunger and appetite for food. Upon several occa-
sions, J observed this subject in such an aggressive condition
of hunger that she seized a loaf of bread and bit into it-savagery,
without being able to wait for the bread to be cut and buttered.
At this point in the case, the subject began to put on weight ;
and about three and a half months later she had gained
fifty-one pounds.
My own analysis of this case just described was that the
element of active dominance had been eliminated from the
subject's emotional response to the hunger pang stimulus.
As we have noted above, active appetite consists of simultane-
ously compounded passive compliance (in this case with the
hunger pangs) and active dominance (directed toward seizing
and biting food). The woman subject in question had so
traiaed herself in schools of occultism and esoteric religion
that she was able to comply actively with any antagonistic
motor stimulus, no matter how intense this stimulus might
be. But her compliance training had been carried too far,
and had not included a proper combination of dominance with
compliance in the compound emotion of appetite. This
additional training I was able to supply, and the result seemed
to justify my analysis.
We may summarize then, as follows : Hunger pangs, con-
sisting of sudden stomach contractions beginning at the
fundic end of the stomach, constitute an inherent stimulating
mechanism. This inheient, automatic stimulus evokes in
the normal individual motor stimuli antagonistic and of
superior intensity to the motor self. The resulting emotional
response is one of compliance with intensity. The superiority
of strength in the motor stimuli, however, is nicely adjusted
to produce passive compliance only, permitting the motor
self to react dominantly toward a single type of environmental
216 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
stimulus, food. Thus in the total response of active physical
appetite, the individual is reacting simultaneously with passive
compliance toward the hunger pangs and active dominance
toward the food.
Subject Actively Complies with Food and Passively Dominates
Hunger Pangs
Selection of food as an object toward which dominant
activity can be directed evidently depends primarily upon
the power of the chemical stimuli of smell and taste to inhibit
the hunger pangs. It will be recalled that the hunger pangs
themselves are not attributable to motor discharge into the
central nervous system since it has been proved that hunger
pangs may occur normally in a stomach which has been
completely disconnected from all nerve connection with the
central nervous system. We find, therefore, a situation
wherein antagonistic stimuli of superior intensity evoked by
hunger pangs cause motor discharge through vagus channels ;
while a second antagonistic stimulus, food, while causing motor
discharge through these same channels inhibits or removes
the first antagonistic stimulus, hunger pangs. For the sight
and smell of food have been proved by Cannon, Carlson, and
others to result in (i) inhibition of hunger contractions of the
stomach and (2) in vagusly innervated secretion of saliva and
gastric juice, with decrease of blood supply to the skeletal
muscles, and increase of blood to the digestive viscera^ Chew-
ing of food, and swallowing of saliva and food have also been
shown to inhibit hunger pangs by means of vagus discharge.
The motor stimuli evoked by food are thus superior in integrative
strength to the motor stimuli arising from hunger pangs.
The food when thoroughly smelled, chewed, and taste^L
evokes motor stimuli which are superior in volume to the
motor self, and for this reason may be pleasantly complied
with. Thus, we have a total picture of food stimulation
evoking antagonistic motor stimuli of superior volume but
inferior intensity to the motor self. At the same time, these
motor stimuli evoked by food are enabled to gain an initial
victory over the motor self by virtue of the fact that they
utilize the identical motor channels followed by efferent
discharge from hunger pang stimuli, which were of sufficient
intensity originally to overcome the motor self.
Finally, we find that, in proportion as the motor stimuli
APPETITE 217
evoked by food inhibit and reduce in intensity the hunger
pangs themselves, the motor self is enabled to re-establish its
successful resistance to the motor stimuli from hunger pangs.
In this situation we find active compliance of the motor self with
the food stimuli simultaneously compounded with passive domin-
ance directed toward the antagonistic motor stimuli evoked by
hunger pangs. The activity of the response of compliance
with food is made up of unchecked vagus discharge, resulting
in tremendously increased secretion of saliva and gastric juice,
and digestive movements of the stomach and intestines accom-
panied by transfer of the major blood supply from the skeletal
muscles to the digestive viscera. In short, the active com-
pliance with food consists of an entire shift in the natural
reflex balance of the organism from sympathetic preponderance
to vagus preponderance. Yet this shift of reflex balance is
accomplished by a large volume of antagonistic motor stimuli
which are of moderate intensity only, permitting the motor
self to continue to control its own normal motor channels, with
even some increase in its own volume (as indicated by a slight
increase in systolic blood pressure level of six to eight mm, on
the average, after a full meal has been eaten.) Thus a response
of compliance with volume toward food is compounded with a
response of passive dominance toward hunger pangs.
Spread of Active Compliance, During Satisfaction to Other
Environmental Stimuli Besides Food
f
My own studies of satisfaction of physical appetite have
shown that passive appetite (that is, satisfied hunger as above
described), carries with it an emotional attitude of active
compliance toward nearly aJ] environmental stimuli, besides
food itself ; and also an emotional attitude to expansive self-
satisfaction frequently expressed in talkativeness, mild boasts
of the subject^ accomplishments, and friendly condescension
toward table companions. It is not by accident, apparently,
that business men follow the custom of inviting to luncheon
an important business connection from whom they hope to
obtain a large order, or business contract favourable to
themselves. I have studied at least a score of instances where
a business man who, during the forenoon, rejected with great
firmness the proposals of salesmen or business associates,
yielded to these same proposals of salesmen with hearty good
will after eating to the point of satiety at lunch (no liquor
218 EMOTIONS OF NORMAft PEOPLE
having been taken). Following a satisfactory meal, the active
compliance with which the subject responds to his food seems
nearly always to extend itself toward other stimuli of appe-
titive nature, such as business deals and joint undertakings,
conviviality, and amusements of various sorts. If precautions
are taken by the salesman, or business man desirous of having
his proposition accepted, not to increase the intensity of his
proposals too greatly (that is not emphasizing his own ego
or business strength unduly) this extended active compliance
may be utilized to great financial advantage.
Passive dominance also plays its part in rendering the
average male susceptible to appetitive stimuli after the
satisfaction of physical appetite. The subject feels much
more sure of himself and nearly always possesses a distinct
consciousness of having mastered all threatening or dangerous
antagonists. While this element of passive dominance is
really felt toward the physical hunger pangs, it nevertheless
tends to extend itself toward elements in the business situation
under discussion, which had seemed, before luncheon, formid-
able and dangerous to the subject's own business security.
While the state of physical satisfaction persists, however, the
man is apt to feel much more secure, and able to undertake
hazardous enterprises.
Summary of Physical Appetite c -
We may summarize, then, as follows. Food is,, the only
environmental stimulus toward which the subject is able to
react dominantly while hunger pangs are enforcing passive
compliance with themselves upon the organism.
Once the food has been dominated, however, and placed
within stimulating distance of the nose or mouth, it evokes
motor stimuli antagonistic to the motor self and superior
to it in volume, though of only moderate intensity. This
superior volume of motor stimuli evoked by food is able to
control its vagus channels of discharge freely because the
over-intense motor stimuli from hunger pangs have already
opened these vagus channels, in spite of the resistance of
the motor self. The food stimuli, moreover, reduce by
inhibition the strength of the hunger pangs themselves, to a
point where the hunger pangs motor stimuli can be success-
fully resisted by the motor self. This simultaneous com-
bination of active compliance with food and passive dominance
APPETITE 219
toward hunger pangs constitutes passive appetite emotion,
or satisfaction.
Both the active compliance and passive dominance elements
of this emotional compound tend to respond to many other
appropriate types of environmental stimuli besides food,
during the persistence of satisfaction emotion which was
actually brought about by removal of hunger pangs by food.
Characteristics of Dominance and Compliance Revealed
in Eating Behaviour
I have had occasion to study some cases showing inter-
esting personality traits easily detectable by analysis of
behaviour during eating. For instance, many male subjects,
both adolescent and adult, possess personalities in which
active dominance is very highly developed at the expense of
active compliance. Several subjects of this type were college
students whose eating behaviour I was able to observe at a
college cafeteria five or six days a week. Out of seven sub-
jects thus studied, five invariably " bolted " their meals,
attacking the food much as they would attack an opponent
of the athletic field. They almost always swallowed the
food very hurriedly and with unnecessary energy, by the
process popularly known as " gulping it down ". Two, at
least, of these subjects had serious digestive difficulties
apparently due to insufficient secretion of saliva and gastric
juice, anc 1 also to inadequate chewing of the food before
swallowing. One other subject, out of the seven, ate in a
similar way whenever he was in a hurry to get to some class
or engagement ; while on other occasions he ate more rapidly
than the average person. This type of behaviour in eating
seems clearly to reveal an imperfect, or altogether lacking
active compliance with food, coupled to an excess of active
dominance which the subject continued to express toward
the food even after he had it completely captured on the
table in front of him. The spread of this over-dominance
and under-active compliance through the personalities of
these college students was very striking.
Adult males, especially business men, sometimes carry
active dominance toward business to such an extreme that
their food, even when thoroughly chewed, is reported as
tasteless and " like sawdust ". In two such cases I have
been able to restore pleasurable taste in eating to the subjects
220 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
by inducing them to learn active compliance with food.
Flow of saliva generally increases in response to sight, smell,
and taste of food, and " taste " and enjoyment of the food
increases correspondingly. Various other types of business
men, and especially " white collar " employees whom I have
studied, experience considerable pain and discomfort in
digestion of their food, apparently because they will not
give up physical activity of the skeletal muscles after eating.
In other words, they may actively comply with their food
during the meal itself, but immediately rush away to make
the most of their noon hour in some physically active way.
Or, in the case of business men of this type, they return to
business calculations and planning immediately after eating.
Active compliance with food, to be successful, must be con-
tinued for twenty minutes to three quarters of an hour after
finishing the meal, if a proper pattern of passive appetite
emotion is to be built up in the natural way, by full satisfac-
tion of the physical hunger mechanism.
Hunger Pangs Can Build Up Model Inlegrative Pattern
for Appetite Emotion
In concluding our initial study of appetite emotion the
nature of the role played by the bodily hunger pang mechanism
should again be emphasized. Countless other environmental
stimulus situations besides physical hunger are perfectly
adequate to evoke simultaneous passive compliance and
active dominance which constitute the active element of
appetite emotion. Many stimulus situations other than
satisfaccion of physical hunger pangs are adequate to evoke
the simultaneous combination of active compliance and
passive dominance which together comprise passive appetite
emotion. The hunger pang mechanism, however, represents
an inherent adequate stimulating mcc/iamsm, which if intelli-
gently studied and permitted to control the organism is
capable of building up a perfectly normal and well balanced
integrative pattern for the emotion of appetite, in both its active
and passive p}iases.
Active and passive appetite, moreover, are brought to-
gether and fitted into one another by the physical hunger
mechanism, in a maximally well ordered manner. Active
appetite gradually gives way to, and is supplanted by passive
appetite, as the food is taken into the alimentary canal for
APPETITE 221
ingestion. Moreover, this inherent emotional stimulating
mechanism, hunger pangs, repeats its stimulation at periods
three to five hours apart throughout the waking life of a
normal human being, from birth to death. Such continually
repeated enforcement of the entire, evenly balanced, in-
tegrative pattern of appetite emotion furnishes a condition
for the proper learning of appetite that could scarcely be
found in any other series of experimental stimuli which
could be devised for purposes of appetitive training. Surely,
the average person would scarcely be expected to experience
such a series of perfectly arranged stimuli in the more or
less casual and haphazard environment met with in ordinary
life. The hunger pang mechanism, therefore, should be
accepted as the teacher of appetitive emotion, and environ-
mental stimuli devised for teaching appetite emotion either
to children or to adults should be patterned upon it.
CHAPTER XI
SUBMISSION
COHESIVE forces of nature may be said to submit to one
another. Those relatively stable forms of energy known
physically as " matter " each possess attractive force toward
all material bodies, and this force of mutual attraction is
known as " gravitation ". The largest material body with
which we come into daily contact is the earth itself. The
attractive power of the earth operates in alliance with the
attractive force which each of these smaller bodies exerts
toward the earth. This alliance of attractive forces, with
that of the larger body, the earth, predominating, results
in a tendency of each smaller body to move towards the centre
of the earth, its motion being accelerated continuously as it
moves. This law of the behaviour of smaller physical bodies
toward the earth is called " gravity ". Gravity, then, repre-
sents an alliance of attractive forces wherein the weaker
attractive force progressively weakens itself by facilitating }he
compulsion exercised upon itself by the stronger attractive force.
Such behaviour presents a perfect objective picture of sub-
mission. The lesser ally submits to the greater by decreasing
itself to make the alliance closer.
Submission Response Requires Thalamic Motor Centres
It seems an interesting fact, at least, that constant tonic
motor discharge constituting the motor self is largely composed
of reflex responses of the organism to gravity. The bodies
of human beings and of animals, like all other material objects
on this planet, tend to submit physically to the pull of gravity.
The tonic energization of skeletal muscles counteracts this
gravitational pull, and holds the body erect. Thus physical
submission must be opposed and counterbalanced by psycho-
neural dominance, throughout the life of the organism.
We have already noted, in the results obtained by Goltz
and Sherrington, and others upon decerebrate animals, that
222
^SUBMISSION 223
the dominant, or tonic opposition to gravity is greatly ex-
aggerated when all cortical influence has been removed. The
condition of enhanced tonic posture called decerebrate rigidity
results ; and this tonic outflow, in the absence of the cere-
brum, responds to all intercurrent motor stimuli dominantly,
that is, with increase of itself to overcome the increased
opposition. Compliance response is abolished ; and sub-
mission response, which must occur in sex emotion, and
which represents the exact integrative antithesis of the pre-
vailing dominance reaction of a decerebrate animal likewise
fails to appear. Goltz found, in fact, that no aspect of sex
emotion could be evoked. We may be reasonably sure,
therefore, that submission response, like compliance, requires
the mediation of some motor centre integratively superior
to the tonic centres. On the other hand, it was established
more than a century ago 1 that only thalamic connections
are necessary to spontaneous movements, and to centrally
innervated sex response. Since the latter depends primarily,
as we shall have occasion shortly to note, upon a submission
type of integration, we may conclude that the primary
emotional response of submission may be mediated by
thalamic motor centres, in the absence of the cerebral
hemispheres.
1 * True Submission Appears in Infant Behaviour
Watson lists " love " response as an unlearned type of
emotional reaction. 1 "The stimulus to 'love 1 response/ 1
he says, " may be stroking of the skin, tickling, gentle rocking,
or patting." The response is also elicited by stimulation of
the so-called erogenous zones, including the nipples, lips,
and sex organs. If the infant is crying when thus stimulated,
its crying will cease and a smile will take its place. Gurgling
and cooing appear and the infant may extend its hand or
foot to be tickled or stroked. Erection of the penis, changes
in circulation and respiration, are also included by Watson
in his list of love responses. All the reactions thus listed appear
to depend upon a lessening of the tonic resistance to environment
for the purpose of enhancing the effect which an allied motor
stimulus is having upon the organism.
*A. Desmoulins and F. Magendie, Des Systemes Nerveux, 1825,
yol. II. p. 626.
* J. B. Watson, Behaviorism, p. 123.
224 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
In some of the reactions listed, such as erection of the penis,
we know that cortical inhibitions antagonistic to the motor
self and love reactions alike must have been removed by the
motor stimulus, prior to its passage down the spinal cord to
the sacral ganglia innervating the external genitals. Re-
moval of this cortical inhibition could not be accomplished
by the motor self under ordinary conditions and we know,
therefore, that the motor stimulus must have proved itself to
Possess greater integrative strength than that possessed by the
motor self. The same conclusion may be drawn from the
effect of submission stimulation in successfully overcoming
the over-dominant type of response probably expressed in
crying. Whether the motor stimuli adequate to submission
response gain their integrative power through superior allied
volume or through innate prepotency of the nerve channels
employed, need not be discussed. If the motor stimulus
possesses superior strength to that of the motor self and is in
alliance with the motor self, the stimulus falls within the
definition of an adequate submission stimulus suggested in
chapter five.
Though parts of the sympathetic and sacral branches of
the autonomic nervous system, innervating respectively the
internal and external genital organs, seem to be antagonistic
to one another, it is nevertheless a fact that internal and
external genitals are excited simultaneously throughouc the
sexual act until this condition is terminated by Ihe sexual
orgasm. To bring about this simultaneous excitement in
both sets of genital organs, however, the sympathetic or tonic
motor discharge must apparently be reduced in intensity.
Thus the final integrative condition during erection of the
penis following environmental stimulus described by Watson,
would seem to be a decrease of motor self for the purpose of
increasing alliance with the stronger motor stimulus. This
constitutes the nodal type of integration designated as submission
response. The infant, during "love behaviour" described
by Watson, decreases its motor self for the purpose of sur-
rendering more completely to the direction of an allied motor
stimulus.
Similar Submission in Behaviour of Older Children
Behaviour of older children in response to the hugs and
caresses of a mother, or other loved adult, follow the samq
.SUBMISSION 225
general trend of reaction discovered by Watson in very young
infants. The child, when caressed, responds by yielding its
body freely to the embrace or other stimulation imposed by
the adult. If the child is in a state of " being naughty " (that
is, overdominant), caresses and similar love stimuli will very
frequently abolish the naughtiness or temper fit. Spontaneous
caresses may be given by the child to the parent, and a general
tendency to draw near to the parent may always be observed.
Responses of so-called obedience to the loved one's commands
soon become an important part of the submission behaviour
pattern. Such obedience to command is rendered spontan-
eously and gladly with an apparent accompaniment of extreme
pleasantness.
Learning of Submission is Pleasant, Learning of Compliance
Is Unpleasant
It is necessary to emphasize the distinction between sub-
mission and compliance. Both are learned responses in the
sense that there seems to be no submissive lowering of the
strength or volume of the tonic discharge prior to birth, or
at least none brought about by the transitory type of environ-
mental stimulus which induces submission response in infants
describd by Watson. Submission, however, is a response
which appears to be learned much more readily and by al-
together pleasant means. Whereas compliance, as we have
seen, often requires very harsh and even destructive stimula-
tion to evoke it directly.
This initial point of contrast between submission and com-
pliance response is brought out in the many cases of little
boys, from three to seven years old, who respond obediently
and affectionately to their mothers, or, sometimes to nurse-
maids and girls older than themselves, while they may react
dominantly toward their fathers and toward older boys with
whom they play. I have had occasion to study three or four
cases of this type for short periods of time. One boy, aged
four, in the public kindergarten obeyed the commands of
an older sister, a girl between twelve and thirteen years old,
without protest and apparently with considerable pleasure
derived from the obedience itself. This same child, however,
was reported as extremely rebellious toward his father's
authority, and also caused some difficulty at school because
of disobedience to a woman teacher whose manner was rather
226 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
harsh, and whose attitude was that of a strict disciplinarian.
Another case in point was that of the boy Jack, already
mentioned in chapter seven. Jack, it will be remembered,
suffered from some glandular disturbance, which seemed to
over stimulate his dominance to the point where he could
not be compelled to comply, even by physical injury. Yet,
Jack responded submissively to his " class teacher ", who
was a very gentle-mannered girl of twenty-three or twenty-
four. Despite her soft and pleasing approach, however,
Miss B. was very firm in her commands, and had a reputation
for keeping excellent order among the children in her charge.
Jack responded to this treatment more readily, even, than
did somte of the other children. Jack and Miss B. were
" great friends ". As we have already observed, Miss B.
succeeded in obtaining Jack's promise to forego his youthful
gangster activities, and this promise was kept for as long
a time as the child's physical abnormality permitted. Jack's
promise to Miss B., and his marked obedience to her com-
mands in the school room, were clearly expressions of sub-
mission and not of compliance. Jack admitted to me with
some reluctance that he " liked to mind Miss B." Sub-
mission, apparently, was even more pleasant to Jack than
was dominance, though submission occupied a much smaller
proportion of Jack's life than dominance, because he was
stimulated to dominance much more continuously than to
submission response.
Stimulus Evoking Submission Must Be Allied to Subject ;
Stimulus Evoking Compliance is Antagonistic
These cases suffice to illustrate the fact that submission
response is naturally, and always pleasantly learned, when
it is learned at all ; whereas in compliance, if the attempt
is made to evoke it directly, it is extremely difficult to arouse,
and requires great harshness and unpleasantness of stimula-
tion. The same cases also illustrate the fundamental differ-
ence between an adequate stimulus to submission and an
adequate stimulus to compliance. The sister who was able
to evoke complete submission from her little brother, Paul,
first evoked this response from the child by caressing and
petting him. During the year preceding my examination
of the children, E, the older sister, had been given almost
complete charge of little Paul during his play hours. She
SUBMISSION 227
had never, so far as I could learn, treated the child harshly
or unjustly in any way. She had allowed Paul to play
with children his own age, but had always insisted on prompt
obedience whenever she decided it was time for him to stop
playing. The mother stated that E. always brought Paul
home in time for meals, and that he let E. wash his face and
hands without protest. In short, E. had consistently acted
for Paul's benefit rather than for her own. This fact, strangely
enough, seems to have impressed itself upon the conscious-
ness of the child much more effectively than did the severe
whippings which he had received from his father, from time
to time. Paul submitted to E. because he felt E. to be an ally
of superior strength. It is this allied quality of the stimulus
which gives it the power to arouse submission. And it is
the manner and general attitude, including vocal inflection
and gestures, which seem to convey to a child the allied
aspect of the older person's behaviour toward him.
Submission Not Dependent Upon Erogenous Zone
Stimulation
In the case just cited, the sister E. had, of course, kissed,
caressed, and otherwise petted the child Paul, and it might
be supposed, perhaps, that these caresses were the most
important element in evoking the child's submission. In
the cAse of Jack, however, so far as I was able to learn from
the teacher, and also from other persons who had observed
Miss B's relations with Jack, there had been no physical
contact whatever between the two. The girl had not, so
far as she could remember, even placed a friendly arm about
the boy's shoulder, nor had she taken him by the hand while
talking to him. Yet Jack's submissive behaviour toward
Miss B. was pronounced and consistent. Jack was impressed,
among other things, with the justness of Miss B.'s decisions
and especially with the fact that she was " looking after the
kids' " interests rather than her own. Again it seemed to
me that the manner and attitude of the teacher were the
aspects of her behaviour which made the greatest impression
upon the children who submitted to her, including Jack.
This teacher, by the way, spent her hours outside of school
in further collegiate studies for her own advancement, so
she had no contacts with the children except those in the
school room. The effectiveness of an adequate stimulus to
228 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
submission does not seem to depend upon stimulation of the
" erogenous zone " directly or indirectly, nor does it appear
to depend upon the duration of the stimulus.
Stimulus Evoking Submission Must Be Stronger Than the
Boy But Not Too Intense
When children, especially boys, reach adolescence, a some-
what more intense type of stimulation seems to be necessary
in order to evoke submission response. A very nice adjust-
ment of this intensity must be made, oftentimes, for if the
intensity is not sufficient, a dominant boy is apt not to per-
ceive the stimulus as stronger than himself, even though he
recognizes its allied quality. Whereas, if the intensity of
stimulation is too great, a dominant boy almost invariably
regards it as antagonistic rather than allied. One example
illustrating the former situation, where stimulation was of
insufficient intensity, may be taken from the case of a high
school teacher, Miss R., who " loved " all the youngsters in
her various classes, the word " love " being Miss R.'s own
description of her attitude. Miss R. was, in fact, an excellent
teacher, but a complete failure as a disciplinarian. In one
case which I actually observed, a large, dominant football-
playing youth rose calmly at the back of one of the school
rooms, and threw a book at another football player who
happened to be reciting at that moment.
"Now, now, Edward," protested Miss R., in* a voice of
deep concern, " is that a fair thing to do ? I didn't think
that of you, Edward ; I am surprised. 11
Edward agreed : " That's right, Miss R., I'll wait till Ben
is looking next time. It's not fair to hit a fellow when he
isn't looking, I know.' 1
The class broke into a roar of unsuppressed merriment,
and that was the end of the incident. Miss R., though she
flushed deeply, and seemed for the time undecided whether
or not to send Edward to the principal for discipline, finally
ignored the action altogether and went on with her teaching.
Miss R.'s conduct is not to be interpreted, I believe, as over
compliance or " fear ", for she had performed many acts
during her teaching career which expressed both moral and
physical courage. She was herself over-submissive and could
not, therefore, evoke submission from others. Edward, and
nearly all the boys under Miss R.'s tutelage, however, were
^SUBMISSION 229
extremely fond of her. Edward, in fact, took her to one of
the school dances after the incident narrated above. He
explained his action by stating that " he was afraid he had
hurt Miss R.'s feelings " in the book-throwing occurrence.
But this regard for Miss R.'s feelings did not make Edward
or any of the other boys obedient to her at that time, or at
any other subsequent period. Miss R. impressed herself upon
the boys as an allied stimulus weaker than themselves. Such a
stimulus fails to evoke submission.
In the same school was an assistant head master who was
regarded by the boys as a strict disciplinarian. The more
intelligent of the youths under his charge did not question
the man's sincerity, or the fairness of his decisions as to where
the guilt for any misdemeanour should be placed. The less
intelligent boys concocted traditions supposed to reveal the
injustice and egotism of Mr. Y. Both the intelligent and the
less intelligent youths, however, agreed that Mr. Y. was a
" hellion ", and not only did they fail to obey him, but also
it had seemingly become a matter of principle with them to
find ingenious and subtle methods of " beating " Mr. Y.'s
commands. One example of the harshness, or over-intensity
of stimulation with which -Mr. Y. sought to evoke submission
will suffice to reveal the emotional cause for the boys' dis-
obedience.
'It'was a school custom to give as punishment for minor
offences ;>ne or two hours extra work in some appropriate
school subject, to be performed in the afternoon after the other
pupils had been dismissed for the day. One boy had quite
inadvertently knocked an eraser off the rack. In picking
it up from the floor, this youth drew it across the back of
another boy, who was at the board working with his back to
the room. The children, of course, laughed, and the class
teacher reported the culprit to the assistant head master for
the usual minor disciplinary measures. Instead of sentencing
the boy to the customary one or two hours extra work, however,
Mr. Y. delivered a terrific lecture to this youth, calling him
everything but a murderer, and concluded his tirade by giving
the boy forty hours extra work to be performed in the after-
noons. From my own studies of Mr. Y. and bis methods, I
am convinced that he acted sincerely, and, as he thought, for
the boy's own good. This particular youth had been doing
poorly in his school work, and Mr. Y.'s idea was that he should
*3o EMOTIONS OF NORMAjL PEOPLE
bring him back to a submissive frame of mind by sheer severity
of punishment. Not only, however, did Mr. Y. fail to evoke
the desired submission but the boy actually left school with
the approval of his parents (who sent him to another, more
fashionable school), rather than comply with the punishment
sentence meted out. Even though a stimulus is actually allied
in nature, it will be regarded as antagonistic if it is too intense,
and in such case will not evoke submission.
Allied Stimulus of Superior Volume Effectively Evokes
Submission
Mr. H., principal of a continuation school in New York
City, may be cited as an example of a person using an effective
degree of intensity in evoking submission from boys twelve
to seventeen years of age. A continuation school is designed
to give instruction to those children who have gone to work
before completing the grades of school required by law. The
pupils in such a school are apt to be much more dominant
than those in the ordinary day school. For example, while
we were engaged in surveying Mr. H.'s continuation school,
one pupil was discovered to be a full-fledged boot-legger, and
another was intercepted by Mr. H. in the act of manufacturing
a black-jack in the carpenter shop, " for sale to a friend " as
the boy said. Mr. H.'s method of handling these youths was
first of all to impress upon them in every way possible the
fact that he was ready to act in their interests at Ul times,
whatever the inconvenience to himself. He obtained positions
for his pupils, appeared for them in juvenile court whenever
he could legitimately do so, and undertook to assume a sort of
paternal guardianship over boys of notoriously bad character.
As a result of these activities there were no doubts in the boys'
minds that Mr. H. was their best friend. On the other hand,
Mr. H. insisted upon strict obedience to the rules which he
laid down, not only as to conduct in the school itself, but also
in regard to the boys' behaviour while working at tne jobs Mr.
H. obtained for them, and in tne home and local community.
Mr. H. was continually alert in obtaining information as
to the boys' conduct, and very prompt and emphatic in calling
the boy to task for any misdemeanours which might be dis-
covered. Mr. H., however, used a method of discipline quite
the opposite from that employed by Mr. Y. in the case last
cited. Mr. H. restrained the boys, by force, if necessary,
SUBMISSION 231
from doing something they wanted to do, as punishment for
misdemeanours. But never, so far as my observation went,
did Mr. H. impose positive punishment upon an offender
which required active compliance or which gave the boy
punished actual pain or suffering. Mr. H. might require a boy
to remain in a certain recitation room instead of going to do
the shop work which that boy especially liked. Again Mr. H.
might withhold certification which would enable the boy to
take a desired position. Or Mr. H. might refuse to allow the
boy to come to his school for a time (one youngster kept
coming every day for several months before Mr. H. took him
back). In extreme cases, Mr. H. might withdraw his endorse-
ment of a boy who had misbehaved very badly, thus causing
the youth to be discharged from a lucrative position, or
exposing him unprotected to some juvenile court penalty.
These punishments, which were all of a restraining or with-
drawing nature, were actually more severe in many cases than
a sharp physical whipping would have been. But here severity
was felt as one of volume rather than intensity. The effect of
superior volume seemed to be that the allied aspect of the
stimulation remained unchanged, while the stimulus, Mr. H.,
assumed the role of superior strength. Ot course, there were
individual instances in which the punished boy would react
dorninantly for the time being. But in all the cases I studied,
with a single exception, such initial dominance later turned
into submission with increased affectionate obedience to Mr. H.
after this final submission had been evoked. We may sum-
marize Mr. H.'s method by the statement that an allied
stimulus capable of impressing both its allied character and its
superior strength of volume upon the subject is maximally efficient
in evoking submission especially from dominant subjects.
Woman's Strength Seldom Felt as Superior by Adolescent Males
Under our current social conventions and existing social
attitudes, it is decidedly more difficult for a woman teacher
or disciplinarian to impress her superiority of strength upon
adolescent boys and girls than for a male teacher of corre-
sponding ability. One young woman who acted as principal
of the major portion of a combined grammar and high school
which we studied, succeeded in evoking submission by the
sheer strength of her physical alertness and intensity of
manner. Most women preceptors who attempt this method
$32 EMOTIONS OF NORMM, PEOPLE
succeed only in making themselves felt as antagonistic to their
pupils. This particular woman, however, was young and good
looking, and, like Mr. H , took a personal interest in the welfare
of her charges outside of school activities. She helped them
in many ways, and impressed upon them her regard for their
interests even more strongly than she impressed upon them
the tenseness and vigour of her physical attitude. Some of
the older and more dominant boys, however, failed to be im-
pressed with her superior strength ; and although they
expressed a liking for her, they did not submit to the extent
that might have been brought about by a male teacher
possessing only a small part of the acting principal's regard
for her pupils.
Allied, Intellectual Superiority May Evoke Submission
I have discovered only one woman teacher of pupils of high
school age (thirteen to eighteen years) who was able to impress
her superior strength upon the most dominant of the youths
under her charge. One of these youths, after he had become
a college professor, told me that he considered this teacher
to have exerted over him one of the strongest and most bene-
ficial influences that he had ever felt. He described her as an
" inspiration, and a wonderful woman ". Miss C. M. seems
to have devoted herself, without stint, tc helping her students
with their own personal problems, in every way possible." So
far as I could determine, this woman teacher not omy studied
her pupils individually, giving each the treatment best suited
to his or her needs, but also proved herself so resourceful in
quelling the rising dominance of an obstreperous youth before
it broke out into open rebellion, that the pupils felt her influence
over them to be mysterious or magical. This teacher's
method might be called the intellectual technique of making
one's superiority of strength felt by those from whom sub-
mission is to be evoked It requires not only intellect in its
ordinary sense, on the part of the teacher, but also a subtle
understanding of the emotions of the pupils whose obedience
is to be exacted. By means of this superior insight, dominance
can be met at its inception and transferred to objects other
than the teacher. The result of such ingenious handling of
a pupil's own emotional responses impresses the youth strongly,
it seems, with the irresistibieness of the teacher's influence,
while her power is felt to be one of volume rather than in-
- SUBMISSION 233
tensity. In the ability of Miss C. M. we find exemplified,
therefore, another very effective type of submission stimu-
lation. An allied stimulus may be applied so skilfully to the
individual emotional mechanisms of dominant subjects that
dominance is never evoked toward the stimulus person, and the
stimulus is felt to be of superior strength at all times, thus evoking
submission successfully.
Stimulus Person Must Resemble Subject to Evoke Submission
A common factor to be found in all the adequate stimuli
to submission response so far examined, is a close resemblance
in species, race, and habits of behaviour and speech between
tne person who evokes submission response and the subject
from whom submission is elicited. I have been informed by a
Chinese professor of psychology that he and his fellow students,
when first attending school, expressed very little submission
toward English and American teachers. In Chinese schools
taught by " foreigners ", the Chinese boys, while feeling
genuine submission toward learned men of their own nation-
ality, were not impressed with the genuineness of the friendship
for them which the mission teachers expressed. The Chinese
boys, as a means of obtaining the instruction which they
desired, complied very skilfully and subtly with the exactions
of their foreign teachers. Their response, however, was one
of passive appetite emotion combining active compliance
with thC5 teacher and passive dominance over the student's
own scholastic needs. Though the behaviour of the young
Chinese had the appearance of submission, it did not, in fact,
contain any submission response at all. The reason for the
failure of the foreign teacher to evoke submission seemed to
be the outstanding difference in dress, colour of skin, and eyes,
facial features, language, vocal inflection, mannerisms and
social standards of conduct. These so obvious differences
between stimulus and subject prevented the Chinese students
from feeling the foreigner as an allied stimulus, no matter
how much the teacher might actually do for the student, or
how friendly an attitude the teacher might express in the class
room. Of course, the general attitude of Chinese toward
foreigners may be advanced as the conditioned cause of their
behaviour. But whence arises the general failure to submit
to foreigners in friendly intercourse, if not in their dissimilarity
to the subjects ?
234 EMOTIONS OF NORMAI*] PEOPLE
The first requisite, therefore, which must be possessed by an
adequate stimulus to submission in order to impress upon
the subject its allied quality would seem to be the requirement
that the stimulus should be a human being of a race and
civilization possessing general characteristics similar to those
of the race and civilization of the subject. Normal human
beings seldom, if ever, submit to animals, and never, save by
perverted transfer of a response first evoked by some fellow
human, do they submit to inanimate objects. The reason
for this fact seems to lie in the dissimilarity between a human
subject and the animal or material stimulus which, therefore,
fails to impress its allied quality upon the subject's organism.
It is a well recognized social phenomenon that foreigners are
seldom, if ever, accepted on the same social basis as natives
of the social community in question. " Foreigners are not
understood ". They are regarded as " queer " and probably
antagonistic, in secret at least, to the interests of the natives.
Social opposition to a foreigner occurs frequently.
On the other hand, foreign mannerisms of a supposedly
cultured or distinguished type frequently serve to impress
certain types of persons, notably women, with the supposed
superior ability of the foreigner. This effect of foreign
mannerisms is enhanced by popular stereotypes, attaching
glamour or romance to certain types of foreigners. Thus ir
America, mannerisms suggesting those of the British nobleman,
or the French, or Italian diplomat are often sufficient to lend
temporary social superiority to the person of some very
ordinary European, who may very possibly, also, be a fortune
seeking imposter. On the other hand, members of the
Asiatic races, no matter how clever or socially superior they
may actually be seldom succeed in evoking personal submis-
sion response from Americans of either sex, the difference of
skin colour, facial features, and bodily mannerisms and customs
being too marked.
In summary, then, we may say that only human beings are
normally felt to be sufficiently allied to other human beings
to evoke submission responses. Skin colour, and general
racial types of body and social customs, must also be similar
within comparatively narrow limits to be felt as sufficiently
allied to evoke submission response. If, however, this
requirement of general similarity of species and race be met,
minor differences in language and social mannerisms may
.SUBMISSION 235
serve to add the necessary impression of superior strength to
a given individual to furnish the second necessary attribute,
superiority, rendering that individual an adequate stimulus
to submission response.
Female Behaviour Contains More Submission Than Male
Behaviour
Finally, my own emotional studies have shown that girls
between the ages of five and twenty-five manifest a much
larger proportion of submission response in their total
behaviour than do males of ages corresponding. It must
be remembered that this comparison does not refer to the
amount of submission response in comparison with inducement
reactions, but simply refers to the relative importance of
submission in the total behaviour pattern. A large proportion
of the submission responses of those girls within the ages
mentioned whose behaviour I have been able to study in
clinics appears to be directed toward the girls' mothers, or
in some few cases, toward an especially beloved woman
teacher or girl friend, usually older or more mature in some
way than the girl herself. The usual feminine attitude toward
males or toward male parent and lovers, though containing
a great deal of submission response, is nevertheless more
markedly characterized by inducement, as we shall have
occasion to observe in a subsequent chapter. It is the girl's
attitude "toward her mother, or especially toward her girl
friend which, according to my own observations, contains
the greatest proportion of true submission.
Many adolescent girls whom I have talked with during a
personality interview seem never to have questioned the
advisability of rendering complete submission to the mother,
even in the matter of rejection of friendships with members
of both sexes which the girl dearly longed for. Italian girls
fourteen to sixteen years old, though far from submissive to
some of the school authorities, their brothers, and their
fathers, nevertheless submitted to their mothers' commands
to the extent of working six to eight hours a day at weaving
iii the home, besides attending public school. Several of
these girls told me that they " were crazy to go to dances and
movies ", but, as a matter of fact, they were not allowed to
go more often than three or four times a year. Work was
done at the mother's command, however, without the slightest
236 EMOTIONS OF NORMA^ PEOPLE
T
feeling of rebellion, so far as I could discover ; and the personal
part of the submission response to the mother appeared to
give these girls very great pleasure. In such instances the
mother, of course, was acting for her own interests rather
than for those of her daughter. But the relationship and
early training of the children had been such that the possi-
bility of selfishness on the mother's part had never occurred
to the girls. The mother who had always cared for and
clothed them ever since their earliest recollections, was accepted
as a completely allied stimulus, and by virtue of the same
earliest experiences and training, was endowed with the
attribute of superior strength. So far as I could discover,
physical caresses played only a minor part in the relationship
between mother and daughter.
In other instances, girls whose families were of various
racial stocks including English, Irish, German, and French,
had gone to work outside the home, yet gave their full pay
regularly to their mothers without question. Many of these
girls' brothers at a much younger age had refused to bring
home their pay envelopes, and some of these boys, when
threatened by the father with a beating, had left home alto-
gether. I found two instances, moreover, where* girls had
similarly left home when the father had attempted to compel
the girl to further obedience by threat of punishment. These
same girls had frequently been whipped by their mothers
without rebellion. It was the custom, however, ^in these
particular families for the children to give over their earnings
to the father rather than to the mother, and it was this situation
which resulted in the breach of relationships reported.
In clinical work with college girls, I found that the most
effective influence could frequently be brought to bear upon
an over-dominant girl through the help of another girl whom
she especially admired or cared for. In one instance a girl
was easily persuaded by her friend to engage in certain social
activities which proved most beneficial to the subject, though
she had previously failed to respond to attempted persuasions
by relatives and male admirers. In several other instances
girls responded submissively to their older sorority sisters,
attaining marked improvement in college grades as a result.
These submissive responses were seemingly more easily
evoked and enduring in character than any submissive re-
actions evoked from male subjects under similar conditions,
SUBMISSION 237
in my experience. In all instances of submissive response
cited in this chapter, especial attention should be given to
the fact that we are dealing, as far as possible, with simple
submission, and not with the compounds of submission and
inducement which form the love response. Emphasis has
been laid purposely upon relationships of the subject and
stimulus person which do not involve strong love attachments
of complicating nature. Some of the results herein cited
will undoubtedly be seen to vary considerably when a com-
plete emotional response of love is involved, especially those
relating to influence exerted by one sex upon the other.
A dive and Passive Submission
In all the instances of submission response thus far cited
we have found the stimulus to be a human being whose behav-
iour is closely allied with the subject's own, but who manifests
at the same time superior strength to that of the subject. In
technical terms adopted for purposes of describing emotional
mechanisms, an environmental stimulus closely allied and
superior in volume to the portion of the subject's organism
stimulated, tends to evoke motor stimuli allied to the motor
self and possessed of superior volume to the motor self. The
response of submission, in each instance considered above,
consists of a voluntary weakening of the subject organism's
resistance to the environmental stimulus, and an allied move-
ment of the self thus weakened tending to establish still closer
alliance between the subject and the person to whom the
subject is submitting. In more precise terms, we may des-
cribe this situation by saying that the motor self, responding
to adequate submission stimulus, decreases its own strength in
order to move itself as directed by the stimulus.
Passive submission may now be defined as a decrease in
the strength of the motor self sufficient to permit the motor
self of the organism to be moved by the motor stimulus, but
with no active movement on the part of the motor self destined
to further the purposes of the motor stimulus. The baby,
when it ceased crying and permitted itself to be stroked or
caressed without resistance, or the woman lying passive in her
lover's arms, constitute examples of passive submission.
Active submission requires a decrease in the motor self to
whatever point is necessary for the motor self to move as
directed by the motor stimulus, and also an active movement
238 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
i
of the self to bring about the accomplishment of those ends
toward which the motor stimulus is tending to move the
subject organism. Examples of active submission may be
found in infant behaviour, when the child under its mother's
caresses pushes itself closer to the mother's body, or, when
older, presses its lips actively against hers when kissed. Active
submission may be evidenced in the conduct of adults, when,
for example, a male lover changes his residence or occupation
at the behest of the woman whom he loves.
Motor Self Decreases Us Strength Sufficiently to be Controlled
The measure of the decrease of strength of the motor self
which occurs during submission seems to differ somewhat
from a similar measure of change in motor self strength during
dominance and compliance. During submission response the
motor self may frequently increase its strength toward objects
other than the submissive stimulus, for the very purpose of
carrying out the commands of the person to whom submission
is being rendered. Yet, the motor self must be kept in a
sufficiently weakened state in its relationship with the sub-
mission stimulus to permit the stimulus to direct the reaction
of the self toward other objects. The measure of this decrease
in the motor self, therefore, will be equal, approximately,
to the difference between the original strength of the motor
self and the strength at which it can be wholly controlled by
the motor stimulus to submission. Thus if the motor-stimtilus
weie a very strong one, and the motor self of comparatively
low intensity, only a slight decrease of strength might enable
the stimulus to direct the self to the fullest extent. On the
other hand, if there were very little difference in strength at
the inception of the submissive response, between motor
stimulus and motor self, the motor self might be compelled to
reduce itself by a very large proportion of its initial strength
before coming under full control of the motor stimulus.
Examples of these two extremes may be cited as follows.
A little girl five years of age, who is trained to submit promptly
to her mother's commands, only needs to reduce her existing
outflow of energy sufficiently to fix her attention upon the
mother's words in order to become fully controlled by the
instructions of the mother. The superiority of the strength
of the motor stimulus evoked by the mother is naturally
very great because of the habitual relationship between
SUBMISSION 239
mother and daughter, tke great difference in physical size and
strength between adult and young child, and the integrative
influence of systematic training in this same type of response.
As an example of the opposite extreme of required reduction
in the strength of the motor self in order to submit to an
appropriate motor stimulus, the case of a tired business man
who is required to submit to being " the horse " for his small
son, might be cited. In this instance the father's physical
size and strength is very much greater than that of the child.
