Sex and Society: Studies in the Social Psychology of SexThomas, William Isaac
Science
Sex and Society: Studies in the Social Psychology of Sex
Thomas, William Isaac
Sex; Women -- Social and moral questions; Women -- Social conditions
I think, therefore, we have every reason to conclude that exogamy is
one expression of the more restless and energetic habit of the
male. It is psychologically true that only the unfamiliar and
not-completely-controlled is interesting. This is the secret of the
interest of modern scientific pursuit and of games. States of high
emotional tension are due to the presentation of the unfamiliar--that
is, the unanalyzed, the uncontrolled--to the attention. And although
the intimate association and daily familiarity of family life produce
affection, they are not favorable to the genesis of romantic
love. Cognition is so complete that no place is left for emotional
appreciation. Our common expressions "falling in love" and "love at
sight" imply, in fact, unfamiliarity; and there can be no question
that men and women would prefer at present to get mates away from
home, even if there were no traditional prejudice against the marriage
of near kin.
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MODESTY AND CLOTHING
No altogether satisfactory theory of the origin of modesty has been
advanced. The naïve assumption that men were ashamed because they were
naked, and clothed themselves to hide their nakedness, is not tenable
in face of the large mass of evidence that many of the natural races
are naked, and not ashamed of their nakedness; and a much stronger
case can be made out for the contrary view, that clothing was first
worn as a mode of attraction, and modesty then attached to the act
of removing the clothing; but this view in turn does not explain an
equally large number of cases of modesty among races which wear no
clothing at all. A third theory of modesty, the disgust theory, stated
by Professor James[237] and developed somewhat by Havelock Ellis,[238]
makes modesty the outgrowth of our disapproval of immodesty in
others--"the application in the second instance to ourselves of
judgments primarily passed upon our mates."[239] The sight of
offensive behavior is no doubt a powerful deterrent from like
behavior, but this seems to be a secondary manifestation in the
case of modesty. The genesis of modesty is rather to be found in the
activity in the midst of which it appears, and not in the inhibition
of activity like the activity of others. It appears also that it has
primarily no connection with clothing whatever.[240]
Professor Angell and Miss Thompson have made an investigation of the
relation of circulation and respiration to attention, which advances
considerably our knowledge of the nature of the emotions. They say:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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