■"1 



Kaislen Stapelfeldt 



ATTITUDES 



The muscles of the face contract or relax, altering the expression in ways that cor- 

 respond to every change in the emotions. But muscles in all parts of the body also 

 respond to the feelings, even to our thought about such feelings as fear, anger, 

 aversion, shame. Even if you cannot tell what a person is thinking from the expression 

 on his face, you can often know what he "has on his mind" from the physical posture, 

 which is closely related to the "mental attitude" 



are modified by experience so that emotions become associated with certain 

 actions. We then refrain from doing what we otherwise feel impelled to 

 do. For example, fear, shame, and the desire to please certain people prevent 

 us from doing certain things and teach us to regard them as wrong or 

 improper. Or the same emotions push us to do things that would other- 

 wise be too difficult. 



Our emotions may be aroused by a great variety of situations, and they 

 may in turn bring about a great variety of changes in the body. Anger, for 

 example, may be aroused by an unfriendly act or by striking an obstruction 

 or by seeing a bully abuse a child or by thinkjng about the abuse of power 

 by high officials. This feeling of anger may, in turn, bring about various 

 changes in the expression of one's face and the clenching of one's fists, in- 

 volving skeletal, or striped muscles. It may cause a sudden flow of blood to 

 the head and increased heartbeat, involving involuntary muscles. It may 



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