For many subjects frequently there results what I shall call a "Total
Mood." This, as to its feeling-character, can be merely different
from, more than, less than, or the same as either component or of
both together. To some the feeling is proportionate to the degree of
concentration of attention, and in all such cases rarely does the
whole complex situation afford a feeling equal to that given by either
component alone, the extra stimulation for the time being simply a
disturbing factor. To others the shifting of the focus of attention
from one to another of the external objects of interest, or from one
feeling-element to the other, is not at all disturbing, "any more
than is any general state of satisfied self-contemplation." This kind
of experience is often and distinctly reported, not as the enjoyment
of two where the discernible elements persist wholly unrelated, but
rather an enjoyment (or disagreeable experience as the case may be),
simply from two sources of stimulation, a total mood with similar or
harmonious constituents. The red color and the tactual feeling for
plush afford this. Similarly the unpleasant color above combines with
certain odors or with the sandpaper. Yellow, however, does not as a
rule produce a feeling that peaceably "falls in with" the tactual
impression brought about by the plush. Low tones tend to combine thus
with the red color or with the softest plush in the same kind of Total
Mood. The feeling-tones usually for pleasant high tones are described
as "falling in with" the feeling for yellow when the feeling exists as
described above, and as nearer to that of the feeling for the green
color than for the particular deep shade of red. What may be termed
the "_Congruity_ or _Incongruity of Feeling-Tones_" is perhaps a good
name to designate feeling-tone relations. It implies neither mutual
exclusiveness nor total fusion, and some such term is necessary.
The various phenomena of fusion, summation, partial reënforcement,
merely simultaneous, independent coexistence, partial and total
inhibition, of one by the other occur. The feeling-tone for yellow
tends most readily to fuse with the feeling-tone for high tones and
upright ovals. This is not so marked for the green, but more so for all
other colors than for the red. Red harmonizes and tends to fuse, for
most subjects, with the feeling-tones for soft plush, low tones, and
circular forms. This harmonizing, however, is not all that contributes
to the amount of feeling in these complex cases. Subjects often prefer
the low tones with yellow, even though there is less harmony. So
also upright ovals are in themselves generally so much more pleasant
than the circles that red is preferred thus presented, though its
feeling-character is more akin to that suggested by the circles. These
are cases where the intensity itself of the feeling-tone is preferred,
even though what is felt to be an harmonious combination is lessened.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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