Your Mind and How to Use It: A Manual of Practical PsychologyAtkinson, William Walker
Science
Your Mind and How to Use It: A Manual of Practical Psychology
Atkinson, William Walker
Psychology
But another school of psychology, of which the late Prof. William James
is a leading authority, holds that the physical expression precedes and
causes the mental state. For instance, in the cases above cited, the
perception of the anger-causing or fear-causing sight first causes a
reflex action upon the muscles, according to inherited race habits of
expression. This muscular expression and activity, in turn, is held to
react upon the mind and to cause the feeling or emotion of anger or
fear, as the case may be. Professor James, in some of his works, makes a
forcible argument in support of this theory, and his opinions have
influenced the scientific thought of the day upon this subject. Others,
however, have sought to combat his theory by equally forcible argument,
and the subject is still under lively and spirited discussion in
psychological circles.
Without taking sides in the above controversy, many psychologists
proceed upon the hypothesis that there is a mutual action and reaction
between emotional mental states and the appropriate physical expression
thereof, each in a measure being the cause of the other, and each
likewise being the effect of the other. For instance, in the cases
above cited, the perception of the anger-producing or fear-producing
sight causes, almost or quite simultaneously, the emotional mental state
of anger or fear, as the case may be, and the physical expression
thereof. Then rapidly ensues a series of mental and physical reactions.
The mental state acts upon the physical expression and intensifies it.
The physical expression in turn reacts upon the mental state and induces
a more intense degree of the emotional feeling. And so on, until the
mental state and physical expression reach their highest point and then
begin to subside from exhaustion of energy. This middle-ground
conception meets all the requirements of the facts, and is probably more
nearly correct than either extreme theory.
Darwin in his classic work, "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and
Animals," has thrown a great light on the subject of the expression of
emotion in physical motions. The Florentine scientist, Paolo Mantegazza,
added to Darwin's work with ideas of his own and countless examples
drawn from his own experience and observation. The work of François
Delsarte, the founder of the school of expression which bears his name,
is also a most valuable addition to the thought on this subject. The
subject of the relation and reaction between emotional feeling and
physical expression is a most fascinating one, and one in which we may
expect interesting and valuable discoveries during the next twenty
years.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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