THE LEVELS OF BEHAVIOUR 149 



such an activity as tends to remove irritants (say fleas) ; the 

 movement of the spinal frog in wiping ofl^ a drop of acid has the 

 same significance ; the secretion of saHva when a dog is shown 

 meat is anticipatory to eating, swallowing and assimilation. An 

 antagonistic reflex has purpose in that the co-ordinated activities 

 of the two muscles more efficiently moves the limb than would 

 one muscle simply overcoming the other. In short, it will be 

 found, on analysis of the activities of any reflex in an unmutilated 

 animal, that normality is the result of the act, or the urges of 

 life are in some way satisfied by it. This is its " purpose." 



And it is always necessary to remember that in speaking of 

 " a reflex action " we are arbitrarily and conveniently focusing 

 attention on one aspect of bodily activity. There is no " simple " 

 or unitary reflex act in normal behaviour. What appears to be 

 such is merely due to our necessary restriction of attention. 

 All the body is involved in every behaviouristic activity that we 

 see and our insistence on the role of reflexes merely aids in our 

 analysis of that activity. 



54. OAT ACTION 

 By action is meant animal behaviour that has a basis in " trial 

 and error " but which is controlled by experience. Nearly all 

 the normal behaviour of unmutilated animals that are placed in 

 '' average " environments, and receive ordinary stimuli are 

 actions in this sense. The latter qualifications appear to be 

 necessary in order to exclude '' forced " activities from the field 

 of actions — thus the flying of moths into naked flames, the flight 

 of birds into the lanterns of lighthouses, and perhaps other 

 activities are to be regarded as " purposeless," that is, they do 

 not tend to self-preservation, or to other life-urges and they 

 appear to be responses to stimuli that are so powerful as to 

 inhibit the integrative tendency of the central nervous system. 



54«. Organic Experience. The events which happen in the 

 system of things that includes an animal organism affect and 

 modify the psychical and physical mechanisms of behaviour. 

 This is what is meant by *' experience." There is no purely 

 inanimate analogy to this. It is true that physical, lifeless 

 things are affected by the events in which they participate : 

 thus a razor-edge becomes blunted by use ; a clock-spring 