The thresholds of all the responses of his entire organism
are raised by fatigue, and his habitual emotional attitude
toward the child is one of inducement or command rather than
submission. Yet such a man's emotional responses toward
the child may have been organized in such a way (perhaps
through the wife's influence) that submission has been learned
as a response to the child's demand to " play horse ". Tre-
mendous reduction in the strength of the father's motor self
must occur if it is to be put under the control of the motor
stimuli evoked by the child's lisped commands and tiny tugs
at the reins. That such tremendous reduction in the motor
self may be made successfully, however, is a matter of everyday
experience.
Summary
viSufcmission is found as a principle of reaction between in-
animate ybjects, in the behaviour of a smaller unit of matter
which is drawn toward a larger unit by the attractive force of
gravitation. Both objects are allied in the mutual force of
attraction which they exert over each other. The smaller
material object decreases its own force by moving itself in
such a way as to increase the force exerted upon it by the
larger object, and thereafter the smaller object's attractive
power is entirely directed by the larger object.
It seems to be an interesting fact that the motor self, or
continuous tonic discharge is produced by reflex opposition
to the body's physical submission or the force of gravity
exerted upon it by the earth. Psycho-neural submission,
therefore must consist of lessening the motor self's opposition
to gravity sufficiently to permit control of the motor self by
an allied motor stimulus of superior volume. Experiments
upon decerebrate animals indicate that the primary emotional
response of submission requires the mediation of sorne motor
2 4 o EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
centre integratively superior to the tonic centre. It further
appears frohi the work of the physiologists that thalamic
motor centres suffice for the appearance of the submission
response.
Submission has been shown to occur as a spontaneous and
apparently pleasant response of very young infants. Though
submission, like compliance, is probably a learned response,
it may be distinguished from compliance by the ease and
pleasantness with which submission response is acquired.
The comparatively great efficiency with which the submissive
response is learned seems to be due to the allied character of
the stimulus, since positive pleasantness is experienced in
yielding c/i the motor self to allied motor stimuli. Submission
response is found well established even in overdominant
children from whom the response of compliance can not be
directly evoked even by environmental stimuli so intense as
to be physically injurious.
If submission is to be evoked from dominant subjects, the
environmental stimulus in addition to being capable of im-
pressing its allied character upon the subject must also be
capable of evoking motor stimuli of perceptibly greater strength
than the motor self of the subject. Increasing the alliance
characteristic of the environmental stimulus is found not to
compensate for insufficient strength of the allied stimulus.
Too great intensity of the environmental stimulus, even though
it be actually completely allied with the subjects' interests is
found to evoke antagonistic motor stimuli within the subject's
organism.
If the subject from whom submission response is to be
evoked is a human being, the environmental stimulus must
also be a human being, in order to possess the alliance char-
acteristic of an adequate submission stimulus. In most cases,
also, an adequate degree of alliance in the stimulus is obtained
only when the individual submitted to belongs to the same
race as the subject and possesses the same or similar bodily
and social characteristics. Within these limits, however,
national differences in social culture may serve to imbue
the person submitted to with a certain spurious superiority of
strength to the person from whom submission is evoked.
As far as my own studies of emotional response have pro-
gressed to date, girls between the ages of five and twenty-five
appear to express a greater absolute amount of true submission
SUBMISSION 241
response than do males* of corresponding ages. Girls show
lower thresholds to the submissive type of reaction. Sub-
mission response seems to be evoked from these girls most
readily and most extensively by women older or more mature
than themselves, notably their mothers, teachers, and especi-
ally selected girl friends.
Active submission consists of spontaneous readjustments
and movements of the motor self at the dictation of the motor
stimulus to submission. Passive submission consists of
decrease of the strength of the motor self to a sufficient degree
to permit passive movement of the organism and passive
readjustment of the motor self by the submission stimulus.
The measure of decrease of the motor self during sabmission
response consists of the difference between the initial motor
self intensity and volume, and the intensity and volume at
which the motor self can be completely controlled by motor
stimuli of the strength actually evoked by the adequate
environmental stimulus to submission response.
Pleasantness of Submission
Submission response, according to unanimous introspective
agreement, is pleasant from beginning to end. Since the
environmental stimulus is, by definition, in complete alliance
wich - f he total interests of the subject organism, the adequate
motor stimulus to submission, once it is aroused, must be
correspondingly in complete alliance with the motor self.
There may be an intermediate period, however, before the
allied character of the environmental stimulus impresses itself
fully upon the organism, when preliminary, transient motor
stimuli are aroused, antagonistic to the motor self. These
preliminary stimuli may cause temporary conflict, with con-
sequent unpleasantness, before the motor stimulus adequate
to submission is evoked and the submission type of integration
is initiated. A child, for instance, may first reply, " I won't
do it ! " to the mother's command ; then, dominance giving
way to submission, the child may add, " Oh, yes I will,
mammy ; ', in repentant tone of voice. The momentary,
initial flare-up of dominance may be unpleasant, and its
memory may give a tinge of unpleasantness to the beginning
of the subsequent submission response, in the form of regret
for initial disobedience. But once the submission behaviour
242 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
is fully ujider way, without admixtures of dominance or
compliance, the reaction becomes extremely pleasant.
Again, it is always necessary to determine whether the
response is one of true submission, or only one of compliance.
In the latter case, as when children are required to perform
various household tasks before being permitted to play, the
affective tone at its best is one of indifference, and usually
contains positive unpleasantness. The differential criterion,
of course, by which one may judge whether submission or
compliance is being expressed, is the motor attitude of the
subject toward the task imposed. If the work is regarded as
" something that has to be done ", even though the subject
does not " want " to do it, then the motor stimuli controlling
the situation are antagonistic to the motor self and the re-
action is one of compliance. This is true, also, if the necessity
compelling the action is one of hoped-for reward only. In
such case, there is dominance also in the compound, making
the total response one of appetite emotion. But if the subject
11 wants " to do the task imposed, " because mother wants
me to do it ", then the response is one of submission. If the
act is performed " to please mother ", there is probably present
some inducement emotion, and possibly an admixture of
submission and inducement, making the compound emotion,
love. But in this case, just as in the case where the response
is one of fairly unmixed submission, the affective tone is
strongly and continuously pleasant. .1
The pleasantness of true submission response, (as exemplified
in love passion, for instance) may increase continuously from
its inception to its consummation. Even when the submission
is not compounded with inducement to form any aspect of
love emotion, but appears as a unit response by itself, increase
of pleasantness seems to accompany increase of alliance
between subject and stimulus. That is to say, pleasantness
increases pari passu with successful accomplishment of the
submissive task undertaken at the command of the person to
whom the subject chooses to submit. The pleasantness
decreases toward indifference only if the task imposed tends
to separate the subject from the person submitted to ; in
which case, bf course, the true submission response itself
diminishes, or changes its emotional character to that of
compliance simply because actual perception of the submission
stimulus is necessary to maintain a pure submission response
SUBMISSION 243
at full strength. So lon^ as any memory or stimulus intimately
associated with the person originally submitted 'to remains,
however, some vestige of pleasantness and of the initial sub-
mission reaction also remain. And under no possible con-
ditions can true submission be unpleasant.
Distinctive Conscious Characteristics of Submission Emotion
Various inexact terms applied to submission emotion, or
to some complex emotional pattern based principally upon
submission, may be listed as follows : " willingness ",
" docility ", " sweetness ", " good nature ", " a good child ",
" kindness ", " tender-heartedness ", " soft-heartedness ",
" benevolence ", " generosity ", " being obliging ", " being
accommodating ", " being considerate ", " gentleness ",
" meekness ", " obedience ", " slavibhness ", " admiration ",
" being tractable ", " being manageable ", " being an easy
mark ", " altruism ", " unselfishness ", " willing service >f ,
" servility ", " slavery ", " being a willing slave ".
An interesting characteristic of a majority of the terms
listed is the ob]ectivity with which they describe submission
behaviour, no matter whether the submission referred to is
regarded as a character trait or as a type of relationship to
other people. In cases of both dominance and compliance,
introspectively derived words like " will " and " rage ", or
" timidity " and " fear ", seem to be prevalent in popular
parlance. But submission is a type of conduct which writers
appear quite willing to describe as an attractive sort of be-
haviour when performed by someone else, but which they
rather shrink from acknowledging as a conscious element of
their own emotional life. When submission is given un-
reserved endorsement, as by the terms " obliging ", " con-
siderate ", and " accommodating ", the spontaneous emotional
enjoyment of submitting to another person is tacitly justified
or excused by adding a tinge of compliance, or appetite.
There is a certain suggestion contained in the words " obliging "
and " accommodating " that the submissive favour is done as
a habit of action found efficient in procuring appetitive reward.
Among fifty male subjects recently questioned, only two
expressed unqualified pleasure in the possibility of being a
" happy slave " ; that is only two admitted without disguise
that pure submission emotion was pleasant to them per se.
(Perhaps the " happy slave " emotion is a compound, con-
244 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
stituting passion, as we shall have occasion to note in the next
chapter ; but, even so, its controlling element is active
submission).
There is little equivocation, however, in the emotional
implications of the submission behaviour jointly referred to
by the popular terms listed above. By submission, in every
case, is meant a decrease of the self to permit an allied person
to direct at will, not only the organism apart from the motor self,
but the motor self, also. Active submission would consist of
positive selections from among its activities which the motor
self might be compelled by the submission stimulus to make.
Passive submission would occur when the motor self volun-
tarily refrained from one or more of its natural activities
under compulsion of the submission stimulus.
Introspective descriptions of submission emotion, mostly
obtained from girls, though some were male reports, dealing
with the experiencing of submission during passion, suggest
the definitive characteristic of submission to be : wanting
to give the self helplessly, without question, to the dictation of
another person. This feeling, increasingly pleasant in pro-
portion as the self is increasingly controlled by the person sub-
mitted to, constitutes submission emotion.
CHAPTER XII
INDUCEMENT
DURING the action known as gravitation between large and
smaller units of matter, it has been suggested that the be-
haviour of the smaller body might aptly be described as a
submission to the larger one. It remains to suggest that the
behaviour of the more massive object, in attracting to itself
the smaller body, might be characterized as inducement.
The forces of mutual attraction exerted by each object upon
the other are, as we have seen, closely allied one with the other.
The force exerted by the larger body, however, as by the
earth itself during exercise of its gravitational influence, is
superior in strength to the attractive force exerted by the
smaller body, and consequently compels the smaller body's
own force to move it towards the earth, or larger material
body. This attraction exercised upon the smaller matter
unit may be described as inducement since the stronger attrac-
tive 9 force progressively strengthens itself by compelling the
weaker attractive force to obey its dictates, while all the time the
stronger force remains in alliance with the weaker. Induce-
ment, as a suggested principle of behaviour of inanimate
objects, bears exactly the same relationship to submission,
as a similar principle of mutual attraction between physical
objects, that human or animal inducement bears to human
or animal submission. Inducement in both cases may be
thought of as exercising the initiative in that movement
of the weaker allied body which actually results from the
simultaneous, allied action of both stronger and weaker
re-agents.
Inducement Emotion Requires Thalamic Motor Centres
Like compliance and submission, the inducement response
probably cannot occur as a primary emotional response
in animal or human subjects except through the mediation
of some motor centre integratively superior to the tonic
245
246 \ EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
centres. Inducement reaction, like Compliance or submission
responses failed to appear in the decerebrate animals studied
by the physiologists. All environmental stimuli, as we have
already noted, appear to evoke antagonistic stimuli only,
in animal subjects thus prepared.
Moreover, it seemed impossible to discover an environ-
mental stimulus that could evoke motor stimuli of superior
strength to the motor self within the experimental animal's
depleted central nervous system. Since inducement response
depends both upon the allied character of the motor stimuli
evoked, and upon its superiority of strength over the motor
self, inducement response may be regarded as impossible
to evoke 'in animals prepared in the manner described by
Goltz and Sherrington. As in the case of submission response,
however, inducement will be found to be a necessary con-
stituent of centrally mediated sex response since spontaneous
sex response of this type can occur, as we have already noted,
by way of thalamic motor mechanisms. It would seem
probable that inducement, like the other primary emotions
may occur in thalamic motor centres.
Inducement Appears in Infant Behaviour
In the love responses listed by Watson as found in the
behaviour of infants, we discover a number of naive or un-
learned reactions which may possibly be termed inducement.
Inducement may consist, at an early age, of spontaneous
holding out of hands or feet to be tickled. At a somewhat
later period, apparently, the baby may embrace mother
or nurse. Holding out of arms toward the person to whom
the child has been submitting, and certain infant vocal sounds
which might be interpreted as invitations to continue previous
petting, may also be listed in this more active category of
love behaviour. The result of all these infant invitations or
inducements, if successful, is to cause the mother or attendant
to move as directed by the infant. No antagonistic com-
pulsion can, however, be exercised over the adult by the infant
inducer. The mother in submitting to her child is reacting
with learned submission, which permits the allied motor
stimuli evoked by perception of the infant organism to be of
superior strength to the mother's motor self. The infant's
earliest inducement responses, therefore, are frequently
more successful than those attempted at a later age.
INDUCEMENT 247
Inducement Is Important Element In Girls' Behaviour"
Inducement response seems often to appear as a spon-
taneous type of reaction, in the behaviour of girls from three
to five years old. In boys of similar age, the reaction may
also appear spontaneously, according to my own observa-
tion, in the form of aggressive teasing of attractive little
girls, or smaller and younger boys. In the case of male
children, however, initial inducement exercised toward a
weaker child is minimized, an attempted antagonistic com-
pulsion of the other's compliance is far more pronounced
and the whole response is apt to become mixed with and
controlled by dominance very soon after its initiation, often
taking the form of torturing weaker children and animals.
Males, even at a tender age, appear to place little confidence
in the efficacy of inducement. They lapse readily into at-
tempted compulsion or domination of other humans, evidently
failing to distinguish fellow humans, to any great extent,
from inanimate objects.
" Playing (at) school " and " playing (at) house ", usually
with one of the older girls as " teacher " or " mother ", has
been described in psychological literature as " imitative
instinct ", or as " play instinct ", expressing itself in imitation
of the adults whom the children see most frequently. Were
" imitation " or " play " (whatever that may be) the sole
explanation of such activities, however, there is no particular
reason winy mother and teacher should be the chosen roles
to be impersonated rather than nursemaid, cook, kitchen
maid, gardener or janitor. In many households the servants
named are with the children much more frequently than
are the parents. But in practically all parts of the globe
where the play of children has been observed, little girls will
be found enacting the part of mother, or of some sort of
preceptress toward all those younger children whom she can
persuade to join in this type of game. It seems fairly clear
that inducement, in a singularly unmixed form, is the
response expressed in this type of behaviour. I have noted
during my own observations of children at play that other
girls, younger than the " mother " or " teacher " child,
appear to enjoy this sort of activity much more than do
little boys of corresponding age, who may also be in the
group.
The boys are frequently persuaded to play " house "
248 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
or "school/* only with the utmost feluctance. Their choice
of games usually calls for some sort of contest or more violent
physical activity expressive primarily of dominance. While
the " tomboy " type of little girl shares this dominant pre-
dilection in choice of play activities, to a considerable extent,
with the boys of her particular group, there exists, also,
even in her contests with the male children, a considerable
element of active inducement directed toward winning the
admiration and esteem of the boys in question. " Tomboys "
evidently possess more dominance than the average girl,
with perhaps a normal assignment of female inducement.
Dominance in such cases is found to be a more efficient method
of stimulation for the purpose of evoking submission from
the boys of the group than is inducement exerted directly
upon male children, under guise of playing house or
school.
The true inducement character of the controlling emotional
response in many " tomboys " reveals itself clearly in their
leadership of other children during adolescence. In one
case which I had occasion to observe, a girl, who when young
chose to play boys' games, and engage competitively with
them in juvenile athletics, became, during adolescence, the
undisputed leader of the girls in her group at her preparatory
school, and later in college. Her leadership expressed itself
in various types of appetitive, or dominant, and compliant
activities, not limited by any means to athletics. ><She was
editor of her school paper, president of her class, leading lady
in school dramatics, and later president of her class in college.
She became one of a very small number of undergraduates
representing the student body in the governing council of
the college. So far as I know, A.B. never turned any of her
successes into financial or other appetitive advantage for
herself, as many American students do even though blessed
with parents of high social and financial standing. A.B.,
according to my own observations, obtained, first of all, a
dominant satisfaction from her success in competitive activ-
ities of all sorts, physical and social. But this dominance
response appeared always to be controlled by inducement,
since the ultimate accomplishment almost invariably took
the form of gaining leadership or directorship over other
persons of less strength who were at the same time willing
and desirous of being thus directed.
INDUCEMENT 249
Males' Inducement* Is Controlled by Dominance and
Appetite
Male inducement which often begins, as already noted,
in a mildly sadistic attitude toward weaker children, seems
to become subordinated during later adolescence to the
outright control of dominance. The element of submission,
as we shall have occasion to observe in the next chapter,
is essential to the compound emotion captivation. And
captivation is an essential constituent of sadistic teasing
or torturing of weaker human beings or animals. During
later male adolescence it would appear that a certain separa-
tion occurs, in most cases, between active inducement and
passive submission, with inducement tending to become
transferred out of the love compound altogether, taking
its place under control of appetite emotion. Captivation,
of course, may continue as a separate type of sex behaviour,
but this does not prevent inducement, also, being used to
assist dominance and appetite.
Behaviour indicating this gradual male transfer of induce-
ment under appetitive control may be reviewed briefly as
follows : The so-called " cruelty " which young boys express
toward one another has been commented iipon repeatedly
both in psychological and literary writings. A boy who has
any outstanding peculiarity or weakness almost invariably
becomes a butt lor the jokes and attacks of his companions.
One instance which was brought to my attention by the
principal of a school in which we were making a mental
health survey, concerned a boy with a deformity of the right
leg which rendered this limb some three of four inches shorter
than the left. The child had recently undergone an operation
which was unsuccessful. After the operation he wore a
shoe on the right foot with an extra thick sole sufficient to
compensate for the shortening of his right leg.
The other boys of the school (eight to twelve years old)
immediately began to call him " club foot ". The deformed
boy, Harry, who had undergone considerable suffering,
physical and emotional, in connection with the operation,
was peculiarly 'sensitive to the taunts of his former friends.
He could no longer run away from them successfully, and
when he failed to escape after trying to run away, the older
boys chased him and formed a daily hab't of gathering around
him and teasing him in various ways not physically injurious
250 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL
but ingcnic usly devised to give Ha A ry as much emotional
unpleasantness as possible. I was able to question three or
four of the boys who had just teased Harry. I discovered
that they had not the slightest attitude of ill will toward
the child. In fact, one or two of the boys appeared to like
Harry better than most of their other play fellows, and all
the boys questioned except one, expressed pity and regret
for Harry's deformity. When asked why, when they felt
this way toward Harry, they should consistently make life
miserable for him by tormenting him, one or two of the boys
replied : " I don't know. I can't help it. It's fun to chase
him and make him cry, but after that you don't feel so good.
Feel kind 'of sorry for him." Another boy said that he
thought Harry was " yellow " for running away, and that
it was his own fault if the boys " picked on him ". A third
boy said it was " sort of exciting to tease Harry ". But he
pointed out that they teased other boys just as much at
other times, only " the other boys don't take it so hard ".
This rather ordinary instance of a group of young males
teasing and tormenting a weaker companion may very readily
be seen to depend, primarily, upon inducement, partially
compounded with submission into captivation emotion (see
next chapter), but controlled by dominance. Harry repre-
sented, at first, an allied or friendly environmental stimulus,
weaker than the other boys. This made Harry, under* our
suggested definition, an adequate environmental .stimulus
for evoking active inducement response from his stronger
companions. When, however, Harry began to cry and to
run away, his alliance with the other boys was to a con-
siderable extent severed, in their minds. He then repre-
sented a weaker boy than themselves who would not submit
to their mixed dominance and inducement. This made
Harry an antagonistic stimulus, weaker than the boys who
were reacting toward him. Immediately the antagonism
of the stronger boys was increased to the extent where domi-
nance completely controlled their conduct toward Harry
Yet they still felt an undercurrent of friendliness and interest
in him, evoking from them some continuance of the induce-
ment purpose of making him submit to them. In this situa-
tion, inducement was adapted to and controlled by dominance.
And Harry suffered accordingly.
Another instance of boys' behaviour which came to my
INDUCEMENT 251
attention may be cited to show the difference in thl responses
evoked from the stronger group of boys when tJ/e boy being
teased elects to submit to his tormentors. In this case it
was the school custom to " initiate " any new boy by subjecting
him to such physical punishments and torments as the older
boys of the school might devise to suit the occasion. Several
boys, new to the school, had received cuts, bruises, and other
minor injuries, as well as having had their clothes badly torn
and soiled, in the process of this " initiation ". All the boys
thus hurt had resisted to a greater or lesser extent the treat-
ment meted out to them. However, during the initiation,
which I was able to observe without my presence in any way
interfering with the behaviour of the boys, the new boy showed
a remarkable willingness to undergo whatever was meted
out to him. I learned, afterward, that he had been informed
by a friend at the school of the treatment he might expect,
and had been advised " not to run away from it ". This boy,
therefore, showed no desire to get away, nor did he try to evade
the commands of the leaders among his " initiators ". As
a result, apparently, of this attitude, 1 heard several of the
older boys remark to each other " He's not afraid of any-
thing ", " He's a good kid ", " He is all right, let him off ",
" That's enough for him ". After putting this boy through only
two comparatively mild stunts, he was released and welcomed
with Enthusiasm as a fully initiated member of the school.
The pcftnt seemed to be that the dominance of the older
boys out-weighed their inducement emotion at the very begin-
ning of the affair. When, therefore, the object of their attack
failed to show the slightest resistance or antagonism in return,
a good part of this initial dominance died out for lack of
stimulus. Only the inducement increment remained in their
subjection of the new boy, and this inducement (compounded,
it must be remembered with submission, into a dilute cap-
tivation emotion) was not sufficiently extensive to carry on the
initiation very long after dominance had subsided. One or
two successfully evoked submission responses on the part of
the new boy were sufficient to satisfy the inducement emotion
of this entire group of young males. In short, we might
conclude that inducement is not a sufficiently well developed
emotion in the average adolescent male to control any con-
siderable portion of his behaviour when it is completely
divorced from dominance.
252 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
McJe Organism Not Suited to induce Other Males
It is frequently reported that homosexual relations are
prevalent in that type of boys' school called a " public school "
in England, and a " private school " in the United States.
I have had occasion to observe one or two such relationships.
In the cases which have come to my attention an older,
stronger boy has compelled a young and much weaker boy to
give him erotic pleasure, as well as to perform many other
services of an appetitive nature for the benefit of the older
youth. In such cases as these, the emotional response of
inducement on the part of the older boy wins for him a greater
total amount of pleasantness, both appetitive and erotic, than
that which can be obtained from mere teasing and torturing
of younger boys. Moreover, the younger boy's combined
submission and inducement attain for him a certain amount
of freedom from being made the object of dominance response.
The older boy in these affairs usually protects and favours,
in various ways, the boy who submits to him. Frequently
he not only refrains from hazing or tormenting the younger
boy, but also prevents other boys from doing so. In this type
of behaviour, therefore, we may see a certain amount of
inducement expressed by a male subject free from control of
dominance.
The limitation to such relationships seems to be a phy-
siological one. Since neither the body nor the emotional
development of the younger boy is suited to act as ah effective
stimulus to the passion of the stronger youth, the dominance
of the younger boy yielding to dominance of the older boy
becomes a matter of compliance by the weaker one rather
than submission. The older boy as environmental stimulus,
in short, evokes motor stimuli stronger than the motor self
of his companion, but, for the most part, antagonistic to it.
Thus, the stronger youth becomes an adequate stimulus to
compliance but not to submission. The younger boy yields,
not because he enjoys the relationship as such, but because
it seems to be to his appetitive advantage. The compliance
of the weaker boy, in turn, makes itself felt by the would-be
inducer, and the inducement fails to produce sufficient pleas-
antness to be long continued.
From this sort ot relationship, however, both boys frequently
emerge with an unusually complete appetitive development,
and with a transfer of inducement into adaptation to, and
INDUCEMENT 253
control by appetite. In fcther words, the older boy Jjfas learned
that he can use inducement to obtain services ayd pleasures
which would otherwise be beyond his reach. The younger
boy, also, has been taught that by a compound response made
up of inducement and submission expressed toward a stronger
companion, he can obtain protection, gifts, and perhaps
advancement in school activities of various sorts. In the cases
I have studied, at least, both boys entering into such a relation-
ship, tend thereafter to use the primary emotional response
of inducement not for its own sake nor for the completion
of a true love response, but rather as first aid in furthering
the ends of active and passive appetite or both. This use of
inducement, as we shall have occasion later to observe, con-
stitutes one of the most unfortunate of personality develop-
ments.
Normal Adult Male Transfers Inducement From Sadism to
Business
The element of inducement in males who have not had
experiences of homosexual type, nevertheless, tends to follow
a somewhat similar course of development. The behaviour
called " cruelty " toward other males continues to be expressed
in some degree throughout adult life. Business men, as well
as men engaged in professional and academic life, appear to
obtaia a certain emotional pleasure by means of imposing
hardships^ and minor torments upon other males who come
under their authority. And this same type of pleasure is still
more obviously manifested when failure of another man is
reported, even though this individual is in no sense a rival.
Criticisms or attacks made upon another male appear to be
enjoyed without restraint by most men, and it would appear
that the dominant or appetitive satisfaction in disposing of a
rival fails to account satisfactorily for the entire response.
There exists, in addition, a certain emotional gratification
(captivation emotion) in the thought that the person attacked
is thereby subjected to the subject himself as well as to all
other persons who witness the attack.
With the normal and fairly successful business man, how-
ever, these occasional enjoyments of perverted inducement
response must be strictly limited to those occasions when the
subject's own appetitive interests can not be injured by
indulging in enjoyment of the other person's enforced subjec-
254 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
tioh. During late adolescence there'is indication that domin-
ance, compjiance and their appetitive combinations develop
very rapidly with male subjects, until appetite may be said
to exercise undisputed control over the average male's emo-
tional responses. With this maturing appetite comes the
suppression and limitation of inducement expressed in force-
fully bullying and injuring other males. The youth begins to
discover that he cannot afford to alienate other males who may
later serve his interests in one way or another, no matter how
insignificant these persons may seem at the time when he
has an opportunity to subject them injuriously in some way.
For instance, one boy may successfully dominate another
lad of the same group during athletic competition or com-
petitive seeking of the same class office or scholastic prize.
The natural tendency of the male following such successes
seems to consist of an expression of open triumph over the
rival, with perhaps a certain patronizing condescension
expressive of the defeated one's subjection to the superior
strength of the more successful boy. The triumphant boy
does not regard this defeated rival as an enemy or antagonist.
In fact, the whole pleasure of the inducement response would
be turned to indifference were the other boy regarded as a real
antagonist. To enjoy this type of victory to the full, the
defeated male must still be thought of as a friend, though a
friend of inferior strength and position. It soon transpires,
however, that the defeated boy has reacted to the openly
expressed superiority of the successful youth by becoming a
real enemy. Perhaps, at a subsequent election of class officers
or in the course of academic relationships, if the two boys are
taking the same courses, an occasion arises where the formerly
successful youth needs the support of the boy whom he has
been treating as an inferior. He finds this support is not
forthcoming. The formerly defeated youth now responds
with dominance to the previously controlling dominance in
the other boy's behaviour and the formerly triumphant youth
suffers accordingly. I studied several instances of this type,
and found that in these instances only a few such experiences
were necessary to lead to a splitting off of inducement from
open dominance, and the initiation of a new pattern of
behaviour in which inducement was used to further the ends
of appetite instead of thwarting them. In other words,
instead of giving free rein to the pleasantness of injurious
INDUCEMENT 255
subjection of other boys* the subject quickly leanafed to use
inducement to acquire and regain their appetitive assistance
and service. '
Inducement in Business
This system of emotional organization, wherein inducement
is used as first assistant to active appetite, forms what may be
called the extensor muscle of modern business. Selling goods
is a clear cut example of this type of composite emotional
response. The salesman not only stimulates the appetitive
mechanisms of his prospective customers by impressing upon
the buyer the financial advantage which these particular
goods hold for him, but he also uses a considerable amount
of " personal appeal " to the buyer. That is to say, the
salesman endeavours to impress the buyer with his own
qualities as a good fellow and reliable person. And if the
prospective customer allows himself to become sympathetic
the salesman may even make an open statement of his own
personal needs and desires in winning the patronage of the
merchant to whom he is talking. All this consists of rather
clear-cut, active inducement behaviour, on the part of the
salesman. In itself such behaviour has no connection what-
ever with the intrinsic merit or usefulness of the goods to be
sold. Yet, no business man to-day doubts the importance of
stfch .inducement technique in effecting sales.
Even pointed advertisements which do not, of course, enable
the seller to appear personally before the buyer, contain as
large an element of inducement as it is possible to convey
with the help of words, pictures and suggestions of both form
and colour. Pretty girls are depicted extending the article
to be sold invitingly toward the reader of the advertisement.
The concern manufacturing the product advertised is sym-
bolized as the family's best friend, or as the generous saviour
of humanity in distress. Another form of what might be
called substituted inducement, commonly found in advertise-
ments, is the attempted identification of the advertiser with
some member of the prospective customer's family, who is
represented as inducing the reader of the advertisement to
buy the product advertised. For instance, a picture of a baby
may be shown with the heading : " Bring happiness to your
child, buy this cuddly, dimpled baby doll ! " Or a picture
of two attractive children sharing a bottle of soft drink, may
256 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
be displaced with the legend : " Ket your children enjoy
these taste-.tempting drinks ".
In nearly** all selling methods of modern business some
element of inducement can be found directly or indirectly
expressed, over and above the appetitive appeal contained in
descriptions of the intrinsic values and delights of the goods
themselves. This use of inducement response as a servant of
appetite emotion tends to be learned by the average male
about the time of sexual maturity. Thereafter, he limits
more and more the use of inducement in enjoyment of the
captivation of other males, and extends its use further and
further for the purpose of procuring appetitive benefits from
other people of both sexes.
Confusions Between Inducement and Dominance
The behaviour just considered, which might aptly be styled
the evolution of male inducement, serves only to illustrate the
tendency which all males exhibit, at times, to confuse and
intermingle dominance and inducement responses. The
integrative element which is identical in dominance and induce-
ment is the superiority of the motor self over the strength of the
motor stimulus. The integrative difference between the two
responses consists in the fact that an adequate stimulus to domin-
ance emotion is antagonistic to the motor self while adequate
motor stimulus to inducement must remain in alliance wi*h trie
motor self.
If there appears to be the slightest doubt as to whether the
person who constitutes the environmental stimulus is willing
to accept the role of inferiority to the subject, then the average
male organism immediately tends to react to the individual in
question as to an antagonistic stimulus. The " boot-licking, "
or utterly servile attitude which male underlings of great men
so frequently find it necessary to adopt, in order to retain
their positions, furnishes dependable evidence of the tendency
just referred to. If the assistant or employee inadvertently
manifested, at any time, behaviour which impressed his chief
with a possible superiority of strength on the part of the
supposedly inferior male, the employer would feel immediate
necessity for reducing his employee's strength to a level
obviously lower than his own. This emotional purpose, again,
is a common one both to dominance and to inducement
responses ; but since dominance is the prevailing male
INDUCEMENT
257
emotion, the employer almost invariably seeks to /educe his
subordinate's strength by action antagonistic to the other
man's interests. He may reprimand him before others,
decrease his pay, or discharge him. I have observed many
instances of each of these methods used by males in authority
to reduce the strength of a subordinate.
Nor are such methods limited to business or other appetitive
relationships where there may be, in most cases, some actual
opposition of interests between chief and subordinate. In
the home, a wife or son may be " put in their place " by this
method. Deliberately cutting and insulting remarks may
be addressed to the wife. A son who shows any tendency to
dispute the superiority of a " successful " father is 1 likely to
receive more definitely injurious treatment. Physical abuse,
cutting off a son's allowance or privileges, or even (in one
actual case) causing the son's arrest and sentence in juvenile
court, may be u<ed as methods of reducing the " uppishncss "
of the boy. All these courses of action are dominant and not
inductive methods of reducing the strength of the person
regarded as inferior to the subject, since all these methods
of treatment disregard utterly the interests and well being of
the person thus treated.
Were inducement the prevailing response, the actions of
the father, or person in authority must have been kept in
complete alliance with the welfare and happiness of the persons
subjected. Had this been done, and true inducement actually
exercised, the inferior persons must have been induced volun-
tarily to reduce their own strength to a required degree, in
order to accept completely the control of the inducer. Most
males, who appear to possess very meagre development of
inducement emotion in pure form, would regard such a task
as utterly impossible. An average male is prone to remark
" the only way to show the boy his place is to beat him within
an inch of his life ". Often the sentiment expressed is more
violent than the action which follows, but the two are usually
similar in nature. Whenever another person's strength is to
be reduced to a level inferior to a man's own, the person is
treated as an opponent and dominance takes the place of
inducement in nine cases out of ten.
Girls Express Inducement Not Mixed With Appetite
The. development of inducement response in girls and women
258 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
is quite different from that of males. All girls from three to five
years of age jiot infrequently manifest a startlingly sophisti-
cated inducement technique. In one case, at least, which I
had occasion to study, males were unmistakably preferred to
women as objects of inducement. Yet the little girl, Patricia,
also exercised inducement toward her mother, aunt, and also
toward girls younger than herself. For a period of about
three years, inducement appeared, in fact, to be the con-
trolling response in this child's behaviour pattern. Patricia
sought systematically to induce people to watch her antics
and to think highly of her. This inducement did not seem to
be coupled with overt eroticism, nor on the other hand, did
inducement appear to be complicated by appetitive cravings
or desires. The child seemed solely intent upon establishing
her superiority over those people who attracted her, while
simultaneously seeking a more intimate an-1 friendly relation-
ship with them.
In other cases studied, female children of similar age showed
marked inducement response coupled with and apparently
springing from sexual precocity. In girls of this age, and
girls between this age and adolescence, inducement seems
frequently compounded into an admirably organized love
response, expressed in taking care of babies and younger
children. Detailed consideration of this love behaviour may
be reserved until a later chapter. Our attention may be called
to it at this point as an indubitable expression of active induce-
ment in a pure or natural form, not perverted by admixture
with appetite.
Forced Use of Inducement for Appetite by Women
Women have been regarded conventionally, for thousands
of years, as the weaker sex. This almost universally recog-
nized concept of woman's weakness has included not only
physical inferiority, but also a weakness in emotional power in
relationships with males. No concept of woman's emotional
status could be more completely erroneous. Woman actually
is inferior to man at the present time, on the average, in
her dominance development ; but since real relationships,
other than those of business, depend upon inducement and
love responses and technique, rather than upon dominant
and appetitive reactions, there seems little reason to doubt
that women, as a sex, are many times better equipped tg
INDUCEMENT 259
assume emotional leadership than are males. As a matter
of fact, women have always exercised this emotional leadership
by controlling, to a considerable extent, the home life and the
education of children. But they have been controlled, in
turn, in exercising these functions by the dominant and
appetitive compulsions exerted upon them by a predominantly
male civilization.
The situation in which women have found themselves,
while being kept in a status of dominantly enforced weakness,
has had the effect of compelling them to use inducement
(and submission, also) as a means of obtaining appetitive
benefits and protections. Men, by controlling social customs
and usages, have forced their own perverted use of inducement
as a servant of appetite upon the females of the race, whose
native emotional equipment does not appear to tend toward
such a development if, and when, the female herself is freed
from appetitive compulsion. If the source of food and appeti-
tive supply of all sorts is in the hands of persons possessing
superior strength and reacting with prevailing dominance,
two options only are open to weaker members of the race.
The weak ones may obtain supplies by using their love re-
sponses to serve their appetite, or they may perish from
appetitive weakness. A majority of women have learned to
follow the first of these two courses of conduct. The most
optimistic emotional feature of modern civilization seems to
be that we men are now beginning to escape both horns of this
dilemma by increasing their own appetitive powers. They
are nearing the point where they will be able to provide for
themselves quite as well as men can provide for them. When
the female sex, as a whole, has arrived at this appetitive
equality, it would seem probable that their inducement re-
sponses will be pretty much freed from appetitive control.
Women's Inducement Conditioned on Males by Appetitive
Compulsion
An interesting line of demarcation has grown up in the
behaviour of women compelled to depend upon inducement
for appetitive reward. The inducement responses of such
women have become conditioned, apparently, upon men, to a
very much greater extent than upon other women. Since it
has been a male or males toward whom women subjects must
exercise inducement in order to be fed and clothed, and since
260 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
the men from whom appetitive supplies are to be obtained
have not been subject, in the main, to dominant conquest by
women, the Woman's inducement responses toward males
have not been mingled or confused to any great extent by
admixture of dominance. In short, if money or sustenance
must be obtained from a physically stronger male, pure in-
ducement response must be expressed by the woman who seeks
his assistance, free from all suggestion of dominance. If
dominance is allowed to creep into the woman's attitude
toward such a male, at any point, the reward will not be
forthcoming. This seems to have had the effect of making
the inducement technique which women employ in attaining
support from men much more clear-cut inducement behaviour
than men are able to express toward other males.
Women Inducing Males for Appetitive Supply are
Business Rivals
On the other hand, women who depend solely for their
supply upon success of inducements directed toward males
inevitably regard all other women similarly engaged as actual
or prospective rivals. If the other woman succeeds in per-
sauding Mr. Z. to support her, then Mr. Z is not likely to
support the rival female inducer. Even if Mr. Z. were willing
to yield to the inducements of both women, he is likely to
spend less money upon both than he would spend upon
either one alone. Women inducers find themselves in the
same relationship to other women inducers that one auto-
mobile salesman occupies with respect to another automobile
salesman who is after the same customer of moderate means.
The result of this situation seems to have been the growth
of " society ", or " social " competition between women,
wherein each woman treats her rivals with very much the
same mixture of inducement and dominance that men exercise
toward one another. Women's taboo upon " fallen women ",
or women of inferior social standing, seems to represent the
same prevailing dominance response that a male employer
or bureau chief exerts over his male employees. Moreover,
the outcast or socially snubbed female is supposed to retain
the same friendly attitude toward the more dominant member
of her sex that the humiliated male underling is required to
maintain toward his appetitive superior. This expected
attitude of submission is not, of course, evoked in either
INDUCEMENT 261
case. Dominance may compel an unpleasant type of com-
pliance response, but true submission responds only to in-
ducement. Social dominance between wom^h, with its
thin, transparent disguise of inducement, is the less excusable
because the dominance power expressed is borrowed power,
originally obtained from males by the use of real inducement.
Except in Social Rivalry, Girls Express Pure Inducement
Toward Other Girls
In contrast to the " society " type of situation, however,
I have found that nearly all girls and women who are not
engaged too extremely in social rivalry express genuine induce-
ment and love toward their girl friends, women' relatives,
or, very frequently, toward destitute or otherwise unfortunate
persons of both sexes. These female responses may be
discussed more fully after we have considered the combining
of inducement and submission into completed love response.
I have recently observed one instance, however, worth
mentioning at this point. A college girl, about twenty
years of age, listed as her chief emotional interest her com-
panionship with a girl friend. I had occasion to observe
this young woman for a period of several months, and could
discover no indication that a complete love or sex relation-
ship existed between Miss D. and her friend. Miss D., however,
devoted a great deal of time and attention to pleasing Miss
F. Miss*D., for instance, threw away a hat which Miss F.
disliked. She also joined a group of young people whom she
did not care for, in order to be with Miss F. Yet Miss D.
was unmistakably the leader in her relationship with the
other girl. Miss F. submitted to requests of Miss D. which
were virtually commands, and even chose her courses in
college under Miss D.'s direction (although Miss F. was the
better student). There seemed to be an absence of passion
between the girls, in this case, which deprived the relation-
ship of a mature love character, and likewise prevented it
from resulting in any physical union. As nearly as I could
determine, Miss D.'s one desire was to exercise affectionate
leadership over Miss F. ; while Miss F. accepted this leadership
by responding with very evident active submission. (It
is possible that Miss F. experienced some passion in this
role, but if so it apparently had no counter effect upon Miss D.)
Miss D.'s conduct seems to constitute a clear cut example
262 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
of inducement for its own sake, ahd illustrates rather well
the difference between the pure inducement response, which
seems to be a natural product of the female organism, and
the mixture of inducement and dominance customarily
expressed by males. When Miss F.'s tasks or interests lay
in a direction divergent from those of Miss D., for the moment,
Miss D. found nothing more pleasant than keeping her own
behaviour in alliance with her friend's. Miss D. did not com-
ply, for she felt herself to be the leader over Miss F. at all
times, so far as I could discover ; nor did it occur to Miss D.
to treat the other girl as an antagonist, or opponent, and to
attempt to compel her to change her existing tendencies and
interests/ Miss D. simply maintained her previous close
personal alliance with Miss F., while at the same time she
expressed in this alliance her own superior strength. A hat,
or a group of indifferent people, were not weighed in the
balance against the pleasure Miss D. derived from Miss F.'s
society. These obstacles were swept aside, or were used
merely as methods of allying herself with the friend whom she
wished to induce. As a result, the friend, Miss F., accepted
Miss D.'s companionable relationship even more completely
than before ; eventually voluntarily adopting Miss D.'s
opinion regarding the social group of whose activities Miss
D. did not approve. This example of the behaviour of a
sexually mature young woman toward a girl friend seems "to
consist of nearly pure inducement, with very little Admixture
of other primary emotional responses.
Characteristics of Adequate Stimulus to Inducement
Nearly all the examples already mentioned serve to point
the necessity for the reagent to remain in close alliance with
the stimulus, if the response is to be one of inducement rather
than dominance. But what of the stimulus to inducement ?
We have noted that an environmental stimulus in order to
evoke inducement response must be considered by male
subjects to be of markedly inferior strength to the subject,
as well as allied in nature. In the case of submission response
the emphasis, so far as adequacy of stimulus was concerned,
seemed to be upon the allied characteristic. Varying
degrees of stimulus strength served, for the most part, to
determine whether the response would be of submission or
of inducement. In the present chapter, we have noted
INMDUCEENT 263
that males appear to substitute dominance for inducement
whenever a stimulus person whom they consider less powerful
than themselves shows any tendency to increase his strength
toward an equality with that of the subject. If we analyse
this behaviour with a view to determining the nature of an
adequate environmental stimulus to inducement, we discover
that in the case of males, at least, the margin of difference
between the strength of the inferior stimulus and the strength
of the subject himself must be a wide one if inducement is
to be evoked. So far as I have been able to observe, there
is no minimal threshold of strength or intensity beneath
which an allied stimulus will cease to evoke inducement.
That is to say, though an allied stimulus must impress itself
upon a male subject as being very much weaker than himself
in order to evoke inducement response, it is not likely to
cease to evoke inducement no matter how weak it may be-
come, provided it has once secured the attention of the
subject.
