TABOO AND GENETICS 225 



the same time that it brings the longed-for 

 attention, incapacitates the individual for sexual 

 and maternal activities and makes the married 

 life an abnormal and unhappy one. 



Another more or less neurotic trait which 

 acts as a cause of disharmony in the marital 

 relationship is the sexual anaesthesia which is 

 not at all uncommon in modern women. The 

 absence of any erotic passion is held to be a 

 matter of physiological makeup by many 

 authorities, but it is probably more often due 

 to the inhibition of natural tendencies in accord- 

 ance with concepts built up by social tradition. 

 In order to understand how social suggestion 

 can have so powerful an effect upon the reactions 

 of the individual, we must revert once more to 

 the principles of behaviouristic psychology. 



According to Watson (4), whenever the 

 environmental factors are such that a direct 

 expression of an emotion cannot occur, the 

 individual has to have recourse to implicit motor 

 attitudes. The best example in everyday life 

 is probably seen in the case of anger, which can 

 seldom be permitted to find an outlet in the 

 natural act of striking, etc. It is apparent, 

 however, in the facial expression and in a certain 

 muscular posture which can best be described 

 as a " defiant " attitude. Another good example 

 is the submissive attitude which often accom- 

 panies the emotion of fear. It is manifest in 



