_Section A._ Here simultaneous stimulations of different sense-organs
were given, and the situation became at once more complex. For some
time only colors and tactual surfaces were employed. Later tones from
tuning-forks and noises were added. Forms with different colors as
fillings still further complicated the experience. Odors as a rule were
unsatisfactory, being so strong as entirely to inhibit all noticeable
effects from the other senses.
For all subjects at first the feeling-tone related only to the one
object directly attended to. Some effort is required to detect the
feeling-tone for these slight stimulations, and while this is being
done, the feeling for the other sensation tends to vanish. If, while
enjoying the soothing contact with the plush, a chosen color is
disclosed in the frame and attended to sufficiently to obtain from it
a decided feeling, there is a distinct awareness of the dropping of
the feeling for the touch. To some subjects, whatever the combinations
used, this almost constantly occurred for perhaps a month. Often again
there seemed to result a total "feeling of the situation," when the
attention was on neither stimulating object.
Frequently, too, the attempted introspection at this point failed to
fix upon any feeling-tone at all definite. The condition was one of
confusion and bewilderment. The state of mind when one cannot feel at
all definitely seems to correspond closely to that state of mental
confusion when thought processes are in a jumble, with no path for
the moment leading anywhere. All these difficulties were overcome,
partially at any rate, by continued training. It was not as if
introspection revealed the fact that there was nothing to be found, and
this was frequently reported by the subjects. After some time the touch
character could be retained, and its peculiar value for feeling did
not disappear when other things came in and contributed an affective
element of their own. The old law of the opposition, or mutual
exclusiveness, of feelings would thus seem to mean little more than
that we, generally speaking, experience one thing at a time. Without
a special analytical purpose in view, we do not find many distinct
elemental feelings, as we do not, until we psychologize, find elements
of cognitive character separable. It has been, and is now, commonly
supposed that myriads of ideational elements, partially analyzable at
any rate, go to make up what we choose to call a single perception.
This experience as a whole is of some affective nature; but, as
generally stated, of one unanalyzable sort always. It is true just in
the same sense as in the cognitive state, perception. In the sense
that every perception is unique, in this sense every affective state
is likewise a unit. The evidence I submit, however, is that one may be
the subject of analysis into elemental parts just as much as the other.
Affection, as Titchener defines it at the beginning of his treatment
of feelings, is merely a "tilt of the whole organism." If this is the
ultimate statement, then there are no combinations, and no relations of
feelings except that of mutual exclusion from the field of awareness.
He has taken only one of the above possible attitudes toward affective
states. Geiger, in his study of very complex emotions, however, has
taken the other attitude, and bases his whole position upon it. This
present experimental test furnishes evidence that the latter position
is also a legitimate, and perhaps more desirable position, if feeling
shall have scientific analytical treatment.
In this investigation, after considerable training, the subjects,
with a single exception, _were all convinced that both feeling-tones,
for tactual and visual impressions, could be present at once_. When
three or more were given at once, confusion as to the state of feeling
was usually so great that valuable introspection was always rendered
exceedingly difficult. Impressions from the same field, as, for
example, colors presented in chosen forms as enclosures, were most
often taken as one object with one feeling-tone. This even was by no
means always the case. When it was thus taken, the experience was still
reported as more complex than either element alone had produced.
When the feeling-tones for simultaneous stimulations from two
different sources came out sufficiently clearly, the kind of feeling
was described in some such terms as indicated in Part I, Section A,
except that almost invariably the introspection was more difficult.
The relations of these various feeling-components of an affective
experience are numerous. There is a frequent tendency to read one
into the other. The soft soothing feeling coming from plush, if in
the particular experience the color be the more prominent partial
element, tends often to make the subject enjoy more the color, because
there seems to be added to it a soft yielding surface texture.
Frequently also, as in the case of red above, the warmth it suggests is
intensified.
In cases of feelings of opposite nature occurring together, the
stronger generally prevails, finally in most cases effacing all
specific tone for the weaker element. An odor, for example, even when
always unpleasant, becomes less so when one looks at a pleasant color,
when a feeling-tone can, or often even when it cannot, be detected for
the color at the time. Again, when a very unpleasant form or tactual
impression is being felt, a slightly unpleasant color tends to arouse
often in this situation, as if by contrast, a simultaneously pleasant
element in the total experience.