Male Inducement Threshold Varies With State of
Appetitive Responses
The margin of inferiority which an environmental stimulus
must maintain in order to evoke motor stimuli of inferior
intensity to the male's motor self will depend more upon the
^subject's own condition of appetite, desire, or satisfaction,
than upon the intrinsic strength which the stimulus person
exhibits. Since dominance is the prevailing primary emotion
in males, a comparison is likely to be made by the subject
between himself and the entire stimulus situation of which
the inferior person is a part, rather than between the subject
and the inferior person per se. If a man has been appetitively
successful, and is in what is known as a " good humour ",
then he is already in a state of consciousness where he feels
that he has demonstrated the superiority of his strength
over that of his environment. In such a mood, a lesser
degree of servility is usually required from his underlings
in order to satisfy him that the employees are less powerful
than himself.
Men, as a rule, appear to make very little distinction between
persons and things. The employees, or underlings, therefore,
tend to be lumped in with the inanimate units of environment,
and the subject's attitude toward these inanimate elements
264 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
tends to be inclusive of the human beings who regularly
form part of that environment. On the other hand, when-
ever a man Iras met defeat, or is in a state of unsatisfied
desire, he usually tries to satisfy the dominant element in his
unsatisfied desire by dominating all persons as well as in-
animate objects weaker than himself, unless their inferiority
and alliance with his own interests are overwhelmingly
apparent. It is in states of unsatisfied desire that men
kick the dog, meet their wife's advances with scathing re-
jections, order the children sharply to bed, and berate the
servants and other employees without other excuse than the
subject's own ill temper. Extreme servility (that is, ex-
aggerated inferiority of strength) together with unusually
successful service in supplying articles most pleasing to the
man at that moment, may possibly succeed in eliciting a
brief and rather perfunctory inducement response. He may
be led to remark to his wife : " Very good cigars, Alice. I
wish you'd buy some more for me ". Or, to an employee :
11 Well done, Jones, if you can do that again, I think it would
be good business ". Beyond such fragmentary inducement
response?, however, no stimulus, no matter how closely
allied, or no matter how obviously inferior it may be to the
subject himself, has the power to evoke further inducement.
When Inducement Serves Appetite, Inducement Threshold
is Low
When appetite emotion is the initial and basic response,
with inducement playing the minor role of a mechanism
whereby the appetitive need is to be accomplished, the
adequacy of the environmental stimulus to evoke the total
response pattern depends not upon the integrative mechanism
of inducement, but rather upon the adequacy of the environ-
mental stimulus to evoke appetitive emotion. Inducement,
in such cases, is initiated as a form of compliance ; yet in-
ducement response must follow its own proper course if it
is to be successful in accomplishing the appetitive result.
Whatever aspect or attribute of the stimulus person, there-
fore, can possibly be interpreted as allied with and weaker
than the subject tends to evoke motor stimuli appropriate
to inducement. This situation represents an opposite ex-
treme of inducement stimulus to that just considered. In
the former instance., a man in a state of unsatisfied desire
INDUCEMENT 265
requires for an inducen^ent stimulus extreme subservience,
and perfect alliance with his own interests. In the case now
under consideration, the slightest suggestion , of possible
alliance of interests, together with a mere possibility of
inferiority of strength at one point only, will be sufficient to
evoke an extremely active and prolonged inducement response.
For example, a woman may be dependent for her own living
and for that of their children upon a husband whose parsimony
is well known and frequently demonstrated. Yet under the
irresistible drive of appetitive desire, such a wife may exercise
inducement toward her husband for days, or even weeks, in
order to obtain the desired supply. In thus exerting induce-
ment toward an obviously inadequate environmental stimulus,
the wife is compelled to select, and to dwell upon whatever
interests and tastes she and her husband may have in common,
and to select the few responsive points which experience has
shown to exist in his submission response mechanism. Atten-
tion must be focusscd continuously upon these slight stimuli
to inducement in order to prolong the wife's inducement
response sufficiently to ofler an}' hope of success in obtaining
her desire. These inducement stimuli, slight as they are,
however, are absolutely essential to the evoking of true
inducement response, which alone is able to serve the woman's
appetitive desire. If no such stimuli are to be found, or if
the wife's attention is not kept continuously upon the more
or less if adequate stimuli mentioned, her behaviour will at
once lose its inducement character, and will impress itself
upon the niggardly husband as a dominant drive against his
money. The man's response to this stimulus will render him
more than ever antagonistic to her dearest interests. The
mere form of inducement will not do, if the wife's purpose
is to be accomplished. For this reason, the use of inducement
as a servant of appetite produces a situation wherein environ-
mental stimuli only slightly allied with the subject and
slightly, if at all, inferior to the strength of the subject, become
adequate to inducement response.
The situation outlined leads to a consideration of a sort of
border-line group of stimuli, where it is difficult to tell whether
the initial appeal to which the subject is responding is that of
antagonism or alliance. With subjects of both sexes, there
is a tendency to regard a member of the opposite sex who
appears difficult to subdue by inducement as an opponent
266 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
to the supremacy of the subject as <in expert inducer. Thus
the stimulus person may arouse a response of inducement for
the very reason that he constitutes an obstacle or opponent,
to the subject from whom the inducement is evoked. This
means that the stimulus person originally evokes dominance
response from the subject, and that dominance response is
immediately compelled to utilize inducement behaviour, as
the subject organism has learned to do, in order to accomplish
its dominant purpose.
Thus a college youth frequently employed excellently
devised inducement behaviour toward girls who were popular
with other men, solely for the purpose of proving that the girl
in question was no exception to the alleged rule that all women
became easy victims to his charm. The inducement emotion
seemed to be pure inducement during the time that he was
attempting to captivate the young woman selected. He
exerted no dominance toward her so far as I could observe,
nor, on the other hand, was his inducement mingled to any
extent with submission to produce real love emotion. Yet
once the object of the inducement behaviour was accomplished,
and the girl was willing to accept A.'s attentions, the boy's
emotional attitude became an obviously dominant one. This
consciousness of success contained, frequently, alternate and
mingled elements of inducement, with dominance prevailing.
I have also observed many instances of unusually love aggres-
sive girls who sought to induce popular young men io bestow
favourable regard upon them, seemingly for the purpose of
removing the youth in question as an obstacle to the girl's
complete supremacy over the opposite sex.
Resistance May Evoke Pure Inducement
On just the other side of the line, however, I have observed
instances of feminine inducement evoked directly by a stimulus
person who was not regarded as an antagonist at any time
during the relationship. In one case, at least, attractive
males always seemed to evoke real inducement response from a
girl subject, pretty much in proportion to the indifference
which they expressed toward her. So far as I could discover,
this girl did not regard an indifferent man as antagonistic,
but rather as an allied stimulus person whose strength she
felt to be inferior to her own. The fact that the man himself
expressed indifference toward her impressed itself upon her
INDUCEMENT 267
apparently as an ade<$uate stimulus to reduce his inferior
power to a level where it should be easily manageable by her
own. The line of demarcation at this point, ^between pure
inducement response and mingled inducement and dominance,
is very fine, but can usually be drawn clearly enough by a
detailed study of the case.
With subjects, especially girls, whose inducement emotion
is highly developed, true inducement may nearly always be
evoked by an attractive person of the opposite sex who mani-
fests complete indifference toward the subject. The subject's
strong inducement development, in such cases, evidently con-
sists of an unusually low threshold of motor self reinforcement
in response to allied motor stimuli. The indifference of the
environmental stimulus person serves to evoke a volume of
allied motor stimuli corresponding in strength to the indiffer-
ence expressed toward the subject by the stimulus person.
The motor self, with its low reinforcement threshold to stimuli
of this type, is thereupon stimulated to rapid and extensive
reinforcement, thus producing an inducement response of
corresponding strength. The indifference of the stimulus
person, therefore, is seen as determining the volume or quantity
of the inducement response which it evokes, rather than exercis-
ing any peculiar potency in evoking inducement in the first
place.
The type of subject just analysed, who responds with true
inducement to an attractive though indifferent stimulus
person, tends to respond with inducement to any person who
is sufficiently attractive, that is, closely allied to the subject's
standards and tastes. Such a subject is always susceptible
to inducement stimuli, in short ; only in cases where the
stimulus person is very easily induced to submit, the strength
of inducement response evoked is not so great and, therefore,
the whole response is less noticeable.
Measure of Motor Self Inducement Increase
Incidentally, we might draw the conclusion, from this type
of inducement response, that the measure of increase of the
motor self during inducement response is the difference between
the existing strength of the motor self and that strength which is
required to replace the stimulus person completely under the
control of the subject.
268 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
Girls More Closely Allied to Other Girls than to Males
Girls like Miss D., who possess normally developed female
inducement emotion, respond more readily with inducement,
on the whole, to other girls than to men. This seems to be
accounted for by the fact that other girls impress themselves
upon the subject as more closely allied to her than males.
Also, if the subject herself possesses a motor self of no great
strength, and has only an ordinarily sensitive reinforcement
mechanism, other girls are more apt to be felt as being of in-
ferior strength to the girl herself than are men. In the case
of Miss D., however, the emphasis was clearly upon the
increased closeness of alliance which she perceived in other
girls, since Miss D. responded toward men, for the most part,
with unconcealed dominance. She seemed to regard males,
in short, as of inferior strength to herself, but antagonistic
rather than allied.
Another feature of this close alliance, in one or two cases
of the same type which I have observed, seemed to be a cam-
araderie of supremacy over males. The girls like Miss F., who
evoked inducement response from other girls most readily,
did not yield to men. Love affairs with the male in control
seemed to alienate the girl thus offending to the extent that
the inducement response of her girl friend was not evoked.
Submission to a male appeared to be the alienating behaviour
element objected to. If the girl who evoked inducement
response, like Miss R., expressed a great deal of inducement
toward men, however, this behaviour seemed not to interfere
in the least with her efficacy as an inducement stimulus to
inducer girls like Miss D. In fact, successful inducement of
men, provided the men were made to submit and the girl
herself did not submit to their desires, seemed to contribute
an added element of alliance between stimulus girl and inducer
girl.
Alliance Requirement of Stimulus Inversely Proportional to Its
Strength
If the stimulus person who evokes inducement from another
is so much and so obviously inferior in strength to the subject
that only slight reinforcement of the motor self is required to
bring about inducement, then it would appear that a lesser
degree of alliance with the subject is necessary in order to
evoke inducement. Children of another race and colour may
INDUCEMENT 269
evoke inducement response (though less probably love) from the
average woman, almost as readily as her own children do.
Small boys and weak or injured persons of bo f h sexes may
evoke inducement responses of fairly pure variety from adult
males of normal strength, even though the boys or feeble
adults are especially alien to the standards and tastes of the
male from whom inducement is being evoked. Animals even,
may frequently evoke inducement from human beings, even
though the animal's behaviour is annoying and repulsive to
the subject. It would seem that, in all cases, the greater the
inferiority of strength, the less close the alliance of the stimulus
need be in order to evoke inducement.
If we compare the degree of alliance always required in an
environmental stimulus in order to evoke submission with the
requisite degree of alliance necessary in an adequate environ-
mental inducement stimulus, we find that submission stimuli
must possess, on the whole, much closer alliance to the subject
than is required of inducement stimuli. The reason for this
would seem to be that most normal human beings have learned
that reducing their own strength in order to be controlled by
another person is apt to prove a dangerous undertaking, since
the person submitted to, though closely allied at the moment
of submission, may become antagonistic at any time, if the
appetitive interests of the person submitted to dictate such a
change of attitude.
A gir?, for example, may submit very completely to her
mother during her childhood, at which time the mother's
attitude is one of complete alliance with the child's welfare
and interests. At a later period, however, it may be very
much to the mother's appetitive interests in every way to
keep the girl at home, rather than permitting her to attend
school or college in some distant part of the country. Or the
mother's appetitive interests may dictate marriage of the
daughter to a wealthy man of accepted standing, whom the
girl does not love, and who will never be able to evoke her love
responses. In such cases, mothers frequently employ the
response of submission which they are still able to evoke from
their daughters, for the purpose of furthering their own
appetitive satisfactions. Thus it is that emotionally mature
adults usually have learned to yield submission only to
stimulus persons whose degree of alliance with themselves is
indubitably close,
270 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
Inducement response, on the other fraud, may be expressed
toward persons weaker than the subject, even though such
persons later turn out to be distinctly antagonistic to the sub-
ject's interests] without serious injury accruing to the subject
as a result of such attempted inducement responses. Through
learning, therefore, a much closer degree of alliance is required
to evoke submission than is necessary to evoke induced.
It is this same type of learning, probably, which leads to a still
further lowering of the alliance requirement in an inducement
person or animal, when the latter is tremendously inferior
in strength to the subject.
Summary
We may summarize the findings of this chapter as follows.
Inducement, like dominance, compliance, and submission,
may be found as a principle of the behaviour of inanimate
objects. When two physical objects exercise attractive, or
gravitational force upon one another, the smaller body is
drawn toward the larger. During this movement, the
stronger, allied body controls and directs the attractive force
of the smaller object, increasing its own correspondingly.
Both forces remain in progressively increased alliance with one
another throughout the reaction. Human and animal
inducement behaviour follows the same rules, with the sole
difference that human inducement behaviour is brought about
by means of integrative mechanisms, and so attams con-
sciousness.
Inducement response cannot be evoked from decerebrate
animals, and probably depends upon the mediation of motor
centres integratively siiperior to the tonic centres in control
at the time inducement is evoked. Inducement, as an
important response element in spontaneous love behaviour,
evidently can be mediated successfully by thalamic centres.
Inducement response is found in infant behaviour described
by Watson and others, where it frequently follows submission
to petting, when the petting is discontinued. Pure induce-
ment response forms an important part of the behaviour of
girls, from the age of three on. " Playing (at) house ", " play-
ing (at) school ", and similar games may be cited as very com-
monly reported types of inducement emotion in female children,
the " mother ", or " teacher " girl inducing the others to
submit to her.
INDUCEMENT 271
Cases are reported in jvhich girls of adolescent age, and
older, appear to manifest pure inducement response toward
other girls, slightly younger or less mature than themselves ;
this behaviour being free from the erotic or so-cllled " sex "
element. The suggestion is made that inducement response
tends to develop in pure form, or as a constituent part of
properly organized love emotion (compounded of inducement
and submission), in normal girl and women subjects whose
inducement is not constrained by appetitive compulsion to
become the emotional tool of dominance or appetite. In
such normal, female, inducement responses, the subject allies
herself, throughout the response, with the interests and welfare
of the person induced, impressing the superiority o her own
strength upon the consciousness of the person induced until
voluntary submission is evoked. In male subjects, however,
the development of inducement emotion is quite different.
Inducement is confused with dominance, and tends to be
controlled by it. During late adolescence, the average male
learns not to use inducement-dominance in tormenting or
triumphing over other males, since such behaviour is not
expedient. He learns to use inducement response, rather,
as an appetitive tool, whereby he can obtain assistance and
benefits from other males.
Women's enforced use of inducement as an emotional
tool for appetite has made every woman the business rival
of every ^ther in inducing males to supply her needs. Now
that women are increasing their dominance sufficiently to
supply their own needs, they are becoming free to express pure
inducement and love toward one another, which their organ-
isms tend to compel them to do.
In general, a lesser degree of alliance is required to evoke
inducement response than is required to evoke submission.
The measure of increase of the subject's motor self during
inducement emotion, is the difference between its initial
strength and the volume necessary effectively to control the
stimulus person.
Pleasantness of Inducement
Introspective reports are more frank in declaring induce-
ment behaviour to be pleasant from beginning to end than
are reports concerning submission. Since true inducement
necessitates complete alliance between the motor self and
272 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
motor stimulus, there is no possible ; source of unpleasantness
in this response, provided neither dominance nor appetite
emotion are permitted to intrude.
Many subjects report that inducement becomes very
unpleasant if unsuccessful, or when its success remains in
doubt. Use of the word " success " in such reports evidences
the true dominant nature of the behaviour characterized as
" unpleasant ". When one strives for "success " as a con-
scious end, then one is expressing dominance and not induce-
ment. The purpose sought in such responses is to compel an
antagonist into allegiance with the self, and not to lead or
induce an ally into conduct favourable to both persons. True
inducement is pobitively pleasant at all times, whether success-
ful or not, because the other person is regarded as a fiiend,
or ally, throughout. Should a wish be entertained to compel
the stimulus person to do something against his will, then
dominance must have replaced inducement response, and
unpleasantness will accompany the failure of the dominance
reaction to accomplish its purpose.
The pleasantness of inducement emotion undoubtedly increases
pan passu with increase in the closeness of alliance brought about
by the inducement response itself, between stimulus person and
subject. Inducement is a type of reaction that does not
represent a resting balance of the organism. Inducement
seeks rather to draw the stimulus person into such close alliance
that the subject can submit to the other without further
striving, or effort. In proportion as this ultimate resting
balance of the organism is secured, therefore, the pleasantness
of inducement is observed to increase. Many subjects report
this self observation in the belief that the added pleasantness
is a dominant satisfaction, and without being in the least
aware that the culminating pleasantness occurs when induce-
ment-striving is able to merge in the resting-balance response
of submission, which is undoubtedly most pleasant of all when
thus arrived at.
Distinctive Conscious Characteristics of Inducement Emotion
Some popular terms for emotional behaviour characterized
principally by inducement are : " persuasion ", " attraction ",
" captivation ", "seduction", "vamping 11 (ie. acting the
vampire), " convincing ", " making an impression on "
another person, "alluring", "luring", "attractive per-
INDUCEMENT 273
sonality ", " personal , charm ", " personal magnetism ",
" appealing ", " leading " a person, " convincing " a person,
" converting " a person, " charming " a person, " selling " an
idea or oneself, " showing a person it is to his interest " to do
something proposed, " inducing a person " to do something,
" winning a person's confidence ", and " winning a person's
friendship ".
The chief differences in meaning between these and similar
terms for inducement behaviour lie in the varying degrees
of appetitive purpose or technique, suggested as constituent
parts of the total action indicated. Like submission, these
popular descriptions of inducement are objective, for the
most part, giving little clue to the emotion which iihe inducer
observed in his own consciousness, while his inducement
response was in progress.
Even a casual analysis of the terms descriptive of induce-
ment as a type of action toward another person reveals a
substantial unanimity of meaning as to the actual nature of
the response itself. In every case inducement consists of an
increase of the self, and making of the self more completely allied
with the stimulus person, for the purpose of establishing control
over that person's behaviour.
Self-observations of inducement emotion, reported by sub-
jects of both sexes (though male reports concerned inducement
responses used for business or other appetitive purposes)
suggest A he definitive characteristic of inducement to be : a
feeling that it is utterly necessary to win the voluntary submission
of another person to do what the subject says. This feeling,
increasingly pleasant in proportion as the other person submits t
constitutes inducement emotion.
CHAPTER XIII
INDUCEMENT AND SUBMISSION
IT is evident that a child, in actively submitting to its mother's
commands/^ must place its motor self under the iiitegrative
control of motor stimuli evoked by the mother. This control
consists, in the first place, of dictation by the mother as to
which parts of the motor self shall be reinforced. That is to
say, the determining cause which influences the child to re-
inforce the motor discharge innervating his grasping muscles
will consist of the mother's command rather than the object
which is grasped. If the infant is grasping a rod and the rod
is pulled in a direction opposite to the child's grasp upon it,
his motor self reinforces itself as a response to motor stimuli
evoked by the antagonistic moving of the rod. Let us sup-
pose, on the other hand, that the child is holding one end of a
steamer rug, which he is helping his mother to fold after a
picnic on the beach. The rug is heavy, and the mother must
exert a considerable pull on her end of the rug in order to
straighten it out. The child, having no dominant set, or
primary emotional response toward the rug, allows it to slip
a little way through his fingers, as the weight of the rug and
the mother's pull upon it move it in a direction antagonistic
to his grasp.
" Hold it tight, Teddy," commands the mother. And
Teddy immediately reinforces his grasp upon the rug until
he supports its entire weight in the manner required. In this
case the child responds almost exclusively with a submission
response to the mother, rather than with a dominance response
toward the rug. Later, of course, Teddy may learn to use his
dominant responses to carry out submission reactions (D -f S),
in which case Teddy would express a true dominance response
toward the rug adapted to his submission response to the
mother.
274
INDUCEMENT AND SUBMISSION 275
D + S Gives Organism a Resting Balance
We might suppose in this instance, that the motor stimuli
evoked by the mother's command, being in jevery respect
allied with the motor self of the child, were able to gain motor
discharge simultaneously with the child's own tonic impulses
over the efferent paths leading to the grasping muscles which
held the rug. The increased tension of these muscles which
follows, would reflexly reinforce the particular portion of the
tonic motor discharge leading back to the rug-grasping muscles,
both through the operation of the muscular proprioceptors
giving additional stimulation when the tension of the muscles
increases, and also through corresponding centra] reinforce-
ment mechanisms. This would account adequately, it seems,
for active submission responses which would thus appear to be
the natural ally of, and complement to dominance reactions.
The motor self of the subject would not, at any time during
submission response, be thrown out of its natural reflex balance
in control of the organism. Yet within itself, the total tonic
discharge might be redistributed with appropriate partial
reinforcement and dimunition according to the dictates of the
submission stimulus. This stimulus, in turn, in order to
remain in complete alliance with the motor self would be
compelled to dictate to the motor self the most harmonious
and efficient adjustment possible to the total environment.
Thus the submission stimulus would simply supplant the
environmental stimuli to dominance, and compliance, in
evoking perfect adjustment of the motor self to the total
environmental stimulus situation, the motor self remaining
in its natural or normal balance more effectively by virtue
of its submissive relationship to the submission stimulus.
This integrative condition would represent, then, a resting
balance of the motor self, supplemented and made secure by
the directing presence of its superior ally.
Inducement Response Requires an Unstable State of Reflex
Equilibrium
With regard to inducement response, the integrative picture
must be quite different. Inducement is a type of reaction
which seems to procure the presence of an ally within certain
selected portions of the total discharge pattern of the motor
self. Inducement is not, primarily, a resting adjustment of the
motor self to total environment. The motor self must bring
276 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
about its own adaptation to surrcxinding dominance and
compliance stimuli. It must also maintain itself at an in-
creased level t of strength, in order to secure the continued
presence of the weaker, allied impulses in those portions of the
tonic motor discharge pattern where the allied impulses are
to be captured and controlled.
Let us attempt to reconstruct the integrative situation
which must obtain within the organism of the mother, who
in the submission incident just analysed, induced submission
successfully from her small son with respect to the folding
up of a rug. The mother in that instance first observed
that her weaker ally, Teddy, was growing too weak to maintain
his alliance with her in their joint project. Her problem, then,
was one of increasing and rearranging her own motor self in
such a way that the ally might be strengthened. This in-
crease and rearrangement of strength took place when the
mother commanded her child to strengthen his grip on the rug.
Throughout the remainder of the process of folding the rug,
the mother must similarly have continued to exert herself
on Teddy's behalf, to the extent of issuing instructions as to the
movements she wished the child to make, together with a con-
tinuous supervising attitude, making sure that Teddy was
performing the appropriate movement at the proper time.
The mother must, moreover, exert her power upon Teddy
in accordance with Teddy's organism, as well as her own.
A command, for example, directing the child to ftold the
rug with his teeth or with his feet would be futile. Again, any
relaxation of the influence exerted upon Teddy would bring his
assistance to an end, since he was responding to the mother
and not to the rug itself. First then, within the mother's own
organism, her motor self must permit the allied, weaker, motor
stimuli representing Teddy, to select those parts of her own
total motor discharge pattern wherein motor stimuli and motor
self may continuously reinforce one another. Secondly, the
parts of the mother's motor self already occupying these paths
must be strengthened, in order to reduce the resistance in the
common paths sufficiently for the weaker allied motor stimuli
to enter them. \Vhile this condition persists, the weaker
motor stimuli would be kept as allies in the common paths ;
but only so long as the motor self keeps itself selectively re-
inforced in the requisite pattern.
This integrative condition of inducement response must be an
INDUCEMENT AND SUBMISSION 277
unstable one due to the constant tendency on the part of the motor
self to return to its natural resting state or equilibrium, thus
lapsing from its temporarily assumed, selective increase, which
alone holds the weaker allied impulses in a state/)f captivation.
The only way in which the mother's integrative adjustment
could be made permanent, or stable, would be through the
strengthening of the allied motor stimuli to a level where they
would not only remain in their present state of alliance with-
out assistance, but also would be able actively to select the
paths of alliance wherein the mother's motor self should be
decreased or diminished.
In other words, the mother's natural reflex equilibrium
could not be restored to a completely resting, or balanced
condition, until Teddy had learned to perform his part of the
rug-folding process perfectly, and was further able to take the
initiative in directing his mother's movements so that they
would co-operate completely with his own. This, of course,
would constitute a reversal of the initial relationship between
mother and child, with the mother submitting and the child
inducing. Looked at from the point of view of the mother,
this termination of inducement response by supplanting it
with submission would not only restore her integrative equili-
brium to its natural, or resting state, but it would also accom-
plish in a permanent way the need for which the inducement
response was striving ; namely, the acquiring of a permanent
ally in tfiat particular undertaking.
/ is to S as C is to D
If the suggested mechanisms by which inducement and
submission responses are brought about are approximately
accurate, then inducement bears the same relationship to sub-
mission, when the two occur successively, that compliance bears
to dominance response. Inducement can persist as the con-
trolling primary emotional response of the organism only so
long as the environmental inducement stimulus keeps the
organism actively engaged in holding the stimulus in allied
relationship. When this inducement reaction stops, the
motor self, if it continues to react to the same environmental
stimulus, which is allied, though weaker than itself, will auto-
matically assume the state of adjustment most closely allied
with the environmental stimulus as it then is, without any
278 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
effort to bring the stimulus into closer alliance with itself.
This condition would constitute a stale of passive submission
response. The allied stimulus, in such a case, would possess
sufficient powe^r to attract the motor self into a pattern deter-
mined by the stimulus ; but it would not exert sufficient power
over the motor self to compel it to perform actively within that
pattern. Active inducement response, therefore, tends to be
followed automatically by submission.
If, on the other hand, inducement is successful, as in the
instance of the mother directing her child in folding the rug,
the complete success of the inducement response itself would
tend to bring about an attitude of active submission immediately
following ttye successful inducement. Inducement response
contemplates, as its ultimate purpose, the increasing of the
strength of the allied stimulus to such a degree that it will
become superior in strength to the motor self, rather than
inferior to it. Consider, for example, the unlearned child
behaviour reported by Watson wherein the infant extends its
feet or hands to invite stimulation, or spontaneously hugs its
mother as an inducement to her to continue petting the child.
In such cases the inducement response is designed to increase
the strength of the allied stimulus to a point where the child
may submit once more to the stimulus thus increased.
Teaching is I + S
Any teaching which has for its purpose the increasing of a
student's own knowledge or ability to deal successfully with
a certain type of subject matter tends to bring about the
ultimate result that the student, when he has increased his
knowledge sufficiently, will be able to call upon the teacher
for such further instruction as may be best suited to the
student's principal needs and abilities. The skilful teacher
exercises only sufficient initial inducement to raise the pupil to an
intellectual strength where the teaoher can submit to him effectively.
Thus, we find the elementary college course, in America at
least, consisting largely of lectures and arbitrary instructions
to the student as to required procedures necessary to master
the elementary technique of a given subject. The most
advanced courses in this same field will be found to consist
largely of seminars and research work, in which the student
undertakes original investigations or theoretical expositions
of his own devising, calling upon the professor and upon his
INDUCEMENT AND SUBMISSION 279
fellow students for help and criticism at the points where
such assistance is needed.
Again, if we consider the student's controlling emotional
responses in the behaviour mentioned, we discover that the
seeker after knowledge has been obliged to offer inducement
of some sort to the teacher, before the latter agreed to under-
take the instruction of the student at all. This first induce-
ment response on the part of the prospective student was a
comparatively brief one, possibly consisting of paying the
requisite fee to the college, arranging the proper application
and registration for the course in question, and perhaps, asking
the professor's personal consent to the student's enrolment in
that course. This brief inducement behaviour, Jiowever, if
successful, resulted immediately in an increase in the strength
of the professor as compared to the student, which enabled
the instructor to induce and the student to submit throughout
the academic period set for the study in question. Thus
the total series of prevailing responses, in this type of behaviour,
might be listed thus :
(1) Student induces professor to accept student's enrolment
in the professor's course.
(2) Professor submits to student's inducement by accepting
him as requested.
(3) Professor induces student to follow certain mental
behaviour prescribed as work in the course.
(4) Student submits by performing this work.
(5) Student, in advanced courses following, induces pro-
fessor to give special assistance in student's own problems.
(6) Professor submits by giving help required.
(7) Student submits by altering his methods accordingly.
In the above series of inducement-submission responses,
as also in the series of infantile inducement responses before
mentioned, two aspects of the relationship between induce-
ment and submission might be noted. First, submission in
all cases eventually supercedes inducement. Secondly, induce-
ment responses act as selective agents determining the nature
and strength of the submission responses which follow.
Learning by I 4- S is Pleasant ; Learning by Trial and Error
(C + D) is Painful
The proper relationship between the primary emotional
responses of inducement and submission, as analysed above,
zw EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
is a 'most important and beneficial one to the organism as a
whole. By this method, the organism is permitted to seek
guidance and help from persons more developed in some par-
ticular than the subject. The subject, thereafter, is enabled
to submit to the instruction imposed, or assistance given,
as soon as the more highly developed person has been induced
to give all the leadership required by the subject. It is by
this emotional mechanism, combining in proper relationship
the responses of submission and inducement that human beings
and animals, to a lesser extent, are enabled to accomplish
without suffering the same or better results than those attained
by the harsh method of compulsory compliance, followed by
compensatory dominance. The latter method of learning
is known as " experience ", or " the trial and error method ".
Without inducement and submission responses, the pain
and suffering of human and animal life, great as it already is,
would be inconceivably increased. Every acquired response
of compliance with intensity entails a certain amount of
inevitable unpleasantness or suffering while it is in the process
of being learned. The dominance response, moreover, which
must follow and counteract this enforced compliance, is often
more intensely unpleasant than was the original compliance.
In contrast to this double dose of unpleasantness, experienced
in learning by the C -f D method, we find, in the inducement-
submission mechanism, a possible method for acquiring the
requisite action ability even more effectively, so far as ewl result
goes, with a double dose of pleasantness attached to the process
of learning.
Both inducement and submission responses, when, in the
proper relationship one to the other as analysed above, are
capable of rendering sustained pleasantness of motation as a
background to the entire learning process. Compliance with
intensity responses acquired by animals and human males
in the course of the " struggle for existence ", and under the
rule of " survival of the fittest ", usually entail positive
destruction of important portions of the learner's body and
consciousness. Nearly all the unpleasant, abnormal feelings
of childhood, and the perverted and exaggerated reactions
of over compliance and needless dominance which eventually
lead to the office of a physician or psychiatrist in adult life,
may be classed as injuries received in the process of learning
by the compulsory compliance method. Learning by the
INDUCEMENT AND SUBMISSION 281
inducement submission method, on the other hand, never entails
injury or loss of function to body or consciousness, provided
only that inducement and submission responses are kept in
proper relationship one to the other. If the teacher selected
for learning by inducement-submission method possesses an
erroneous or inadequate knowledge of his subject, the student,
after learning the teacher's faulty technique, may suffer injury
in attempted application of his false knowledge, that is, in
trying to manipulate the environment with inadequate tools.
But in that case, though a wrong choice of inducer was orig-
inally at fault, the actual injury is suffered as before, in the
course of compliance and dominance behaviour which attempts
to utilize the supposed knowledge.
Anglo-American Law Forbids Use of Dominance Toward
Human Beings
It is possible to differentiate sharply between the normal
reactions of human subjects to other human beings, and the
normal reactions of human subjects to the inanimate objects
of nature, by discovering the difference between environmental
stimuli adequate to compliance-dominance responses, and
environmental stimuli adequate to submission-inducement
reactions. 1 It can be shown that the basis of civilization,
including its laws and all its social institutions, rests upon a
prohibition of the use of compliance-dominance behaviour
toward kuman beings, and compulsory use of inducement-
submission behaviour in all social relationships. The common
law, which has been the source of English and American
jurisprudence, attempts, by its law of crime and punishment,
to prevent the use of dominant compulsion in business and
economic relationships between human beings. Unrestrained
dominance can only be exercised over human beings, according
to common law principles, by the state itself ; and the state
in thus compelling its citizens to comply with its intensity
is acting, at least theoretically, in submission to the highest
needs of the greatest possible proportion of those human
beings who constitute its citizenry.
The constitution of the United States, embodying this
principle, contains the well known provision that no citizen
1 The author has in preparation a volume dealing with problems of
social psychology, based upon this differentiation between responses
to people and reactions to things.
282 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
shall be deprived of life, liberty, or f the pursuit of happiness
" without due process of law ". In terms of primary emotional
responses, this protects from compliance with intensity, not
only when their fellow citizens might attempt to exercise such
dominance over them, but also in case the agents of the state
itself should attempt to do so. The individual human being
is conceived of as possessing an inherent right not to be made
to comply with dominant intensity imposed upon him by any
other human being, except as a punishment for having com-
mitted a similar act against some other citizen. Confessions
obtained by torture and physical violence are not admissible,
theoretically at least, in court proceedings. Police are not
permitted. by law to compel obedience to their commands by
direct imposition of physical attack of sufficient intensity to
compel compliance, unless they themselves or some other
citizens are threatened with similar violence by an offender
against the peace of the community.
Parents and teachers are not allowed by law to compel
compliance from unruly children by whippings of sufficient
intensity to enforce compliance upon a stubborn child. The
child must be brought to court, and the court may restrain,
but cannot whip the child. If the parent does impose physical
punishment of intensity sufficient to compel compliance
from the child, it is frequently the parent who is brought to
court on criminal charges of cruelty to the child. This
provision against compulsion by dominance is evep carried
to the point of forbidding the use of this method in the training
or treatment of animals. Statutes in nearly all American
states provide criminal penalties for "cruelty to animals ".
Not only is man, under the common law, prohibited from
responding to his fellow man with the same dominance
response that he is encouraged to use against inanimate
objects, but also, in matters of commerce and trade, he is
forbidden to take full advantage of certain dominant com-
pulsions which forces of nature may exert upon other human
beings. The United States' statute called the Sherman Anti-
Trust Act, forbids certain " combinations in restraint of trade ".
This federal statute recognizes that dominance may be
exerted upon the public indirectly, by a group of people who
have obtained a monopoly of a certain commodity which has
become necessary to the comfort and well-being of the com-
munity. If some " trust " is able to corner this commodity
INDUCEMENT AND SUBMISSION 283
and fix the price upon it at an exhorbitant figure highly
profitable to itself, the psycho-physiological laws oi the human
organism may compel large numbers of people to pay the
extortionate price demanded.
Maximum price fixing on food, rentals, ancf clothing, by
government regulation, became a well accepted legal principle
during the world war. There, again, we find recognized the
principle of protecting human beings against physical com-
pulsion, even when such compulsion is actually exercised by
their own bodies, by the climate, and by other antagonistic
forces of the environment, and is subsequently taken advantage
of by profiteering fellow humans. Even the extent to which
the state can go in exercising dominant compulsion upon an
offender against its laws is now being limited by humane
public opinion and legislative enactment. Capital punish-
ment, the theory of which is that threat of complete destruction
will exercise the maximum possible dominant compulsion
upon prospective killers, is being abolished in the United
States. Tortures, and " cruel and unusual punishments "
have long been abolished by American law, as methods which
the state may not employ to compel compliance, either before
or after conviction for a crime.
Common Law Enforces the I + S Relationship in Business
Following our analysis of common law principles into the
field of Commercial law, including the law of contracts, and
the law of sales, we find that the basis of business law appears
to rest upon taci t recognition of the proper and normal relation-
ship between successive inducement and submission responses.
Common law, in general, requires that delivery of goods, or
payment of money must follow either a contractual agreement
to make such delivery or payment, or an actual enrichment
of one party to the proceeding at the expense of the other
party, if such enrichment is accepted by the person enriched.
In terms of primary emotions, the legal principle of contract
and sale reveals itself as follows : The seller A, induces the
buyer B, to submit to A by paying over a certain sum of
money for goods which A is to deliver to B at a subsequent
date. The law does not, of course, require that A shall induce
B, or that B must respond by submitting to A's inducement.
But once B has responded by submitting to A, the law requires
that A must regard B's payment as an inducement stimulus, to
284 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
which A must respond by submission consisting of delivering
over the goods in question. We have already noted that this
legally enforced succession of inducement-submission responses
is the integra^tively correct one. A's inducement having been
successful, he must follow his inducement by a submission
response to the individual whom he himself has made into an
adequate submission stimulus to himself. It is curious indeed
that the integrative principles of primary emotions should
be found thus deftly formulated into the principles of juris-
prudence, hundreds of years before the primary emotion
mechanisms themselves were suggested.
If the subject, A, fails completely to submit to the person
B, whom A has indeed induced into becoming an adequate
submission stimulus to himself, and if it can be demonstrated
that subject A never intended to submit to B even before he
had induced B to submit to him, then both English and
American law would probably hold A guilty of a crime called
" obtaining goods under false pretences ". If, on the other
hand, A intended in good faith to submit to B after B had
submitted to him, but was prevented from doing so by cir-
cumstances outside A's control, then it is clear that B would
be able only to bring a civil action against A's property, and
not a criminal action against A's person. In this distinction
we may trace another recognition of the proper distinction
between primary emotional responses to things and persons.
If A has not offended against B by treating B as a thing, B is not
aided by the state to punish A by similar treatment. But A is
considered to have forfeited his preferential rights over the
thing, or property, in his own possession by having failed to
control this property properly in B's behalf. B is thereupon
permitted, through the submission relationship which A has
incurred toward him, to compel the things possessed by A to
conform to the relationship to B which A had undertaken to
enforce upon the property in question, but had failed to carry
out.
There are strict legal limits, moreover, to the completeness
with which A's submission must correspond with his induce-
ment. The maxim, " Caveat Emptor ", arose from the situa-
tion wherein B, the person induced, volunteers a certain
amount of submission to A, over and above the amount which
should reasonably be attributed to A's original inducement.
That is, A says, " I have for sale the most marvellous watch
INDUCEMENT AND SUBMISSION 285
in the world ". He then^shows B the watch, making the while,
certain exaggerated statements concerning the merits of the
time piece. This type of inducement, the law says, is not
capable, per se, of evoking the submission response of paying
an exhorbitant price for the watch corresponding in amount
to the selling talk of A ; because B is presumed to be acting
with mixed emotional responses of dominance and submission.
B is not expected to yield to the full strength of A's induce-
ment unless the article put up for sale itself stimulates B to a
response of dominance toward the watch, which, by the degree
of desire it evokes, justifies payment of the price demanded.
Thus the law again recognizes that appetitive dominance is a
proper and commendable response toward things, .which are
the ultimate objects of trade ; while, at the same time, re-
quiring that an integratively proper sequence of inducement-
submission responses must be employed in the human relation-
ships arising during the course of mutual dealings with the
inanimate object.
Law Recognizes I -f S as Proper Learning Method
Finally, in this connection, it is interesting to note that
the law recognizes, to a considerable extent, the merits of
inducement-submission relationships between certain classes
of persons, of supposedly mature development, and other
classes of less developed individuals. It will be remembered
that, b^n virtue of the inducement-submission relationship,
learning of diverse sorts can be obtained without the suffering
inevitable in the " school of experience ", where dominance-
compliance learning methods prevail. The common law,
seemingly basing itself upon this integrative principle of the
primary emotions, provides for the existence of various
relationships, designed to require this type of training and pro-
tection by the inducement-submission method of learning.
Such a relationship is legally known as a "status". The
legal rights pertaining to a certain status do not arise from
particular agreements, consisting of isolated inducement and
submission responses between the persons concerned. The
legal rights and duties pertaining to a given status arise from
the status itself, and are of comparatively fixed and constant
nature, until the status is dissolved.
A child below " legal age " is regarded by the common law
as occupying the status of a " minor ." Toward a minor, the
286 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
parents or guardians are required by law to respond with vari-
ous types of inducement and submission reactions. They are
required, for instance, to induce the child to attend school,
to obey the law of state; and community, to eat proper food
in sufficient quantity, to sustain health, and to behave, in
general, in such a way as not to offend the currently accepted
proprieties and conventions of the community in which the
child and his parents reside. All these reactions toward the
child which are required of the parents by law are simple
inducement responses. The child, on the other hand, is also
required by law to submit to his parents' commands in respect
to all the points of behaviour mentioned. He is also required
to submit to various other persons who are placed in relation-
ships where they express inducement toward him, such as his
teachers in school, the city doctor, health authorities, and
others. When the minor passes the legal age of sixteen,
eighteen, or twenty-one as the case may be, his submission
status to his parents and other persons ceases as does their
status of required inducement toward the child.
Other instances in which an inducement-submission status
is established by law are police and private citizens ; a country
and its citizens ; husband and wife (though in this status,
at the present time, practically identical inducements and
submissions are required mutually of both parties) ; and prison
authorities and prisoners.
It seems an extremely interesting fact that the principles
of jurisprudence, which have evolved practically unaided
by science, should reflect thus accurately the fundamental
principles of inducement-submission relationships between
human beings. These legally devised relationships are able,
if rightly utilized, to bring about the teaching and training of
both adult and juvenile individuals by the I + S method, the
only normal method for human learning. Persons inferior
in some particular are thus related by law to persons of
presumably superior development, in such a way as to avoid,
or at least to mitigate, the inevitable suffering entailed in the
dominance-compliance " survival of the fittest ".
CHAPTER XIV
LOVE
LOVE must be differentiated from " sex ". " Sex ", according
to the dictionary, means " the physical difference between
male and female ; the character of being male or female ".
Accepting this meaning for the word " sex ", " sex emotion "
must mean that emotion which one has by virtue of being
either male or female. The contention has never, seriously
been advanced that love is an emotion experienced by one sex
only. Undoubtedly, both men and women love, and women,
at least, love one another in exactly the same way as they love
males. Therefore, love emotion cannot be regarded as a
" physical difference between male and female ", nor can it
be supposed to depend for its existence upon the existence of
sex differences. The identiiication of love emotion with sex
is responsible, in a large degree, for the social taboos which
occidental civilizations place on love. To regard love as an
emotion the expression of which is facilitated by sex dif-
ferences of body structure is wholesome. But to identify love
emotion with sex characteristics in general, especially those of
the male^ leads to a most unfortunate lack of understanding
of love, since the male sex is characterized chiefly by a pre-
ponderance of appetite. It also leads to a confusion of sex
differences in love, with sex differences in appetite. Each
sex possesses certain secondary appetitive characteristics, just
as each sex possesses secondary love characteristics. The
sex differences in bodily love structures are localized on the
outside of the body ; while the sex differences in appetitive
bodily structures are less obvious, manifesting their presence
by different glandular balance, differences in hunger mechan-
ism, and differences in bodily shape and musculature. There
is no more reason for identifying love with sex under the name
" sex emotion " than there is for identifying appetite with sex
under a similar title.
Infants Manifest Active and Passive Love Behaviour
Infant behaviour reveals, apparently, simultaneous com-
287
288 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
binations of certain aspects of inducement and submission,
just as we have seen that it reveals Integra tive compounds of
dominance and compliance. As already noted, the infants
observed by Watson, Jones, and others, are reported as
manifesting two types of love behaviour. In the first type of
love behaviour wherein the infant ceased other activities
and gave himself up completely to the control and direction
of the stimulus, we have already noted that active submission
to the stimulating person constituted the explicit response.
This might be termed, tentatively, passive love response, and its
other constituent element besides submission will be con-
sidered presently. The other type of love behaviour mani-
fested by infants, wherein the child pressed itself against the
parent, hugged its mother or nurse, and sought in various
ways to control the actions of the loved person, contains active
inducement as its most explicit emotional response element.
