Experimental Study of Associative Processes 101 



6. Sense-impression of oneself pulling the loop, seeing 

 one's paw in a certain place, feeling one's body in a certain 

 way, etc. 



7. Sense-impression of going outside. 



8. Sense-impression of eating, and the included pleasure. 

 Also between i and 4 we may have 9, representations of 



one's experience in going out, 10, of the taste of the food, etc. 

 6, 7 and 8 come after the act and do not influence it, of 

 course, except in so far as they are the basis of the future 

 3's, Q'S and ID'S. About 2 we are not at present disputing. 

 Our question is as to whether 3 or 5 is the essential thing. 

 In human associations 3 certainly often is, and the animals 

 have been credited with the same kind. Whatever he thinks, 

 Professor Morgan surely talks as if i aroused 9 and 10 and 3 

 and leaves 5 to be supplied at will. We have affirmed that 

 5 is the essential thing, that no association without a specific 

 5 belonging to it and acquired by it can lead to an act. Let 

 us look at the reasons. 



A cat has been made to go into a box through the door, 

 which is then closed. She pulls a loop and comes out and 

 gets fish. She is made to go in by the door again, and again 

 lets herself out. After this has happened enough times, the 

 cat will of her own accord go into the box after eating the 

 fish. It will be hard to keep her out. The old explanation 

 of this would be that the cat associated the memory of being 

 in the box with the subsequent pleasure, and therefore per- 

 formed the equivalent of saying to herself, "Go to ! I will 

 go in." The thought of being in, they say, makes her go in. 

 The thought of being in will not make her go in. For if, in- 

 stead of pushing the cat toward the doorway or holding it 

 there, and thus allowing it to itself give the impulse, to in- 

 nervate the muscles, to walk in, you shut the door first and 

 drop the cat in through a hole in the top of the box, she will, 