For many subjects frequently there results what I shall call a "Total
Mood." This, as to its feeling-character, can be merely different
from, more than, less than, or the same as either component or of
both together. To some the feeling is proportionate to the degree of
concentration of attention, and in all such cases rarely does the
whole complex situation afford a feeling equal to that given by either
component alone, the extra stimulation for the time being simply a
disturbing factor. To others the shifting of the focus of attention
from one to another of the external objects of interest, or from one
feeling-element to the other, is not at all disturbing, "any more
than is any general state of satisfied self-contemplation." This kind
of experience is often and distinctly reported, not as the enjoyment
of two where the discernible elements persist wholly unrelated, but
rather an enjoyment (or disagreeable experience as the case may be),
simply from two sources of stimulation, a total mood with similar or
harmonious constituents. The red color and the tactual feeling for
plush afford this. Similarly the unpleasant color above combines with
certain odors or with the sandpaper. Yellow, however, does not as a
rule produce a feeling that peaceably "falls in with" the tactual
impression brought about by the plush. Low tones tend to combine thus
with the red color or with the softest plush in the same kind of Total
Mood. The feeling-tones usually for pleasant high tones are described
as "falling in with" the feeling for yellow when the feeling exists as
described above, and as nearer to that of the feeling for the green
color than for the particular deep shade of red. What may be termed
the "_Congruity_ or _Incongruity of Feeling-Tones_" is perhaps a good
name to designate feeling-tone relations. It implies neither mutual
exclusiveness nor total fusion, and some such term is necessary.
The various phenomena of fusion, summation, partial reënforcement,
merely simultaneous, independent coexistence, partial and total
inhibition, of one by the other occur. The feeling-tone for yellow
tends most readily to fuse with the feeling-tone for high tones and
upright ovals. This is not so marked for the green, but more so for all
other colors than for the red. Red harmonizes and tends to fuse, for
most subjects, with the feeling-tones for soft plush, low tones, and
circular forms. This harmonizing, however, is not all that contributes
to the amount of feeling in these complex cases. Subjects often prefer
the low tones with yellow, even though there is less harmony. So
also upright ovals are in themselves generally so much more pleasant
than the circles that red is preferred thus presented, though its
feeling-character is more akin to that suggested by the circles. These
are cases where the intensity itself of the feeling-tone is preferred,
even though what is felt to be an harmonious combination is lessened.
When the situation admits of a complete fusion, the one resulting
feeling is almost always greater. When summation of unpleasant stimuli
occurs, the singleness of the attention process is not a prominent
feature of the experience. Rather each unpleasant element exists
throughout, each in turn intensifying the whole undertone of feeling,
but also remaining a feeling-tone of a particular kind. Partial
reënforcement is descriptive of that state when both feeling-tones
contribute to a feeling of the same kind, yet do retain some individual
characteristics which stand out for themselves. The general state of
pleasantness, for example, is increased by both elements contributed
by a low tone and the yellow color, yet one retains its soothing and
the other its exciting character. Again, the feeling-tone for green
may occur when its relation, on the other hand, to a pleasantly
sounding tuning-fork is not at all noticed. Subjects find in such
cases always more effort required to note both the feeling-tones, and
there is probably some diminution in quantity of feeling for each of
the simultaneous elements. Other subjects have preferred to call this
partial inhibition. Cases of total inhibition have been noted above,
and are by far the most frequent, as would naturally be expected. When
sandpaper is being applied, and no repose is felt in the body, a color,
suddenly presented, for a moment pleases the eye, but quickly loses all
feeling-character, and can only be "intellectually perceived."
Again, the way in which subjects will take certain combinations seems
to depend entirely upon the person. Beautiful colors, presented in
disagreeable forms, bring about for some a feeling altogether worse
than does an unpleasant color in the same form. To others there is
always the tendency to enjoy the color and to "reconstruct" the form,
or stress in it those elements only which do suggest symmetry and
definiteness. All feel, when two or more elements contribute to the
feeling-experience, that a total mood generally serves as the undertone
for them. When there is a clear strife between the two, they both can
exist as equal partial tones with an undertone of unpleasantness in the
failure to coördinate them. There are still other cases where the total
result cannot well be called a fusion or summation. For example, when
an unpleasant color in an unpleasant form, or for Subject D, a pleasant
color in an unpleasant form, is presented, the feeling for the whole
is often out of all proportion to the value of each alone, or of what
might be expected from the simple summation. The uncommon revulsion
here was frequently so striking that the subjects would afterwards
laugh heartily over the strength with which it first appeared.