This aspect of love behaviour may conveniently be termed
active love, and its additional emotional constituent also must
be analysed.
Passive Love Is a Compound of pi and aS
In passive love, the obviously controlling element is active
submission. Infants, during the responses analysed, reacted
both explicitely and implicitly according to the dictates of the
person stimulating their sensitive zones. After an initial
dimunition of the motor self sufficient to put the allied^stimulus
completely in control, (as evidenced by giving up of dominance
response, crying, etc.) the motor self increased those parts
of its total motor discharge required by the motor stimulus.
That is to say, the stimulus person tickled, stroked, and petted
the infant, thus selecting certain tonically innervated parts
of the child's body, both skeletal muscles and viscera, which
responded actively, with tonic reinforcements, to the stimula-
tion imposed. The active responses, moreover, were not of
antagonistic nature, but indicated that the tonic discharge
paths were being freely opened to the impulses evoked by
the stimulation. Erection of the penis, for example, we know
to be a tonic end effect ordinarily held in check by cortical
inhibition. 1 When this response occurs, therefore, it is
*E. G. Martin and M. L. Tainter, " The Inhibition of Erection by
Decerebration," American Journal of Physiology, 1923, vol. 65, pp,
I39-I47-
LOVE 289
apparent that the motor self has not been further inhibited
by the motor stimuli evoked, but rather that it has responded
positively and submissively to the allied impulses set up by
sensitive zone stimulation. This is active submission.
Passive love, moreover, contains a second element, evi-
dently conditioned, in the first place, by the active submission
responses just referred to. This second element consists of
the holding out of hands and feet to be tickled, already cited
in Chapter XII, as expressions of inducement. The child, one
might believe, enjoys the active submission experience so
intensely that he offers himself conveniently to the stimulator
for its continuance. This behaviour, though properly char-
acterized as inducement, is yet of a somewhat more passive
nature than the spontaneous hugging, and pressing against
the mother's body which may come later. The stimulated
parts are tendered suggestively for further stimulation but no
attempt is made to take the initiative in bringing such further
stimulation about. The motor self may be thought of as
reinforcing itself in respect to the tonic innervations of hands,
feet, and other parts presented for stimulation in order to
invite attention to those parts. But the motor self does not
reinforce itself with sufficient strength and positiveness to
press the parts offered against the body of the stimulator,
thereby actively evoking corresponding pressures of over-
whelming strength, to which the child may submit. This
Partial reinforcement of the motor self then, for the purpose of
inviting whatever stimulation the stimulus person may choose
to administer, may be termed passive inducement.
It seems quite apparent that passive inducement can co-
exist effectively with active submission, as actually occurs
in the infant behaviour under discussion. Both responses,
moreover, being mutually allied with the subject's motor self
and with each other, are evoked by and expressed toward
the same stimulus person. Such simultaneous compounding
of passive inducement and active submission may be termed
passive love. \^
Active Love is a Compound of al and pS
Analysis of active love as evidenced in child behaviour
similarly reveals a pair of primary emotional response elements
simultaneously occurring. There must be, of course, some
predisposing or determining reaction within the child's own
u
290 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
organism, prior to his sudden hugging or pressing against the
mother. That is to say, the mother or nurse may frequently
hold the child, or remain within reach of it, without any
appearance of active love behaviour. On other occasions,
the child spontaneously manifests a love initiative. What is
the nature of the preparatory response within the infant
organism, upon those occasions when active love spontaneously
appears toward the mother ?
A clue to the implicit predetermining reaction within the
child's organism may be obtained from the frequency with
which active love responses follow immediately upon the ces-
sation of previous petting and caressing which the mother
has been bestowing upon the child. Upon practically every
occasion when I have observed active love responses of the
type described in the behaviour of male children, the active
love response has appeared immediately alter a mother or
nurse had ceased petting or stroking the infant. On one
occasion the mother had been bathing a male infant three
months old. The temperature stimulation from the water
and the stroking of the child's skin by the mother had evoked
what appeared to be passive love responses. When the bath
was over and the stroking stopped the infant extended its
arms spontaneously and without crying. When the mother's
hand was brought within the child's reach he pressed it between
his hands and hugged it against his body.
I have noted similar active love behaviour on the part of
girl children of a somewhat older age which did not follow so
closely a petting or caressing of the child. But in these cases
the active love behaviour was always expressed toward a
person who had frequently caressed the child upon previous
occasions, or after an interval of unusual length, during which
the mother had not petted the child.
These instances seem to indicate, in the case of the male children,
that active love behaviour tends to occur while the stimulus to
active submission is still acting upon the organism, but after
it has ceased to possess sufficient strength actively to direct the
child's motor self. In the case of girl children the suggestion
arises that a love hormone may exist which accumulates
sufficiently after an interval to act in a similar manner upon
the organism ; that is, by administering an allied stimulus to
submission not quite strong enough to produce active sub-
mission,
LOVE 291
If a submission stigiulus which is not powerful enough
actively to direct the motor self of the child, is acting upon
the organism, such a stimulus may still prove sufficient in
strength to enforce passive submission upon J,he motor self.
This stimulus, in the cases cited, was applied from within the
organism either in the form of after discharge from centres
recently stimulated as in the case of the male child, or in the
possible form of a love hormone in appropriate regions of the
female organism. Passive submission response in either case
would seem to consist of a simple passive giving up of every
sort of activity of the motor self which was not compatible
with the motor stimuli to passive submission evoked within
the organism.
This situation seems to be the predisposing cause of the
active inducement response, which is evoked by environ-
mental stimuli consisting of mother of loved one. Just as in
the case of passive compliance with hunger pangs, where
food was the only environmental stimulus stronger than
hunger pangs, so in the case of intra-organic passive sub-
mission stimulus, a love stimulating person would seem to be
the only possible environmental stimulus weaker than the
subject (because subject has learned that this person yields to
her inducement), yet stronger than the passive submission
stimuli at present controlling the motor self. This integrative
situation predisposes the infant organism to inducement response
toward Ihe mother just as hunger pangs predispose both infant
and adult organisms toward food. If the mother were not
present to evoke the inducement response, the organism would
be incapable of concerted emotional response toward other
environmental stimuli for as long a time as the passive sub-
mission response to the intra-organic stimuli persisted. Only
this one type of active inducement response would seem to be
capable of controlling any considerable part of the child's
behaviour at this time, just as food alone is capable of con-
trolling behaviour during the persistence of hunger pangs.
In children who thus overtly manifest active inducement
response while implicitly reacting with passive submission
to some intra-organic stimulus, we find in existence a new
emotional compound, composed of simultaneously occurring
active inducement and passive submission, and this compound
emotion may be named active love,
292 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
Captivation r
The conscious emotional qualities of active and passive love
do not appear with sufficient certainty in the case of infant
responses such, as those analysed to characterize or name the
compound emotions thus discovered. We have already
mentioned instances, however, taken from the behaviour of
oiucr children, where the characteristics of active and passive
love responses are clearly manifest. While discussing induce-
ment, a series of male responses was analysed consisting of
cruelty or torments imposed upon weaker males. We noted,
at that time, that the underlying love responses which were
adapted to and controlled by dominance consisted of a mixture
of inducement and submission which cause a type of response
designed to captivate the weaker male. This captivation
emotion seems identical in respect to its primary emotional
elements and their simultaneous compounding, with the active
love response found in the behaviour of infants. When we
abstract dominance and appetitive emotion completely from
the compound, we find that there remains an active inducement
response designed to evoke submission from the boy tormented
plus a passive submission reaction, which may be evoked by
one of a number of environmental stimuli, depending upon
the circumstances. In the case wheie a group of boys (known
in social psychology as " the crowd ") unite to haze or torture a
boy weaker than the rest, it would seem that each individual
member of the crowd, is submitting passively to the crowd
as a whole. A " crowd ", or group, does not possess, of course,
a united " will "or " mind ", with which it can actively direct
or compel an individual member of the group. But the situa-
tion wherein eight, or ten, or twenty other boys are engaged
in the same play, may act very efficiently to induce each
member of the group to give up all personal desires and
activities other than those in which the group is engaged. This
response of each individual boy to the group constitutes a
clear-cut passive submission reaction.
It is an often reported fact that a few members of a crowd
which is engaged in tormenting a single individual, privately
demur, and would not continue with the project in hand, were
it not for the powerful influence which they feel from the group
as a whole. It is this influence which compels them to go on
with it. The crowd's influence, of course, to some extent,
mav be a dominant one. with a corresnondincr admixture of
LOVE 293
compliance in the behaviour of the over-influenced group
member. Yet the influence of the crowd upon its individual
members is predominantly one of inducement, for each individual
is apt to be much more influenced by his wisjh to retain the
good will of his fellows, and not to be thought of by them as
a " quitter ", than by a likelihood of physical violence in case
he separates himself from the crowd's activities. In short,
regard for the esteem of his fellows causes each boy to submit
to the whole group to the extent of staying with them and
participating in the bullying of another boy, which they had
jointly undertaken.
If to his passive submission response be added an active
inducement reaction toward the boy hazed, then we have
the compound emotion already designated as active love.
In the emotional consciousness of males engaged in tormenting
another, this active love element clearly assumes the character-
istic of pleasure in enslaving (making captive) the stimulus person.
It must be remembered that the male emotion, just con-
sidered, contains a controlling admixture of dominance. The
violence, and antagonistic quality of its delight in forcing
another person into captivity and subjection, therefore, must
be discounted before the true quality of active love emotion
can be disclosed. When the dominance is abstracted, and pure
active love alone remains, we find still the delight in capturing
the weaker, stimulus person. But pure active love requires,
for its 1 pleasure, the p^asure of its captive. Active love
requires that the person captured must be a willing, wholly
submissive captive. The result can be accomplished only
when the captor (or captress) makes himself or herself so
utterly attractive to the stimulus person that the captured
one submits voluntarily to the attraction exercised over him.
Active love, according to this analysis, must be defined as
capturing a loved person by the power of personal attraction.
The term which most nearly conveys this meaning seems
to be " captivation ". Captivation means . " Making captive
by charm ", which offers a very fair characterization of pure
active love emotion. We may, therefore, adopt the term cap-
tivation as a verbal symbol for active love emotion.
Mutual Captivation Emotion is Evoked by Struggles Between
the Sexes
Captivation emotion most frequently occurs in every day
294 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
life between members of opposite sex^s. Nearly all normal
girls or boys experience a considerable amount of captivation
emotion during a playful physical struggle with an attractive
member of the qpposite sex. Still more frequently captivation
emotion is experienced in emotional or even in intellectual
struggles of the same sort. Such contests are not for the
purpose of dominating the opponent as one desires to dominate
an inanimate object. The issue of the struggle is intended
to decide only who shall induce and who shall submit.^,
In this type of behaviour, there is no crowd or group to
evoke passive submission from either individual. The passive
submission, in these inter-sex struggles, consists of passive
submission evoked by each individual from the other. That
is to say, there exists a learned alliance between the bodies
and emotions of males and females. During the struggle
each attempts to increase the motor self to induce the other
to be captured. Each of these attempts to induce is par-
tially successful, evoking some submission from the person
of opposite sex, but this submission response is only sufficient
to prevent the other individual from responding to another
stimulus than the inducer. This constitutes passive sub-
mission response on the part of both.
Each individual, at the same time, continues to attempt
to prove his physical or emotional strength superior to that
of the other person. This constitutes active inducement.
We find, therefore, the same combination of implicit passive
submission and explicit active inducement that occurred in
the active love responses formerly analysed. In this case
of struggles between the sexes, however, there is a cumu-
latively increasing stimulation of both primary emotional
elements, pan passu with the increase of the struggle. This
situation evokes, therefore, a maximally pleasant type of
captivation emotion from botli parties to the struggle. Mutual
captivation responses between the sexes are of very common
occurrence in everyday life. At the seashore, where the
bodies are much more completely exposed than upon most
other occasions, men frequently seize girl companions and
attempt to carry them into the surf. Girls on the beach
throw pebbles at their male companions. Both activities are
calculated to evoke mutual captivation struggles of the type
analysed.
During social relationships which are initiated in a con-
LOVE 295
ventional type of meeting between the sexes, the girl is more
frequently the aggressor in provoking captivation contests
than is the male. One case of this sort which came to my
attention in clinic will serve to illustrate the type of behaviour
suggested. A girl twenty years old complained,*with apparent
sincerity, that she " simply could not prevent men from
mauling her ". She came to me to ask for help in methods
of preventing what she described as " male bestiality " which
was roused beyond control, as she believed, by her " sex
charm ". This young person, Z, related an incident which I
afterwards verified in part.
A boy, X, meeting Z at a dance, had invited her for the
usual motor ride. Just what happened in the jnachine is
problematical, since the stories of Z and X differed sub-
stantially. Z's appearance, however, on her return from the
ride, was described by several girl friends of Z whom I ques-
tioned concerning the affair. " She was a mess " as one girl
described it. Her upper arms were badly bruised, her mouth
was cut and considerably swollen. Her clothes were torn,
and her hair, which was long, was hanging about her shoulders
in complete disorder. There was evidence that the bodily
relationship had not been established by X. Z, when first
seen by her friends after returning in X's motor, was crying
hysterically.
The initial inference from these facts would be that X was,
to say tiie least, a " cave man " in his treatment of the opposite
sex. Careful inquiries failed to reveal, however, that X had
ever treated any other girl with any rudeness or violence
whatsoever. Several girls had gone for motor rides with X
under circumstances almost identical with Z's case. In one
instance, I was able to verify the fact that X had made love
to a girl who was his guest at a dance, with no untoward
results. " Yes ", this girl told me, " X was perfectly all
right. I had no difficulty in showing him that I did not care
for him ". The evidence is conclusive that this girl did reject
X in the manner reported.
The explanation of X's response to Miss Z undoubtedly lay
in Miss Z's ' ' techni que with men ". Z customarily approached
all males, including myself, in a manner effectively calculated
to display and impress upon their attention her own bodily
charms. Her approach was boldly stimulating but challeng-
ing. She flaunted in a man's face, as it were, her irreproach-
296 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
able virtue in abstaining from the jntimacies of love, but
offered an unmistakeable challenge to the male to prove his
superior emotional strength by inducing her to change this
attitude of self-restraint. In short, Miss Z submitted her
person rather freely to a man's inspection, thus evoking from
him submission to the extent of fixing the man's attention
inescapably upon her charms. At the same time, she bluntly
and obviously asserted her superior strength in matters inter-
sexual, thus evoking combined active inducement and domin-
ance. The simultaneous occurrence of passive submission
and active inducement constituted captivation emotion on
the part of the male (mixed, of course, with the usual male
dominance),
Z challenged all males to inter-sexual combat, not realizing
that the captivation response of the average male is inextricably
mixed with dominance. When the superior dominance power
of society, upon which Z initially relied to quell X's dominance,
was removed, in the motor ride situation, Z suffered accord-
ingly from X's released dominance. This is a world-old
variety of inter-sex emotional response, which women habitu-
ally refuse to understand. Their resistance to comprehending
its true nature appears to lie in their reluctance to accept the
fact already commented upon above, that women's dominance,
under the inducement-for-appetite regime, is a borrowed power,
attained from males who protect her from other males and from
females stronger than herself. If she gives up this projection
of second-hand strength attained by inducement, her own
strength by itself is quickly overwhelmed by the male's
superior dominance, physical and emotional. And it is
difficult to find a male whose captivation emotion can be
aroused to any considerable extent without an admixture of
controlling dominance response.
Such was the situation, it seems, in the case of Z and X.
The nature of the stimulus furnished by Miss Z's behaviour
is made even clearer by its contrast to the behaviour of Miss Y,
who evoked neither dominance nor captivation response from
X in the process of rejecting his advances, although Miss Y
was fully as attractive, physically, as was Miss Z. Miss Y
was a girl possessing a very unusual combination of dominance
and love development. Her dominance was probably approxi-
mately equal to that of X, with strong body development
corresponding. Miss Y's response to persons of both sexes
LOVE 297
was predominately submissive, unless her dominance was
aroused by selfish antagonism. Miss Y's treatment of X
contained, apparently, little or no inducement. She submitted
to his tastes and interests in conversation and companionship,
yet when X showed a tendency toward the typical dominant
captivation behaviour of a male, Miss Y responded to the
antagonistic element in his behaviour with clear-cut, unyielding
dominance response, and, aided by X's social training, evoked
compliance from X rather than further captivation. In other
words, Miss Y's quiet, decisive rejection of X impressed itself
upon X as an environmental stimulus both antagonistic and
stronger than himself, when coupled with social conventions,
at least. At the same time Miss Y's submission tq X's tastes
and interests evoked a rather pure type of inducement
behaviour on X's part consisting of an evident desire to remain
friends and enjoy Miss Y's companionship under conditions
most agreeable to her. The contrast, in fact, between X's
emotional reaction to Miss Z and to Miss Y produced almost a
Jekyll and Hyde effect in X's personality, whenever these two
divergent types of emotional response could be observed in
sequence in X's behaviour. The contrast in emotional
response, however, was not attributable to any peculiarity
possessed by X, but rather to the extreme contrast between
the two types of stimulus, each evoking its own predictable
emotion. J
Males Capturing Males Experience Dominance-Captivation
Studies of college hazing and inter-class struggles between
students were made by F. S. Keller 1 and myself in 1925-26.
We found that nearly all the upper classmen gave a high
rating of emotional pleasantness to dominance-captivation
responses exercised toward freshmen. When a physical
struggle between the upper class boy and a freshman preceded
the capture of the latter, the strength and enjoyability of the
dominance-captivation emotion experienced by the upper
classman was greatly enhanced, in nearly all cases reported.
The college traditions called for a series of physical struggles
between sophomores and freshmen, during which each class
attempted to keep their opponents from holding a class dinner.
Upon any occasion when the boys of one class had reason
1 These studies were made at Tufts College, Mass., where Mr. Keller
is an instructor in Psychology.
298 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
to suspect that their rivals planned tp hold their dinner, the
method of procedure was to capture as many of the other
class as possible, tie them up, and keep them thus bound or
otherwise confined until after it was determined that no
banquet couldf be held that day. If a member of the rival
class captured wished to escape confinement, he could " sign
off " by pledging, on his word of honour, not to attend his
class banquet if any was held that day.
A very small percentage, probably only one or two of the
boys captured, submitted to confinement for any considerable
period. They reported that they experienced no pleasure
whatever once they were overcome and bound by their oppon-
ents. After that it become a question of complying, either
with the discomfort of their bonds, or with the humiliation of
surrender involved in signing off. A large majority of both
the victors and vanquished, however, reported that they
experienced intensely pleasant dominance-captivation emotion
during the struggle, up to the point where the issue of superi-
ority was finally decided.
The victors reported that their pleasure in captivation
response increased even more during the process of binding
and confining their opponents. They experienced much less
pleasant captivation emotion on the whole, if an opponent
signed off. There were a few boys whose dominance or com-
pliance, depending upon the role played in the struggle, was
so pronounced that no emotional element recognfrzed as
captivation (or " subjection emotion ") could be introspec-
tively observed. The behaviour of these boys, however,
evidenced a considerable element of captivation response in
the total emotional pattern. In this series of struggles it
would seem that passive submission and active inducement were
mutually evoked from one another by two males engaged in a
bodily struggle, the object of which was not to injure the other boy
or to remove him as an obstacle to success t but rather to capture
his body by binding and confining it.
This type of situation seems to present one of the strongest
possible varieties of stimulus to captivation emotion. The
fact that the dominance responses of male subjects failed
wholly to suppress or inhibit captivation emotion in a majority
of these subjects seems evidence that the stimulus situation
was one operating selectively to evoke captivation emotion.
The fact, also, that captivation response was evoked in rather
LOVE 299
pure form from a male ^ubject by another male, who acted
as stimulus person, is evidence that captivation emotion is by
no means limited to inter-sex relationships.
Girls Punishing Girls Experience Captivation Emotion
Studies of the emotions reported by sophomores and upper
class girls during their annual punishment of the freshmen
girls were made by Miss Olive Byrne and myself, during the
academic year 1 925-1926. * It was the college custom for
upper class girls to draw up a set of rules which freshmen
girls were required 1o follow. These rules called for the usual
restrictions of behaviour, wearing freshman buttons, and
general yielding to the direction of the older girle. In the
spring of the freshmen year, the sophomore girls held what
was called " The Bab> Party ", which all freshmen girls were
compelled to attend. At this affair, the freshmen girls were
duly questioned as to their misdemeanors and punished for
their disobediences and rebellions. The baby party was so
named because the freshmen girls weie required to dress like
babies.
At the party, the freshmen girls were put through various
stunts under command of the sophomores. Upon one occasion,
for instance, the freshmen girls were led into a dark corridor
where their eyes were blindfolded, and their arms were bound
behind them. Only one freshman at a time was taken through
this coiridor along which sophomore guards were stationed
at intervals. This arrangement was designed to impress the
girls punished with the impossibility of escape from their
captresses. After a series of harmless punishments, each girl
was led into a large room where all the Junior and Senior
girls were assembled. There she was sentenced to go through
various exhibitions, supposed to be especially suitable to
punish each particular girl's failures to submit to discipline
imposed by the upper class girls. The sophomore girls carried
long sticks with which to enforce, if necessary, the stunts
which the freshmen were required to perform. While this
programme did not call for a series of pre-arranged physical
struggles between individual girls, as did the class banquet
contest of the boys previously reported, frequent rebellion
of the freshmen against the commands of their captresses and
1 These studies were made at Jackson College, Mass., when Miss
Byrne was a student there.
300 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
guards furnished the most exciting ,porti on of the entertain-
ment according to the report of a majority of the upper class
girls.
Nearly all the sophomores reported excited pleasantness of
captivation emotion throughout the party. The pleasantness
of their captivation responses appeared to increase when they
were obliged to overcome rebellious freshmen physically, or
to induce them by repeated commands and added punishments
to perform the actions from which the captive girls strove to
escape. On the other hand, when a freshman occasionally
cried, or showed signs of fear, her sophomore guards, in every
instance, reported a feeling of unpleasantness, with emotions
of " sympathy " and " feeling sorry for her ". They nearly
always told the freshmen thus affected " not to be afraid ",
and persuaded her to go on rather than compelling her to do so.
(This behaviour is in marked contrast to male college hazers,
who frequently treated with injurious violence a boy who
weakened or " turned yellow ").
From these studies of girls' reactions, it seemed evident
that the strongest and most pleasant captivation emotion
was experienced during a struggle with girls who were trying
to escape from their captivity. A totally different type of
love response was invariably evoked by indication of suffering
or unpleasantness experienced by the captive.
In the latter case, or when a girl submitted with complete
docility, an almost pure inducement response was*' evoked
from the older girl, with considerable admixture of active
submission to the needs of the girl who was being punished.
It seems probable that the costumes worn by the freshmen
girls enhanced, considerably, both the passive submission
and the active inducement emotions of the upper class girls
although great reticence of introspective description, due to
conventional suppressions, prevented this type of response
from appearing with complete frankness in the reports received.
On the whole, it would seem that the upper class girls
experienced pure captivation emotion of great pleasantness.
Little, if any, admixture of dominance could be detected in
the reports, or in the observed behaviour of the girls toward
their younger charges. While the struggle of the girl punished
to escape her punishment by physically overcoming her
captress apparently gave the strongest and most pleasant
captivation response to both girls, there were many indications
LOVE 301
that captivation emotion was present at all times during the
behaviour reported, ancf even before and after the Baby
Party, in nearly as strong and pleasant a form as during the
struggle situation. Perhaps a love hormone is operative in
the female organism from early childhood, predisposing girls
and women to captivation emotion by evoking passive sub-
mission by intra-organic stimulation. Certainly this response
appears in the behaviour and in the naive introspection of
the girls studied in very much purer and more consistent
form than in male responses to corresponding environmental
stimulus situations. Female behaviour also contains still
more evidence than male behaviour that captivation emotion
is not limited to inter-sex relationships. The person of another
girl seems to evoke from female subjects, under appropriate
circumstances, fully as strong captivation response as does
that of a male.
Passion
In using the term passion to characterize passive love
emotion, a word of caution is necessary. The term " passion ",
in popular literature, is used indiscriminately to indicate
captivation emotion, true passive love emotion, or a mixture
of both. After obtaining introspection from several hundred
subjects, I have discovered that " flaming passion " or " red
passion ", or " crimson passion " are identifiable, for the most
part, as^descriptions of captivation rather than passive love.
Despite the pre-determined active emotional tone in the
emotional states thus designated, however, there is always
a considerable admixture of active submission in yielding to
the lover. Since this emotional element is the principal
characteristic of passive love, it justifies the conclusion that
active and passive aspects of love in inter-sex relationships of
the sort described are inextricably interwoven.
Passion, then, in popular parlance, signifies a physical love
emotion containing both active and passive elements but
with the active element predominating. In this particular
it seemed impossible to follow literary terminology. Cap-
tivation emotion far more accurately characterizes active
love than does the word " passion " ; whereas passion, when
properly understood, suggests active submission of self to the
lover.
With the terms thus defined, nine subjects out of ten find
302 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
their introspective ability to observe and analyse their own
love emotions greatly clarified. The fact must be remembered,
however, that the term passion as herein used does not indicate
love aggression or initiative. Nor is the emotion herein char-
acterized as -passion associated customarily with the colour
red.
Passion in Behaviour of Young Children
In a preceding section we have noted that passive love
emotion combines, simultaneously, an explicit response of
active submission to an inducer with implicit reaction of
passive inducement toward the same person. The behaviour
previously analysed, however, was infant behaviour, con-
sequently " no introspection was available to enable us to
characterize the emotional consciousness containing these two
compounded primary emotional elements. We must now
consider, therefore, responses of both sexes at more mature
ages, in order to determine the conscious aspect of passive love.
Children of both sexes, between the ages of two and five,
give evidence of a mild degree of passion as a natural response
to the mother or nurse. Children of this age are usually able
to indicate, by short words and by inarticulate vocal ex-
pressions, the general trend of their consciousness. Upon
being caressed physically by the mother, in the various ways
already mentioned, children frequently cling tightly to the
mother, emitting slight gasps, or sometimes panting, gently,
in a manner by no means dissimilar to adult passion in inter-
sex relationships. Adoration of the mother is frequently
expressed in monosyllabilic words, smiles, apparently indicative
of marked absorption in the mother as a controlling stimulus,
and in gently rhythmic movements of hands and forearms.
At a somewhat older age, when the vocabulary is increased,
the child may say " Mama is pretty ", or " I love mama ",
and other phrases seemingly expressive of spontaneous and
wholly submissive type of love response for the mother.
Clearly there exists active submission response to the mother
as a determining emotional factor, compounded with the
passive inducement attitude already described. These passive
love responses are recognized by many psycho-analysts as
possessing the conscious characteristic of passion, and are,
accordingly, consigned to that limbo of abnormality in which
dpminantly perverted males are wont to besmudge normal
LOVE 303
love emotions with appetitive excreta. While acknowledging
the accuracy of this particular psycho-analytical finding,
I cannot too strongly state my own finding that passion felt
by children of both sexes toward the mother is a natural and
wholly desirable type of love response. In fact,, if passion in
some degree is not evoked by the mother from her children,
prior to the age of five or six years, the children's development
is initiated under a very serious handicap. It is extremely
unlikely under conditions prescribed by our present civilization,
that opportunity for development of pure passion in a male
child will again be obtained during the entire subsequent life
of the individual.
Captivation Is Spontaneous Element in Girls' Behaviour, Not
Passion
Girls of five or six years, or older, are quite likely to ex-
perience passive love for other girls of similar age, with or
without mutual stimulation of the genital organs, as the case
may be. This type of passion experience does not appear
to be attributable so much to the existence of intra-organic
stimulation to passion on the part of either child, as to the
spontaneous expression of captivation behaviour by one or
the other girl, with subsequent yielding on the part of the
girl captivated. At least two completed love affairs of this
type between girls five to seven years old have been brought
to my Attention. In both cases the children were wholly
normal so far as could be determined by medical and psycho-
logical examination.
Though I have not had the opportunity, thus far, to make
an extensive compilation of cases on this point, it seems to
be current opinion among workers having physical charge of
children whom I have been able to consult, that relationships
of this sort between girls, are the rule rather than the excep-
tion in the absence of prior teaching of prohibitive variety.
Passion thus aroused in little girls by other little girls clearly
possesses the typical emotional tone of passive love, with
ardent submission to the inducer girl, and complete absorp-
tion in the charms of her companionship. Frequently groups
of three or more girls, five to seven years old, become love
associated, spontaneously, in such relationships. Two aspects
of such responses seem deleterious. First, the secrecy en-
forced upon this type of conduct by prohibitive attitudes on
304 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
the part of parents or teachers. Secondly, the ignorance and
crudity of the inducement stirmllation (whether genital
organs are stimulated or not) which the inducer girl is likely
to administer. I have not discovered anything but normal
female emotional development in this spontaneous arising
of the captivation-passion relationship.
Passion Easily Evoked by One Girl From Other Girls
The " crush ", normally experienced by girls of adolescent
age and older, for other girls, or for teachers and older women,
is too well recognized a phenomenon to require especial des-
cription. The girl who " has a crush on another girl " ex-
hibits a singularly intense and absorbing passion emotion
toward her inamorata. In one instance a number of young
girls between the ages of fourteen and seventeen " had crushes
on " another girl in the same school.
The girl stimulus to passion was eighteen years old. She
was pale, thin, wore her hair in a curiously distinctive fashion,
and habitually " toed-in " while walking. " She isn't exactly
pretty ", as one of the girl admirers told me, " but she is just
charming ". " She seems to want people, and to draw every-
body right to her ", an apt description of the older girl's
captivation influence as felt by one of her " captives ". The
active submission responses of the latter were interestingly
complete. The girls who had " crushes " on Yvette all began
to " toe-in ". They arranged their hair as nearly like.XVette's
as possible, and began to practice drawing assiduously, since
Yvette had unmistakable artistic talent. Not satisfied with
these submissions, Yvette 's admirers sat up late at night
in order to make themselves as pale as the girl who captivated
them.
Yvette did not limit her captivations by any means to mem-
bers of her own sex, but was accustomed to slip out at night
to meet boys who were also in love with her. Much as the
younger girls vied with each other for the attentions of the
very youths whom Yvette attached to herself, they did not
show the slightest jealousy of Yvette's conquests. They
helped her in every way to meet these boys illicitly, and
" thought it was so brave of her " to carry on these clandestine
affairs. In the case of Yvette and her girl lovers there seems
little doubt that passion emotion of unusually intense and
enduring type was evoked by one girl from many other girls
LOVE 305
only slightly younger than herself, without any bodily contact
or genital organ stimulation.
Study of Passion in Inter-Class Relationships of College Girls
In order to examine t me possible existence of passion emotion
in the Baby Party situation, Miss L. F. Glidden, of Jackson
College, made a study under my direction of the attitudes
of her class mates toward the treatment they had received
from the older girls. At the time this study was made, the
girls questioned were sophomores. They had completed their
own period of submission to the sophomores at the Baby
Party the preceding spring, and had been actively engaged in
disciplining girls of the incoming freshman class for about
two months. The girls questioned, however, had -never been
present at a Baby Party where they were captresses, so that
there could have been no transfer of feeling, retrospectively,
from one Baby Party to the other. The attempt was made
to determine each girl's attitude toward the submission
training of freshmen by sophomores when she herself was a
sophomore, as well as her remembered attitude toward the
sophomores while she was under their control the preceding
year. Miss Glidden was instructed to approach her class-
mates with whom, of course, she was on intimate terms, with-
out allowing them to discover that she was making a psycho-
logical study. This instruction was carried out rather
successfully.
The girls were asked, (i) Whether they had enjoyed the
Baby Party when they were freshmen. They were then
asked to rate the degree of pleasantness which they exper-
ienced during their own captivity on a scale where ten repre-
sented the greatest possible pleasantness, and zero indicated
indifference. (2) The girls were asked what their attitude
had been toward the sophomores whom they had been required
to serve and to obey in various ways during the preceding
year. (3) The girls were asked whether they approved and
enjoyed the submission training of freshmen which they as
sophomores were then engaged in. (4) Each girl was asked
whether she submitted voluntarily to men or to women.
(5) Each girl was asked to state whether, if she had her
choice, she would elect to be an unhappy master or a happy
slave. The answers to these questions together with any
pertinent introspections were duly recorded by Miss Glidden,
The tabulated results are presented in Figure 4, which follows.
x
306 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
Fig. 4. INTER-CLASS COLLEGE GIRL STUDIES.
Pleasantness Enjoyed being Enjoys subjecting Submits to
Subject rating of Baby subjected by Freshmen ? man or
Party t Sophomores ? woman
1. 10 Yes. Thoroughly. Both.
2. i No. Decidedly not. Neither.
3. i Yes. Silly thing, Both.
but fun.
4. Yes,iftheSopho- Yes. Men.
mores are friends.
5. 9 Yes. Yes. Women.
6. No. Nuisance. Ne- Neither.
cessary evil.
Didn't mind Yes.
8. Paid no attention No. All men. Two
to them. girls.
9. Recognized their Yes. Neither,
superiority.
Didn't mind Yes. Both (at her
selection).
Hated it. Yes. Men.
12. 6 Liked it. " The bunk."
13. 5 Yes. Yes. Women, and
men if they
prove they're
right.
14. 9 Didn't mind. Necessary. Neither.
15- Willing to do Necessary evil. Both, if older,
things to please
LOVE 307
Fig. 4.- INTER-CLASS COLLEGE GIRL STUDIES.'
Subject
Choice of unhappy
master (M) , or
happy slave (S) .
Introspection
i.
M
" Big kick " from b.p. 1 Dislikes intensely
idea of subjection.
2.
M.
B p. was terrible. Dislikes Sophomores.
Likes power.
S. No fun at b p. because not subjected.
Likes to serve whom she loves.
4. Hated b.p. because made ridiculous.
5. " Big kick " out of obeying Sophomores.
6. M. Watched b.p. from side-lines. Got a
" thrill " out of seeing others subjected.
Prefers happiness at any cost. Had wonder-
ful time at b.p., but not pleasantest thing
imaginable since engaged at the time.
8. M. Took no notice cf Sophomores. No " kick "
out of b.p. because could see under blindfold.
Big joke.
M. Liked to tell friends about her subjection.
Hated making speech at b.p. Can't stand
subjection.
S.
S. B.p. too " tame ". Burnt her arm on
radiator pipe. Must have happiness, and
can get it by serving others.
S. Likes to boss the freshmen. Likes being
bossed. Can conceive of being a slave.
13. S. No thrill out of doing stunts. Wanted to
appear indifferent.
S. As an upper classman, loves to subject
freshmen. Enjoyed showing off at b.p.
Hates submission. Hates unhappiness.
15. S. There is happiness in service.
Baby Party.
308 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
Fig. 4. INTER-CLASS COLLEGE -GIRL STUDIES-conil.
Pleasantness Enjoyed being Enjoys subjecting Submits to
Subject rating of Baby subjected by Frebhmen ? man or
Party
Sophomores ?
16.
No.
Yes.
Both.
17-
No.
Yes.
Neither.
18.
As a matter
of course.
Yes, in moder-
ation.
Neither.
19.
5
No.
Men.
20.
21.
Hated it.
Neither.
2 Willing.
Yes.
Both.
22.
" Bunk."
Neither.
*
5
Silly.
All men and a
few girls.
24.
Indifferent.
Yes.
Neither.
25-
8 Yes, with reser-
vations.
Yes.
Both.
26.
Hated it.
Indifferent.
One man and
One woman.
2 7 .
Didn't like it.
Yes.
Men.
28.
Didn't like it.
Indifferent.
Men.
29.
8 Hated it.
Fine.
3<>.
Hated to be
nagged.
Great.
Men.
Totals
Median. . 7 Yes . . 14
Modes . . . 91,0 No ... 1 1
Yes.... 20
No .... 7
Men ... 17
Women 12
LOVE 309
Fig, 4. INTER-CLASS COLLEGE GIRL STUDIES-cow*.
Choice of unhappy
Subject master (M), or Introspection
happy slave (S).
16. M. Hates to submit to anybody.
17. S. Liked b.p. Enjoyed being ordered around.
As upper classman, wants freshmen to
submit to her. Chooses between happy
and unhappy.
iS, S, B.p. pretty good. Do not allow subjection
by anyone.
19. S. As upper classman, indifferent to freshmen
20. M. Will do things for friend as great favour.
Wants no favours done for her.
21. S. B.p. silly and childish.
22. M. Made to do reducing exercises at b.p. Felt
she was being ridiculed.
23. S. Will willingly do things for girls on whom
she has " crushes."
24. M. Doesn't require much of freshmen as upper-
classman.
S. B p. was great. Liked being ordered
around. Hates idea of subjection.
M. Would be unhappy as slave so why not
have power.
27. S. Likes own way.
28. S. As upper classman likes to " wield a high
hand " over freshmen.
29. S. Likes to subject others to her " will ".
Had good time at b.p. Put something over
on sophs. Likes power but happiness more.
30. S. Enjoyed b.p. immensely. Likes to " boss "
freshmen. Conscience would trouble her
if she were an unhappy master.
Totals 18 . . S.
10 .. M.
310 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
The reliability of this study depends rather upon the
intimacy of contact by which the self-observations were
obtained, than upon statistical analysis of the results. Not
only was Miss Glidden able to win confidence, as a friend,
in obtaining Her classmates' reports, but the girls questioned
also knew that their questioner had considerable knowledge
of their behaviour and general attitudes in the matters under
discussion. It is my own opinion, in light of this factor,
that less deception, conscious, or " subconscious ", was
practised in reporting these self observations to Miss Glidden,
than is to be found in the usual study of this type.
The central tendency in pleasantness rating or emotion
experienced during captivity at the Baby Party appears to
be about 7. Several girls refused to give a pleasantness
rating, evidencing a good deal of supression in regard to
their emotions while captives. It is interesting to note that
more girls gave their enjoyment of captivity at 9 and 10,
than any other value, indicating greatest pleasantness.
It is also interesting to observe that whereas only fourteen
girls frankly acknowledged their enjoyment of submission
to the sophomores throughout the year, twenty girls assorted
their pleasure in making the freshmen submissive to them.
Though seventeen girls acknowledged a general attitude of
submission to men as against twelve who willingly submitted
to women, it seems rather probable that what is thought of
as " submission to men ", in many cases at least, is not sub-
mission at all, but inducement. It seems to be true, however,
as we have already suggested, that women are trained
systematically under the existing social regime, to use both
inducement and submission responses as methods of obtaining
appetitive benefits from males.
The significance of the " happy slave unhappy master "
choice is somewhat doubtful. The query was intended to
bring out suppressed willingness to be a slave, which might
not be elicited in reported self-observations of actual ex-
periences (at Baby Party, etc.). The enjoyment of being
made captive seemed to be acknowledged much more frankly,
on the whole, than was anticipated. It is a curious result
that of the girls who rated their enjoyment of captivity at
10, two also elected to be an unhappy master rather than a
happy slave. Does this indicate, perhaps, that these girls
frankly admitted maximal enjoyment of being made captive,
LOVE 311
when their captivity was not labelled, or characterized in
such a way that they 'became conscious of its real nature,
while their social inhibitions immediately became operative
upon hearing the word " slave " ? Some verification of
tnis suggestion may be obtained from the introspection of
subject number i, who rated her enjoyment of the Baby
Party at 10, and reported that she got a " big kick," emotion-
ally, from the punishment she received from the sophomores,
yet stated that she disliked intensely the idea of subjection.
Another distinction which appears in some of the detailed
introspections which there is not room for in the table above,
is the possible difference of interpretation in the word
" master " and " slave ". Were it not for the fact that the
word " mistress " has acquired a definite tabooed social con-
notation, it would probably be preferable to the word
" master " in studies of this sort, since " master " is inter-
preted by many subjects to mean a person who uses dominance
to compel others to serve his own selfish appetitive purposes.
The word " slave " by itself would tend to be interpreted
more frequently, by girls at least, as meaning " love slave "
rather than appetitive slave. But when " slave " is used
in contrast to " master ", it may assume a more appetitive
interpretation. Some girls who thus understood the meaning
of slave insisted, quite rightly, that there could be no such
thing as a "happy slave " to another person's selfish domi-
nance.* In general, a marked divergence of attitude was
found as between a girl's submitting to a person because
she loved her, and enjoyed doing it, and submitting to a
person (like certain types of house matron and disciplinary
official) who were felt to be subjecting the girl to further
their own dominance or appetitive convenience. This dis-
tinction corresponds precisely to the difference between
true submission-passion response, and unpleasant or in-
different compliance reaction.
Conclusions From Study
Our conclusions from the study reported above, were,
first, that about three-fourths of the girls physically made
captive to other girls at the Baby Party experienced pure,
pleasant passion emotion, consisting of active submission
to the older girls who were subjecting them compounded
with passive inducement toward these same girls. The
312 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
passive inducement response appeared in such actions as a
girl's holding out her hands to show that her bonds had
become loose. The lessening of enjoyment when a girl sub-
mitted without calling her guard's attention to her lack of
sufficient bonds may be noted in the introspection of subject
8, who said she " got no kick out of the Baby Party because
I could see under my blindfold ". This girl's inhibition of
passive inducement, essential to passion emotion, is further
evidenced by her statement that she " took no notice of the
sophomores ".
Secondly, we concluded that a much more dilute type
of passion response, if any, was evoked, in a majority of the
girls, throughout the freshmen year, when they were required
to run personal errands, and otherwise appetitively serve
their sophomore " superiors ". Dominance response, under
these circumstances, was evoked from the freshmen at least
as frequently as was submission ; and the actual service was
frequently performed with a consciousness of compliance.
Thirdly, we concluded that passion emotion could be evoked
from one girl by another girl whom she was compelled to
obey, when, and if, the subjecting girl made her commands
felt as inducement rather than as dominance, and revealed
no possibility of ultimate self-seeking in what she required
the other girl to do. In other words, the captivating girl
in order to be an adequate stimulus to passion emotion, must
ally herself with her captive completely, yet at tho same
time constantly increase the submissive one's captivity. A
freshman girl reported herself as feeling pleasant passion
emotion when compelled to kiss the feet of a girl whom she
liked. But this same girl took a large amount of extra
punishment rather than shine the shoes of an older girl whom
she thought selfish.
Summary.
In summary, we may say that passion or passive love
emotion consists of simultaneous compounding of the primary
emotional response of active submission, evoked by an inducer
person, and passive inducement evoked by the same person
as a corollary to active submission.
The conscious emotional characteristic of passion emotion
appears to be an extremely pleasant feeling of being subjected
LOVE 313
and being made more and more helpless in the hands of an
allied stimulus person of superior strength.
It seems undoubtedly to be the fact that girls, acting as
inducers, can evoke intense and very pleasant passion emotion
from all normal and well-balanced girls who are.in appropriate
strength relationship to themselves without administering
genital organ stimulation directly or indirectly.
Development of Passion Emotion In Males
The situation with respect to the passion emotion of boys
and young men is quite different from that obtaining among
girls, so far as my own studies indicate. If we waive dis-
cussion of the " Oedipus complex " and " mother^ fixations "
there is little to indicate, so far as the literature or my own
studies reveal, that true passion response is evoked from a
majority of normal males up to the time when inter-sex
relationships occur, with consequent stimulation of the ex-
ternal genitals (discussed in next chapter).
