Psychological Aspects of the Problem of Atmospheric Smoke Pollution — John Shaqi
Psychological Aspects of the Problem of Atmospheric Smoke PollutionWallin, J. E. Wallace (John Edward Wallace)
Science
Psychological Aspects of the Problem of Atmospheric Smoke Pollution
Wallin, J. E. Wallace (John Edward Wallace)
Human beings -- Effect of environment on; Smoke
The smoke palls of our industrial centers exert both a direct and
indirect influence upon the human organism. The direct influence is due
to the immediate contact of the smoke-contaminated and poison-laden
air with the skin, mucous membranes and sense organs of the body. The
indirect effects are traceable to the various meteorological states
which are due to smoke products in the atmosphere, and which in turn
directly influence the body. Frequently, possibly always, the smoke
conditions and the state of the atmosphere are so inextricably mixed
that the biological effects must be ascribed to the joint action of
both factors. Only in a controlled experiment would it be possible
absolutely to segregate, and thus separately to measure, the effects of
the smoke and meteorological factors of weather states. This has not
yet been attempted.
The mental effects due to atmospheric smoke and its related weather
states are likewise both direct and indirect. The indirect effects
are due to the influences exerted by smoke clouds and smoke-produced
weather states on the physiological organism--on health, well-being,
energy, freshness, potential reserve, sensori-motor efficiency--and to
the influences thus directly exerted by the changed bodily states on
the mind: on mental tension, balance, inhibition, impulse, inclination,
feeling, emotion, thought, and conduct. On the other hand, the direct
mental effects are traceable to the immediate influences, whether
conscious or unconscious, exerted on the individual’s mental action
by his own experiences--by the thoughts, feelings and impulses which
have been excited in him by various bodily states, sensations and
perceptions produced by cloud and weather conditions--or which have
been directly produced by processes of association and habit formation,
the latter of which have themselves been initiated by thoughts or
responses occasioned, in the first instance, by the physiological
effects of external influences. The action of the mind itself does have
a determining influence upon its own subsequent attitudes, beliefs,
propensities and habits. It is important that these direct effects of
the mind’s own action upon its subsequent behavior be recognized, for
much of the mental gloom and depression occasioned by dismal cosmic
influences has merely been initiated by the external stimuli. Their
peculiar intensity is largely due to the subject’s own introspections,
to his own stream of thought. The mental influences are often more
pronounced than the bodily influences, whether the mental influences
arise from somatic alterations or from introspective changes. Cosmic
states are, perhaps, less to be regarded as _causes_ of mental action
than _factors_ which may upset the emotional balance, lessen inhibition
and alter the train of thought and conduct.
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