It is true that there is oftentimes a close relation between feeling and action; we gave some examples on p. 231. It is also true, however, that there are numberless actions into which feeling does not enter. The associationist school have, therefore, fallen into a mistake the opposite of that which we laid at their door on p. 161; _as they look at the course of ideas in too intellectual a way, so do they look at action in too emotional a way_. They also repeat a mistake which we noted on p. 146. There we found that an idea is supposed to have a ‘power’ to recall another idea; Hume refers to association as “a kind of attraction” which one idea exerts upon another. So here the feelings are supposed to have a ‘power’ to arouse or prevent or deflect actions; they are used to _explain_ conduct, precisely as the laws of association are used to _explain_ the course of ideas. Both these theories _betray a misunderstanding of the psychological problem_. We must conclude, then, that the associationists are at fault in their observation; for even if the earliest impulsive actions (p. 244) were invariably preceded by feeling,—and that is a matter of guesswork,—it is still true that our present actions show no such uniformity. We conclude, also, that the explanation of action is to be found in the determining tendencies of the nervous system, and not in the motive force of feeling. Questions and Exercises (1) (_a_) It is said on p. 232 that “the present is a good time for repeating” certain cautions. Now that you have read the chapter, can you see why the statement was made? (_b_) Criticise, in your own words, the doctrine that pleasure and pain have ‘power’ to determine actions. (2) Give from your own experience instances (_a_) of sensorimotor and ideomotor action, and (_b_) of the passage of selective or volitional action into some simpler form. Make your account as detailed as possible. (3) Draw up a table, in the form of a genealogical tree, of the various kinds of action discussed in this chapter. Write a psychological formula for every kind. Where does instinctive action come in? (4) Give instances, from history or fiction, (_a_) of selective action, (_b_) of volitional action, and (_c_) of conflicts from which a volitional action might have resulted, but did not. (5) Name (_a_) some of the principal human reflexes, and (_b_) some of the artificial reflexes most commonly acquired by civilised man. (6) The following statements occur in various psychological works: (_a_) every impulse is at the same time emotion; (_b_) every emotion is at the same time impulse; (_c_) every emotion is at the same time instinct; (_d_) every instinct is an impulse. What comment have you to make? (7) What evidence can you offer for the hypothesis (p. 245) that impulsive actions are, in the history of the race, as old as tropisms?