There is little doubt but that captivation response occurs
frequently in the behaviour of young males, largely mixed
with and controlled by dominance. It is probably this
dominance element in the older and stronger boys which
makes the younger boy suffer physical pain, and emotional
unpleasantness, rather than evoking from him the extremely
pleasant passion emotion experienced by normal girls five
years ci age or older, in response to the captivation behaviour
of other girls.
The boy's mother, of course, while she remains stronger
than himself physically, is able to evoke this passion, as
already noted, without stimulation of the genital organs. It
is probably because no other substitute stimulus to passion
is apt to appear in the average boy's life between the time
for normal waning of this mother-child relationship, and the
normal period for assuming genital organ relationships with
the other sex, that the so-called mother fixation frequently
occurs. The really detrimental aspect of such fixations,
in the few instances I have been able to observe, seems to be
the marked dissociation between the passion evoked by the
mother, and the passion evoked by stimulation of the external
genitals later in life, by a woman to whom the male normally
submits after sexual maturity. The real " resistance "
appears to me to consist of a failure to associate the pleasant
314 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
passion originally experienced with the so-called erotic stimu-
lation later received. A positive inhibitory barrier between
these two psychical elements seems frequently to develop
in the central nervous system.
This might, of course, be prevented by social sanction of
genital organ stimulation by the mother. In the few cases
which have come to my attention wherein early passion for
the mother appeared to act as a barrier to subsequent passion-
ate surrender to wife or mistress, the youth concerned had
never received genital organ stimulation from a nurse-maid,
or other female with whom he had come into contact during
his boyhood. In one case of a youth who suffered from
inability to reinstate, by way of genital organ stimulation,
the passion experienced in early life toward his mother, the
boy had been stimulated forcibly by older boys, and had
suffered physical pain and emotional shame (really a conflict
between thwarted dominance and submission) in consequence.
Intensely unpleasant emotional experiences of this type serve
further to reinforce the inhibitory barrier already existing
between passion emotion and " erotic " sensations.
Women's Strength Insufficient to Evoke Passion from Some
Males
There is a certain type of youth who, during later adoles-
cence, appears spontaneously to develop emotional longing
to be captivated. This type of male frequently fails to find
any female who possesses sufficient strength, physical or
emotional, to subject him adequately. Under such circum-
stances, this type of male may gain considerable passion
experience from subjections imposed upon him by maleo
superior to himself, despite the dominance which these males
inevitably express toward him, along with their captivation
emotion.
One boy of this type who was severely bullied as a freshman,
reported to me frankly that he enjoyed the experience very
greatly. This youth was quite naive in his report, intro-
specting an almost pure passion response toward his sopho-
more subjectors. For some reason this boy had transferred
to the college where I was teaching at that time, at the begin-
ning of his second year, and was obliged to accept freshman
standing again because of insufficient credits for studies
previously completed. When he discovered that the hazing
LOVE 315
to which he was subjected was not nearly as severe as that
previously experienced, he expressed very strong disappoint-
ment, and criticized the college administration with evident
bitterness for their regulations minimizing discipline of fresh-
men by sophomores. Other boys of this same type have been
largely influenced, I believe, in choosing to attend military
academy rather than college, by expectation of enjoyment
in being subjected to rigid discipline throughout the entire
four years' course.
Study of Passion In Inter-Class Relationships of College Men
Emotional studies indicate, however, that this type of male
youth, who is able to experience pleasant passion emotion
toward superior males despite injuries and suffering of various
sorts which he must endure, incidently, at their hands, repre-
sents a comparatively small proportion of the male youth of
this country. F. S. Keller made a study of the attitude of
freshmen boys toward their sophomore subjectors, corres-
ponding exactly in form and subject matter to the study
made by Miss Glidden. The results, however, were largely
negative. Only one or two boys gave reliable evidence of
pleasant passion emotion evoked by sophomores either during
enforcement of freshmen " traditions ", throughout the year,
or at the special parties where the freshmen boys were
" paddled " and otherwise painfully punished. All but one
or two* expressed decided preference for being an "unhappy
master " rather than a " happy slave ", and none of the boys
questioned expressed a spontaneous wish to submit either
to men or women. Nearly all, on the other hand, expressed
their belief in the necessity of compliance with their superiors.
In one especial type of situation imposed by the sophomores
upon the freshmen boys more evidence of passion emotion
was found than in other situations. This occurred when the
boys were compelled by the sophomores to march in their
pyjamas before one of the girls' dormitories, where they were
put through various exhibitions and stunts, to the great
excitement of the girls, who watched the performance from
dormitory windows. In this situation, marked conflicts
seemed to appear in the consciousness of the boys hazed,
between passion emotion seemingly evoked by the girl specta-
tors, and thwarted dominance felt toward their male oppres-
sors, the sophomores. The latter unmistakably prevailed,
3i6 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
however, and several of the freshmen violently broke away
from the sophomore guards. It seemed quite predictable,
from the self observations of the freshmen boys, that they
would have greatly enjoyed a fairly pure type of passion
emotion had the actual captors who exerted the superior force
over them been girls rather than other males. The normal
boy seems to have learned to regard other males as funda-
mentally inimical to his interests, while girls, though they
may be treated with pretended scorn and disfavour, are
fundamentally regarded as friendly and loving.
Conclusions From Study
Our general conclusions in the study cited were :
(1) That pure passion emotion could seldom, if ever, be
elicited from one normal male by another, within the group
of college boys studied.
(2) That strong passion emotion could be evoked from a
majority of the boys studied by girls who made the boys
captive in the same way they treated the freshman girls,
provided that girls could be found of sufficient strength,
emotional or physical, to impress themselves upon the male
subjects, by inducement as superior to the males, without
evoking their dominance.
Summary
In general, it seems fair to summarize the passion emotion
of the male sex as not evokable by other males, in the absence
of genital organ stimulation. This conclusion may be quali-
fied by reference to the type of males previously alluded to,
whose passion emotion development is sufficiently strong to
permit passion to persist under military, or other subjections
by superior males, despite the preponderance of dominance
behaviour indulged in by such male sub jec tors.
CHAPTER XV
LOVE MECHANISMS
IN view of the foregoing analysis showing the occurrence of
both captivation and passion responses without environmental
stimulation of the genital organs, it seems hardly necessary
to emphasize the fact that these organs are not to be regarded
as the sole source of the love responses. Captivation and
passion are compound types of integrations which may be
evoked by various types of adequate stimuli. The genital
organs, however, seem especially designed to bring about love
integrations, just as the digestive organs are especially designed
to bring about the proper integrative pattern of appetite
emotion. The genital organs also serve, very probably, as
circular reinforcing mechanisms for love excitement having
its origin in receptors totally different from those located in
the genital organs themselves. It is possible that motor
discharge from the compound emotions of captivation and
passion may find its way toward internal and external genitals
in certain fixed proportions, just as it is possible that motor
discharge from desire and satisfaction may always find its
way to the alimentary canal and skeletal muscles of appetite,
in certain fixed proportions of volume of discharge. But these
possibilities both require experimental proof before formu-
lation even of tentative hypotheses. In any event, the genital
organs, like the digestive mechanisms, are to be regarded as
natural, automatic teachers of the compound emotional responses
which they are suited to initiate. That the genital organs are
equipped automatically to evoke captivation and submission
emotions can be made clear by a brief consideration of the
structures and functions of these mechanisms after sexual
maturity of the individual. Both sexes possess two sets of
genital organs, internal and external.
Genital Organ Mechanisms
The penis is the only strictly external genital organ of the
male, the testes, and their appurtenant structures being
3 i8 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
classified as internal genitals, though actually outside the
sexually mature male body. The internal genital organs of
the female begin, properly speaking, at the mouth of the vagina.
There seems to be a great deal of ignorance, especially among
women, concerning the nature and functioning of the female
clitoris, which nevertheless corresponds precisely in psychical
function to the penis of the male. Some speculative theories
of biological evolution have assumed that the female clitoris
is a relic of a bisexual condition of the race, which the present
human body structure has developed away from. Whatever
the historical aspect of the matter may be, psycho-neural
results of clitoral stimulation seem to be identical with those
produced by stimulation of the external genital organ of the
male. Furthermore, though the fact seems little known, the
clitoris of one woman may be stimulated nearly as effectively
by the vulva of another woman, as can the penis of a male
with the vagina of the female. The female emotion resulting
from stimulation of the clitoris by another woman (as apparent
in the behaviour of women prisoners) seems fully as extensive
as the male emotion resulting from stimulation of the penis.
In this type of physical relationship, both women most
frequently experience simultaneous stimulation of the clitoris
with appropriate emotional states following. Neither woman,
of course, receives stimulation of the mouth of the vagina.
Langley and Anderson arrived at an apparently accurate
description of the inn ervat ions of the internal and external
genital organs as early as 1895. * In both male and female the
external genital organs are innervated mainly through the nervi
erigentes while the internal genitals are innervated through
sympathetic rather than sacral fibres. Though Cannon and
others have emphasized the reciprocal antagonism existing
between the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous
system and the sacral division of the same system, Langley
staced in one of his most comprehensive articles defending the
concept of the autonomic nervous system, which was originated
by himself, that absolute or complete reciprocal antagonisms
between the innervations of the central and end branches of
the autonomic did not in fact exist. 2
1 J. N. Langley and H. K. Anderson, " The Innervation of the Pelvic
and Adjoining Viscera," Journal of Physiology, 1895, vol. 19, p. 85.
1 J. N. Langley, " Sympathetic and Other Related Systems of
Nerves," Schafer's Textbook of Physiology, 1900, vol. 2, pp. 616-697.
LOVE MECHANISMS 319
Motor Self Simultaneously Energizes Internal and External
Genitals
The most casual observations of so-called sexual behaviour
in animals shows that an extraordinary amount of activity
of the skeletal muscles may be indulged in by the male animal
in seeking the female, and in getting himself accepted by her,
with complete erection of the penis persisting throughout this
period of marked skeletal muscular activity. Since the skeletal
muscles, to be active, must be supplied with an added amount
of blood through the mediation of the sympathetic impulses,
we know that portions, at least, of the sympathetic system
must be co-active with similarly increased discharge through
the sacral nervi erigentes. Moreover, blood pressure c and pulse
measurements taken upon human subjects throughout sexual
intercourse reveal that a rise of systolic blood pressure, indi-
cating increased strength of the heart beat produced by
sympathetic impulses, proceeds, during certain phases of love
behaviour, pari passu with increased determination of blood
to the external genital organs brought about by sacral inner-
vations.
This simultaneous increase of both sympathetic and sacral
motor discharge is to be contrasted with the decrease of the
sympathetic impulses to the blood vessels of the arm at the
height of hunger pangs apparently simultaneously with the
successful cranial discharge to the salivary glands and through
vagus channels to the heart. From this we may conclude
that, whereas the normal tonic balance of the organism
maintained by the motor self calls for a marked preponderance
of sympathetic over cranial motor discharge of tonic nature, this
same reflex balance maintained by the motor self calls for a
simultaneous and allied discharge through sympathetic channels
to the internal genitals and through the sacral efferent paths to
the external genital organs. The usual tonic condition of the
organism, aside from inhibitory influences of the cortex,
probably would maintain a slight preponderance of motor
discharge to the internal genital organs as contrasted with the
motor discharge to the external genital organs, since the latter
are not found in a state of erection except as a result of special
stimulation.
All Motor Stimuli Activating Genitals Are Allied
If this analysis of the balance maintained by the motor self
320 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
between internal and external genitals is correct, any motor
stimulus which tended to seek outlet either in the internal
or external genital organs would be allied to the motor self.
Motor stimuli which tended to enhance motor discharge to
the internal genital organs however, would be in a relationship
of submission to the usual balance maintained within the
motor self. // the motor self increased for the purpose of com-
pelling these motor stimuli to follow efferent paths to the internal
genital organs, this reaction would coincide with the proposed
definition of the primary emotional response of inducement.
If, on the other hand, a motor stimulus tended to find a path
of efferent discharge toward the external genital organs, it
would be regarded as in a relationship of inducement to the
motor sell. // the motor self decreased to permit additional
external genital excitement by the motor stimulus then the reaction
would be described as a primary emotional response of submission .
No Cyclic Love Stimulus in Male Organism
With the meaning of motor stimuli in relation to the motor
self thus analysed, we may proceed to discover, if possible,
the sequence of integrations between motor self and motor
stimuli which occur in the course of inter-sex love behaviour.
A number of physiological researchers have endeavoured, in
vain, to discover the symptoms of a spontaneous cycle of intra-
organic love stimulation in the male, comparable in any way
to the menstrual cycle of woman. Males seem to possess no
such automatic stimulatory mechanism for initiation of love
behaviour as the menses in human females, or periods of heat
in females of various higher animal species. It seems to be
true that during adolescence boys may experience uncon-
trolled excitement especially in the external genital organs,
with erection of the latter not attributable to any external
stimulation. After sexual maturity, however, such occurences
seem very rare with the normal male.
Attempts have been made by various authors to establish
intra-organic causes for the initiation of love excitement in
males such as distention of the seminal vesicles, or even
urination. But during my own studies I have found not the
slightest evidence of the cyclic operation of any such stimuli
inducing spontaneous male excitement. Instances of this
sort, when they do occur, seem to me possibly traceable (as
I have actually traced them in several cases) to previous
LOVE MECHANISMS 321
sensory stimulation with erotic environmental stimuli. The
love excitement which occurs normally in many men during
sleep, also seems attributable to previous erotic stimulation,
motor discharge from which has been inhibited during waking
hours. Such nocturnal periods of love excitement occur just
as frequently with young women subjects as with males, and
cannot, therefore, be attributed to any secondary sexual
hormone peculiar to the male sex. What these occasional
spontaneous erections of the external genital organs do show,
I believe, is that the tonic balance normally maintained by
the motor self is so evenly distributed between internal and
external genitals, that a slight dimunition of inhibitory influ-
ence from the cortex (as during sleep) may bring about a
shifting of the balance, if there is only a slight amount of
dammed up motor energy, previously evoked by erotic
stimuli, which has not been completely discharged during the
preceding waking period. My own conclusion is that adult
males do not possess any automatic intra-organic stimulus
mechanism, appearing without any connection with erotic
environmental stimuli previously experienced. So far as I
have been able to determine, the normal male, after sexual
maturity, at least, must depend upon external stimulation
which includes, of course, ideas and remembered sensations
or " images ", to evoke from him either captivation or passion
emotions.
Love Stimulus Cycle in Women
With girls and women, however, we find an entirely different
situation. Reports from at least fifty female subjects reveal
marked accession of love excitement before the menstrual
period, or just following it, or at both times. A small number
of cases, studied carefully, reveal a certain difference between
the love excitement in the period just before the menstrual
period, and the love emotion during the interval following
it. (During the period itself there may also be love excitement
but since this usually finds no expression in effecting inter-sex
relationships, it may be disregarded for the moment.) The
stimulation which must be going on in the internal genital
organs just prior to the menstrual period, due to the growth
and maturation of the Graafian follicle, and also to the tissue
changes in the uterus, and determination of blood to the entire
internal genital organ tract, appears to result in a more
Y
322 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
restless and intensely aggressive type of love seeking than that
immediately following the period.
plaS Evoked During Menses (?)
Immediately following the menstrual period, the love
seeking behaviour of the female seems, in the cases mentioned,
to contain a larger element of submission. Love excitement
at this time is introspectively reported as more pervasive and
voluminous than before the period. The evidence indicates
that at both times (as well as throughout the period in many
cases) motor stimuli are evoked which tend to follow efferent
paths toward both internal and external genitals. The pres-
ence of the latter can easily be detected by observing the con-
dition of the clitoris, vulva, and sometimes marked alteration
in the output of the vulvo-vaginal glands. Following the
period, the general nature of the love excitement, in some
cases, at least, indicates that there is a greater proportion of
external genital excitement than exists prior to the period. The
indications seem to be that this external genital excitement
following the period is in the nature of an after discharge from
still greater external genital excitement during the period
itself. In some cases, careful self observations clearly revealed
the fact that this excitement of the external genitals was
noticably increased, during the menstrual period itself by the
wearing of a pad which stimulates the clitoris mechanically.
External excitement seems, then, normally, to be in*prepon-
derance over motor discharge to the internal genitals during
the period itself. The menstrual period, on this analysis,
would be a period of passive love (plaS).
alpS Follows Menstrual Period
Assuming, then, that the total menstrual stimulation results
in enhancement of motor discharge to both internal and
external genitals, but preponderantly to the latter, we may
analyse the primary emotional responses evoked without
difficulty. Motor stimuli of both submissive (to internal
genitals) and inductive (to external genitals) types appear to
be evoked. The overt response of the organism, consisting
of obviously increased love restlessness, motor energy, and
excitement, evidences a marked increase in the strength of
the motor self. Since this increase of the motor self appears
to represent the total algebraic sum of it3 reaction to the
LOVE MECHANISMS 323
stimuli imposed, we iqay assume that a response of active
inducement predominates.
Yet this active inducement cannot restore the initial reflex
balance of the organism, since it is evident that a considerable
mass of motor discharge is still winning its way*to the external
genital organs. Toward the stimuli responsible for this
discharge, therefore, the motor self is in a state of passive
submission response.
Female Seeks Male
It will be remembered that hunger pangs evoke motor
stimuli rendering the organism incapable of response to any
type of environmental stimulus save food. Food, in this case,
represented an environmental stimulus stronger than the
hunger pangs but weaker than the organism. The subject
could, therefore, dominate food at the same time that he
complied passively with the hunger pangs. The love response
situation brought about by motor stimuli evoked by the
menstrual period is identical with this appetitive stimulus
situation with respect to the general method by which it
compels the organism to react in a prescribed manner to one
type of stimulus only. Following her menstrual period, a
woman is forced to seek a male, since the body structure of a
male enables the woman to respond to him with active induce-
ment ; while at the same time she is responding with passive
submission to a portion of the menstrual period stimuli. Just
as the food could be dominated by the hungry subject, because
the food would in turn dominate the hunger pangs which had
proved stronger than the subject, so in the love stimulus
situation the woman is able actively to induce a male, because
the male is a stimulus weaker than the woman, but stronger
than the motor stimuli exciting the woman's external genitals,
which had proved stronger than the woman's own motor self.
A moment's consideration of the type of love stimulation
which the male's body is designed to give the female, will
make this point clear. The penis, extending within the
mouth of the vagina, stimulates directly the internal genital
organs of the female. Assuming that the motor discharge
from this stimulation tends to return to the internal genitals
via the sympathetic ganglia, just as motor discharge from
stomach stimulation tends to return again through cranial
efferents to the stomach, we find that stimuli furnished by
324 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
the male to the female during physical love contact possesses
two characteristics. First, the motor stimuli evoked are
completely submissive to the female's own motor self balance.
Second, these submissive motor stimuli follow the prescribed
path to the internal genital organs, and so tend to increase
the discharge to the internal genitals until the motor discharge
to the external genitals, set up by menstrual period stimulation,
is completely counteracted and the motor self's balance is
restored.
This restoration of balance may thus be accomplished by
the motor stimuli resulting from male stimulation, whereas
restoration of balance could not be accomplished by the
female's own motor self, prior to stimulation by the male.
This means, as previously shown, that the woman is simul-
taneously feeling active inducement emotion toward the male
and passive submission emotion toward the menstrual period
stimuli, still active within her body.
When the motor stimuli evoked in a woman's organism by
the male finally completely counterbalance the stimuli sending
motor discharge to the external genitals, an overwhelming
of the lattei occurs (possibly in the nature of a partial in-
hibition), while a series of rhythmic contractions are set up
in the uterus and vagina, constituting sexual orgasm. This
particular type of female orgasm is sometimes called by
women an " internal orgasm ". It represents consummation
of active inducement response toward the male whUh has
culminated in the capturing of sufficient allied stimuli to
counterbalance for the moment, at least, the menstrual period
stimuli evoking passive submission. This overwhelming of
external genital excitement is only temporary, even three or
four " internal " orgasms in succession failing to abolish the
alpS set, which lasts for as long a time as the after discharge
of menstrual stimuli remains active.
Male Body Suited For Passion Stimulation Only
Since the internal genitals of the male can at no time be
directly stimulated by contact with the female, the male's
overt response throughout the sex relationship is one of active
submission evoked by cumulatively increased stimulation of
his external genital organ, which is completely surrounded
(captured ?) by the woman's internal genital organ, the vagina.
We noted, in Chapter XI, that erection of the penis was a
LOVE MECHANISMS 325
submissive type of reaction, made possible by the allied motor
stimuli (from tickling* stroking, etc.), which were able to
direct the motor self into this sacral channel of discharge,
because superior to the motor self in possessing strength to
overcome the usually operating cortical inhibition. We have
just observed, in the present paragraph, that further stimula-
tion of the penis evoking submission, occurs when the penis
is kept within the vagina of the woman. But, in order to
keep it there, a continuous increment of increase must be main-
tained by the motor self, sufficient to maintain erection. This
increment of increase of the self continuously extends the
part to be stimulated, thus inviting and making possible the
stimulation of this part by the only appropriately^ constructed
part of the woman's body. Such increase of motor self to
Procure further stimulation to submission constitutes passive
inducement.
It is exactly the same type of response that the child makes
in extending its feet and hands to be further tickled and
stimulated, cited in the last chapter as evidence of passive
inducement in infant love behaviour. It is the same type
of response, also, made by the freshman girl who held out her
hands to invite a sophomore to place more bonds about them
thus evoking further submission. Extension of the penis,
to receive stimulation is simply a specialized type of this
general passive inducement behaviour, suitable as an induce-
mentonly to a specialized type of captivating organism,
namely the internal genitals of a woman.
Throughout the inter-sex ]ove act, then, the male expresses
passive inducement (increase of motor self) sufficient to render
his body stimulable by the woman's body. He simultaneously
expresses active submission in movements of the penis and
body evoked by pressure of the vagina surrounding his external
genital organ. This simultaneous compounding of active
submission and passive inducement constitute physical passion
emotion.
Climax of Male Response Is Active Love
The male sexual orgasm is quite different irom the female
" internal orgasm " just described. The male orgasm, appears,
it would seem, when such a large increment of the male's
motor self has been released by external genital stimulation,
that the total strength of the self is greater than the total
326 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
strength of the motor stimuli which had hitherto been com-
pelling the self to submission. When* this shift in the balance
of strength between the two integrative elements occurs, the
motor self assumes control of the situation, and immediately
returns to its qwn reflex balance. This balance, according to
our foregoing analysis, calls for a preponderance of motor
discharge to the internal genitals. When the motor self
returns to this balance, therefore, carrying with it, by active
inducement, the newly captured, allied motor stimuli, to
which it had formerly been submitting, the internal genitals
are contracted clonically, a series of rhythmic muscular
spasms is set up, and this series of spasms ejects the sper-
matozoa, contained in their appropriate fluid' medium.
During tne male orgasm, it is obvious that the phase of
love emotion expressed has shifted from passive to active.
The male's passive inducement has become active inducement.
His motor self, which has been permitted only to increase
sufficiently to keep the penis erect, is now increased so greatly
that it returns to its own predetermined balance, carrying
the newly captured motor stimuli with it. That is to say,
the male now actively induces the female to a wholly new
emotional response of creation, by ejecting active generative
agents into her body.
At the same time, the active submission of the male changes
to passive submission. He no longer permits his motor self
to discharge its efferent energy under the control and direction
of the motor stimuli evoked by the female's vagina. But the
male, nevertheless, during the orgasm, passively submits to the
woman, in that he permits her internal genital organs to
induce in his the muscular spasms necessary to the procreative
act. That is to say, the motor self of the male remains suffi-
ciently under the control of the motor stimuli previously
evoked by vaginal stimulation of his external genital organ
to condition the active inducement to direct its total, induced
stimuli primarily toward the internal genital organs, rather
than toward any one or all of the large number of motor self
channels to the skeletal muscles and adjoining viscera, now
freely opened (though the excitement spreads, considerably,
to the clasping muscles, also).
Thus it is, that the male shifts his love expression, at its
very climax, from passion to captivation. It is a captivation
designed, however, not to captivate the female responses for
LOVE MECHANISMS 327
his own control, but rather to captivate them for the control
of the child to come, cieated as a result of this culmination
of the male's passionate submission to the female.
The chief difference between the female's " internal orgasm "
and the male orgasm is one of similarity or contrast to the
previously existing type of emotional response controlling the
subject. The woman has been expressing active love, or
captivation, and this active love emotion culminates in an
inducement of menstrually evoked motor stimuli so complete
that the latter, for a brief period, are overwhelmed, and are
compelled to join in activating the internal genital muscles
to clonic contraction. But it is very easy for the female
organism to return to its previous state of active love, since
only a slight relaxation of the climactic intensity of internal
genital stimulation is necessary to permit the temporarily
induced motor stimuli to resume their previous role of inducers
to passive submission by discharge again, into the clitoris.
But it is not so easy for the male to return to a condition of
passion response. His newly acquired active love set must
be precisely reversed before passion response can again control
the male organism. To accomplish this result, further stimu-
lation of the external genitals from without the body must
take place, and must continue until a large enough increment
of the motor self is again determined to the penis, by means
of its submission to the motor stimuli evoked, to maintain
the external genital organ in a state of erection, or passive
inducement. This process may require a considerable interval
of quiescense, between the active love climax and the res-
toration of submissive passion set, once more. Thus a much
briefer period of recovery is required between one " internal
orgasm " of the female and another (perhaps no interval at
all), than the quiescent period elapsing between active love
orgasm of the male and renewed passion response.
Woman is capable, as before mentioned, of experiencing
both phases of love emotion. By means of clitoral stimulation
by another woman (or by some artificial stimulation such as
tongue or hand), passion response may be evoked in exactly
the same way as it is called forth from the male by stimulation
of his penis. The orgasm may follow this passion emotion,
in exactly the same way that it follows the passion of the
male ; in which case, the orgasm represents the same transition
from passion to captivation. (Evidently because the creation
328 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
emotion character of this climactic active love expression,
terminating passion, is perceived by the love-trained con-
sciousness of women having this type of love relationship,
it is frequently regarded with a sort of worship, as an emotional
experience inviolably sacred, a feeling seldom attained by
males during the same behaviour). This type of orgasm is
frequently called, by women, the " external orgasm ". The
female external orgasm seems likely to persist somewhat
longer than its male counterpart, and to be followed by a
physical state of more profound lassitude, and inertia.
Some women subjects report that they receive a considerable
amount of stimulation of the clitoris during an ordinary act of
coitus. Other women subjects can detect little or no stimu-
lation of the clitoris during physical contact with a male.
The question seems to be one of relationship between the
position of the clitoris and the other structures involved.
Women seldom experience an orgasm of the external type
as a result of stimulation of the clitoris during relationship
with the male. Such external genital stimulation as they
do receive, however, frequently leaves female subjects in a
condition of passion response after consummating the physical
love contact with the male. This passion response cannot
be gratified, apparently, by any number of orgasms of internal
type.
Men Like To Confuse Love and Appetite
*t
In considering the love seeking behaviour of both women
and men, the fact must constantly be borne in mind that
appetite emotion is inextricably confused with love responses
in the emotional equipment of nearly all subjects. We have
already cited a number of cases showing the tendency, es-
pecially in the male, to confuse inducement with dominance
and captivation emotion with appetitive desire seeking
satisfaction. The popular terms for love responses reveal
clearly, not only the unconscious confusion between appetite
and love, but also the dominant delight which many male
authors seem to take in perpetuating this confusion.
To call love " appetite " places it at once in a category
which the male can understand and dominate. If even
active love, or captivation emotion be recognized as a reaction
during which the subject must be wholly controlled by
alliance with the interests of the person captivated, the
LOVE MECHANISMS 329
response becomes repugnant to the average male because
it means that he is not getting, but giving, and the only justi-
fication for giving, to the minds of most males, is the possi-
bility of a larger getting to follow. It fe dominantly satis-
fying to a male to think of the love responses as a mere
additional source of pleasure, which he can obtdin in the ways
he is accustomed to obtain appetitive satisfaction ; that is,
through the exercise of dominance and compliance.
If love emotions are thought of as depending wholly upon
the degree to which a male is willing to submit to another
person, especially a woman, the realization at once follows
that he, the male, is no longer able to rule, by his dominance,
this love half of life which he knows to be by far the most
pleasant. If love is recognized for what it is, it -means that
the male can never obtain a place of real superiority in love
except by learning to become more submissive in proportion
to his dominance than is woman. All this is not consciously
thought out, of course, but it will be found to exist, I believe,
to some degree, as an emotional undercurrent, in the attitude
of nearly all males toward love.
As a consequence of this typical male set, we find, in both
popular and scientific literature, which has, for the most part,
been written by men not controlled by women, or by women
closely controlled by male standards and conventions, a
series of more or less deliberately devised misnomers for the
love responses. Active love, for example, becomes in male
nomenclature " desire " ; passive love, or passion response
is designated as an " appetite ", and is further separated
from such commendable though somewhat anaemic states of
emotional consciousness as " love of virtue ", by character-
izing physical love as a " sex appetite ". The inference is
plain. The members of each sex are represented by this
simple mischaracterization of love as seeking to devour one
another, and to possess one another dominantly, each for
his own appetitive satisfaction. Persons who insist upon
perpetuating their own confusions between love and appetite
by defending such a conception are simply engaged in a
dominant attempt to escape reality.
Love, Used For Appetite, Must Nevertheless Be Love
As we have seen in the case of inducement response used
as a tool to procure appetitive satisfaction, the love response
330 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
must remain a non-dominant reaction in its entirety if it is
to evoke a corresponding love response from the stimulus
person, no matter what may be the eventual result of this
succession of love reactions. Those who would use love for
appetite must first learn to love ; and after that, they must
be willing to love sincerely, during the entire period necessary
to establish absolute possession over the thing they want to
get from the person Judasaically loved. If the seeker starts
to dominate the other individual just a few minutes or a few
seconds too soon, his ultimate purpose is lost. The love
response cannot be termed an appetite, therefore, except in
prospect or in retrospect ; that is before the love response
is initiated, at which time the ultimate appetitive benefit
is being selected and planned, and the period immediately
succeeding the termination of the love response itself, when
appetitive satisfaction of the result gained is being enjoyed.
Of course, during the persistence of the love response
itself, appetitive reactions may mingle in the total behaviour
pattern. But in so far as appetite does so mingle with love,
the responses evoked from other persons will similarly con-
tain a mixture of appetitive self seeking. Therefore, the
efficiency of the love response as a tool for dominance and
appetite must be diminished by just so much. The love
seeking of one individual by another is not to be thought of
as a desire to eat or to possess the loved one. It can only properly
be described as a seeking to establish a relationship wfth that
other individual wherein the seeker may give himself more com-
pletely to the person sought, by allying himself more closely
with the other's interests.
It is customarily asserted that women " desire " to captivate
males for their own pleasure, even if there is no more sordid
financial motive in establishing the relationship. A woman
who does seek her own pleasure in captivating a male cannot
obtain that pleasure in the manner sought because no love
relationship can ever be established. Or, to put the matter
in a more positive way, if a woman captivates a male in a
true love relationship with herself, she does so by evoking
a true passion response from the male. In order to evoke
this response, the woman must continually study the male's
emotional mechanisms, and stimulate him only in strictest
accord with these mechanisms. Furthermore, she must
stimulate the male more effectively, that is, in a way which
LOVE MECHANISMS 33*
will give him more pleasure, than any other influence then
exerted upon him is able to do. In short, to captivate a male,
a woman must evoke within his organism the greatest possible
pleasantness. Her pleasure must consist only in effectively
increasing his.
The moment there enters into the woman's total response
pattern a desire which seeks to compel the male to stimulate
her in some way temporarily pleasant to her but not pleasant
to him, at that moment the captivation of the male by the female
is diminished by a corresponding amount. The desire gets
just what it seeks, that is, an appetitive satisfaction which
the male continues to deliver to the female during the length
of time that the previous love influence of the woman per-
sists and captivation endures. She has begun to reap an
appetitive reward, obtained as a result of a preceding love
response. But the love response itself is no longer working,
so the woman can only seize as much as she is able before the
effect of her previous love response upon the male wears off.
If she would gain further appetitive rewards by the prostitu-
tion-of-Iove method, she must abandon again all desire for
her own pleasure and seek to evoke, again, the greatest
possible pleasantness in the male's consciousness. There
may be, of course, deliberate deceptions on the part of a
captivating woman (see Chapter XVII) and misinterpreta-
tions of the woman's behaviour on the part of the male,
but srr,h misinterpretations do not in the least alter the
essential quality of the stimulus to which the male is reacting,
the only issue being whether the adequate stimulus actually
exists in the woman, or whether it merely exists in the man's
own central nervous system only.
The following results of love behaviour have no exceptions :
Neither captivation emotion nor passion emotion contains
desire or satisfaction in any form. Love emotion contains no
appetitive response in any form. Admixtures of desire or
satisfaction responses with captivation and passion responses,
when controlled by the two appetitive elements, result in the
supplanting of captivation and passion by desire and satis-
faction.
Overt Love Behaviour Prior To Sexual Union
The woman's period of passive love, or passion response
ends, as we have seen, at the close of the menstrual period.
332 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
Thereafter the normal and uninhibited woman begins to
seek a male in order to captivate him. The adult male's
love responses do not, as a general rule, begin until he has
been initially stimulated by a woman or by some corres-
pondingly adequate stimulus. The man's reactions from
the first are those of passive love response, or passion.
Some of the frankest and clearest-cut types of captivation
of males by women are those accomplished by chorus girls
and dancers. The theatre offers a stimulus situation sanc-
tioned by society, wherein a woman passively submitting
to her own inner urges (intraorganic stimuli resulting in
stimulations of external genitals) reacts toward the man in
the audience in such a way as to stimulate his organism, to
the maximum extent, with display and movement of her
own body. The girl on the stage, in strict accordance with
the nature of captivation emotion, observes and analyses
the male emotional mechanisms to the best of her ability
(or the theatrical producer does this for her) ; and she prac-
tices assiduously to stimulate these male mechanisms in
such a way as to evoke, through them, the maximum amount
of pleasure in the male. As soon as this stimulation begins
to be effective in evoking passion response in the male con-
sciousness, which is, of course, intensely pleasant, to the man,
a motor discharge from this passion type of integration
immediately results in a series of active submission responses
on the part of the male, to the woman's psycho-physical
mechanisms.
The first of such active submissions may consist of sending
flowers, and of securing an introduction to the woman in
order that he may pay verbal tribute to her beauty and
captivation powers. These responses, in turn, evoke further
captivation behaviour from the woman, which again cumula-
tively increases the male's passion, with its overt active
submission element. The male becomes a constant attendant
upon his captivatress, obeying her spoken commands and
seeking to submit to her inarticulate emotional nature in
every way possible. Of course, this programme may partially
degenerate into a process of purchase and sale ; but if so,
the male gets only what he buys, an appetitive satisfaction
without any love relationship. When eventually the woman's
captivation response, and the male's passion emotion control
their organisms to the degree of establishing a physical love
LOVE MECHANISMS 333
relationship, the captivation stimulus actually evokes changes
in the male's body desighed to enable the woman's body to
capture it physically, as we have already noted.
Love Union of Sexes
The woman's body by means of appropriate movements
and vaginal contractions, continues to captivate the male
body, which has altered its form precisely for that purpose.
Thus the responses of captivation and passion are cumula-
tively enhanced up to the moment when the sexual orgasm
occurs in one or the other subject. It seems possible from
the nature of the structures involved that the female orgasm
should be allowed to occur first. The greatly intensified
contractions of the vagina, during this occurrence, coupled
with greatly increased muscular pressure exerted upon the
male by the female seem designed to call forth a culmination
of passion from the male. It is quite certain that the female
orgasm is likely never to occur at all, if the male orgasm
is permitted to occur first. A large number of married women
report that they never have experienced an orgasm since
marriage for this very reason.
When the seemingly normal sequence of responses is
followed, the male experiences a brief period of active love, or
captivation emotion, immediately following the culmination,
and consequent cessation of the woman's captivation response.
At thL moment, as we have already noted, the excitement
from incidental stimulation of the clitoris is likely to be the
prevailing stimulus within the woman's body, changing
her own emotional response momentarily at least, from
captivation to passion. This passion emotion like the male's
culminating captivation response with which it coincides,
is not to be considered as part of the initial love response
sequence, but rather represents the beginning of a new creation
response series, having for its purpose the creation and
nourishment of a child to come.
Need For Training of Male in Coitus Reservatus
The sequence of love responses suggested as most nearly
normal are by no means most frequent of occurrence in
ordinary inter-sex love relationships. Up to the point of
physical contact between woman and male, the behaviour
just described is fairly typical, especially in tjiose in3tance
334 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
where the woman has received previous captivation response
training, such as that given dancers 1 and chorus girls in their
preparation for passion-stimulating stage spectacles. After
bodily relationship is established, however, the outstanding
feature of male response is apt to be an attempt to assume
the role of captivatress as expeditiously as possible. Physi-
cally, this takes the form of usurping the woman's role of
love aggressor as much as possible and hastening the act
to its conclusion by what amounts to masturbation ; that
is, using the woman's vagina, instead of the hand as a stimu-
lating surface against which to move the penis. The average
male's notion of physical love relationship seems to be to
obtain a sexual orgasm as quickly as possible. The result
of this behaviour is well known. The male orgasm occurs
long before the woman has received sufficient vaginal stimu-
lation to bring her captivation response to its climax. The
woman, therefore, is deprived of a major proportion of her
love experience, and of its final culmination. The male
who thus prematurely terminates his own passion as well as
the woman's captivation behaviour effectively limits and
in time destroys altogether his enjoyment of bodily passion.
Such writers as Havelock Ellis, and H. W. Long, M.D.,
recognize the necessity for coitus reservatus on the part of
the male. " The orgasm ", says Long, " is not the desidera-
tum in this case." 1 Ellis gives a brief history of communities
in which the males have been trained, by women, to practice
coitus reservatus, with no deleterious physical results, and
with great enhancement of pleasantness for both women and
males.* It is a well recognized fact 8 that the consummation
of the woman's physical captivation emotion by means of an
internal orgasm requires a much longer period than is neces-
sary to produce the male orgasm, where the male permits
himself unrestrained physical movement with consequent
self stimulation.
In order to adjust the time sequence of captivation and
passion responses, as well as to secure maximal pleasantness
and completeness of emotion throughout the physical love
relationship, it is obvious that the passion response must be
controlled by the captivating stimulus at all times. In other
1 H. W. Long, Sane Sex Life and Sane Sex Living, Boston, 1910, p. 129.
8 Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex t Philadelphia,
vol. VI, p. 552 ff.
* H, W, Long, ibid, p. 70.
LOVE MECHANISMS 335
words, the male after learning coitus reservatus, must place
himself completely undet the control of the woman during
physical love relationship, just as he had done, perforce,
during courtship when only passion response would suffice
to bring about the longed for love relationship w^th the woman
who has captivated him.
Dr. Long advises the male to lie beneath the woman, instead
of in the more common position expressive of male dominance.
He says : " It is now the woman and not the man who has full
control of such meeting, and so can regulate it to her liking
and needs." 1 Long further emphasizes the fact that the
greatest mistake of all marital life is the supposition, " by
both an uninitiated husband and an innocent wife, that all
the motion should originate with the husband, while the
woman should lie still and let him do it all "." After further
pointing out the awkwardness and unnaturalness of the
physical position with the male superior, Long maintains
that it is the woman and not the male who should initiate
all the movements of both parties to the relationship. The
male's movements should only occur as responses to the
woman's, and when permitted by her. In this admirable
advice, the doctor recognizes the necessity for the woman's
captivation response to prevail throughout the relationship.
Margaret Sanger, who has had practical opportunity to
study a very large number of cases of inter-sex love relation-
ships i*i the course of her work on Birth Control, writes :
" Here is the crux of the marital problem. For centuries
women have been taught by custom and prejudice, especially
in countries in which the Puritanic tradition dominates, that
hers should be a passive, dutiful role to submit but not to
participate. Likewise men have been schooled by tradition
to seek mere selfish gratification. This lack of constructive
experience is responsible for the thousands of unhappy mar-
riages and the tragic, wasted lives of many wives, cheated by
thoughtlessness and ignorance of their legitimate right to
marital joy.
" Much would be accomplished if women were taught to be
active and men to check the tumultuous expression of their
passion." 3
1 H. W. Long, Sane Sex Life and Sane Sex Living, Boston, 1919, p. 107.
*H.W. Long, tbid.p. 81.
8 Margaret Sanger, Happiness in Marriage, New York, 1926, pp.
139-140.
336 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
Dominance Controlling Love Thwarts Both Love and Appetite
It is undoubtedly a product of the chronic male control of
love by dominance that has led to the curious method of phy-
sical love relations between women and males prevalent in
Western civilization. In the Orient, where love is practised
as an art the necessity of woman's complete control of
physical love behaviour is recognized freely, no matter whether
the woman be wife or slave girl. We find numerous evidences
in such literature as the Arabian Nights, that Oriental poten-
tates, while indulging in love, are sufficiently intelligent to
surrender their bodies completely over to the ministration
and control of their captivatresses.
The influence of dominant suppressions and appetitive
perversions of natural love behaviour have had a profound
and devastating effect upon Western civilization, so far as
the development of subtler emotional and " spiritual " values
are concerned. The reason that Main Street lacks aesthetic
value is primarily the fact that Main Streeters of both sexes
turn their love as completely into appetite as possible. They
tend to regard it as " wicked ", and " immoral " for women
to devote their time and attention deliberately to the learning
of captivation emotion, while males, thus deprived of passion
at home, seek it elsewhere.
With the appetitive supremacy which an average man gains
at marriage, it is expected that the woman's previous captiva-
tion attitude toward the male will suddenly conform to the
appetitive situation, and will convert itself into passion. The
male, on the other hand, tries to regard himself as the captiva-
tress from the moment he obtains unhampered physical
access to contact with the woman's body. But the natural
emotional roles for which the two bodies are fitted by reason
of sex differences of structure, cannot be reversed in this high-
handed fashion. The result of attempting to reverse them
is simply a cessation of physical love. At best, there may be
a partial substitution of mutual enjoyment of appetitive
satisfactions, in the way of home comforts, property and social
activities. At worst (and this is more usual] there ensue,
quarrels ove,r money and appetitive amusejnents,
LOVE MECHANISMS 337
Judge Lindsey reported 1 many cases observed by himself,
personally, in which a woman and man lived together in
completely pleasant love relationship, until the marriage
ceremony was performed. Thereafter, appetite replaced love
until a divorce was sought. In one case reported, the couple
resumed their previously happy love relationship, under the
belief that a divorce had been granted, although, as a matter
of fact, Judge Lindsey had not signed the papers. Upon
learning this fact, both the woman and the man begged the
Judge to sign their decree, so that they would not have to
separate again ! In such cases, it seems very clear that the
male could not continue to feel himself wholly captive to the
woman in their love relations when he had, as a matter of fact,
assumed supreme control of the partnership by supplying all
the money. While the woman, also, was working, and was
paying her part of the expenses, it was borne in upon the man's
consciousness continually that his relationship with the girl
was by her suffrance only. She could terminate their relation-
ship at an}' time she chose, and would undoubtedly do so if
the male ceased to submit to her love captivation responses.
This seems to be the plain, emotional fac^in the matter, how-
ever much dominant resistance the majority of males may feel
to acknowledging that their bodies are devised for passion
response, while women's bodies are designed for the capture
of males and not for submission to them.
*
Woman's Passion
A further problem presents itself in connection with women's
expression of passion emotion in relationship with other women.
