390 



ANNALS NEW YORK AVADHMY OF SflHXCES 



response, commaml more Lliurough con.sideration ami interpivtalion than 

 do those without this ''appeal" or emotional character. From feeling as 

 tlie elemental evaluation of things for life springs inquisitiveness, or the 

 whole knowledge process. The chief function oi" knowledge seems to be 

 to clarify, that is, to emphasize and unify in ;i hirger perspective, the 

 values of things to which response is to be^n1ade. 



Conditions of Emotional Reaction. — Emotivity depends first upon the 

 nature of the individual as determined by race, sex, age, environment, 

 and disposition; second, on the state of the individual as determined by 

 fatigue, health, inertia, and the functioning of certain organs, especially 

 the cerebral cortex, the skin, certain sense organs and the alimentary 

 canal, sexual organs, certain "ductless'^ glands, the circulatory and in a 

 possibly less degree the respiratory system ; third, by certain psychic con- 

 ditions as attitude, interest, preoccupation, suggestibility, psychical 

 habits of relatively dependable character in presence of certain emotive 

 stimuli, and finally the interpretation of the situation. All the condi- 

 tions that contribute to euphoria and dysphoria are involved likewise in 

 the emotional reactions of an individual. 



In a more specific way emotional reaction depends upon the kind and 

 degree of organization of an individual. This varies from one pole to 

 the opposite. One extreme type is almost chaotic, incoherent, impulsive 

 and explosive, indiscriminately responsive to all sorts of stimuli. The 

 other extreme is highly centralized, exclusively narrow, mono-ideistic or 

 idee fixe in character. In the latter class all vital tendencies and inter- 

 ests are dominated through repression, or perversion, by a single zone 

 which has a hair-trigger responsiveness to suitable emotional stimulation. 

 Outside this zone such an individual shows apathy, a kind of poise, and 

 a comprehensive "nil admirari" attitude. Variations of this typo may. 

 be found not only in industrial fields where occupation and circumstance 

 may be responsible, but also in such fields as religion, art, morality, ovon 

 science and philosophy. Organization tends to establish almost insu])er- 

 able psychic barriers against all stimuli external to the pavtic\dar zone of 

 interest. 



Emotivity are also determined by degree of "intellectual control," and 

 this is not to be confused with "organization" just cited. In those in 

 whom intellectual control is most highly developed, nil emotive excita- 

 tions are taken as ]>roblems of knowledge. Even "shocks" are effectually 

 dealt with by a system of psychic defenses and controls. A standard of 

 "emotionless" behavior may obtain. There are of course many varia- 

 tions from the extreme. A general statement may be made that "emo- 

 tivitv varies inverselv as intellectual control." 



