RENCES

William James in his _Principles of Psychology_, 1890, has a very
stimulating chapter on instinct, in Vol. II, pp. 383-441.

John B. Watson, in Chapters IV and V of his _Behavior_, 1914, gives a
good account of the instincts of animals.

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CHAPTER VII

EMOTION

VARIOUS ORGANIC STATES, AND THE CONSCIOUS STATES THAT GO WITH THEM

Joy, sorrow, fear, anger, amusement, disgust and curiosity illustrate
the meaning of the term "emotion". An emotion is a "moved" or
stirred-up state of mind. Or, since almost any such state of mind
includes also elements that are cognitive, like recognition of present
objects or memories of the past, we might better speak of emotion as
the stirred-up-ness present in a state of mind. The emotional part of
the total state may be so strong as to overshadow all other
components, or it may have less intensity down to zero.

Such is emotion from the introspective point of view; but it can also
be observed objectively, and in fact there is more to say about it
objectively than introspectively. What appears to introspection as the
scarcely analyzable state of anger appears to the external observer as
clenched fists, flushed face, labored breathing, tense muscles, loud
voice, and many other describable details. Anger is a state of the
organism, or state of the individual, rather than simply a state of
mind.

We shall have a more comprehensive definition, then, if we substitute
"state of the individual" for "state of mind", and say that emotion is
a stirred-up state of the individual. It is a conscious state,
however; an "unconscious emotion" would be practically a contradiction
in terms. Not but that a person may be angry without knowing it. He
may be {119} "unconscious of the fact" that he is angry; which simply
means that he is not introspectively observing himself and analyzing
his mental state. But it is impossible that his organic state shall be
all stirred up and his mental state meanwhile perfectly calm and
intellectual. In short, an emotion is a conscious stirred-up state of
the organism.

Organic States That Are Not Usually Classed as Emotions

Something was said before about "organic states", under the general
head of tendencies to reaction. Fatigue was an example. Now we could
include fatigue under the term, "stirred-up state of the organism"; at
least, if not precisely "stirred-up", it is uneasy. It is a deviation
from the normal or neutral state. Also, it is of