The Origin and Nature of the Emotions; Miscellaneous PapersCrile, George Washington
Science
The Origin and Nature of the Emotions; Miscellaneous Papers
Crile, George Washington
Emotions; Psychophysiology
If this be true, then these patients should exhibit behavior
precisely contrary to that of those suffering from acute infection,
that is, they should be constantly clearing their systems of
these superabundant energizing materials by crying or laughing,
and this is precisely what happens--the flood-gates of tears are open
much of the time in Graves' disease--a disease of the emotions.
We have already interpreted pain as a phenomenon of motor activity.
When pain does not lead to muscular activity it therefore frequently
leads to crying or to moaning, just as tickling, which is equally
an incentive to motor activity, results in laughter if it does
not find full expression in action.
From the foregoing we infer that pain, the intense motor response
to tickling, and emotional excitation are all primitive biologic
reactions for the good of the individual, and that all have
their origin in the operation of the great laws of evolution.
If to this inference we add the physiologic dictum that the nervous
system always acts as a whole, and that it can respond to but one
stimulus at a time, we can easily understand that while diverse
causes may integrate the nervous system for a specific action,
if the cause be suddenly removed, then the result of the
integration of the nervous system may be, not a specific action,
but an undesigned muscular action, such as crying or laughter.
Hence it is that laughter and crying may be evoked by diverse
exciting causes. The intensity of the laughter or of the crying
depends upon the intensity of the stimulus and the dynamic state
of the individual.
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