I am free to confess that when I undertook to study this type
of love relationship, I had not the slightest idea of its import-
ance in the emotional life of women, nor of the prevalence of
such relationships among women whose love conduct happened
to be relatively uninhibited, due either to previous experience,
or captivation and passion relationships between upper class
college girls and freshmen, where no genital organ stimulation
occurred. I was aware from personal observation that young
women living together in a home might evoke from one another
extremely pleasant and pervasive love responses, of both
1 Judge Ben B. Lindsey and W. Evans, The Compamonate Marna^c,
New York, 1927.
338 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
types, without bodily contact or genital excitement. Upon
investigating, with the invaluable cid of my collaborators,
the love relationships between girls and women outside the
influence of college authorities and home life, however, I found
that nearly half of the female love relationships concerning
which significant data could be obtained, were accompanied
by bodily love stimulation.
Among cases of women dancers studied, physical love
relationships with other women seem to be the rule rather
than the exception. In several cases, well-adapted love
relationships with husband and children were not felt to be
sufficient, without supplementary love affairs with other
women. The husband, in one case (an actor) reported that
his own physical love contacts with his wife were more enjoy-
able after passion responses had been evoked from her by
another girl. In this case, also, love relationships between
the mother and her two children seemed to be enhanced rather
than diminished at such times, so far as one could observe.
Girls and women who indulge in this form of love expression
appear to feel no abnormality or unnaturalness about it, and,
in fact, frequently are not restrained from free physical love
contact with the woman lover even by the presence of other
people. A male psychologist once reported to me a case of
two girl lovers, who had been separated from one another
for some weeks by the college authorities. These girls per-
formed the love act unhesitatingly in his presence, manifesting
intense passion and captivation emotion respectively. Accord-
ing to this report, the girls regarded their love relationship as
something peculiarly sacred, and though they were both
reported as forming love relationships with males shortly
after this occurrence, these relationships with men did not
appear to detract in any way from their love for one
another.
Verified instances of the same type have come to my atten-
tion in connection with love affairs of Parisienne dancers with
both males and other girls. In one instance a girl begged her
male lover to be allowed to perform a physical love act with
another girl at the conclusion of her relationship with him,
and in his presence. Recently an extremely able and emi-
nently practical business-man told me with complete tolerance
and lack of surprise, that two girl employees had been seen
enjoying physical love relationship with one another, in a
LOVE MECHANISMS 339
public portion of the office building, where the act was almost
certain to be witnessed b^ other women workers. In reporting
the general trend of female love relationships of this type, I
have selected merely those cases illustrating the apparent
supremacy of passion over other influences w^ich might be
thought to have had the strongest inhibitory effect upon the
physical love relationship between one girl and another. So
long as a woman possesses two distinct love mechanisms,
both stimulable from the environment by stimulus persons
of different types, it seems highly probable that she will con-
tinue to enjoy both types of love relationship whenever pos-
sible, despite attempted social prohibition of one or both
varieties of love behaviour.
With regard to the possibly deleterious effect upon women's
physical health of this type of love relationship with other
women, I have been unable to verify a male medical opinion,
given me at the beginning of my investigation, that such love
affairs between girls were always injurious to their physical
health. Some deleterious results appeared, however, in cases
where the women who were carrying on the physical relation-
ships in question were members of a segregated group in a
penal institution. In this group of female prisoners studied,
some twenty women or more, out of the total prison popula-
tion (both white and negroes) of ninety-seven, were known
to be carrying on love affairs with other women. Two of
these women had shown loss of weight and general physical
deterioration, as a result, seemingly, of the excessive amount
of passion response repeatedly evoked by their female lovers,
under circumstances preventing the women thus expressing
passion from obtaining any counterbalance of love captivation
excitement from relationships with males. In the other cases,
the prison matrons and physician could determine no symp-
toms of physical deterioration traceable in any way to a love
relationship. In several instances, on the other hand, the
emotional attitude of both women lovers toward prison
discipline and compulsory work, was shown to have improved
after the beginning of the love affair. Other cases of captiva-
tion-passion relationships between girls which have been
reported to me, where medical examinations were available,
the cases being, of course, outside segretegad or institutional
groups, seem to indicate that no emotional or physical results
of a deleterious nature could be detected.
340 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
Love (plaS + alpS) Has Characteristic Complex Emotional
Quality
During our discussion of appetite emotion, we observed
that the simultaneous mingling or compounding of the already
compound enlotions desire and satisfaction, produces an
entirely new emotional quality, clearly recognized during smell
and taste of food while hungry, and termed appetite emotion.
In the same way, we may now note that the successive blending
of passion and captivation, with captivation gradually replacing
passion, produces a new and more complex emotion, love.
We have already noted, in the study of male genital
mechanisms, how passive inducement changes to active
inducement, and active submission to passive submission
at the beginning of the orgasm. Although this shift from
passive to active love appears suddenly, in male behaviour,
its onset must be gradual, beginning almost at the beginning
of sexual union. In female love behaviour, seeking physical
relationship with a male, the change from passive to active
love occurs, probably, when the woman first finds a male who
responds to her active inducement, following the cyclic period
of intra-organic passion stimulation, or perhaps the change
occurs near the close of the period itself. Throughout inter-
sex love relationship, there seems normally to be some blending
of passion and captivation just as throughout the total appeti-
tive behaviour pattern, there appears a blending of desire and
satisfaction. Just as desire must yield gradually to satis-
faction and must remain in complete adaptation to satis-
faction, throughout appetite, so, in love, passion must be
adapted to captivation throughout, and must, at some point,
yield to it.
The conscious characteristic of this successive blending
between passive and active love is uumistakable to anyone
who has once experienced it, and seems to be identical in men
and women. It is exquisitely pleasant, subtle, and delicate,
yet, at its height, love is ecstatically intense and pervasive,
completely blotting out all other emotions from consciousness
for the time being. In love between the sexes, with mutual
genital stimulation, the love phases of captivation on the part
of the woman, and passion on the part of the male, may remain
quite unblended, if conditions are maximally favourable,
during a major portion of the entire relationship, the full love
blend appearing only near the climax of both responses.
LOVE MECHANISMS 341
Genital Mechanisms are Teachers of Love
It must be remembered, however, that genital organ stimu-
lation, spontaneously initiated in inter-sex behaviour by the
automatic menstrual love stimulation cycle of the woman,
does not represent the sole source of love. The cases con-
sidered in a preceding chapter brought out the fact that all
aspects of love actually were evoked from members of both
sexes by stimulus persons who did not contact or stimulate
the genital organs in any way. Just as the stomach mechan-
isms connected with hunger pangs are to be regarded as a
natural teacher of appetite emotion, and as a possible model
for its further constructive development, so genital organ
stimulation, automatically initiated by the female cycle, is to
be regarded as a natural teacher and model for love responses.
The integrative relationships, however, constituting capti-
vation and passion emotions are capable of being evoked by
divers stimulus situations throughout life. During many of
these love responses, when no genital stimulation whatever is
occurring, a person of either sex, if properly trained in love
behaviour, may frequently experience that simultaneous
compounding of passion and captivation which constitutes
the peculiar and unmistakable quality of pure love emotion.
CHAPTER XVI
CREATION
APPETITE and love emotions are relatively independent in
the emotional organization of some subjects. But, with a
majority of individuals, appetite and love appear to manifest
an intricate, and often inextricably confused relationship, in
the total behaviour pattern. Human beings are, of course,
extremely Complex organisms. It is useless to attempt, in a
preliminary analysis such as this book represents, anything
like a systematic presentation of the extended series of appe-
tite-love relationships which appear in the clinical cases
studied. It seems best, therefore, to emphasize the normal
and efficient pattern of creation responses, combining love
and appetite, which appear to be enforced upon human beings
and animals in the course of reproduction. For just as the
hunger mechanisms automatically evoke the natural integra-
tive combination of desire and satisfaction into appetite
emotion, and as the menstrual function automatically evokes
the maximally efficient integrative combinations of passion
and captivation responses into love emotion, so, in thr same
way, do the reproductive mechanisms automatically evoke a
natural integrative combination of love and appetite into an
emotional behaviour pattern which may aptly be termed
" creation ".
Types of Physiological Relationships Between Mother and Child
During Pregnancy
We have noted that at the termination of physical love
relationship between woman and man, the male completes
his series of love responses with a brief expression of active
love, while the woman simultaneously begins a new series of
love responses on her own part, by a corresponding passive
love reaction. It would seem that this passive love reaction
on the woman's part, consisting, it will be remembered, of
the period immediately following an internal type of orgasm,
is biologically designed to accompany reception of spermatazoa
342
CREATION 343
within the vagina, the uterus eventually receiving the male
germ cells without resistance. When a spermatazoon en-
counters the ovum, however, a process that might be described
as physiological captivation of the male cell by the ovum
immediately occurs. In other words, there is a mutual
physiological attraction between these two cells, the ovum
eventually drawing the spermatazoon into itself, and com-
pletely surrounding it. Thereafter, in the continued alliance
between the two cells, the volume of the ovum predominates
throughout, though it might be held that the energy of the
male element precipitates the ordered series of cell divisions,
shortly resulting in the appearance of the embryo.
It is the mother's responses, however, that we are primarily
concerned with, rather than with the genetic origirf and history
of the infant.
As soon as the fertilized ovum, with its protective tissues
and membranes begins its process of further development
within the uterus, nutritional connections are made with the
blood stream of the mother, and a definite type of relationship
is set up between mother and the embryo. In this relation-
ship, throughout the nine month period preceding birth, the
embryo and fetus may be regarded as submitting to the
mother, by dominating the nutritional substances furnished
by the maternal organism for embryonic growth and develop-
ment. This nutritional supply is placed in contact with
appropriate absorptive tissues of the fetus, which must acquire
or dominate these substances so long as it remains responsive
to control by the mother's body. The mother organism, on
the other hand, complies actively with the food materials taken
into it through the stomach, for the purpose of inducing the
fetus to grow and mature. The mother's body must comply
with food from the environment and not only is the usual
measure of compliance necessary to furnish materials for her
own organism, but also she must comply in new ways, appro-
priate to the manufacture of materials necessary to the
development of the new organism within her own.
This, then, is the first physiological set of relationships
established between mother and child. The mother complies
actively with food from the environment in order to induce the
fetus to grow. The infant organism dominates the materials
furnished by drawing these materials into its own body in order
to submit to the mother's inducement.
344 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
A second set of physiological relationships seems also to be
present. The mother submits passively to the presence of
the other organism within her own, by passively dominating
all environmental influences which might tend to injure or
attack the unborn child. Passive dominance, in short, on the
part of the mo'ther, consists in protecting the infant organism
from environmental opponents. This passive dominance is
simply a means or method of carrying out the response of
passive submission to which her body is impelled by its inability
to function in a way divergent from the need of the smaller
organism, so long as the latter is held incorporated within
the mother's body. Similarly, the infant, in order passively
to induce this protection from the mother, must passively
comply with the physical limitations of the protective tissues
and other materials placed around it. If the fetus, for instance,
at a late stage in its growth, should move in such a way that
the umbilical cord became twisted or a rupture in any tissue
occurred, sustenance might fail the fetus, or protection might
no longer be obtained from various inimical influences, pro-
bably resulting in ultimate destruction of the fetus. In
simplest terms, then, the unborn infant passively complies with
the restrictive tissues with which it is surrounded, for the purpose
of passively inducing the maternal organism to permit continued
presence of the infant within the mother. The mother protects
the unborn babe by passively dominating its antagonists for the
purpose of continuing passively to submit to the needs ^rf the
infant.
Active Creation (pAaL) Defined in Terms of Physiological
Relationships
When we put these two sets of physiological relationships
together, we find the following completed behaviour pattern.
The mother is passively submitting and actively inducing,
simultaneously. We have already seen that this particular
compounding of responses constitutes active love or captivation
response. Furthermore, the mother simultaneously is actively
complying and passively dominating. This combination of
responses as we have seen, constitutes passive appetite, or
satisfaction response. Since the appetitive satisfaction
attained, however, is not for the mother's own desire but for
the desires of the infant, a new character of emotion is pro-
duced. This new type of response, then, consists of passive
CREATION 345
appetite compounded with and adapted to active love (pAdL).
This new response compound may be termed active creation.
Passive Creation (aApL) Similarly Defined
The infant organism reacts simultaneously with passive
compliance and active dominance responses. This constitutes
active appetite or desire. At the same time, however, the
unborn infant is reacting with passive inducement and active
submission simultaneously. This compound response has
been shown to constitute passive love or passion. Yet in this
case, where appetitive desire is felt only for the sake of con-
summating passive love, we must again postulate a new type
of compound emotion. This compound response, which
consists of active appetite compounded with and adapted to passive
love may be termed passive creation (aApL).
As previously emphasized, the reactions analysed in the
preceding paragraphs are physiological, a major portion of
the adjustments of the maternal body, and practically all
adaptations of embryonic and fetal growth to maternal
stimuli, being mediated through the blood, which carries
appropriate hormones. Nevertheless, there must be a con-
siderable volume of inter-uterine stimulation adequate to
motor discharge back again to the internal genitals, with
changes, also, in appetitive stimulations. Tbe resulting
integrative picture possibly approximates pAaL, though the
integrations evidently occur, for the most part, at sub-cortical
levels, giving little introspectively discernable love emotion,
and certainly no new creation emotion consciousness which
the subject herself is able to observe and report upon.
Active Creation of Mother After Birth of Child
Immediately after birth, however, the situation is changed.
The infant, normally, is now nourished at the mother's breast.
The mother, therefore, receives stimulation of the nipples
from the child's mouth, and some manipulation of the breast
itself by the child's hands. Watson, and others, have observed
that the resulting experience to the mother is of an erotic
variety. That is, in our own terms, a captivation reaction
seems to appear, evoked by breast stimulation, plus the other
stimulations of holding the child against the body, and per-
ception of the child's behaviour indicating need of nourish-
ment with subsequent satisfaction of the need by means of
346 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
milk supplied by the mother. There is considerable evidence
that the breasts of the mother are intimately connected with
the internal genital organs, since the breasts are particularly
sensitive, and occasionally painful just before and during
menstrual periods. It seems a good guess, therefore, that the
motor discharge, following stimulation of the breasts by the
child's lips, finds its way to the internal genitals. It will be
remembered that this type of motor discharge is to be regarded
as evidence that the motor stimuli evoked are in submission
to the motor self, and constitutes, therefore, an active
inducement reaction. The child, in other words, is being
controlled and held in alliance with the mother through
stimulation of its lips with her breast. Perception of the
child's need of nourishment evokes from the mother a passive
submission response which consists of giving up all other
activity which might conflict with feeding the child. The
simultaneous compounding of these two responses evokes
in the mother's central nervous system an integrative pattern
of true captivation response. Observations of the general
emotional expression of mothers during the nursing of their
infants, as well as their verbal reports of introspection indicate
that an extremely pleasant type of captivation emotion,
qualitatively distinct, can frequently be introspected by the
mother herself.
At the same time there are two other groups of stimuli which
the mother is reacting to by obvious motor responses. First,
there are the stimuli arising from the child's weight, size, etc.,
which must be supported and placed in position by the mother
in order to bring the child to a comfortable posture for feeding.
Later in life, when the dominance of the child has developed
to the point where it can sit at table and feed itself, the com-
pliance response of the mother will be directed toward the food
materials, instead of toward holding the child himself in posi-
tion to eat. In both cases, however, the essential nature of
the reaction seems to be the same. The mother is complying
with certain objects or materials which, when complied with t are
capable of satisfying the child's need (pD). Whether the mother
holds the baby up to her breast, therefore, or whether she later
cooks and prepares food materials for the child, she is per-
forming an act of active compliance for the purpose of satis-
fying the inner need of the infant organism. This need,
Hunger, is evidenced in the child's behaviour in various ways
CREATION 347
such as crying, making restless movements or making facial
grimaces indicating th$ unpleasantness it is experiencing.
These stimuli inform the mother of the child's need. That is,
they inform her of the hunger stimuli which are dominating
the infant organism and causing unpleasantness in the baby's
consciousness. By means of the compliance wftich the mother
expresses toward the child's weight in holding it against her
breast, or preparing nourishment in a form which the child
can easily dominate, the mother passively dominates the infant
hunger pangs.
Thus she simultaneously experiences active compliance
with the means of satisfying the pangs and passive dominance
toward the hunger pangs themselves in the process of removing
them. This combination of active compliance 9 and active
dominance constitutes the compound emotion which we have
designated as passive appetite or satisfaction. Mothers, while
nursing or feeding their children frequently report a feeling
of " intense gratification ", or great satisfaction in being able
to provide satisfactorily for the child's need, and in observing
in the child's behaviour, the cessation of unpleasantness which
it previously had manifested.
Conscious Characteristics of Active Creation Emotion
The mother, therefore, while compelling the child to eat
for its own good, and preparing both child and food in such
a w^ff that the child's hunger is removed, experiences simul-
taneously active love and passive appetite. This complex
emotion we have already designated active creation. Active
creation emotion appears to possess a distinct type of con-
sciousness, which can easily be distinguished, and is freely
reported upon because it is considered socially admirable in
every way. It is sometimes described as " taking vicarious
pleasure in doing something for another person ", or as " grati-
fication in having made him do what was good for him ".
In the first of these characterizations of active creation, the
emphasis appears to be in the satisfaction, or passive appetite
emotion. In the last instance, the emphasis seems just as
clearly to be placed upon captivation emotion. A considerable
list of popular terms and introspections in the subject's own
words might be given, describing active creation emotion.
All these terms and introspections will be found to include,
to some degree, both captivation and satisfaction ; and all
348 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
might be divided, roughly, into one of two classes according
to the emphasis placed upon the active love element, or upon
the passive appetite element.
Sex Differences in Active Creation Response
Active creati&n is an emotion, apparently, which " generous "
men experience rather frequently, in bringing toys to their
children, buying clothes for their wives and daughters, or
bringing presents to their sweethearts. Active creation seems
to be the preponderant emotional response. There appears
to be, however, a more or less marked difference between
active creation reported by mothers of comparatively young
children, and active creation as experienced by adult males.
The male experience of active creation contains, as a rule,
a somewhat more passive love element than true captivation.
Mothers whose behaviour I have observed, appeared to derive
fully as much pleasure from expression of captivation emotion
toward their daughters, especially, as from the satisfaction
which they were enabled to give their children.
Males are apt to accept the wish, or demand of a woman
or child at its face value, bringing to the loved one the particu-
lar thing demanded. Thus when the gift is presented, the
chief joy of the giver lies, perhaps, in very extensive satisfac-
tion in the cost, or special virtue of the article presented.
This emotion is frequently described as a feeling of " pride "
in being able to " give my girl the best there is ". The- love
emotion element is more markedly submissive than inductive.
It would frequently spoil the pleasure of the generous male
altogether, if he felt he had persuaded the recipient of the
gift to accept a different sort of thing from that which she
originally desired, even though the change in choice might
obviously suit her much more effectively. Thus the male
reaction which comes nearest to being active creation is likely
to exhibit a submissive element which is much more active
than passive. The satisfaction increment, however, is apt
to be so strong in this male emotion, that the love response
portion does not clearly assume the aspect of passion emotion.
A mother, on the other hand, very frequently loses a con-
siderable degree of her own pleasure in buying her daughter
a dress if the daughter succeeds in selecting the frock spon-
taneously, without the mother's direction. If the youngster
has heart set on a blue frock, however, and the mother, fully
CREATION 349
confident that she is best able to judge what colours are
becoming to the child, persuades the girl to accept a green
costume, the mother appears to experience keen delight in
having induced the daughter to take (dominate) the green
dress as an expression of active submission to the mother.
Occasionally a male of peculiarly acute perceptions in
matters feminine uses this ability to re-educate a girl's taste
in clothes, literature, and other esthetic matters. During
this process, such a male may actually experience a very vivid
and clear-cut type of active creation emotion. Since the
subject is a male, his total response is still apt to contain
more active submission than does the creation emotion of the
average mother. For this very reason, such a rarely gifted
male is likely to select the most appropriate ave'nues of ex-
pression for the girl's development, free from his own personal
prejudices ; whereas the mother, with a minimum of passive
submission, may frequently substitute her own dominance
for true love inducement, actually pleasing herself rather
than looking out for the daughter's interests. In the main,
however, males who undertake the development or education
of daughters or sweethearts are either over-submissive, or
selfishly dominant. In an instance of the latter sort, a young
man attempted to compel the girl to whom he was engaged
to learn to play the violin, simply because the boy himself was
absorbed in musical interests. The music teacher to whom
the girl was sent, after a few hectic attempts, refused to give
her further instruction. The girl " couldn't tell one note from
another ". Yet her fiance continued to insist that the girl's
one means of salvation lay in learning to become an accom-
plished musician.
Passive Creation (aApL) Evoked From Child
The emotional responses of the child, on receiving nourish-
ment and other appetitive benefits from the mother, have
still to be considered. As previously mentioned, psycho-
analysts have made much of the erotic emotion supposedly
derived by the infant from stimulation of its lips with the
nipple of the mother's breast. A number of writers who do
not espouse psycho-analytical theories agree that the so-called
" sensitive ", or " erogenous " zone is by no means limited
to the infant's genital organs, but also includes its lips and
other portions of the body.
350 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
judging by adult behaviour and experiences, the lips do
actually contain receptor organs for stimuli ultimately evoking
all four types of primary emotional response. Certain types
of nourishment, notably liquids, are partially dominated with
the lips. Temperature, touch, and possibly taste stimulations
of the lips may initiate reflexes tending toward increased
salivary secretions, and abolishing of hunger pangs ; that is,
active compliance response to food. Tickling or kissing the
lips may give rise, in both male and female, to erection of the
external genital organs, which we have interpreted as an
active submission response. Finally, use of the lips by a
woman to arouse passion in a lover, may very possibly result
in motor discharge to the woman's internal genital organs,
which has Been construed as an active inducement response.
Which of these four types of primary emotional responses
occur in an infant while nursing at the mother's breast is
problematical, to say the least. I have heard of alleged
observations of erection, in male children, which occurred,
it was said, during stimulation of the child's lips by the nipple
of the mother's breast. But it seems to me that some allow-
ance must be made for the extraordinary enthusiasm of
persons psycho-analytically inclined, regarding the matter of
bringing to light love (" sex ") responses hidden to other eyes.
I can only say that I have never succeeded in verifying the
reports cited. In the absence of such finding, it seems im-
possible to assume with any confidence, that active submlosion
response of this particular variety is elicited from the child
by lip stimulation at the breast.
There are some other evidences of active submission, how-
ever, such as cuddling responses, and various vocal sounds,
which may very possibly indicate some sort of submissive
attitude toward the mother It is also true that the child
is taught to respond by suckling at the breast with its lips,
even though no hunger pangs may be motivating him at that
particular moment. This probably represents a certain more
or less mechanical type of submission integration in the child's
nervous system. We may guess, as a result of these secondary
behaviour symptoms, that there is some submission response
concerned with the act of suckling at the mother's breast.
Dominance response would seem more definite and easily
observable, however, during this infant reaction. When the
infant's lips are first taught to react, as is frequently necessary,
CREATION 351
by pressing a finger against them until they begin to contract,
the tonic reinforcement Q lips and jaw musculature can easily
be detected. It would seem evident that the child is reacting
to an opposition stimulus, pressed antagonistically, though
with comparative gentleness, into its mouth, by increasing
its motor self to dominate the stimulus in a mamler appropriate
to the portion of the body stimulated, that is to say, the
mouth. When milk has actually been drawn into the mouth
by this dominance reaction, there ensue certain gulping and
voluntary swallowing reactions which are clearly of a dominant
nature. It would seem probable, therefore, that the infant
organism experiences a rather emphatic variety of dominance
reaction in taking the food from the proffered breast, simultane-
ously with a simpler and less marked degree of' submission
response toward the mother.
The passive compliance with hunger pangs, occurring prior
to and during the act of nursing, needs no especial comment,
since presumably this passive compliance response closely
resembles that of an adult who is forced to give up all other
business during his quest for food. Passive inducement
expressed toward the mother by the infant's holding up its
lips to be stimulated with food, and by its various behaviour
expressions of helpless solicitation of whatever the mother
may choose to give it, like the active submission element
involved in taking the breast between the lips, seems somewhat
problematical so far as the infant is concerned. The variety
of inducement by which a healthy child does actually attract
the mother's attention is crying and screaming.
Appetitive Elements Predominate in Child's Responses
to Mother
These types of behaviour, no doubt, represent dominance
responses on the child's part. It would seem, therefore,
that both the love elements requisite to distinct passion emotion
are of such minimal occurrence in the infant consciousness,
as to merit little weight in comparison to the appetitive elements
composing active desire for food. Moreover, passive appetite
also gives every evidence of controlling the infant's total
consciousness, after the swallowing of milk begins to abolish
his hunger pangs. If facial expressions and general relaxa-
tion of body tension give any indication of what is going on
within the infant organism, a great deal of satisfaction emotion
352 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
is felt by the infant as his hunger pangs are quelled. It
would seem that this appetitive satisfaction has little, if
any, connection with emotional responses toward the mother.
A common sense view of the matter, therefore, based upon
the infant's behaviour without, of course, any available
infantile introspection, would suppose that the infant while
feeding is chiefly concerned with appetite emotion, experienc-
ing, perhaps, a slight admixture of passion response toward
the mother.
As the child grows older, and its dominance behaviour
becomes more varied as well as more active, a type of situation
begins to arise, much more frequently, in which the child
experiences desire for some plaything or sweetmeat which it is
impossible to obtain without the mother's consent and co-
operation. Moreover, when the toy or other object is attained,
the child begins to dominate it actively, thus continuing to
express desire response rather than relaxing into such placid
satisfaction emotion as that manifested by the feeding infant.
Although it is the average adult's chronic point of view
that appetitive desire is the primary need of human behaviour,
with love and submission used largely as a means to obtain
the object of desire, it seems to me still an open question as to
whether the child learns submission to the mother through
desire for objects which the mother alone can give, or whether
the normal child develops submission response as an intrinsically
pleasant method of behaviour scuffiiently powerful to cutk and
control dominant desire. So many mothers employ the method
of teaching the child obedience by bestowing appetitive
rewards for obedient conduct that it seems to me quite likely
this use of obedience or submission to serve desire has its
origin in the method of training rather than in the natural
unfoldment of the child's own responses. Certain it is that
submission, once learned as an appetitive technique, is not
worth very much to the mother, even as a method for tem-
porarily keeping the child quiet and out of the parent's way.
The child who learns submission for its own sake does not
continually return to the parent to inquire whether or not
the submission period has been long enough to merit the
promised reward.
Moreover, from the child's own point of view, the child who
learns to enjoy submission for its own sake attains a double
pleasantness in receiving an object of desire given it by ife
CREATION 353
mother. I have observed a number of cases of the relationship
between child and motlier which give considerable evidence
that a passion response is evoked from the child by the mother,
with desire emotion very clearly subsidiary to and frequently
compounded with the passion response. The very common type
ef child response which consists of begging the mother to be
allowed to help her in household tasks, or to go out into the
garden and pick her favourite fruit or berries, and bring them
in to her, appears to represent the normal blending of passion
response and desire emotion, with passion for the mother
distinctly in control of the reaction. Were desire the pre-
dominating element, the child might beg to paint the house,
or to pick his own favourite kind of fruit, permitting the
mother to share these objects of desire as a mere incident to
the total response. This type of reaction is frequently seen
in the behaviour of adolescent boys whose appetite develop-
ment has begun definitely to predominate over their love
response. But in normal children of both sexes prior to
adolescence, it would appear that desire to obtain an appetitive
object as an expression of passion emotion for the mother com-
prises the normal attitude on the child's part toward the parent.
This simultaneous compounding of desire emotion and passion
response, with desire adapted to passion may be termed
passive creation emotion. (aApL).
+?.f others Evoke Passive Creation From Daughters
Girls, during the adolescent period, frequently develop an
exaggerated passive creation emotion for their mothers. This
attitude on the part of the girl appears to give a mother whose
attention is not predominantly occupied with other pursuits,
the most concentratedly pleasant experience of her entire
life. Full play is given to the older woman's preponderant
captivation response, and if the family means are sufficient,
the mother also obtains enormous satisfaction in dressing the
child prettily, and training her in the technique of social
conduct (the female's appetitive battle ground). In fact,
the active creation which the mother is able to express toward
her exaggeratedly passionate daughter, during this period,
frequently yields such consummate pleasure to the mother
that she is unwilling to relinquish this relationship with the
girl at a subsequent period, when it is necessary for the girl
to begin to live her own life free from the mother's control.
3A
35 1 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
The habits of emotional bondage which the girl may have
formed during her phase of concentrated passive creation
emotion are likely to persist throughout a major portion of
the daughter's life if they are not boldly broken by the girl
herself upon the completion of adolescence.
I have had two cases, in clinic, of college girls who were
still under this type of maternal constraint, with very great
detriment to the girls in question. In one instance, the mother
undoubtedly realized that her period of maximally efficient
active creation emotion toward the girl was over, yet clung
to her control over the daughter as a frankly selfish pleasure
to herself.
In the other case, the mother seemed not to realize that
she had passed the limit of her own ability to actively create
further development in her child. When induced squarely
to face this fact, the mother's creative attitude did not pass
over into appetite, but compelled her to release the daughter
from the emotional control no longer helpful to the girl's
mature development. This mother showed true love, and
by this very action renewed her love relationship with the
girl, the mother now assuming a more passive role, and the
girl a more active one.
The personnel officer of one of the largest corporations in
America, who has spent twenty-five years or more in making
a sympathetic, yet eminently clear-headed study of the
needs and personalities of employees ranging from $40,000
a year sales managers to unskilled girl clerks barely of legal
age, informed me, in personal conversation, that one of his
most pressing problems with respect to women employees is
this very relationship of complete emotional control exercised
by mothers over their daughters. In several instances,
women over fifty years of age are still heH rigidly confined
to the needs and commands of a querulous, and perhaps
thoroughly incompetent mother, who originally gained
control over her daughter through the extraordinarily intense
creation relationship consummated during the daughter's
adolescence. Such cases seem to present evidence of the
tremendous emotional strength of active creation response
on the mother's part, and of the strength of the original
passive creation emotion experienced by the daughter. These
cases serve, also, to point the danger of continuing this crea-
tion emotion relationship, after the mother has ceased to
CREATION 355
be able to further her Daughter's development or well being
in any way. From this point on, the relationship maintained
by habit and force of social custom and law inevitably develops
into appetitive dominance on the mother's part, and indifferent
or unpleasant compliance on the part of the daughter.
Artistic Creation Expresses Passive Creation Emotion
Perhaps the most important expression of passive creation
in adult life is that of artistic production. Observation of a
considerable number of artists, together with analysis of
their introspection and other verbal responses, has led me to
conclude that the popular term " passion for art " is an
apt description of the complex emotional response which
motivates artists who are capable of producing true art.
Too great an admixture of active creation emotion in male
artists, at least, seems usually to result in substitution of
dominance for inducement. " Freak " art, or perverted,
destructive art, of any sort, is inevitably produced in con-
sequence of this controlling dominance emotion. Perhaps
it is too sweeping a statement to say that all great works
of art have been produced as an expression of passion re-
sponse to some woman, real or imagined who has strongly
captivated the artist. But I can say that in all the cases
where I have had opportunity personally to observe and to
anajjjse male artists' emotional responses, I have been able
to establish beyond reasonable doubt that passion for a
woman or women (sometimes imaginary women) is the sine
qua non of artistic creation.
Varying degrees of dominance and compliance may appear
in the active appetite or desire which impels the artist to
gather his materials, and to dominate them successfully in
the form desired. Some indubitably great artists are ex-
tremely dominant, scorning any considerable amount of
compliance preparation for the work to be produced. The
results of such artists appear to be bold and strongly com-
pelling. Sarah Bernhardt, Cyril Scott, Leo Ornstein, and
other artists who have always insisted upon creating a new
vogue in their particular field of art rather than complying
with the concept of character portrayal or harmonics con-
ventionally espoused by their predecessors, probably ex-
emplify this strongly dominant type. At the other extreme
we find artists who possess an enormous amount of compliance
356 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
in the appetitive portion of their artistic response, producing
as a result very great delicacy and Subtlety of artistic crea-
tion. Such artists, also, are apt to comply with the current
technique and conventions in their own particular field of
art.
But whichever type of dominance-compliance emphasis
may obtain in the appetitive portion of the artist's emotion,
strong passion expressed toward the model or imagined
captivatress who is regarded, perhaps " subconsciously ",
as dictating an ideal pattern, would seem to control the entire
creation responses of all true artists from first to last. In
landscape painting, or lyric poetry, this passion for captivating
women, real or imagined, is less obvious than in sculptures
made from nude models, and poetry directly dedicated to the
feminine object of adoration. It is my suggestion, however,
that artistic portrayals of " nature " represent a certain
type of transfer of the passion response, from a human or
idealized woman to the beautiful or harmoniously powerful
aspects of inanimate objects and forces. The verbal responses
of artists of this type give considerable evidence of a sort
of animistic attitude toward " mother nature ", or " nature
the beautiful " which lead one to believe that the artists'
response toward nature is one of active submission rather
than an attitude of aesthetic compliance. In the case of
artists like Edgar Allen Poe, the controlling element of the
creative emotional pattern which enabled him to wnfe a
lyric poem of unsurpassed beauty such as " Bells ", seems
clearly revealed by this man's other poems, directly revealing
passion for beautiful women. In his " Philosophy of Com-
position ", Poe maintains that the beauty of women is
incomparable, the death of a beloved and beautiful woman
the supreme loss, " and the most poetical topic in the world ".
And this from a lyric poet 1 " With me ", says Poe, " poetry
has been not a purpose, but a passion "- 1
It seems a notable fact, also, that a large majority of creative
artists prior to the present age have been men. True passion,
as we have already noted, is the type of love response for
which the male organism is pre-eminently fitted. Any passive
creation is, therefore, the type of emotional creation response
which might be expected to predominate in the spontaneous
behaviour of male artists. We have also observed, however,
I Preface tq the Poe Collection of 1845, signed " E.A.P."
CREATION 357
that the human female organism possesses a double physiologi-
cal love endowment, capable of building up both active and
passive love emotion patterns. While a majority of women
might be expected, therefore, to devote themselves to captiva-
tion emotion, for which woman alone possesses an adequate
mechanism, the female passion response when^ and if devoted
to artistic creation might be expected to prove itself unusually
potent, and delicate in its form of expression. Such seems
to have been the result in the cases of those well known women
artists whose work is directly comparable with that of male
artists. One might mention, in this connection, the works of
Sappho, Le Brune, Laurence Hope, George Sand, Elizabeth
Barrett Browning, and Christina Rossetti. Woman's passion,
when expressed in artistic creation, frequently, appears to
contain a much larger proportion of pure passion element
than is the case with the majority of male artists. The writ-
ings of Sappho and Laurence Hope serve to illustrate this
point. In general, creative artists of both sexes seem motivated
by desire adapted to passion, or passive creation emotion.
Active Creation Motivates Physicians, Teachers, Clergymen
The most important expressions of active creation in adult
life would appear to be of the type represented by the pro-
fessions of the teacher, physician, and clergyman. The latter
is by far the most frank and thorough-going attempt to express
CQiajDined captivation emotion and passive appetite response.
The theorv of priesthood, in nearly all religions and civiliza-
tions, has consisted of active supervision by the priest over
the behaviour of the people with resultant duty on the priest's
part to supply spiritual or physical sustenance, or both, to
meet the needs of the persons submitting to him. This appears
to be the essence of active creation response. Under the
political theories of church and state which obtained in Europe
throughout the early middle ages, the head of the priesthood
exercised appetitive as well as love control over the conduct
of human kind. Though the appetitive control of the priest-
hood over the lay citizenry has been theoretically abolished,
there still remains a considerable amount of appetitive power
residuent in the supposed male love leaders of the people,
though this power must now be exercised through control of
social customs and conventions. It is not profitable to
attempt to discover to what degree it is possible for a male in
358 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
a position of leadership of this priestly type, to exercise a
true love captivation response over other males, and over
women who place themselves under his power and control.
In the case of male leaders in politics, and industry, as we
have already noted, the amount of true active love response
likely to be exorcised, spontaneously, toward employees or
underlings, is comparatively slight. Dominance and appetite
creep in and control the intended love response, despite the
best intentions of the male leader, for dominant appetitive
emotion "is the nature of the animal". Perhaps this is
otherwise in the case of male church leaders. I have not
ventured to make any personal investigation of their emotional
patterns of behaviour. In the case of male teachers and
physicians, bowever, the active creation results most helpful
to their students and patients are most often obtained when
the person submitting to instruction or medical treatment
chances to satisly the appetitive interests of the male teacher,
or doctor to a considerable degree. A maximum amount of
attention is apt to be paid to persons who can be taught or
healed without any unusually altruistic alteration of attitude
becoming necessary on the part of the male who is attempting
to play the r6le of active creation. I have personally analysed
many cases, however, in which a male teacher or physician
reacted to another's need with a creative response undoubtedly
controlled, in the main, by its love element, though this love
element could scarcely be called captivation emotion. Ajj,in
the cases before mentioned, where male lovers or parents gave
gifts to their loved ones, so in the love controlled behaviour
of men physicians and teachers, active submission to the
existing needs and desires of the stimulus person appear largely
to replace the active inducement to change the stimulus person's
desires or conduct, which is so characteristic of the love
behaviour of a mother toward her daughter, or of a woman
captivatress toward her lover. In the main, I have encoun-
tered no evidence which leads me to believe that any but the
most peculiarly gifted male is psycho-physiologically capable
of sustaining an attitude of true love captivation for any
length of time, toward persons of either sex.
Summary
Love and appetite are found combined, simultaneously,
in a complex emotional response, termed creation emotion.
CREATION 359
This emotion expresses itself in a mother's responses toward
the child to whom she gives birth, and for whose nourishment
and protection she later provides. The mother's response is
active creation, consisting of captivation emotion toward the
child, simultaneously compounded with satisfaction emotion
expressed toward the satisfaction of the child's needs. In
the child's responses toward the mother, during this same
relationship, the child's response is passive creation con-
sisting of passion response toward the mother simultaneously
compounded with active appetite toward the food, or other
appetitive benefit in the mother's possession.
During active creation each of the appetitive primary
emotional elements is adapted to and used for the consumma-
tion of a corresponding primary element of the love emotion.
In the mother's response of active creation she complies
actively with the food materials, in order to actively induce
the child to dominate the materials. The mother passively
dominates influences inimical to the child's welfare, in order
to passively submit to the child's needs rather than her own.
In the child's response of passive creation, the individual
reaction elements are arranged in the same way, each separate
appetitive element being adapted to and used for the con-
summation of a corresponding love element. The child
passively complies with its hunger pangs or other need by
giving up all other pleasurable occupations, in order passively
traduce the mother to give her attention to the child. The
child then obeys or actively submits to the mother, by domin-
ating whatever food she directs.
The natural physical relationship between mother and child
seems to furnish a training mechanism and pattern for the
type of integration compbsing creative emotion just as the
bodily mechanisms of hunger and menstruation furnish train-
ing mechanisms and patterns for appetite and love respectively.
Active creation emotion appears to reach a height of
extreme intensity and pleasantness in the normal love be-
haviour of a mother toward her adolescent daughter, while
passive creation may reach a similar degree of pleasantness
and extensity in the relationship of the daughter to the mother
at this period.
True artistic creation seems to represent one of the most
important expressions of passive creation during adult life.
The artist, whether male or female, being motivated by desire
360 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
to dominate his materials in such a way as to produce a work
of art consummating most perfectly his passion response to a
captivating woman, real or imagined.
Professions like that of the clergyman, the teacher, or the
physician, seem to represent important adult expressions of
active creative, emotion. Males who essay the career of
teacher or physician are seldom able because of their bodily
limitations and training, to maintain pure active love response,
with true captivation emotion toward their students or
patients. They are apt, on the one hand, to exchange induce-
ment for dominance, and to use those who submit to them for
their own purposes, or, on the other hand, to substitute active
submission for inducement in the love portion of their creative
responses, apd thus approximate the type of passive love
response which male parents and lovers frequently manifest
in giving gifts to children or loved ones. Women teachers,
whose pupils are of appropriate age, may, like mothers, express
true active creation toward their pupils ; and it would seem
possible that women physicians also might express true active
creation in their professional relationships at least, toward
other women and children.
CHAPTER XVII
REVERSALS, CONFLICTS, AND ABNORMAL EMOTIONS
WE have noted that efficient functioning of dominance and
compliance, either in simultaneous or successive combination,
requires a certain definite relationship between those two
types of primary emotional reactions. Compliance is the
preliminary, preparatory response. Its value in, the general
behaviour pattern is to act as a sort of first assistant to domin-
ance. Compliance response is used to select the most efficient
portion of the motor self to be reinforced, and also as a sort
of escape valve to permit the discharge of over-intense antagon-
istic motor stimuli which might otherwise destroy some part
of the motor self. To serve these functions, compliance
must precede a compensating dominance response, and it must
be adapted to the dominance reaction which brings the organ-
ism back to its natural reflex equilibrium.
Sherrington 1 has recently stated that he finds no tonic
reinforcement mechanisms in the flexor muscles of limbs
whose natural anti-gravitational posture is maintained by
tonic discharge to the extensor muscles. We have then a
situation where compliance response must first inhibit the
normal tonic (motor self) discharge to the extensors, and must
then contract the flexor muscle. This flexor contraction,
then, draws the limb into an unnatural condition of balance,
not suited for holding the animal erect against the influence
of gravity. Unless this compliance response is compensated
for, and terminated by an equal and opposite dominance
response, the animal can no longer stand erect, or maintain a
balanced posture. The compliance response, then, must be
allowed to occur only in a limb the reaction of which can be
balanced temporarily, by the tonic positions of the other limbs ;
and the compliant flexing of the limb moved must be allowed
to proceed only to the point of maximal efficiency for the
1 C. S. Sherrington, Lecture given before the New York Academy of
Medicine, October 25th, 1927.
361
362 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
application of the dominance response to follow. If the
dominant extensor movement of the limb be interrupted by
flexor, or compliant inhibition before the dominance response
is completed, then this secondary, or intervening flexor re-
sponse must again be terminated, and compensated for by a
dominant extensor reaction especially paired with it. In
short, we may lay down the rule that a dominance response
can never be paired with a compliance reaction which follows
it, and controls it, without loss of equilibrium to the entire
organism. Compliance must always be adapted to dominance ;
dominance may never be adapted to compliance without injury
to the subject.
The normal, efficient relationship, then, between these two
fundamental appetitive responses, indicates that the very life
of the organism itself depends upon the continuous supremacy
of the motor self, and the selection of such compliant re-
sponses that these acts of compliance will enable the motor
self again to rule supreme over the motor stimuli temporarily
complied with. The environment must be adapted to the organ-
ism, not the organism to the environment. Preliminary adaptations
of the organism to environment are only for the purpose of better
compelling the environment to serve the needs of the organism
by nourishing it and complying with it in a multitude of other
ways. In terms of tonic and anti-tonic innervations, the
animal complies with environment by drawing back its foot,
but only for the purpose of being able to extend its foot a Ji+ f le
further than before, and thus to dominate its environment
more completely. The idea of adaptation to environment
has been so strongly emphasized, in theories of biology and
evolution, that it is difficult, at first, to realize that adaptation
to environment is a means only, and never an end of human
or animal action.
