CHAPTER V 



CONATION 



i The influence of present conditions. Conative selection 



WE have seen that a reflex response may be repeated 

 as long as the stimulus persists. We have now to deal 

 with a class of cases in which what persists is a certain 

 condition of the organism or of its relation to the environ- 

 ment while the reactions vary until the condition is 

 changed. Suppose we find ourselves in an uncomfortable 

 position. We turn this way or that. It may be we get 

 no relief. In that case we are apt to continue our uneasy 

 motion without any definite method, until in fine we 

 happen into a more comfortable posture. Of course we 

 human beings always have intelligence at our side, which 

 can foresee the process, give a reason for it, and perhaps in 

 some particular direct it. But at the basis of behaviour of 

 this type, even in man, there seems to be an effort directed 

 rather by the general need of some escape from the dis- 

 agreeable present than by a clear idea of the condition to 

 be substituted. If so, the effort is less than a purpose yet 

 it is more than a reflex, because it is the outcome of a 

 persistent uneasiness. It is a state actively seeking to 

 change itself, to pass into something different, even 

 though that something different be not clearly defined. 

 Further, the result acts upon the effort, for if it does not 

 bring relief one effort is abandoned and another is tried, 

 and the process continues until the relief is in fact obtained. 

 That is to say, the series of efforts as a whole is governed 

 by the results that come out of it. We may formulate 

 these facts by saying that the determining element in 



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