The Psychology of the EmotionsRibot, Th. (Théodule)
Science
The Psychology of the Emotions
Ribot, Th. (Théodule)
Emotions
It is evident that our two authors, whether consciously or not,
share the dualist point of view with the common opinion which they
are combating; the only difference being in the interversion of
cause and effect. Emotion is a cause of which the physical
manifestations are the effect, says one party; the physical
manifestations are the cause of which emotion is the effect, says
the other. In my view, there would be a great advantage in
eliminating from the question every notion of cause and effect,
every relation of causality, and in substituting for the dualistic
position a unitary or monistic one. The Aristotelian formula of
matter and form seems to me to meet the case better, if we
understand by “matter” the corporeal facts, and by “form” the
corresponding psychical state: the two terms, by-the-bye, only
existing in connection with each other and being inseparable except
as abstract conceptions. It was traditional in ancient psychology to
study the relations of “the soul and the body”—the new psychology
does not speak of them. In fact, if the question takes a
metaphysical form, it is no longer psychology; if it takes an
experimental form, there is no reason to treat it separately,
because it is treated in connection with everything. No state of
consciousness can be dissociated from its physical conditions: they
constitute a natural whole, which must be studied as such. Every
kind of emotion ought to be considered in this way: all that is
objectively expressed by movements of the face and body, by
vaso-motor, respiratory, and secretory disturbances, is expressed
subjectively by correlative states of consciousness, classed by
external observation according to their qualities. It is a single
occurrence expressed in two languages. We have previously
assimilated the emotions to psycho-physiological organisms; this
unitary point of view, being more conformable to the nature of
things and to the present tendencies of psychology, seems to me, in
practice, to eliminate many objections and difficulties.
Whether we adopt this theory or not, we have in any case acquired
the certainty that the organic and motor manifestations are not
accessories, that the study of them is part of the study of emotion.
We shall therefore have to speak of them in some detail.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE INTERNAL CONDITIONS OF EMOTION.
_Confused state of this question—Popular versus Medical
Psychology—Part played by the brain, the centre of psychic
life—Hypotheses on the “seat” of the emotions—Part played by the
heart, the centre of vegetative life—Popular metaphors and their
physiological interpretation—Are the internal sensations
reducible to a single process?—Part played by chemical action in
the genesis of emotion—Cases of the introduction of toxic
substances—Auto-intoxication—Modifications in the course of
mental maladies._
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