It is when adaptation to environment becomes the chief
end of existence, to which the vital activities of the organism
itself are adjusted, that destruction of the organism really
begins. The only animal completely adapted to its environment
is a dead animal, the tissues of whose body have substantially
decomposed, thus returning once more to chemical forms of
energy completely adapted to the chemical energy forms of
its environment. Adaptation, in short, is efficacious and
constructive for just so long as it is used to enable the animal
to compel the environment to adapt itself to the uses which
ABNORMAL EMOTIONS 363
the animal organism seeks to make of the environment. *It
is the old question of mechanistic-type cause versus vitalistic-
type cause. The environment represents a mechanistic-
type cause, and the human or animal a vitalistic-type cause.
The mechanistic-type cause must be allowed to alter the
behaviour of the organism sufficiently to generate in the
organism, as it were, sufficiently potent forms of energy to
act as vitalistic-type causes exerting greater influence upon
the environment than the environment is exercising upon the
organism. In terms of primary emotions, the organism must
adapt its compliance to its dominance at all times.
When dominance is adapted to compliance, the resulting
relationship of primary emotional responses may justly be termed
a reversal. Reversals of the normal relationship between
successive dominance and compliance responses may be
brought about either by too much dominance or by too much
compliance. That is to say, dominance may flare up against
a compulsory compliance reaction for the purpose of removing
it, and so may prevent the organism from adopting a new
type of compliance response which is adapted to dominant
control and, therefore, could be used to bring the organism
back to its normal, dominant balance, once more. This type
of situation may be termed over-dominant reversal. It is a
ram butting his head against an immovable wall with furious
determination to destroy this particular obstacle for the very
re^gon that the wall has already compelled him to compliance
by stopping him in his course. A conflict is inevitable,
as a result. It is a conflict wherein dominance attacks
compliance.
The opposite type of reversal relationship between domin-
ance and compliance may be brought about by too much
compliance. Compliance may run riot in the central nervous
system, preventing the organism from adopting a new domin-
ance response which tends to limit, in any way, the magnified
compliance responses already evoked. During this integrative
condition, only those dominance responses are made which are
completely adapted to the controlling compliance reactions.
This type of situation may be termed over-compliant reversal.
It is a child running away from his shadow, with terrified
abandon of every desire save that to run toward a place where
his invincible opponent is not. A continuous series of con-
flicts between compliance and dominance emotions results,
364 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
with compliance always holding the whip hand. These are
conflicts wherein compliance attacks dominance.
Over-Dominant Reversals Rage
The line of demarcation between mere over-dominance
and over-dominant reversal falls just between mere stubborn-
ness and rage. When one holds the arms of an infant, the
baby responds with sheer dominance so long as his motor self
merely calls upon every available reinforcement to throw off
the restraint imposed upon the child's normal, spontaneous
movements. The baby is over-dominant, or stubborn. But
when the baby begins to cry, or to howl with an impotent
but revengeful note in his voice, or otherwise manifests a
baffled behaviour element, it is the signal that his compulsory
compliance with a superior opponent has been forced into his
emotional consciousness, and that his dominance, thenceforth,
seeks partially at least, to injure his opponent rather than to
restore his normal freedom of movement. The baby has been
compelled partially to comply. He no longer strives solely
to adapt his compliance to his dominance. He adapts, rather,
the whole dominance of his being to attacking and destroying
this one, particular compliance response. The baby is experienc-
ing rage.
Rage is an abnormal emotion, which occurs all too frequently
in adult life. Since rage customarily springs from over-
dominance, as in the behaviour of a new-born infant, "*st
considered, it is an emotion that is mistakenly thought by
many people to be normal and even advantageous. Aside
from the destructive disorganization of the subject's emotions
which rage produces, however, and aside from the physical
injury to the subject's body which frequently results from
physical expression of rage (the ram's skull broken against
the offending wall), rage is not efficient nor beneficial in
eliminating the opponent and restoring the normal, successful,
dominance of the subject over his environment. If the en-
raged subject does, eventually, dominate his environment, it
is the unbaffled dominance which accomplishes this result
successfully, and not the baffled dominance which has given
itself up solely to the attack upon an opponent which has
already beaten the subject. If this superior opponent is to
be destroyed, as a measure of restoring the subject's supre-
macy over his environment, the destruction will actually be
ABNORMAL EMOTIONS 365
accomplished by a new series of compliance reactions, designed
to select the vulnerable places in the antagonist and to domin-
ate those places. This proceeding may require dominance
raised to such a pitch of intensity and violence that the sub-
ject himself thinks of it as rage. But any such series of success-
ful attacking reactions can be shown to be composed of a series
of compliance responses properly adapted to succeeding domin-
ance reactions. There is no rage at all in such behaviour,
though, of course, rage may be superadded, with corres-
ponding loss of efficiency. The rage part of the response is
always futile, and is, therefore, abnormal.
Another source of confusion, in the popular mind, between
rage and the successful dominance with which it may be mixed,
springs from the fact that men and animals who possess extra-
ordinary dominance also tend to permit this dominance to
break over, frequently into rage. That is to say, a man more
powerful than his opponent can indulge in rage without suffer-
ing defeat. The unanalytical conclusion tends to follow,
in the average mind, that it was rage that produced the victory.
The superior, intense, dominance power is obvious to all, and
this may be identified, unthinkingly, with the baffled deter-
mination to rid himself of all compliance immediately, at
whatever cost to himself. When an opponent ultimately
appears who is intelligent enough to perceive this rage as a
weakness, and to take advantage of it accordingly, the person
o^uperior dominance is defeated. Such cases may be found
in the heavyweight boxing contests between Dempsey and
Tunney. The former champion, Dempsey, could hit harder,
and attack more aggressively. He was by far the more
dominant fighter. But he indulged frequently in rage ; he
liked to fume and flail about, trying to get rid arbitrarily of
all enforced compliance with his opponent. Tunney, an
unusually compliant and intelligent boxer, almost literally
cut Dempsey's face to ribbons with punches delivered during
Dempsey's raging moments of anti-compliant attack. Though
tremendous dominance power is frequently found associated
with rage, and though such powerful dominance frequently
succeeds over weaker opponents despite its handicap of lapses
into rage behaviour, it may be stated as an infallible rule that
supremacy over antagonists is only attained by adapting com-
pliance to dominance, and is never attained by adapting over-
compliance, as in rage.
366 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
There is a considerable series of abnormal emotions which
take their origin from over-dominarlt reversals of this same
general type. Thwarted dominance, irritability, " bad
temper ", revenge, and depression may be mentioned as mem-
bers of this series. Manic depressive insanity may also be
traced to over-dominant reversal, whatever physiological or
other physical cause may be shown to be responsible for the
reversal of response relationships in these extreme cases of
obvious abnormality. But the present volume, as its title
implies, is devoted primarily to normal emotions, and further
consideration of this abnormal series must be reserved, there-
fore, for discussion elsewhere.
Over-Compliant Reversals Fear
The line of demarcation between over-compliance and
over-compliance reversal may be found between the experiences
of startle and fear. When one clashes a dishpan with a stick
close behind an infant's ear, a visible start, jump, or startle
may be evoked. This response consists, it would seem, of an
over-sudden and over-extensive inhibition of the motor self,
with its outflowing tonic energy being cut off abruptly. The
compliant, anti-tonic motor discharge which thus conquers
the motor self, finds expression in the quick, uncontrollable
jerk of appropriate anti-tonic muscles. This initial startle
response may be followed immediately, after the infant has
learned the proper C + D relationship of primary reactions, by
crawling or walking away from the source of the startle
stimulus. In this case there need be no reversal, and con-
sequently no fear. There is, perhaps, a certain amount of
over-compliance. The child moves farther and more quickly
than he need do in order eventually to dominate the startling
stimulus. But the compliant movements, though over-
extensive, are well adapted to place the child in a position
where his dominant reactions can supersede, once more, the
compulsory compliance, and so restore the normal, dominant
supremacy of the child over his environment. So far, com-
pliance remains adapted to dominance.
If, however, the child cries, closes its eyes, or falls down,
as reported by Watson 1 in his fear experiments with children,
we find responses occurring which are in no way adapted to ulti-
1 J. B. Watson, Behaviourism, p. 121,
ABNORMAL EMOTIONS 367
mate dominance. In these reactions, there not only appears
to be over-compliance with the superior antagonist, but there
is also a failure to select those compliance responses which will
lead to dominance behaviour capable of replacing them.
Instead, reactions like closing the eyes and crying are in-
dulged in, which represent types of dominant behaviour
selected only because they are capable of co-existing with the
over-compliance responses. The one dominance response
which might serve to re-establish the subject's supremacy
over environment, that is, walking or running away, is in-
hibited by compliance with the superior antagonist, and the
child falls down. A small amount of dominance, in short, is
adapted to a very large amount of compliance, ancj. even such
dominance as may be left is attacked and partially defeated
by compliance. Dominance no longer seeks to terminate and
replace compliance ; it seeks only to adapt itself in such a way
as to avoid conflict with the over- compliance response completely
controlling the organism's behaviour. In this process, neces-
sarily, dominance is attacked and largely destroyed (weakened)
by over-compliance. The baby is experiencing fear.
Some years ago, I called attention to the fact that James*
famous suggestion that we are afraid of the bear because we
run from it must be amended so as to read : " We are afraid
of the bear because we do not run away from it fast enough ".*
We must now amend James' statement about the bear still
furtiier. We do not run away from the bear fast enough because
we are trying to suit the bear and not ourselves. If the running
psychologist cared not a whit about whether he was conforming
sufficiently to the bear's movements but was conscious only of a
strongly dominant determination to beat that bear by hook or by
crook, he would undoubtedly escape if not from the bear, at
least from all fear of the bear. For fear comes only when domin-
ance tries to adapt itself to its mortal enemy, over-compliance.
A great deal of foolishness has been written about fear.
The source of fear has been sought in " sex ", in the " libido ",
in childhood " suppressions ", and in a thousand other obscure
and unlikely places. Fear is really a very simple reversal
of primary emotional responses, with the cart put before the
horse, and that is all there is to it. It is this reversal relation-
1 W. M. Marston, " A Theory of Emotions and Affection based upon
Systolic Blood Pressure Studies," American Journal of Psychology, 1924,
vol, XXXV, pp. 469-506,
368 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
ship of responses that is learned in childhood, and not specific
fears of this and that. t
Mrs. Jones has shown the " spread " of child fears, from
loud noises to furry annimals, etc. 1 ; and the assumption has
been almost universally adopted that each fear became " con-
ditioned " as a response to some new object, by means of some
hypothetical associative connection between the first stimulus
to fear and the new object evoking fear. I would rather say
that the first fear response teaches, to some extent, a reversed
adaptation of dominance to compliance during reactions to
objects bearing a certain relationship to the child's organism ;
that is, objects antagonistic and of superior strength. Then
the child is further taught (by associations in time or sensory
qualities) that other kinds of objects fall into this class. Each
new fear response, then, not only tends to classify another
object or group of objects in the antagonistic-superior class,
but also enhances more and more the reversal of primary
response relationship in reactions to this class of stimuli in
general. Thus fear, each time it is evoked, " spreads " both in
respect to the number of stimuli able to evoke it, and also, more
importantly, in respect to the tendency for the reversed relation-
ship of dominance adapted to compliance to be evoked whenever
either one of these responses occurs throughout life.
This may mean, before adolescence has passed, that the
subject lives in an almost perpetual condition of fear, when-
ever he or she tries to contact " the world " without some
protecting guardian to dictate the subject's actions. It does
mean, oftentimes, that the reversal between dominance and
compliance becomes a chronic one, with fear initially evoked,
nearly always, by new and unknown situations and people ;
and with compensatory rage likely to follow hard upon the
heels of fear, whenever the subject gets away by himself, free
from the compulsion of the person or thing felt as superior and
antagonistic.
No elaborate and mysterious series of " suppressions " and
" complexes " need be worked out, (except, possibly for
propaganda purposes, in treating the subject). It doesn't
make the least difference, in any of the cases I have studied,
whether the person first learned the over-compliance type of
reversal giving rise to fear from a barking bull-dog or from
1 Mary C. Jones, " The Elimination of Children's Fears," Journal of
Experimental Psychology, 1924, p. 328,
ABNORMAL EMOTIONS 369
being left alone in a dark room at the age of three. However
he learned the reversed relationship between dominance ajid
compliance! he has two* tasks now before him : First, to un-
learn the reversal ; second, to learn the correct relationship,
(C + D). One need never mention the word " fear ", unless
for convenience in restraining the subject. * Fear vanishes,
automatically, when the subject has learned to adapt his com-
pliance to his dominance in all responses, to all objects.
I have accomplished this retraining, in a few cases, in ten
minutes. In other cases, I have worked for years without
nearly completing the retraining apparently necessary. It
is all a question of studying the individual subject, establish-
ing a sufficiently submissive relationship of subject to trainer,
and then using the symbology and terminology, and primary
emotional stimulations which mean most to the particular
subject being treated. One generality may be indulged in,
however. Removing the mystery from fear is nine-tenths of
the battle. So long as any person thinks of fear as some great,
hidden, cosmic force that is ready to jump down his throat any-
time, from the great beyond, from the " libido ", from the evolu-
tionary history of the race, or even from his own childhood " com-
plexes " and " repressions," the clinical psychologist hasn't
one chance in a million to get rid of it for him. Those concepts,
in my experience, constitute precisely the most effective teachers
of over-compliance reversal and fear, that it is possible to
Worry, timidity, retreat from reality, seclusiveness, and
" inadequate personality ", as well as outright terrors and
phobias, all find their roots in over-compliance reversal. This
book, however, is not the place for their further discussion,
since all fears are abnormal emotions.
Dominance and Fear in Deception Tests
In 1917, I reported to the literature discovery of the so-
called systolic blood pressure deception test. 1 My results
indicated that the systolic blood pressure tends to rise in a
characteristic curve whenever a subject who was to deceive
the experimenter concerning some alleged " crime " of which
he was accused, was asked a crucial question by the cross-
examiner. Increase of systolic blood pressure evidently
1 W. M. Mars ton, " Systolic Blood Pressure Symptoms of Deception/'
Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1917, pp. 117-163,
2B
370 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
accompanies increase of the motor self, that is, increased tonic
motor discharge through sympathetic autonomic channels.
There appears to be, therefore, a maf ked access of power put
forth by the organism to meet the challenge of a crucial ques-
tion which threatens to defeat the subject's self-assumed task
of deception. Following the terminology current among
physiologists and psychologists, I termed the emotion thus
revealed " fear ". It should actually be called dominance.
The nature of this dominance response during deception
was further revealed in a subsequent series of experiments
during which we measured the reaction time during deception,
with the extra time required for additional mental work of
deception eliminated from each series of reaction time
measurements. This research revealed a distinct type of
deception subject who reacts more quickly when lying than
when telling the truth. 1 Goldstein later published results
showing that a still greater proportion of subjects were of
negative reaction-time type during deception when no more
mental work was required during deception than duiing
truth telling.* In a subsequent unpublished experiment,
E. H. Marston and I measured association reaction times of
subjects of both sexes, allowing the subjects time to think
up any association word they chose, after hearing the stimulus
word, and before being called upon to respond with the word
they had selected. (Blood pressure was simultaneously
recorded with Tycos sphygmomanometer). Comparisons ot
reaction times when the subject was given the true word
(printed on a list given to the subject) and reaction times
when he was attempting to deceive the experimenter by
substituting a word of his own, were then made. The results
of this experiment finally convinced me that the active emotional
response element characterizing deception is not "fear", but
rather dominance.
Though it is dominance which betrays the deceiver in
the two tests mentioned, however, theie is probably a good
deal of fear actually present in the consciousness of nearly
all subjects under examination for alleged deception, whether
in the laboratory situation or in the court room. Fear it is
1 W. M. Marston, " Reaction-Time Symptoms of Deception," Journal
of Experimental Psychology, 1920, pp. 72-87.
1 E. R. Goldstein, " Reaction-Times and the Consciousness of Decep-
tion," 1923, American Journal of Psychology, pp. 562-581.
ABNORMAL EMOTIONS 371
that renders the attempted deception less efficient in many ways ;
while it is the most successful type of liar who betrays him-
self most readily in breathing and blood pressure changes
symptomatic of dominance (as previously pointed out by
Benussi 1 and myself). The inactive, weak liar may frequently
reveal himself by lengthened reaction times, disclosure of
guilty knowledge in association responses, and self-betrayals
under cross examination.
Of course, the weaker type of deceiver, although more
subject to fear, still responds dominantly to crucial questions
and so may be betrayed by rises in systolic blood pressure.
But this dominance is of lesser extent, is more easily over-
whelmed, and betrays itself by a more erratic, less smoothly
progressive series of rises in systolic blood pressure. Wher-
ever fear exists in the responses of a would-be deceiver, it
is found to express itself in symptoms of conflict between
ineffective attempts on the subject's part to conceal what he
knows and compulsory over-compliance with the demands
of the cross examiner. Fear, during deception, gives ex-
perimental proof of its true nature. It consists of enfeebled
dominance trying to adapt itself to over-compliance with a
stimulus (the cross examiner) which is antagonistic and of
superior strength to the subject ; with the subject's dominance,
thus reversed, in constant conflict with his compulsory compliance,
and constantly being partially defeated by it.
JThis conclusion concerning the nature of the subject's
emotional responses while he is being tested for deception
leads to the discovery that there are two distinct types of
so-called " Deception Test ". First, there are tests of the
dominance used by the liar to tighten his grip on the secret
knowledge in his possession, which the examiner is trying
to pull away from him. Second, there are tests of defeats
of this dominant reaction (fear), by over-compliance evoked
by over-intensity of stimulation applied by the cross-examiner.
The dominance test is applicable to all subjects without
exception ; the fear test is applicable only to those subjects
who are habitually addicted to the over-compliance reversal
of relationship between D and C, or who can be forced into
this reversal by the conditions of the test. The dominance
test reveals the subject's deceptions by detecting each increase
1 V, Benussi, "Die Atmungsymptome der Luge," Archiv. fur die
Gesampte Psychologic, 1914, pp. 244-271.
372 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
of effort that he makes to withold the truth ; the fear test reveals
deception only at those times when the subject yields to torture by
relaxing his grip, slightly, on the concealed facts. The dominance
test situation must encourage the subject to lie just as strenu-
ously as he wants to ; the fear test situation must seek to
defeat the subject's deception at every turn.
The dominance tests for deception are : rise in systolic
blood pressure (Mars ton) ; change in ratio of expiration to
inspiration (Benussi, Burtt) ; and shortening of reaction times
(Marston ). Fear tests are : lengthening of reaction times, guilty
associations (Wertheimer, Jung) ; self-betrayal by incon-
sistencies of verbal responses, or by confusion of statements
or confession under torture. H. E. Burtt 1 and other reliable
investigators, report most successful and consistent results
with the systolic blood pressure tests, and the breathing
ratio test, under laboratory conditions. These are both
tests of dominance. H. S. Langfeld 2 , Jung 8 , and others,
report good results with lengthening of reaction time test,
under similar conditions. This is distinctly a fear test.
Burtt, Troland, and n^self,* in testing various types of
deception test for war purposes, in court and laboratory,
found the blood pressure test most useful, and the lengthening
of reaction time tests least valuable, especially in actual
court cases. J. A. Larsen, who has used deception tests
of all types, in court cases, upon more than a thousand sus-
pects, has omitted the association-word and reaction-time
tests from his later technique, depending chiefly upon the
systolic blood-pressure test, " while retaining the breathing
curve as a check ". 6 Larson is quoted by C. T. McCormick*
who has recently made a most careful and painstaking study
of the present status of deception tests in America, as stating
that his technique has been used successfully in the Police
1 H. E. Burtt, " The Inspiration-Expiration Ratio During Truth and
Falsehood," Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1921, vol. IV, p. 18.
1 H. S. Langfield, "Psychological Symptoms of Deception," 1920,
Journal of Abnormal Psychology, vol. XV, pp. 319-247.
8 C. G. Jung, " The Association Method," American Journal of
Psychology, 1910, vol. XXI, pp. 219-269. See also Brain, 1907, vol.
XXX, p 153.
* W. M. Marston, " Psychological Possibilities in the Deception
Tests," Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, vol. XI, no. 4, pp.
112-131.
5 C. T. McCormick, " Deception Tests and the Law of Evidence,"
California Law Review, September, 1927, p. 491,
Ibid, p. 491-492.
ABNORMAL EMOTIONS 373
Department of Los Angeles, Oakland, Duluth, and Evanston.
Which means, apparently, that the dominance type of deception
test, in actual practice, turns out to be by far the most reliable.
Reversed Relationships Between Submission and
Inducement *
Reversals of the normal relationship between submission
and inducement are responsible for conflicting and thwarted
love emotions in exactly the same way that reversals of
relationship between dominance and compliance are re-
sponsible for conflicting and thwarted appetitive emotions.
We have already noted, in chapters XIII and XIV, that the
efficient, normal relationship between submission and in-
ducement response consists of adaptation of* inducement
response to submission emotion. That is to say, in terms of
conscious organization of emotional responses, the normal
and efficient attitude in all love responses consists of inducing
another individual only for the purpose of submitting to
him. The final state of resting equilibrium between induce-
ment and submission responses depends upon a final sub-
mission response equal to and controlling whatever induce-
ment reaction may have preceded it.
Love is an emotion which is precisely opposite to appetite
in the relationship which it establishes between subject and
stimulus. In appetitive responses, no matter whether active
or passive, compliance with the stimulus must only be a
means used to dominate that stimulus for the advantage of
the subject organism. Appetite is essentially ego-seeking
or self-enlarging, and unless the subject's own organism,
at the end of the response, is in a completely dominant re-
lationship to its environment, then appetite has not accom-
plished its purpose. In the case of love responses, however,
quite the opposite relationship is sought. Here, the subject
endeavours to place himself under the control of another
individual for the purpose of giving himself or some part
of himself to the other person.
Inducement must always be the preliminary to this process
of giving one's self to another, since it is no part of love to
thrust upon another individual something that he does not
want. The prospective recipient of a submissive service or
gift, therefore, must first be induced to accept it willingly
and gladly. For unless submission of one's self to another
374 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
can be made pleasant and acceptable to the other individual,
the ultimate giving ceases to be a (true submission. Thus
it is easy to see that inducement must always precede and be
wholly adapted to submission response if the total response
is to be true love behaviour.
Reversals of the normal relationship between successive
inducement and submission responses may be brought about
either by too much submission, or by too much inducement.
Submission may be present so predominantly in the subject's
existing behaviour, that when the necessity for inducement
arises, in order to make continuance of submission possible,
the subject tries to go on submitting even though he is com-
pelled by the situation to want to induce. This integrative
mix-up closely resembles the attempt which over-dominance
may make to go on dominating, even after it has suffered
defeat by compulsory compliance, by turning vengefully
upon the compliance stimulus. So, in the present instance
over-submission pushes, helplessly and unpleasantly, at the
stimulus which has compelled unwilling inducement response.
This type of situation may be called over-submission reversal.
It is a male lover, gnawing silently and painfully at his mous-
tache, while his inamorata captivates a more attractive man.
A most unpleasant conflict is taking place between involun-
tary inducement wish to win back the girl's attention, and
an oversubmission to the girl's charms which is determined, as
it were, not to give way to the inducement interruption already
tacitly recognized. This is a conflict wherein submission
attacks inducement.
The opposite type of reversal relationship between sub-
mission and inducement may be brought about by too much
inducement. When a person whose ultimate aim in all
relationships with people is to establish an inducement con-
trol over them discovers that the submission which he has
preliminarily employed as bait on the inducing hook is,
after all, insufficient to make the other person submit, his
inducement may flare up at this sudden resistance with
consummate virulence. Over inducement is attacking the
stimulus person toward whom further submission is required
if the ultimate inducement is still to be accomplished. In
other words, over-inducement is attacking compulsory sub-
mission. This variety of abnormal integration may be
called over-inducement reversal. It is a woman who, having
ABNORMAL EMOTIONS 375
thrown herself at her former lover's feet to induce him* to
come back to her, wijining but a contemptuous laugh as
response, hurls herself upon the man, tearing at his face with
her hands in a paroxysm of destruction. A conflict is taking
place in the woman's central nervous system, between over-
intense inducement and enforced submission. This is a
conflict wherein over-inducement attacks submission.
Over-Submission Reversals Jealousy
The line of demarcation between over-submission and over-
submission reversal falls between unbalanced absorption in
the loved one's companionship and jealousy. Watson failed
to evoke jealousy, experimentally, by presenting various
situations wherein a younger child was loved by the mother
in the presence of the older brother, while the older child
received less attention than before. 1 It seems probable,
perhaps, that love had not reached a height of development,
in the child subject, which could result in over-submission
to the mother. Also, it seems likely that there was not
sufficient love stimulation of the child actually in progress*
at the time the younger child was introduced. I have evoked
jealousy from a three-year-old girl, however, while the mother
was ' cuddling " and caressing the little daughter in her arms,
by bringing in an older boy to whom the mother turned
and talked, though she still kept her daughter in her arm
tneantime. The little girl at first responded normally, with
inducement, by pulling at her mother's dress to attract
attention again to herself, and by " snuggling " closer against
the mother's body. When this produced only an admonitory
" Keep quiet, Bee ! " from the mother, the child made a
gesture as though to push the boy away from her mother
and then buried her head against the mother's breast and
began to cry quit;e softly, evidently in order to obey the
mother's injunction to remain quiet. Neither mother nor
child knew that any experiment or behaviour observation
was being made.
In this case, the little girl's active submission to her mother
was at its height when interrupted. The interruption created
a stimulus situation which should normally evoke inducement
response from the little girl in order to resume her interrupted
submission to her mother. A slight inducement reaction
1 J. B. Watson, Behaviorism, pp. 149-154.
376 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
was, in fact, evoked. But when it proved initially unsuccess-
ful, the child's existing over-submission cut short her induce-
ment behaviour. In that process, ihe child reversed the
normal relationship between submission and inducement,
and actually adapted her over-submission to the abortive
inducement response, by submitting to the mother as well
as she could while the inducement response was still un-
controllably activating her organism. In short, there was a
conflict between submission and inducement, each partially
thwarting the other. Submission was compelled to adapt
to inducement because it couldn't wholly eliminate it, and
wouldn't give way to it. The result was the abnormal emotion
of jealousy, probably making its earliest appearance in this
child's consciousness.
Consider how an older person possessing normal emotional
relationship between submission and inducement, might
have solved this emotional problem without suffering reversal,
conflict and jealousy. Inducement must be kept in adapta-
tion to submission. That would mean, in a situation similar
to the one under discussion, that complete submission to the
mother must be maintained continuously, whatever other
reactions might be going forward. How to keep this sub-
missive relationship, then, becomes the only issue. There
is only one type of emotional response that is capable of
influencing the mother to accept further submission, and
that is inducement. An inducement programme which will
accomplish this end most successfully, then, must be selected.
Inducement must be adapted to submission. If the boy visitor
is giving the mother pleasure, then the would-be inducer
must find some way of giving the mother more pleasure from
the boy's visit. A question might evoke some response from
the boy pleasing to the mother, or the boy might be given
a cookie or an apple. Such an action toward the boy would
constitute an inducement of the mother to accept this new
submission, the added pleasure she derives from the boy's
presence, at the hands of her daughter. Inducement, on
the daughter's part, adapted to submission, has enabled
her to submit continuously and actively to her mother.
Under the situation produced by the advent of the boy visitor,
physical caresses were no longer a submission to the mother.
Therefore, a wholly new series of true inducement reactions
must be discovered capable of influencing the mother to
ABNORMAL EMOTIONS 377
accept the new submissions. Inducement would then be
adapted to submission^ throughout, and there could be no
reversal, no conflict, and no jealousy.
A considerable series of over-submission reversal conflicts
might be described, each producing its characteristic, ab-
normal emotion. Among these might be mentioned sorrow,
grief, loneliness (when living in midst of social group), shyness,
and melancholy (including psychopathic states of this type).
Since this book is devoted to a study of normal emotions,
we shall not discuss this abnormal group further here.
Over Inducement Reversals Hale
The line of demarcation between over-inducement and
over-inducement reversal falls between unbakwceH determina-
tion to control another person's actions, and hatred. There
seem to be at hand no well authenticated instances of
true hatred responses evoked from children. Clearest
examples of hatred on a vast scale are to be found in hatreds
between races, especially, of course, during war. The
" men in the street " of one nation are convinced, largely
by newspaper propaganda, inspired sometimes by politicians
but oftener by private appetitive interests of one sort or an-
other 1 , that citizens of another country have "insulted the
flag " or " violated the rights of our citizens ". When the
Spanish war was begun by American newspapers, it was
tiie rights of suffering Cubans that furnished the magic touch-
stone capable of evoking American hatred. To carry out
the love response apparently felt by Americans toward the
injured Cubans, America must induce the Spaniards to alter
their treatment of their oppressed subjects. Americans did
not intend to submit to the Spanish, on any other basis what-
ever than that which America proposed to induce Spain to
accept. Yet as long as the Spanish continued to treat the
Cubans harshly, which it was within their power, for the
moment, to do, America was compelled to submit, despite
the utmost intensity of attempted inducement to the con-
trary. There resulted a conflict, then, in the American
consciousness, between enforced submission to Spain, and
over-inducement which was trying to adapt this submission
to itself by controlling the actions of the Spanish, and making
them adopt the paiticular course of action to which Americans
were willing to submit. So long as the Spaniards refused to
378 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
yield to America's inducement, therefore, they evoked hatred
from every American who suffered from the over-inducement
reversal taught by misunderstood patriotism. Until the
citizens of one nation are willing to induce another nation
only for the purpose of being able better to submit to the
interests of that other nation, national hatreds must in-
evitably spring up upon any occasion when one nation is
compelled to submit to the actions of another, despite its
utmost efforts to induce the other nation to adopt some
other action which the first nation prefers, for its own reasons,
to submit to.
In such horribly disastrous international hatreds, where
millions of individuals arc deliberately taught to experience
the most abnormal of all emotions, the primary emotional
reversal is identical with that which is responsible for the
most transitory private hatred, between two individuals
only. And this reversal springs, in both cases, from the
same cause. The individual who hates, or the national
group of individuals who hate another group, are so deter-
mined upon inducing other people to do one particular thing,
that they fail to perceive that they can easily induce the other
individual or national group to do some other thing that
can be submitted to by the inducers. Devastating dominance
quickly enters the picture, once the offending nation resists
being induced, and the offender then becomes an antagonist,
not to be induced any longer, but to be knocked out, ana
thus compelled, not to submit, but to comply. Thus in the
end, no matter how successful the war victor may be, he
never attains his original purpose of inducing the other person
to submit ; at best, he can only dominate an enemy and compel
compliance. If the original end of inducing submission is to
be gained, then inducement must be adapted to submission.
Which means, specifically, that some course of action on the
offending nation's part must be found to which the inducer
is willing ultimately to submit, and which the inducer has
the present power to induce the offender to submit to. In
short, each must ultimately submit, and each must select
an inducement which will bring about acceptance of the
submission which each is prepared to make. This is " com-
promise ", " fellowship of nations ", and peace. Inducement
must be kept adapted to submission, or people become things
and destroy one another. Hatred is the abnormal emotion
ABNORMAL EMOTIONS 379
that accompanies destruction of human things by human
things. t
Though inducement gives way largely to dominance,
during war, enough of the reversed S and I remain to keep
active the background of motivating hatred, without which
such futilly unproductive dominance would* soon die down.
And hatred is easily distinguishable from dominance through-
out. The background wish is not to make the enemy comply
but to make him submit ; and he is to be made to submit to
one specific inducement, selected arbitrarily by the over-
inducer. Therefore, there is the constant, motivating drive
to make the inducement (now metamorphosed into des-
tructive dominance) more and more and more intense, so
that the victim will feel it sufficiently to submit. The reversed
over-inducer fails utterly to realize that the power of induce-
ment lies not at all in antagonistic intensity, but allied in-
tensity. If there is the slightest injurious element felt in
the over-intensity of the would-be inducer, all power of
such hoped-for inducement to evoke submission is taken,
from it. But, of course, the attacker does not realize this ;
his S and I are in reversal. Therefore, to make his motivating
inducement more powerful he seeks to hurt the object of
hatred personally to the greatest extent possible. This
gives hatred quite a different conscious quality from domi-
nance, which seeks only to compel the stimulus object into
alliance with the self, or to remove it altogether as an obstacle
from the subject's path. Dominance is intense, ruthless,
but impersonal. Hatred is deliberately cruel, even more
intense than dominance, and concentratedly personal.
Resentment, so called "thwarted sex' 1 or sex anger, 1
certain types of personal malice, certain paranoid states,
and many other peculiarly dangerous reversal emotions un-
doubtedly belong with hatred in the series of over-inducement
reversal emotions. But they are abnormal emotions, and
therefoie cannot be discussed further in the present volume.
1 1 formerly attempted to devote the term " anger " exclusively to
this variety of emotion calling it " true anger ", contrasting it to
thwarted over-intense dominance, which I termed rage or fury. Criti-
cisms upon this article showed, however, that the term " anger " could
not be divorced in the public mind from dominance and its reversals.
Therefore, it seems best to emphasize the word hatred in connection
with reversal emotion containing submission and inducement in mutu-
ally conflicting and ultimately baffled condition.
380 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
Summary
Compliance must be adapted to. dominance, and in-
ducement to submission, if human beings wish to remain
normal. Reversals of these relationships invariably result
in conflicts between primary emotions.
It is beyond the powers of the organism to adapt certain
compliance reactions to any superceding dominance responses
which the organism is equipped to make. If the subject is
over-dominant, he may nevertheless insist upon attempting
the impossible, even though there are many other compliance
responses available which might easily be adapted to and
replaced by ultimate dominance. Such over-dominant sub-
jects merely succeed in adapting their dominance to the
unconquerable compliance response by continuing to hammer
at it, yet all the while with a dominance partially baffled
by recognition of the futility of the attack. This situation is
called over-dominance reversal, and its typical abnormal emotion
is rage.
, There may be compliance reactions going on which the
organism is fully capable of adapting to appropriate super-
ceding, dominance responses. But if the subject is over-
compliant he may not attempt "the possible. Such over-
compliant subjects permit their dominance to be forced into
destructive adaptation to their compliance emotion, with the
awareness, all the time, that dominance is being progressively
defeated. This situation is called over- compliance reversal,
and its typical abnormal emotion is fear.
There may be submission responses going on which the
organism is fully capable of continuing, if appropriate induce-
ment responses are selected, and are adapted to the submission
which the organism seeks to attain. But if the subject is
over-submissive, his submission may prevent him from choos-
ing and expressing such properly-adapted inducement re-
actions. The result is that the submission must adapt itself
to whatever futile inducement reaction the subject is capable
of making, with the constant awareness that his submission
is being progressively defeated by its inability to use adequate
inducement tools. This situation is called over-submission
reversal, and its typical abnormal emotion is jealousy.
It is beyond the power of the organism to adapt certain
inducement responses to the organism's ultimate submission.
Nevertheless, an over-inductive individual may continue to
ABNORMAL EMOTIONS 381
attempt the impossible by refusing to give up this futile -in-
ducement and to select another inducement reaction capable
of being adapted to, aAd superceded by submission response.
Such over-inductive subjects merely succeed in adapting their
submission to their futile inducement by continuing the in-
effective inducement response more and more intensely, though
all the while with the awareness of having their submission
hopelessly baffled by its adaptation to unsuccessful inducement.
This situation is termed over-inducement reversal and its typical
abnormal emotion is hatred.
Love-Appetite Reversal Emotions
In the course of previous discussion we have noted both the
normal and the reversed relationships between love and
appetite. The normal relationship consists of complete
adaptation of appetite to love. Any life which is both success-
ful and happy must adapt its successes to its happiness.
Certain types of individuals who habitually attempt to adapt
happiness to success ultimately fail in both. There seems
even to exist a predisposing emotional trend, in certain racial
types of human beings, toward what might be termed a chronic
reversal between love and appetite. Probably nearly all
human beings on the planet, however, suffer more or less from
this form of reversal and conflict between love and appetite.
The Freudian system of psycho-analysis seems to be based,
for the most part, on the most fundamental of all discoveries,
to wit, that appetite should be adapted to love, whereas in
modern life social laws and conventions compel the adaptation
of love to appetite. The value of this discovery in the hands
of the psycho-analysts, however, has been negated by the
defining of love itself in appetitive terms. The prospective
lover is told that he has an " appetite " or a " desire " for the
body or companionship of his loved one. Love itself is
described as "sex emotion", and its so-called "normal"
expression, therefore, is limited to " sexual appetite " between
members of opposite sexes. The reversal relationship between
love and appetite, with love adapted to and controlled by
appetite, which is recognized by some psycho-analysts as the
theoretical source of all emotional conflicts, is perpetuated
and enhanced by such depictions of love emotion in terms of
eating and digesting the alleged loved one.
If the normal and efficient emotional relationship between
382 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
love and appetite is to be understood, it is first of all necessary
to understand the true nature of love itself, since love, in its
normal relationship with appetite, itfust be the controlling
response to which appetite is completely adapted. Love is
a giving, and not a taking ; a feeding, and not an eating ;
an altruistic alliance with the loved one, and not a selfish
conflict with a " sex object ". Whatever the organism has
acquired during the expression of its appetitive emotion must
be given away again in the expression of love t and " everything "
includes the organism itself. " Giving away ", however, does
not mean destruction or depreciation of the giver. It means
only a submission of everything that the giver possesses, in-
cluding his own body, to the service and needs of the loved one.
Such an understanding of love presents an extreme contrast
to the description of mixed and conflicting emotional states
suggested by the term " sex appetite ".
The normal relationship consisting of appetite adapted to
and controlled by love emotion, is made compulsory upon the
female organism, at least, during the process of procreation.
*The emotion of creation which this process teaches neces-
sitates, as we have already seen, the use of appetite solely for
love purposes. The female organism is not individually
depleted during this process, since the woman herself must
remain strong, and physically and mentally efficient for the
very accomplishment of the love purpose of serving her child.
A human being or animal in order to adapt completely to^
environment must die and undergo chemical decomposition.
But a human being or animal in order to submit to and serve
the need of the loved one must become more healthily alive
than before. Any deterioration or dimunition of the active
creatress injures or diminishes her creation by a corresponding
amount. Thus it is that complete adaptation of appetite to
love is maximally efficacious, even from the point of view of
enlargement of the lover. Adaptation of appetite to love
cannot become self sacrificial so long as love is actually in
control. Only when the reversed relationship of adaptation
of love to appetite creeps in, does any emotional conflict
appear between love purposes and appetitive needs.
Preliminary study of all the multitudinous reversal emotions
to which control of love by appetite gives rise in human be-
haviour would require a volume or more devoted to such
analysis. But in so far as these reversal emotions exist in
ABNORMAL EMOTIONS 383
human or animal behaviour, they represent real abnormalities
of emotion, and therefore fall, for the most part, outside the
scope of the present bjpok. A number of these reversal
emotions, however, may be somewhat sketchily suggested here,
for the sake of the light which they shed upon normal emotional
attitudes and relationships.
Reversal Emotions Between Active and Passive Love and Active
and Passive Appetite
Active love, when adapted to and controlled by active
appetite, gives rise to a type of complex emotional behaviour
made famous in America under the term " gold digging ".
Chorus girls, night club entertainers, younger sons who marry
for money, and " gigolos " whose haunt is the tea-house, whose
victims are usually middle-aged women with no longer ardent
husbands, and whose method of approach is a position as
dancer, all are professional gold diggers. Amateur gold
diggers, however, abound on every side. In certain
" society " and college circles it is difficult, in fact, to find a
girl or young woman who has not, in her emotional make-up,
some attributes of the gold digger.
Gold digging is particularly attractive, apparently, because
nothing need be given in exchange for appetitive benefits
received. Active love consists of captivating the person
selected as a prospective source of appetitive supply. When
this individual is certain to be under sufficient love control,
active appetite is turned on, as it were, to take the supply away
from the love-captured individual, and to appropriate it
conclusively to the possession of the captiva tress. Neither
active submission nor compliance, which appear to be the two
most difficult emotions for human beings to learn and to ex-
press, are required in this process of gold digging. As we have
noted, active love and active appetite are held in continuous
conflict when the love is controlled by and used for appetite
emotion. Active love is definitely terminated altogether,
each time the gold digger begins a definite digging, or active
appetitive response. If this dominant extraction of money
or property from the captivated person can be done very deftly,
or very quickly, captivation may again be turned on, and
another appetitive reward thereby gained. There is always a
definite limit, however, to the series of successive captivations
and acquisitions, the length of the series depending upon the
384 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
proportion of love to appetite in the emotional organization
of the victim. Older men, whose appetite emotion is pretty
much satiated, and whose love rerctions, thus freed from
inhibitory restraint, assert an unbalanced emotional control
of behaviour in an effort to compensate for total absence of
love in the man's previous life, seem to constitute the most
susceptible victims foi this type of reversed emotional stimula-
tion. Though a woman gold digger may start her reversal
activities with an unusually strong equipment of active love
emotion, this emotion inevitably dwindles, and becomes
thwarted and perverted under the conflicting influence of
appetitive control, until, eventually, her power of love captiva-
tion is completely gone, and her career as a gold digger auto-
matically peases.
Active love when adapted to and controlled by passive
appetite is popularly termed " seduction ". The ultimate
object of seduction is not to obtain enrichment from the
persons captivated, but rather to compel the love captive to
give sensual enjoyment to the seducer, in the same way that
delicate food or enjoyable entertainment might evoke satis-
faction emotion from the subject.
Passive love, when adapted to and controlled by passive
appetite, is frequently referred to as " sensuality ". In this
case the individual, male or female, wishes to be captivated
for the purpose of experiencing passion ; which in turn, is
enjoyed as an intensely pleasurable form of appetitive sati$-
faction.
When passive love is adapted to active appetite the resulting
behaviour is legally termed "prostitution". In this case,
a love response which, at the beginning, is genuine passion,
is adapted to and controlled by desire for obtaining money,
and other forms of payment, from the physical captivator
to whom the subject submits. All marriages wherein one or
the other individual, though experiencing passion for the other
person, nevertheless adapts this passion to the acquisition
ot money or position, and allows this passion to be controlled
by this active appetite purpose, may properly be classified
under this heading. I have observed, also, a number of
instances where boys and young men appear to manifest a
real passion response for an older male, whom they admire
and " hero worship ". In every case, these young men used
their passive love response toward the older and more powerful
ABNORMAL EMOTIONS 385
man, for the purpose of obtaining from him the maximum
possible appetitive benefits in the way of position, salary, and
professional preferment;
Reversal Emotions Between Active and Passive Love and
Dominance
When active love is adapted to and controlled by active
dominance, the resulting emotional expression in its abnormal
extreme is termed " sadism ". The wish to captivate another
person is controlled by the actively dominant purpose of
destroying the love captive. In other forms of sadism with
which we have been made familiar by the Marquis de Sade,
himself, active dominance is used as in war, with the intent
to compel the victim to become utterly submissive to the will
of the over-inducer-dominator. In this form of sadism, the
dominance response imposes various tortures upon the body
of the person subjected, revealing the fact that the subjected
person is regarded, for the time, as an inanimate antagonistic
object, which must be compelled to ally itself with the dom-
inator. The pleasant emotional experiences derived from the
exercise of sadism are active love captivation responses
springing from whatever spontaneous, voluntary feelings of
love captivity and passion may be evoked from the person
subjected. Thus a notorious American sadist, a few years
ago, compelled a boy whom he whipped mercilessly to write a
dictated " submission ", meanwhile, reciting the feelings of
abject love captivity which it gave the sadist delight to
imagine the boy to be experiencing. Mild whipping, spanking,
or other forms of subjecting force applied to the body of the
person captivated may not, necessarily, constitute sadism
provided that the individual subjected is not injured physically
or emotionally, and provided that the captivatress seeks to subject
the other individual only in those ways which will evoke maximum
pleasantness in the other individual. Wherever dominance
gains control of active love, a dimunition of pleasure and
passion in the love captive immediately results, ard the
captivation excitement and pleasantness in the captivatress
is correspondingly diminished. Thus the attempt to adapt
love to dominance only results, with sadism as with other
forms of reversal emotion, in mutual conflict and dimunition,
or complete inhibition of love emotion. No male is physically
equipped to act as a captivatress, Whenever a man attempts
386 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
to -use dominance to captivate either a woman or another
male, his dominance almost certainly controls his captivation,
making him temporarily a sadist. Whenever a man " mauls "
a girl, or his wife, or mistress, he may begin as a captivatress,
but he almost invariably breaks over into sadism at the climax
of his excitement.
