Affective Tendencies 397 



the definitive physiological state itself which corresponds 

 to this environment. 



Only from the moment when one series of move- 

 ments happens to bring the organism back to the desired 

 environmental relations earlier than another one, will 

 it have acquired an advantage over the others, and this 

 result may be expressed by saying that the affective ten- 

 dency has exercised a "choice" (James, Baldwin and the 

 American school in general). 



Hence it is only from that moment that the affective 

 tendency will by mnemonic association constitute a force 

 which "impels" these movements toward the end, just 

 as certain reflex movements "impinge" on one another 

 (Sherrington). And only from that moment will these 

 movements (so long as they have not become mechanical 

 in the form of reflexes) be determined exclusively under 

 the pressure of the corresponding affectivity or the equiv- 

 alent "act of the will." 



However, until this takes place the affectivity betrays 

 no tendency at all to discharge in one path rather than 

 in another, hence the great difference between the affec- 

 tive tendency or act or will on the one hand, and the 

 reflex movement on the other. This reflex movement, by 

 means of which the act so "chosen" when often re- 

 peated becomes by mnemonic accumulation gradually 

 mechanical and quite independent of the whole, repre- 

 sents a tendency to discharge along one single given path 

 which is determined in advance. It is a force whose point 

 of application and direction are known beforehand, and 

 might therefore be indicated graphically by the customary 

 arrow used to represent the forces of mechanics. On the 

 other hand the affective tendency constitutes a force of 

 which neither the point of application nor the direction 



