It is only bodily phenomena that can be directly observed in animals,
or even, strictly speaking, in other human beings. We can observe such
things as their movements, their physiological processes, and the sounds
they emit. Such things as desires and beliefs, which seem obvious
to introspection, are not visible directly to external observation.
Accordingly, if we begin our study of psychology by external
observation, we must not begin by assuming such things as desires and
beliefs, but only such things as external observation can reveal, which
will be characteristics of the movements and physiological processes of
animals. Some animals, for example, always run away from light and hide
themselves in dark places. If you pick up a mossy stone which is lightly
embedded in the earth, you will see a number of small animals scuttling
away from the unwonted daylight and seeking again the darkness of which
you have deprived them. Such animals are sensitive to light, in the
sense that their movements are affected by it; but it would be rash to
infer that they have sensations in any way analogous to our sensations
of sight. Such inferences, which go beyond the observable facts, are to
be avoided with the utmost care.
It is customary to divide human movements into three classes, voluntary,
reflex and mechanical. We may illustrate the distinction by a quotation
from William James ("Psychology," i, 12):
"If I hear the conductor calling 'all aboard' as I enter the depot, my
heart first stops, then palpitates, and my legs respond to the air-waves
falling on my tympanum by quickening their movements. If I stumble as I
run, the sensation of falling provokes a movement of the hands towards
the direction of the fall, the effect of which is to shield the body
from too sudden a shock. If a cinder enter my eye, its lids close
forcibly and a copious flow of tears tends to wash it out.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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