Passive love when adapted to and controlled by active
dominance, is popularly termed " treachery ". The individual
who submits actively to another person, passively inducing
the other to form an intimate personal relationship of con-
fidence and trust, and then uses the information or power thus
obtained to dominate his victim, is said to be " treacherous ".
In treachery, the passive love attitude is wholly adapted to
and controlled by a dominant determination to destroy the
betrayed individual, as an obstacle to the other's purposes,
or to compel the betrayed person to ally himself with the
other for the purpose of furthering the latter's interests.
Reversal Emotions Between Inducement and Submission and
Appetitive Primaries
When active submission is adapted to and controlled by
active dominance, or, in fact, by any of the normal appetitive
combinations of dominance and compliance, the resulting
response is properly termed " hypocrisy ". A certain amount
of genuine regard for the needs and interests of another
individual is used in this series of reversal emotions, to cloak
or disguise the underlying, controlling dominance of the
person who would use another individual for his own ends.
Inducement, also, may enter the composite integrative picture
of hypocrisy. Certain types of hypocrisy behaviour manifest
all the elements of creation emotion, in fairly well ordered
form, the creative elements being used severally and collec-
tively for the furtherance of appetitive purposes. " Re-
formers " who receive large salaries and international publicity
as a result of their professional " reform " activities seem
frequently to typify the extreme of this reversed adaptation
of creation emotion to their own appetitive desires. Some-
times such a person's ultimate purpose represents an almost
pure dominance response, while upon other occasions the
pecuniary reward sought would indicate that active appetite
in its entirety is the ultimate controlling response, to which
ABNORMAL EMOTIONS 387
inducement, submission and perhaps active creation emotion
is adapted.
When inducement is Adapted to and controlled by dominance
or appetite, some form of " deception " results. Active
inducement is employed to evoke submission from the person
deceived, for the puipose of utilizing the deceived one's sub-
missive behaviour for a dominant or appetitive interest of
the deceiver. The combination 01 primary emotions which
results in the initial act of deception is not to be confused with
the situation in which the deceiver is being cross-examined
by a lawyer or psychologist intent upon revealing the deception
which has already been perpetrated. The latter condition,
which constitutes the deception test situation, consists,
chiefly, of a relationship of attacker and attacked between
the cross-examiner and the individual accused of the deception.
Probably some admixture of inducement ultimately may be
found in the total emotional responses of the subject under
examination, if he is lying. But, for the most part, the
examinee is merely attempting to defend himself, to the
extent perhaps, of his liberty or his life, against what he feels
to be the dominant attempt of the examiner to take away
from him the secret information which he is with-holding.
In actual court room procedure, the situation is somewhat
altered by the fact that the witness must induce the judge
or jury to belLve his story, at the same time that he defends
himself against the attack of his enemy or antagonist, the
prosecutor, or cross-examining attorney. However this
situation ma> ultimately be analyzed, the emotional responses
of the subject under such conditions have very little to do
with the fundamental reversal emotions which supply the
motivation for initial deception.
Active inducement may be used to accomplish an ultimate
end of active appetite over the property of another person.
In other words, the property owner may be induced to behave
in a manner enabling the deceiver to dominate his possessions
without giving compensation therefor. This may be called
deception to obtain property under false pretences.
Active inducement, again, may be adapted to and controlled
by passive appetite emotion. This is the situation in which
a person who has committed a crime or indiscretion uses active
inducement to evoke submission to himself from the prosecutor,
or other person having authority to visit punishment upon
388 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
the culprit. The submission obtained takes the form of
accepting the deceiver's story as an accurate compliance with
fact, and a consequent searching elsf where for the culprit.
This type of deception, in a society which punishes all offenders
against its arbitrary rules with a savage severity all out of
proportion to the offence committed, is generally considered
to be a more or less excusable type of reversal behaviour.
Thus adults are stimulated to deception reversal by laws which
themselves embody male sadism and hypocrisy, just as
children are stimulated to deception reversal by parents who
similarly adapt love to appetite in their treatment of their
children.
Finally, the more simple type of deception, wherein active
inducement is adapted to and controlled by simple active
dominance, may be mentioned. In this type of behaviour,
the deceiver succeeds in dominating the opponent in games,
or in a contest involving personal prestige of some sort, by
inducing his rival to submit by acting in a manner which will
enable the deceiver to dominate him. Traps of all kinds,
when set for human beings or for animals, are examples of
this type of reversal between active inducement and active
dominance. In various sorts of so-called sporting contests,
this reversed use of inducement to gain the ends of dominance
is considered extremely clever and highly commendable.
This type of reversal behaviour is sometimes termed " decep-
tive trickery ". In games, however, where certain types of
deception behaviour are permissible under the rules, it is true
that both contestants are fairly warned to be on their guard.
That part of the game, therefore, becomes a deception-contest
furnishing effective training in the abnormal adaptation of
inducement to dominance.
CHAPTER XVIII
EMOTIONAL RE-EDUCATION
No matter how normal a person may be, he has been taught,
from earliest childhood, to evaluate his own behaviour by
the measuring stick of convention. What his father did before
him, and what his neighbours are now doing around him,
constitute the standard of normalcy. And this ridiculous
method of evaluation is, to a considerable extent, sanctioned
by the so-called "social scientists " of to-day evidently
because psychology, so far, has failed to furnish any tangible
description of a normal human being, save a statistical one*.
A bold psychiatrist, not so long ago, frankly stated that if a
young girl attended a school where a majority of the other
girls smoked and drank, she would be eligible for psychiatric
examination if she refused also to smoke and drink. I take it
that the eminent doctor who made this assertion did not mean
to suggest smoking and drinking as a test of social submission
to girl friends, but rather as an emphatic laying down of the
rule that average behaviour of a given group constitutes a
proper standard by which the normalcy of any member of the
group may be scientifically measured. No principle for study
and improvement of the individual could be more pernicious
than this.
People Only See the Least Normal Part of Other People's
Behaviour
It is pernicious for several reasons, but principally for this.
The part of the behaviour of any member of a group of human
beings which any other member of the group is able to observe,
constitutes a small and unrepresentative fraction of the other
person's total conscious activities. The part of any individ-
ual's behaviour which he permits other individuals to observe
is that part which he believes will find most merit in the
observer's eyes and, therefore, will probably procure the
389
390 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
maximum benefit, of one sort or another, for the person
observed.
People are taught, from earliest childhood, that the " right
thing to do " is what they are told to do by those who are able
to give them rewards. Children tend, therefore, to behave,
in the presence of their parents, according to the rules of
behaviour set by the parents. With other children, their
behaviour is quite different. Still, their responses are not
wholly normal, because they have already learned to shape
their actions in such a way as to produce the effect upon other
children most advantageous to themselves. In absolute
secret, however, with no other individuals present, the child
behaves in a radically different manner. This secret conduct
is most normal. Yet the child quickly learns to regard it as
most abnormal. As the individual grows older, his explicit
behaviour becomes more and more controlled by what he
thinks other people will approve of, and will reward him for
most handsomely. His own normal self, determined as it is
by his physical body structures, continues to express itself in
secret, but gradually this normal behaviour becomes almost
wholly implicit, in order not to reveal itself in some action not
beneficial to the subject in the eyes of his fellows. Thus
human beings, by adhering to the general type of observable
behaviour in their own group, learn to regard more than one
half of their normal selves as abnormal. In order to continue
to be thought normal, they must continue to regard their own
natural, secret behaviour as abnormal. Moreover, though
they may have a shrewd suspicion that other members of their
particular group are behaving in secret very like themselves,
they quickly learn to regard such secret normalcy of their
fellows, whenever discovered, as disgustingly abnormal also.
Upon learning that neighbour John Smith is secretly enjoying
a true love relationship with a woman who could not advan-
tageously be presented as Mrs. Smith, each secretly normal
individual quickly denounces Smith's conduct with all the
virulence at his command. Another stone has been added
to the burden of abnormality under which humanity is
labouring.
The " Inner Conviction " of Abnormality
All of which means, so far as emotional re-education goes,
that the stupendously difficult task confronting the clinical
EMOTIONAL RE-EDUCATION 391
psychologist is to convince normal people that the normal
part of their emotions is normal. The more normal they
are, the more people tend to entertain an " inner conviction "
of abnormality. It is very easy, therefore, to detect some
normal love longing which the subject already believes to be
utterly abnormal, and to convince him (or more likely her),
that his secret emotion must be " sublimated " into learning
to play church music, or writing essays on art, which will
never be published. But it is ridiculous to suppose that these
so called " sublimations " will really do anything more than
deprive the woman of part of her normal self which, prior
to the " analysis ", she had at least a fighting chance of ulti-
mately expressing overtly in a normal way.
Psycho-Neural Normalcy of Behaviour Does Not Depend Upon
What One's Neighbour Does
The only practical emotional re-education consists in teach-
ing people that there is a norm of psycho-neural behaviour,
aot dependent in any way upon what their neighbours are
doing, or upon what they think their neighbours want them
to do. People must be taught that the love parts of them-
selves, which they have come to regard as abnormal, are com-
pletely normal. More than this, people must be taught
ultimately, that love (real love, not " sex appetite "), con-
stitutes, in the human organism, the ultimate end of all activ-
ity, and that to gain this end appetite emotion must first,
last, and always be adapted to love.
When this teaching is suggested, the emotional re-educator
is at once faced with the problem of freeing the individual
sufficiently from the existing standards of appetite-controlled
society to permit him to express his psycho-neural self
normally. Emotional abnormalities perpetuate themselves
principally through compulsory compliance with things.
Modern appetites are monstrously developed. To satisfy
them, even partially, we must have things, and more things,
and to get things we are obliged to comply with the people
who now possess them. They set the standards. And they
set standards, naturally, which enforce compliance with their
own thing-getting activities, and which tend to make those
activities more successful. The doctrine of taking the average,
observable behaviour of any group as the definition of normal
behaviour, really means that the degree of compliance with
392 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
things which any person manifests is the measure of his normal-
ity. What an astounding doctrine ! You are normal, accord-
ing to this doctrine, in proportion to the amount of yourself
that you are willing to give up, or to consider abnormal, in
order to get more things.
How, then, can we free the normal part of our subject
from the necessity of complying with an abnormal standard
in order to satisfy his appetite ? People must be taught,
first of all, that the compliance required for the getting of
things is not a compliance with the abnormal parts of the
thing-possessors, but with the normal appetitive portions
of these individuals. These men, themselves, or their an-
cestors, won their possessions by never complying with
any superior 'antagonistic force, except in a way calculated
to dominate that very opponent. Applying this first rule
of appetitive success to the very problem of over-coming
the false standard of normalcy which owners of things seek
to enforce, the person who would be normal must be advised
to regard such individuals not as superior allies, to whom
it is necessary to submit, but as temporarily superior an-
tagonists, with whom it is necessary to comply in order
ultimately to dominate them.
Appetitive Leaders Are Not Love Leaders
The fact is that persons of appetitive superiority have
usurped the position of love leaders by virtue of their superior
appetitive strength. They assume to dictate not only what
other people must do in order to receive a share of their
wealth and power, but also what the public in general must
do, supposedly for its own good, without any hope of sharing
in the spoils. It is impossible for a man who has spent his
life in appetitive activity, or whose pre-eminent position
depends upon successful maintenance of vast possessions,
to prescribe any rules of conduct other than appetitive rules.
It is likewise impossible for him to avoid using his dominant
supremacy to compel less powerful people to act in a way
favourable to his own interests. If, then, the public at large
accept men of this type, not only as appetitive dictators
but also as supposed love leaders of humanity, the present
utterly abnormal suppression of love must continue.
If, however, it is within the power of the emotional re-
educator to teach people in general that they should comply
EMOTIONAL RE-EDUCATION 393
with rules of conduct dictated by appetitive leaders, only
to a sufficient extent to dominate the source of supply, and
obtain independent meSns of their own, there is hope. Then
people will be free to recognize their own normalcy, and to
establish, gradually, a new code of conduct, based upon love
supremacy and appetitive subserviency. I 4iave tested this
programme in the cases of male clinical subjects sufficiently
to know that it can be made to work.
But what happens to the man during this process of re-
education ? By the time he has acquired his first appetitive
success, he is well on his way to the same dominant inhibition
of all love emotion that obtains in the controlling emotional
set of all thing-getters and possessors. There is, apparently,
no dependable intra-organic love stimulatiorr within the
male organism. There is a strong intra-organic appetitive
stimulus mechanism, hunger pangs, operating several times
each day. As a result of this physical condition of 'affairs
successful males invariably acquire a tremendous over balance
of appetitive emotion response. By the time this appetitive
drive is employed to the point of becoming successful in
competition with other males, the preponderance of appetite
over love has become still further exaggerated, and no amount
of love stimulation administered by a woman, or women,
under ordinary conditions, seems able to restore love to
the place of importance which it may have held in the man's
total emotional pattern when he was less successful.
In those rare instances were this does not occur, and where
the man, after becoming successful, seeks to alter the appe-
titive code to permit some part of love to be recognised as
normal, he is quite likely to suffer appetitive disaster as a
result of his temerity in championing love. A case in point
seems to be that of Judge Ben Lindsey, of Denver, who
recently lost his judgeship, apparently as a result of his
activities directed toward freeing love from appetitive
control. 1 As a result of my own observations so far, I have
reached the tentative conclusion that male love leadership
is virtually impossible, for the two reasons stated. First,
a man's body is not designed for active love, and does not,
therefore, keep him sufficiently love stimulated to control
his over developed appetite. Second, if he attains appetitive
1 Judge Lindsey 's opinions on the subject are to be found in his two
books, The Revolt of Modern Youth, and The Companionate Marriage.
394 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
leadership, he is unable to turn this into love leadership,
because other people will not submit to him sufficiently.
Qualifications of a Love Leader
What are the qualifications of an active love leader, in the
situation under 4 discussion ? There are four requisite at-
tributes. First, an organism whose intra-organic stimulus
mechanisms cause active love emotion to be evoked, pre-
ponderantly over passive love (passion), or any phase of
appetite emotion. Second, sufficient appetitive power for
self-support, without dependence, directly or indirectly, upon
the persons who submit to the leader's direction. Third,
a person with sufficient wisdom to understand all the emotion
mechanisms 'of the adult organism. Fourth, a person with
sufficient 'practical knowledge of existing social and economic
institutions to be able to adapt the necessary measures of
social reorganization, so as to evoke a maximum normalcy
of emotional response from the public.
These four requirements probably cannot be met by any
one in the world to-day. But they represent a wholly prac-
tical pattern of personality, which can be evolved, within
a few generations, if emotional education is directed speci-
fically towards the training and development of love leaders ;
and simultaneously, toward development of a corresponding
attitude of passive love on the part of the people who are
in need of love leadership.
Emotional Re-education of Women To Become Love
Leaders
Where can the emotional re-educator look for persons
capable of being trained toward ultimate love leadership ?
We have already seen that males cannot be counted on,
unless the male organism changes radically. The only pos-
sible candidates for love leader training, therefore, are women.
But of the four qualifications specified above, women of the
present day possess only the first, namely, an organism
containing adequate intra-organic love stimulus mechanisms.
It seems to me by far the most hopeful symptom of
emotional evolution within the period of recorded human
history, however, that women are beginning to develop both
the power and willingness to support themselves. When
this power is developed to three or four times its present
EMOTIONAL RE-EDUCATION 395
capacity, some women, at least, will have acquired the second
essential attribute of actjve love leadership, namely, appetitive
self reliance. The necessity for such appetitive independence
in a real love leader should be emphasized again at this point.
It is by virtue of appetitive supremacy, alone, that males
have ruled the world during the major portfon of our racial
history.
Presumably, it is because women so vastly preferred love
responses to appetitive activity that they refrained so long
from developing dominance to the point of appetitive self
dependence. For example, I asked a class of thirty girls,
recently, to express their preference between having an ideal
love affair and possessing a million dollars. These girls are
students in a physical training school, and have "shown them-
selves, in other tests, to be much more dominant than the
average female group. Twenty-five expressed preference for
the love affair, and five for the million dollars. Despite this
preference for love, however, modern women are realizing,
at last, that love relationship in the home is utterly impossible,,
so long as they must use their love for appetite in obtaining
support from husband or lover. They are equipping them-
selves accordingly ; and there is great hope that love will
begin to free itself from its present abnormally reversed
relationship to appetite, as soon as women not only win
sufficient dominance power to support themselves, but also
demand the right to continue to support themselves throughout
all relationships with .males. The creation of children is not
justifiable in a majority of unions between the sexes ; but
when the creation responses are justifiably undertaken, there
is sound psychological ground for advising the woman to
provide, before-hand, sufficient funds of her own to carry both
herself and the child through the period of her physical in-
capacity for appetitive work. There is sound psychological
ground, also, for requiring the male to share equally, at least,
in the home work and the care of children.
Woman's attainment of the last two qualifications for love
leadership is still far in the future. The emotional re-educator,
however, must take the responsibility for discovering and
describing human emotional mechanisms, and for instructing
women carefully in their meaning and control. In my ex-
perience, at least, I have found that whatever practical know-
ledge we already possess, especially concerning the love and
396 EMOTIONS OF NORMAL PEOPLE
creation mechanisms, is intellectually assimilated far more
rapidly by girl students than by me$. The reverse is true,
of course, at the present time, with regard to knowledge of
the appetitive mechanisms. But when women require this
knowledge, also, for the purpose of teaching their own children
(the existing type of female love leadership), they seek it
eagerly, and study it diligently, as evidenced by the extra-
ordinary growth of " Child Study " organizations in recent
years.
The final requirement for active love leadership of human-
kind by women, namely, that of a practical knowledge of
political and social methods and present institutions, should
develop from woman's increased dominance development, and
from her consequent active participation in appetitive activities
of all kinds. Women have already undertaken participation
in public life, though not yet with satisfactory results, at
least in America. It should be an important part of the
emotional re-educator's constructive programme for women,
,to offer emotional analyses of existing political and social
methods and procedures.
Emotional Re-education of Men and Women to Follow Love
Leadership
It seems apparent that the second part of the suggested
programme of emotional re-education, namely, the training
of males and less actively developed women in passion response
to the active love leaders, must be left to woman herself.
No task could be found more compatible with woman's normal
emotional equipment, once its normalcy is publicly acknow-
ledged. But woman must be taught to use her love power
exclusively for the benefit of humanity and not for her own
destructive, appetitive gratifications, as so many women are
doing, under the present appetitive regime.
Men dislike intensely the idea of submitting to women.
Yet, at the same time, they exert themselves to the utmost
to establish just such passionately submissive relationships
with women who have captivated them. If, when such a
relationship is accepted by the woman, she has been taught
to continue her captivatress' love supremacy throughout the
entire duration of her love relationship with the male, great
happiness must result for both. The man's passionate enjoy-
ment of submission can be evoked continuously, throughout
EMOTIONAL RE-EDUCATION 397
the relationship, instead of lapsing, lugubriously, as now
happens so frequently, when the woman is compelled to shift
to a submissive role after marriage.
Compliance, if it springs from submission, may be pleasantly
learned. This is an incidental benefit to be derived from such
an emotional re-education programme as that suggested.
For both compliance and dominance, if exercised for the sake
of carrying out a passion response, gain all the pleasantness of
the passion in place of their previous unpleasantness, without
losing their appetitive efficacy in the slightest degree. The
emotional re-education programme suggested, therefore, nolds
the potentiality of appetitive success as well as love happiness.
For, in place of the reversed conflict relationship of happiness
adapted to success, which, at the present tiijie, partially
defeats both, success must be adapted to happiness.
INDEX
Abnormal emotions : 361
" Acquisitiveness " : 115
Active Creation : 347
in males : 348, 349
in women : 348
responses of mother : 345
Adaptation : 116
compliance to dominance :
3&2, 365
inducement to submission :
373, 374
environment to organism : 362
Adaptive reaction : 70
Adler, Alfred'. 140
Adolescence : 228, 254, 249
Adolescent boys : 228
girls : 136, 235
Adult, dominance responses : 133
male, use of inducement : 253
Aesthetes : 172
Aesthetic attitude : 74, 187
compliance : 173, 186
emotion : 171
Affection : 62
Affective consciousness : 68, 23
Allport, F. H. : 75
Appetite : 194, 259
active, in infants : 345
analysis of : 203
confused with love : 328
"Appetite ", definition of : 204
Appetite, passive, response of : 344
Appetitive independence, neces-
sity for : 395
leaders : 392
leaders, male .'358
relationships : 257
responses : 263
responses of children : 351
success : 392
supremacy, after marriage :
336
Army Alpha Test, value to psy-
chology: 18
Artistic creation : 355
Association reaction-time tests :
Atalanta : 20
Athletics : 135
Atom, casual effects : 13
Atoms : 87
Attitude, anamistic : 356
Babies, rage emotion of : 126
Baby, grasping : 197
" Baby Party " : 399
Baby Party, pleasantness of : 310
" Bad Temper " : 366
Bartelmez, G. W. : 49, 51, 52
Battle, victory in : 2
Beast, jungle : 2
Behaviour, biologically efficient : 5
determined : 14
female '.235
of girls : 247
human : 162
infant : 246
of parents, required by law :
286
compliance-dominance, pro-
hibition of : 281
inducement-submission, com-
pulsory : 282
male : 235
natural : 390
norms : 390
of children, required by law :
286
love, before coitus : 331
physiological : 24
Behaviourism, description of : 20
Behaviourists : 5, 19, 23, 66
Benussi, V. : 371, 372
Berry, C. S. : 130
Biological evolution : 9
Biology : 13, 47
Blatz, W. C. : 146
Blatz' experiments : 147, 148
Blood pressure, during coitus : 319
" Boot licking " : 256
Bodily movement : 65
meaning of : 16
value of : 17
changes, result of : 17
399
400
INDEX
Boring, E. G, : 61, 74, 214
Botany : 13
Boys : 122, 225, 254
Business man : 253
Burtt, H. E. : 372
Byrne, Olive, sophomore studies :
299
Campbell : 97
Cannon, W. B. : 4, 55, 56, 60,
74, 75, 208, 209, 318
and Washburn, A. L. : 74
Captivation : 249, 292
between sexes : 293
during physical struggle : 294
spontaneous, in girls : 303
and passion, blend of : 340
Carlson, A. J. : 33, 61, 74, 209,
212
and Ginsburg, H. : 208
and Luckhardt, A. B.: 208
Case Studies, boy students : 155
college girls : 261
deformed boy : 249
Edgar : 122, 127, 149
female prisoners : 339
girl employees : 339
girl lovers : 338
hazing : 136
hunger : 214
Jack: 125, 128, 150, 226
jealousy between children :
375
kindergarten boy : 225
M : 167, 170, 172
Miss C. M , teacher : 232
Miss R., teacher : 228
Mr. F. V. : 212
Mr. H., principal : 230
Mr. Y., teacher : 229
prisoner : 153
sadism : 385
Teddy : 274
" tomboy " : 248
Yvette : 304
2:295
Causal media : 16
Causation, analysis of : 25
Causation, materialistic : 7
psycho-neural mechanisms :
18
vitalistic : 8
Causes, vitalistic and mechanistic :
ii
Cellular units : 13
Cerebellum : 90
Chemistry : 13, 47, 87
Child, compliant : 167
dominant : 126
Childhood experiences of fear : 2
Childr n : 21, 149
active love in : 291
emotional consciousness of:
22
school survey : 114
submissive : 224
Chinese school boys : 233
" Choc " : i
Chorus girls : 332
Clinic, college girls : 236
Clinic, students' : 115
Clitoris : 318
College girls : 236, 261
Coitus reservatus : 333
Competition : 135
Compliance: 141, 173
active: 217
compulsory : 148
definition of : 107
evoked by country environ-
ment : 164
in adult fear : 146
in athletics : 135
in infant fear : 144
introspection : 183
learned response : 191
unpleasant : 225
passive and active : 175
pleasant : 168
protects organism : 189
voluntary, 179
with intensity, protection
from : 282
with things : 391
with volume : 168, 169, 170
Compliance-emotion: 119
Compliance-response: 150, 151,
154. 157
Conflicts : 2, 361
Conflict, definition of : 363
Conflict-emotion : 3
Connector threshold : 154
Consciousness : 18, 72
approached objectively : 27
introspective reports of : 22
definition of : 16, 52
effect on bodily behaviour :
28
exclusion of : 19
form of energy : 16, 23, 39
generation of : 51
influence of : 16
of children : 21
proofs of : 2.8
INDEX
401
Psychonic theory : 26, 85
description of : 17
scientific proof of : 27
Convicts, study of : 152 *
" Creation " : 115
Creation-emotion, definition of :
342
Creation, of children : 395
active : 357
definition of : 345
Creation, artistic : 355
Creation-emotion, passive : 355,
357
Creative artists : 355
Criminals : 152
Crowd, influence of : 293
" Crush " : 304
Darwinian evolution : g
" Day dreaming " : 80
Deception : i, 387, 388
bodily symptoms of : 3
Deception tests : 18, 369
dominant type : 372
results of : 370
types of : 371
Defeat, emotions symptomatic
of : 2
Deceiver, weak type : 371
Dempsey, Jack : 138, 365
Desire : 199, 204
unsatisfied : 264
Desmoulins, A., and Magendie, F. :
223
Dominance: 115, 116, 179
and compliance : 184, 194
behaviour: 128
competition : 132
definition of : 108
destructive : 131
evoking of : 166
in adults : 134
normal and abnormal : 124
" of the chase " : 129
legal restraint of : 282
passive : 157* 344
pleasantness and unpleasant-
ness of : 137
Dominance-emotion: 119, 120
characteristics of : 140
Dominance response : 147
in infants : 350
in young children : 121
Drugs : 37
Educators : 149
Einstein: 53
Electron : 9, 13
Ellis, Havelock : 334
Emotion, is motor consciousness :
53, 54
" Emotion circle : 102
Emotion investigators, classifica-
tion of : 17
Emotion, of njother, during nurs-
ing of child : 346
Emotional bondage, cases of : 354
consciousness, evidences of :
60
responses, normal : 2
stimuli, nature of : 64
Emotions, human : 15
major : i
primary, definition of : 106
primary, integrative princi-
ples of : 87*
theories of : 51, 73
Endocrines: 150
Endocrinologists : 5
Energy forms : 10 %
units: 7, 10
Environment: 2, 13, 91
country, evoking compliance :
164
Environmental antagonists : 2
causes : 22
control, freedom from : 23
situations : 22
stimuli: 15, 118, 120, 149,
151. 159. 162, 177
Erogenous zone : 227
" Fallen women " : 260
Fatigue : 33, 239
" Fear " : 2, 107, 179
Fear, childhood experience of : 2
definition of : 366
during deception : 371
not efficient : 2
psychologically undefined : 4
release from ; 369
responses, adult : 146
responses, infant : 144
spread of : 368
Feeling, as motor consciousness :
53
definition of : 77
part of sensation : 72
theories of : 69
Feelings, abnormal, of childhood :
280
primary, integrative princi-
ples of : 69
primary, definition of : 78
3D
402
INDEX
Fetus, responses of : 344
Fittest, survival of : 2
Food stimulation : 216
Forbes, A. : 14, 50, 52
Forbes, A., Campbell, C. J. and
Williams, H. B. : 87
Forbes, A., and Gregg, A. : So
Freudian system : 381
Ford, Henry : 134
Furies: i
Galvonometer : 90
"Gang warfare" among boys:
124
Genital organs : 224
automatic love teachers : 317,
344
male : 317
female : 318
Girl and mother relationships : 269
Girl, aggressor in captivation : 295
Girls : 122
Girls, allied to other girls : 268
Girls' behaviour : 247
Girls, emotional responses of : 240
Girls, inducement: 261, 267
Glidden, L. F., mtcrclass college
girl studies : 305
" Gold digging " : 383
Goldstein, E. R. : 370
Goltz : 143, 222
results of : 53, 55, 119
Gyroscope : 9
Habitual actions : 81
responses : 27
" Happy Slave " : 243, 305, 310,
3". 315
Hatred : i, 377
distinguished from domin-
ance : 379
international : 378
Hayes, S. P. : 69
Head, H., and Holmes, G. : 71,
85* M4
Herrick, C. J. : 43, 49, 58, 62,
66, 70, 90, 92
Hertzian waves : 26
Homicide : 118
Homosexual relations, boys : 252
prisoners : 115
Human beings, controlled : 169
Hunger : 74, 207
" Hunger hormone " : 208
Hunger pangs : 61, 170, 212, 214,
220
Hunger stimulus, psychology of :
208
" Hunting instinct " : 129
HypocYisy : 386
Inducement : 109, 245
active, after menses : 323
adapted to submission : 374
definition of : 108
characteristics of : 273
description of : 275
male, at orgasm: 326
in business : 255
motor response in : 320
passive, definition of : 289
passive, during erection : 325
passive, in infants , 246
pleasantness of : 271
plus submission, legal en-
forcement of : 284
response, mother to child i
246
Infants : 224
Infant, behaviour of : 120
Innervation feeling : 63
Inorganic matter : 10
" Instinct of self preservation " :
187
Interclass college girl studies : 306
conclusions .-311
relations, passion in : 305
Interclass struggles, males : 297
Intra-neuronic energy : 40
Introspectionists : 5
Introspectionistic schools : 66
" Introverted " persons : 30
Irritability : 366
James, William : 367
James-Lange theory of emotions :
68
disproof of : 54
James-Langites : 53
Jealousies : i, 375
Jealousy, between children : 375
dissolution of : 376
Jones, Mary C. : 288, 368
Jung, C. J. : 372
Keller, F. S., inter-class struggle
studies : 297, 315
Landis, C. : 60
Langfeld, H. S. : 372
Langley, J. N. : 49, 55, 56
Langley and Anderson .'318
Language difficulties : 6
INDEX
403
Lashley, K. S. : 91, 92
Learned response, compliance :
170
Learning, emotional: 133,7148
methods of, over-compliance :
280
submission-inducement :
281
trial and error : 280
Lindsey, Ben B. : 337, 393
Linnander, K. S. : 54
Libido : 21, 22
Lindbergh, C. : 140
Lombard, knee jerk '.213
Long, H. W. : 334
Love : 223
active, controlled by domi-
nance : 336, 385
definition of : 393
description of : 288
occurrences of, in male
children : 290
responses, infant to mot-
her : 290
analysis of : 340
Love-appetite reversals : 381
Love, between women : 338
differentiation from sex : 287
effect of, between women : 339
excitement, nocturnal : 321
leader : 394
integration : 317
mechanisms : 317
Love, passive, definition of : 289
description of : 288
during menses : 322
responses of infants : 288
preference for : 395
physical, characteristics of :
324
power, use of : 396
stimulus cycle, female : 319
male : 320
union : 333
Lucas, K.: 14
Males, captivation between : 298
Manic depressive insanity: 366
Mannerisms '.234
Marston, E. H. : 370
Marston, W. M. : 3, 4, 41, 61, 206,
372
Marui, K. : 51
Materialism : 7
Mauthner's cell : 49
McCormick, C. T. : 372
McDougall, W. : 63
Mechanistic foundation of psycho-
analysis : 21
set, description of : 7
Mechanistic-type cause : 363
causes,: 10, 65, 117
Mental- tester-statisticians : 5, 18,
23
Mental tests, v^alue of : 19
Molecules, causal effects : 13
Motation : 77
Mother fixation : 313
Mother, inducement toward : 291
Mother-child relationship : 353
Mother-daughter relationship : 235
Motor alliances and conflicts : 72
Motor centers : 78
consciousness : 42, 53, 62,
6? 77
proofs of; 58
theory : 57
Motor-discharge : 173
Motor neurones : 58
phenomena : 73
psychon : 78
"Motor self": 93, 161, 172, 186,
210, 267
energizes genitals '.319
over-intensity of : 1 50
Motor Stimuli: 93, 118, 210
Munsell : 104
Nature : 162
Nature, behaviour of forces of : 116
Nerve impulses : 14, 25, 70
Neurological basis of emotion : 116
Neurologists '.5, 14
Neurology : 47
Neurone : 51
Neurones, motor : 58
sensory : 58
New York City school survey : 114
Newton : 53
Normal emotions : 2
description of : 5
people, emotions of : 5
person : i
Normalcy : 389
Oedipus complex : 6
Ogden, C. K.: 6
Organism, male : 252
natural equilibrium of : 185
Orgasm, clitoral: 327
external : 328
internal : 324
male: 325
sex differences in : 327
464 INDEX
Orthology : 6
Pain : i, 181
Parent-child relationship : 225
Parents : 21, 149
Passion, definition of: 301, 313
in children : 302
in males : 313
in women : 337
toward mother : 303
Passive appetite, definition of:
347
creation, definition of : 353
description of : 345
responses in children :
Patterson, L. L. : 210
Penitentaries, survey of : 114
Phasic impulse? : 88
reflex : 84
Physical appetite: 218
force: 116
passion : 325
science: 46
stimulus, function of : 15
Physics : 13, 41
Physiological psychologists : 5
sciences, purpose of : 14
Physiologists : 5, 15
Physiology : 47
Plants : I I
Play : 247
Pleasantness: 2, 187, 271
and unpleasantness, defined :
86
principles of : 78
of dominance : 137
Position during coitus : 335
Preparedness : 191
Preyer, W.\ 171
Priesthood, power of : 357
Primary colours : 103
Primary emotion : 87, 115
definition of : 106
feelings : 70, 74
Prison farm : 152
labour : 167
Prisoners : 152
Proofs of consciousness : 28
Prostitution : 384
Proton: 13
Psychiatrists : 5
Psycho-analyst : 5, 23
Psycho- Analysis, doctrine of : 21
system of thought : 22
Psycho-neural concept : 90
submission : 239
Psycho-physiologists : 17
Psychology : 7, 20
of emotions, causal emphasis i
-2, 23
Psychology's assignment : 15, 16
Psychon, concept of : 46
function of : 52
motor : 78, 1 19
Psychonic energy : 57
impulses : 46
picture : 199
theory of consciousness : 26,
93
Pulse measurements, during coit-
us : 319
Punishment : 153
" Rage " : 107, 126, 127
definition of : 364
reported by Goltz : 119
reported by Watson : 120
Rage, abnormal : i
Re-education, emotional : 389
male : 393
of women : 394
Reflex actions : 22
Reflexes, two types : 161
Reformers : 386
Relationship,inducement plus sub-
mission, in business : 283
inducement to submission :
279
legal recognition of : 285
Relationships, mother-child : 353
mother-daughter : 235
parent child : 225
Relationships, student-teacher :
279
Religion : 8
Responses, normal : 2
Revenge : 366
Reversals : 361
Reversals, definition of : 363
love : 329
over-compliant : 363
over-dominant : 363
over-inducement : 374, 377
submission and inducement :
373
Running away : 127
Sadism : 385
case study : 385
Sadistic attitude : 249
Sanger, Margaret : 335
Sapphic fragment : 99
Satisfaction : 202
INDEX
405
Science, assignments of : 15
Seduction : 384
Self-control, emotional : 24
Selling: 255 /
Sensation : 18, 59, 72
Sensory awareness : 73
consciousness : 65
neurones : 58
stimulation : 163
Sensuality: 384
11 Sex" : 119
Sex, definition of : 287
differences in dominance .'135
response : 246
" Sexual " passion : 99
Sherrington, C. S. : 9, 40, 43, 44,
45, 49, 52, 55, 83, 87, 89,
91, 101, 160, 177, 361
Shock: i
Skeletal muscles : 89
Smith. W. W. : 37, 76
Social rivalry : 261
Spanking: 385
Spaulding, Edith R. : 114
Sublimations : 391
Stimulus, physical : 14
Submission : 222
active and passive : 237
after menses : 322
conscious characteristics : 243
definition of : 109
during passion : 244
motor responses in : 320
pleasantness of : 241
reinforced by dominance : 275
Submission-response, active, in
children : 274
control of dominance : 352
in infants : 350
Subliminal stimuli : 31
Survival of fittest : 2
Synaptic energy : 44
Systolic blood pressure : 100, 180
deception tests: 18
Teacher, emotions of : 278
Tests: 133, 114
Texas prison survey : 1 14
Thalamic lesion : 7
Thalamic motor centers : 222, 245
" Thinking " : 84
activities: 28
Thorndihe, E. : 19
Titchener, E. B. : 63, 69
" Tomboys " : 248
Tonic balance .'319
energy : 90
discharge : 83, 88
mechanisms : 88, 90
Treachery: 386
Troland, L.: 372
Tunney, Gene : 365
Unconscious rftsponse : 34
" Unconscious " stimulus J 31
" Unhappy master ", male re-
ports : 315
Units of energy : 7
of matter : 10
Viscera : 209
Visceral seasation : 85
feelings : 73
Vitalistic cansation : 8
set, description of : 8
type causes : 9, 19, 21, 22,
66, 363
Vitalism : 7
Watson, John B, : 6, 19, 24, 93,
120, 121, 128, 144, 147,
148, 223, 278, 288, 345,.
Watson, J. B., and Rosalie, H. :
56
Weakness: 2
Wechsler, D. : i
Wharton, H. T. : 95
Whipping, mild : 385
Women: 135, 259
and dominance : 260
as weaker sex : 258
emotional leaders : 258
emotions of, during preg-
nancy : 343
inducing males : 260
Women love leaders : 394
working after marriage : 337
Women's dominance : 296
inducement : 259
strength : 231
Woodworth, R. S. : 29, 72
Work: 174
Wundt, W. : 63, 69
Yerkes, R, M. : 3
Yerkes, R. M. and Bloomjield. D. :
130
Zoology : 47
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EMOTION AND INSANITY. By S. Thalbitzer, Chief of the
Medical Staff, Copenhagen Asylum. Preface by Professor
H. Hiding.
7/6 net. * ,
" A psychological essay the material for which is provided by a study of
the manic-depressive psychosis. It is a brief attempt to explain certain
mental phenomena on a physiological basis. This explanation is based on
three well-recognized physiological laws. . . . Whatever the view taken
of this fascinating explanation, there is one plea in this book which must
be whole-heartedly endorsed, that psychiatric research should receive
much more consideration in the effort to determine the nature of normal
mental processes." Nature.
PERSONALITY. By K. G. Gordon, M.D.,D,Sc.,M.R.C.P.Ed.
10/6 net
"The book is, in short, a very useful critical discussion of the most
important modern work bearing on the mind-body problem, the whole
knit together by a philosophy at least as promising as any of those now
current." Times Literary Supplement. " His excellent book. He accepts
the important and attractive theory of Emergence." Observer. " A
significant contribution to the study of personality."- British Medical
Journal.
BIOLOGICAL MEMORY. By Eugenio Rignano, Professor of
Philosophy in the University of Milan. Translated, with an
Introduction, by Professor E. W. MacBride, F.R.S.
10/6 net.
" Professor Rignano's book may prove to have an important bearing
on the whole mechanist- vitalist controversy. He has endeavoured
to give meaning and content to the special property of ' livmgness ', which
separates the organic from the inorganic world by identifying it with
unconscious memory. The author works out his theory with great
vigour and ingenuity, and the book deserves, and should receive, the
earnest attention not only of students of biology, but of all interested
in the age-long problem of the nature of life." Spectator.
COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHY. By Paul Masson-Oursel.
Introduction by F. G. Crookshank, M.D., F.R.C.P.
10/6 net.
" He is an authority on Indian and Chinese philosophy, and in thu> book
he develops the idea that philosophy should be studied ... as a series
of natural events by means of a comparison of its development in various
countries and environments. After a lengthy introduction on the
method, and a chronological table, he illustrates his thesis by chapters
on the stages in the evolution of philosophic thought in general and on
comparative logic, metaphysics, and psychology." Times Literary
Supplement.
INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY OF
THE LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT OF THE CHILD. By Jean
Piaget, Professor at the University of Geneva. Preface by
Professor E. Claparede.
10/6 net.
" A very interesting book. Everyone interested in psychology, education,
or the art of thought should read it. The results are surprising, but
perhaps the most surprising thing which this book makes clear is how
extraordinarily little was previously known of the way in which children
think." Nation. " Fills a gap in the study of the subject." Lancet.
CRIME AND CUSTOM IN SAVAGE SOCIETY. By B. Mali-
nowski, Professor of Anthropology in the University of
London.
With 6 plates, 5/- net.
" In this first-hand investigation into the social structure of a primitive
community Dr Malinowski has broken new ground. It is probably no
exaggeration to say that the book is the most important contribution to
anthropology that has appeared for many years past. Its effects are
bound to be far-reaching. ... It is written by an anthropologist for
anthropologists ; but it should be read by all who have to deal with
primitive peoples and by all who are interested in human nature as
manifested in social relationships, which is to say that it should be read
by everyone." Outlook.
PSYCHOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY. By W. H. R. Rivers, M.D.,
LiU. D., F.R.S. Preface by G. Elliot Smith, F.R.S.
I5/- net.
" Gives us most fascinating evidence of the many-sidedness of Rivers's
interests, and of his actual scientific methods. . . . This notice in no way
exhausts the treasures that are to be found in this volume, which really
requires long and detailed study. "We congratulate the editor on producing
it. It is a worthy monument to a great man." Saturday Review. " Every-
thing he has written concerning anthiopology is of interest to all serious
students of the subject." Times Literary Supplement.
THEORETICAL BIOLOGY. By /. von UexkulL
i8/- net.
" It is not easy to give a critical account of this important book. Partly
because of its ambitious scope, that of re -setting biological formulations
in a new synthesis, partly because there is an abundant use of new terms.
Thirdly, the author's arguments are so radically important that they
cannot justly be dealt with in brief compass. No one can read the book
without feeling the thrill of an unusually acute mind, emancipated from
the biological conventionalities of our time." J. Arthur Thomson, in
Journal of Philosophical Studies.
THOUGHT AND THE BRAIN. By Henri Pieron, Professor at
the College de France. Translated by C. K. Ogden.
12/6 net.
" A very valuable summary of recent investigations into the structure
and working of the nervous system. He is prodigal of facts, but sparing
of theories. His book can be warmly recommended as giving the reader a
vivid idea of the intricacy and subtlety of the mechanism by wMch the
human animal co-ordinates its impressions of the outside world. His
own clinical experience is considerable, and he has a wide acquaintance
with the literature of his subject, but he carries his erudition lightly.
Nearly one quarter of the book is devoted to a learned and penetrating
study of aphasia." Times Literary Supplement.
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