Tropisms — Relation to Modes of Behavior 67 



Psychology has gone much farther than I should 

 venture to do, in that he sees in the tropisms a set 

 of tendencies which form a sort of fundamental 

 background even in our own psychology. Objects 

 of our own attention exercise a compelling force 

 over us making us turn toward them. We involun- 

 tarily turn toward a person or thing about which 

 we are curious; in fact it requires some voluntary 

 effort not to do so. Is this continual orientation 

 to objects akin to orientation to light, odors, etc., in 

 the lower animals? According to Royce these re- 

 actions are fundamentally the same. Perhaps if 

 we should follow the history of behavior closely 

 enough in passing from lower to higher forms we 

 should be able to fill in the intermediate steps. At 

 present the connection is merely a suggestive hy- 

 pothesis. 



Most of the work on tropisms 4:hat has been done 

 thus far has consisted in determining the precise 

 way in which tropisms are brought about, and the 

 conditions by which they are modified. To find, as it 

 were, what becomes of the tropisms in the course 

 of mental evolution, how they are converted into 

 higher forms of behavior, is a more difficult task. 

 Voltaire has made the remark that we are governed 

 by instinct as well as cats and goats. It is possible 

 that we may be justified in going somewhat farther 

 than the celebrated skeptic, in saying that to a cer- 

 tain extent we are governed by tropisms as well as 

 insects and worms. 



