The Psychology of the EmotionsRibot, Th. (Théodule)
Science
The Psychology of the Emotions
Ribot, Th. (Théodule)
Emotions
As regards the representation of fatigue, the answers have without
exception been affirmative. The modes of representation are various.
Some feel it (ideally) in the muscles; others under a cerebral form.
Here are some examples: “muscular twitchings in the calves of the
legs, the back, and the shoulders; the eyes feeling swollen, but no
heaviness in the head;” “a feeling of relaxation, of a weight,
localised in the shoulders, because, in a normal state, I find
stooping very difficult;” “slowness of movement, with a feeling of
weight in the head;” “general lassitude, of a diffused kind,
especially a feeling of weight in the head, and mental weariness;”
“pains in the joints, and a heavy feeling in the brain.” Although
all my correspondents can revive the feeling of fatigue, three or
four can only succeed in doing so “with difficulty and to a slight
extent.”
We find the same results with regard to the representation of
disgust. I find only three negative answers, all accompanied by the
remark, “I have a good digestion.” One of these cases is the more
singular because the subject has suffered from sea-sickness. In its
acute form the representation is described as “like the beginning of
nausea.” For others, it is “a pain in the stomach, with a retractile
movement, connected with the idea of cod-liver oil, or of tainted
meat.” Among those who have experienced the sensation of
sea-sickness, I have not met with one who cannot easily revive it
(giddiness, feelings of a rocking motion, which disinclines them to
persist in reviving the impression). M. X—— (a very competent
observer in psychological questions) says: “I have a pretty good
visual memory, but no auditive, either musical or linguistic; I
cannot spell a foreign language. Except for muscular memory, which
in me is _nil_ (so that I have never succeeded in acquiring any
physical exercise, or playing on any instrument), I can revive all
internal sensations: hunger, thirst, disgust, fatigue, giddiness,
difficulty in breathing; I prefer not to insist upon this last
state, as were I to think of it any longer I should actually bring
it on.”[101]
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Footnote 101:
A great swimmer has had feelings of suffocation which he can
recall with much vividness.
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3. _Pains and Pleasures._—To the question, “Can you revive in
yourself the memory of a given physical pain, a sorrow, a pleasure,
or a pity?” the answer is nearly always in the affirmative. But, put
in this bald way, it teaches us nothing. We require more detailed
information. We here return to the main point of our subject, and I
am obliged slightly to anticipate my conclusions. The observations,
carefully taken, show that there are two distinct forms of emotional
memory, one _abstract_, the other _concrete_. Later on, I shall
insist on their differences; for the moment, I shall confine myself
to the enumeration of facts.
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