Psychology : $b A study of mental lifeWoodworth, Robert Sessions
Science
Psychology : $b A study of mental life
Woodworth, Robert Sessions
Psychology
The pleasantness or unpleasantness characteristic of many sensations
is called their "feeling-tone", and sensations that are markedly
pleasant or unpleasant are said to have a strong or pronounced
feeling-tone. Bitter is intrinsically unpleasant, sweet pleasant, the
salty taste, when not too strong, neither one nor the other, so that
it has no definite feeling-tone. Odors, as well as tastes, usually
have a rather definite feeling-tone. Of sounds, smooth tones are
pleasant, grating noises unpleasant. Bright colors are pleasant, while
dull shades are sometimes unpleasant, sometimes merely indifferent or
lacking in feeling-tone. Pain is usually unpleasant, moderate warmth
and cold pleasant, simple touch {175} indifferent. Very intense
sensations of any kind are likely to be unpleasant.
The statements made above as to the subjectivity and non-localization
of feeling do not apply altogether to the feeling-tone of sensations.
The pleasantness or unpleasantness of a sensation is localized with
the sensation and seems to belong to the object rather than to
ourselves. The unpleasantness of a toothache seems to be in the tooth
rather than simply "in us". The pleasantness of a sweet taste is
localized in the mouth, and we even think of the sweet substance as
being objectively pleasant. We say that it is a "pleasant day", and
that there is a "pleasant tang in the air", as if the pleasantness
were an objective fact.
By arguing with a person, however, you can get him to admit that,
while the day is pleasant _to him_, and the tang in the air pleasant
to him, they may be unpleasant to another person; and he will admit
that a sweet substance, ordinarily pleasant, is unpleasant when he has
had too much of sweet things to eat. So you can make him realize that
pleasantness and unpleasantness depend on the individual and his
condition, and are subjective rather than objective. Show a group of
people a bit of color, and you will find them agreeing much better as
to what color that is than as to how pleasant it is. Feeling-tone is
subjective in the sense that people disagree about it.
Theories of Feelings
1. Pleasantness might represent a general _organic state_, and
unpleasantness the contrary state, each state being an internal bodily
response to pleasant or unpleasant stimuli, and making itself felt as
an unanalyzable compound of vague internal sensations.
This theory of feeling is certainly attractive, and it would {176}
account very well for all the facts so far stated, for the
subjectivity of feeling, for its lack of localization, and for the
absence of specific sense organs for the feelings. It would bring the
feelings into line with the emotions. But the real test of the theory
lies just here: can we discover radically different organic states for
the two opposite feelings?
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