* * * * *
_Section B._ Introspection here as to the physiological accompaniments
referring exclusively to one of the two or more existing feeling-tones
is still more meagre, but at times very definite. When the elements of
a total feeling fuse there is of course no reference to the particular
processes which bring this about. It is then simply a general response
to a situation. _When, however, distinct, or opposing feeling-tones
are present and detected, they do often mean opposing inclinations
to action._ The yellow color can retain its exciting tone, and refer
clearly to such activities as opening wide the eyes, incipient
smiling tendencies, and general alertness of facial expression, when
a soothing touch is also felt as suggesting a toning-down of the body
and a general relaxation of the muscles of the abdomen. This is the
most frequently noticed effect. Tactual impressions are accompanied
by pervading organic feelings in the trunk, while visual and auditory
stimulations, in their incipient stages, at least, have the more
pronounced effect upon facial muscles of expression, and general
sensations in the head. When any of these feelings are particularly
strong, however, the sensations, whose feeling-tones seem to constitute
the feeling in question, tend to pervade the entire system and to usurp
the whole bodily activity. The motor tendencies noticed above for
the irregular forms are also reported when the color itself remains
pleasant. Yellow, possessing more of this activity itself, is least
pleasant when exposed in these forms. The opposition of tendencies is
noticed, yellow meaning its own peculiar kind of aggressive movement,
and the bad form at the same time calling for that irregular kind
of unpleasant adjustment. Red does not "intrude itself" nor demand
action, and is always less strikingly in opposition to the form than is
the case with yellow or green or blue. Forms, almost perfect, relate
themselves to feelings of tension. One feels that he cannot quite take
them as perfect figures, and this strain and inability to take them
for what they suggest provokes a decidedly unpleasant feeling. Very
irregular forms become "grotesque" or ludicrous, and the bodily change
is indicated as a "jumble of partially carried out reactions."
In many cases sensations or motor tendencies are noted all over the
body during the existence of these complex states. At such times
they are not recognized as referring to either feeling-tone in
particular. When also a favorite color is presented to a subject who
is experiencing a disagreeable feeling from sandpaper, the touch is so
pervasive usually that he feels that this "controls the whole response"
and inhibits any reaction, or even any suggested reaction to the
color. When there does fail to be even any possible incipient motor
suggestion, as a rule the feeling-tone for the object is extremely
vague if it exists at all, and the object appears for the time "dead"
or "valueless." Subjects speak of their own inability to respond
in such cases. It is not at all as if the color is definitely bad,
but rather as if one cannot do two different things with the same
muscular apparatus at once. As often, as has before been noted, does
the opposite occur. Colors in definitely characterized forms illustrate
the relations of similar activities when feeling-tones occur together.
Yellow is preferred in upright ovals, for both accentuate the same
demand for activity, and calling for the same kind of response, tend to
fuse into a single object. Yellow and plush do not harmonize, and in
many cases where both retain their feeling-tones, distinct activities
in different parts of the body are aroused simultaneously. With the
circles the feeling-tone for yellow does not agree with that for form.
The yellow becomes almost unpleasant at times. Circles are "heavy,"
"stable," "on their own axes." A yellow thus enclosed seems "too fat,"
too "unnaturally heavy," not free and light, and the effect is less
pleasing. Circles suit the red better than they do the yellow or the
green or the blue, and tend to be seen as one object, or to fuse, more
readily than red in an upright oval form. The feeling-tones for red and
for upright ovals are both very pleasant, but not as much in harmony,
and consequently usually taken as two different feelings.
As a general result of introspective analysis at this point, when
different feeling-tones did occur together, they were described in
terms similar to those used when each alone was experienced. The
bodily references, when found, were of the same character, the only
difference being that there was much difficulty in determining to which
feeling-tone the response referred. In many instances, however, again
it seemed quite certain that different kinds of adaptation in different
parts of the body were suggested which seemed to correspond to distinct
affective qualities. Also distinct feeling-tones, each of which alone
could call forth a similar kind of action, when given together tended
to accentuate the total unified response. The upright ovals mean
alertness and soaring motions with a general suggestion of drawing the
shoulders up. The yellow color accentuated this. The circle with the
soothing red, or the fusion of feelings for red and plush, pleases in
quite another fashion.