For _plush_ there was a feeling of pleasure, ease, safety, and content.
The mood was one of a general enjoyment of sinking one's self into
the situation, an agreeable self-surrender. Here also is a feeling
of unbending one's self, of general expansiveness, of relaxation.
One is soothed, enjoys a suggestion of freedom from disturbance, of
a "regularity" of the experience, feels at the same time strength in
the suggested repose, responds to pleasant reverberating thrills by
the falling off from the accustomed muscular tonicity, and hence has a
decided feeling of satisfaction. To some subjects the feeling aroused
by the hard, polished, glazed tin surface, possessing no "yielding"
character, corresponded more nearly to the feeling for the yellow
color than for the red. To all red "went best" with the plush. No
tactual feelings offered such distinguishable elements for analysis,
nor were they as definitely described as the visual or olfactory or
auditory impressions. The sensational elements were in many cases more
pronounced. The feeling for the plush, however, much like that for
the red color, suggests a "settling down to," or a "dropping forward
toward," rather than an aggressive "taking in" of the feeling-material.
The feeling-tone with sensations from sandpaper is grating, irritating,
stirring, stimulating. The feeling is one of contraction, of
withdrawal, of uneasiness. One is full of "collapsing chills," of
minute little pains, and there is a decided call for an opposite kind
of behavior. The sense of weakness, of waste of power and energy, of
being penetrated, of strained expectation, of unwelcome tension, and of
slight "wasteful excitement" results. To some subjects, notably subject
E, at times the whole feeling of stimulation as such predominated,
and the total effect produced was agreeable, as it "satisfied a felt
need of waking up." Here again one subject, subject B, throughout the
whole period of two years, failed to find any element of pleasure in
any tactual sensation that was pronounced or prolonged sufficiently to
furnish material for introspection.
As regards simple _tones_ from tuning-forks the subjects find little
to say. All are pleasant, as a rule, and almost universally, _low
tones_ are most pleasant, richer in content, greater in amount of
"general appeal," more soothing, and pleasantly stimulating. The
feeling of the easy attitude called for contributes to the whole
feeling. _High tones_, calling for more activity on the part of the
subject, more strain, and greater stimulation, coupled with some rather
unprepared-for irritating elements, are less pleasant, and also more
limited in their general appeal to the whole organism. The noises
variously produced were at first unpleasant, and the only assignable
reason seemed to be that their suddenness came as a shock. If expected
or continued they too became pleasant very often.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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