Darwin accepted the emotions themselves as hereditary or acquired
states of mind and devoted his attention to their expression. But
these emotions themselves are genetic products and as such dependent
on organic conditions. It remained, therefore, for psychologists who
accepted evolution and sought to build on biological foundations to
trace the genesis of these modes of animal and human experience. The
subject has been independently developed by Professors Lange and
James;[173] and some modification of their view is regarded by many
evolutionists as affording the best explanation of the facts. We must
fix our attention on the lower emotions, such as anger or fear, and on
their first occurrence in the life of the individual organism. It is a
matter of observation that if a group of young birds which have been
hatched in an incubator are frightened by an appropriate presentation,
auditory or visual, they instinctively respond in special ways. If we
speak of this response as the expression, we find that there are many
factors. There are certain visible modes of behaviour, crouching at
once, scattering and then crouching, remaining motionless, the braced
muscles sustaining an attitude of arrest, and so forth, There are also
certain visceral or organic effects, such as affections of the heart
and respiration. These can be readily observed by taking the young
bird in the hand. Other effects cannot be readily observed; vaso-motor
changes, affections of the alimentary canal, the skin and so forth.
Now the essence of the James-Lange view, as applied to these
congenital effects, is that though we are justified in speaking of
them as effects of the stimulation, we are not justified, without
further evidence, in speaking of them as effects of the emotional
state. May it not rather be that the emotion as a primary mode of
experience is the concomitant of the net result of the organic
situation--the initial presentation, the instinctive mode of
behaviour, the visceral disturbances?
According to this interpretation the primary tissue of experience of
the emotional order, felt as an unanalysed complex, is generated by
the stimulation of the sensorium by afferent or incoming physiological
impulses from the special senses, from the organs concerned in the
responsive behaviour, from the viscere and vaso-motor system.
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