Behaviorism (John B. Watson, 1925)
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Contents


LECTURE Pace

3 WHAT IS BEHAVIORISM? .... The old and new 3
Psychology contrasted.

II. HOW TO STUDY HUMAN BEHAVIOR..... Prob- 19
lems, methods, technique and samples of results.

lil. THE HUMAN BODY..... What it is made of, how 42


. it is put together, and how it works.
Part I—The structures that make Behavior possible.


IV. THE HUMAN BODY..... What it is made of, how 61


it is put together, and how it works.
Part II—The glands in everyday Behavior.


Vv. ARE THERE ANY HUMAN INSTINCTS? .... 74


. Part I—On the subject of talent and tendencies and the
inheritance of all so-called ‘mental’ traits.


VI. ARE THERE ANY HUMAN INSTINCTS? .... 87


Part I1—What the experimental study of the human young
teaches us.


VII. EMOTIONS..... What emotions are we born with—how 108
do we acquire new ones—how do we lose our old ones?
Part I—A general survey of the field and some experimen-
tal studies.


, VIII. EMOTIONS. .... What emotions are we born with—how 132


do we acquire new ones—how do we lose our old ones?
Part I[—Further experiments and observations on how we
acquire, shift and lose our emotional life.


IX. OUR MANUAL HABITS. .... How and when they 159


start, how we retain them, and how we discard them.
X. TALKING AND THINKING..... Which when 180


rightly understood goes far in breaking down the fiction
that there is any such thing as mental life,


XI. DO WE ALWAYS THINK IN WORDS ....Ordoes 202
our whole body do the thinking?


XII. PERSONALITY. .... Presenting the thesis that our 216
personality is but a reflection of the genetic history of
our habits.


I
WHAT IS BEHAVIORISM?P


The Old and New Psychology Contrasted


BEF ORE beginning our study of “behaviorism” or “behavioristic” psy-

chology, it will be worth our while to take a few minutes to look at the
conventional school of psychology that flourished before the advent of
behaviorism in 1912—and that still flourishes. Indeed we should point
out at once that behaviorism has not as yet by any means replaced the
older psychology—called introspective psychology—of James, Wundt,
Kulpe, Titchener, Angell, Judd, and McDougall. Possibly the easiest way
to bring out the contrast between the old psychology and the new is to
say that all schools of psychology except that of behaviorism claim that
“consciousness” is the subject matter of psychology. Behaviorism, on the
contrary, holds that the subject matter of human psychology is the be-
havior or activities of the human being. Behaviorism claims that ‘‘con-
sciousness” is neither a definable nor a usable concept; that it is merely
another word for the “soul” of more ancient times. The old psychology
‘is thus dominated by a kind of subtle religious philosophy.


The Religious Background of Current Introspective Psychology


No one knows just how the idea of a soul or the supernatural started.
It probably had its origin in the general laziness of mankind. Certain
individuals who in primitive society declined to work with their hands,
to go out hunting, to make flints, to dig for roots, became keen observers
of human nature. .


They found that the loud noise from breaking limbs, thunder and
other sound-producing phenomena, would throw the primitive individual
_ from his very birth into a panicky state, causing him to stop the chase, to
cry, to hide and the like—and that in this state it was easy to train or, more
scientifically, to condition him. (I will talk to you about conditioning and
conditioned reflexes later on in this lecture and again in the second lec-
ture.) These lazy but good observers soon found devices by means of
which they could at will throw individuals into this fearsome attitude and
thus control primitive human behavior. For example, colored nurses down
South have gained control over the young white children by telling them
that there is someone ready to grab them in the dark; that when it is
thundering there is a fearsome power which they can appease by being


3


4 BEHAVIORISM


good boys and girls. The “medicine men” of primitive times soon estab-
lished an elaborate control through signs, symbols, rituals, formulae, and
the like. Medicine men have always flourished. A good medicine man
has the best of everything and, best of all, he doesn’t have to work.
These individuals have been variously called medicine men, soothsayers,
dream-interpreters and prophets. Skill in bringing about these emotional
conditionings of the people increased rapidly ; organization among medicine
men took place and we began to have religions of one kind or another,
and churches, temples, cathedrals and the like, each presided over by a
medicine man.


I think an examination of the psychological history of people will
show that their behavior has always been easily controlled by fear stimuli.
If the fear element were dropped out of any religion, that religion could
not long survive. This fear element (equivalent to the electric shock in
establishing conditioned reflexes see p. 21) was variously introduced as
the “devil,” “evil,” “sin” and the like. The individual who functions as
a medicine man in the narrow family group is, of course, always the
father. In the larger group God or Jehovah takes the place of the family
father. Thus even the modern child from the beginning is confronted by
the dicta of medicine men—be they the father, the soothsayer of the village,
the God or Jehovah. Having been brought up in this attitude towards
authority, he never questions the concepts imposed upon him.


An Example of Such Concepts


One example of such a concept is that there is a fearsome God and
that every individual has a soul which is separate and distinct from the
body. This soul is really a part of the supreme being. This concept
has led to the philosophical platform called “dualism.” All psychology
except behaviorism is dualistic. That is to say we have both a mind (soul)
and a body. This dogma has been present in human psychology from
earliest antiquity. No one has ever touched a soul, or has seen one in a
test tube, or has in any way come into relationship with it as he has with
the other objects of his daily experience. Nevertheless, to doubt its exis-
tence is to become a heretic and once might possibly even have led to the
loss of one’s head. Even today the man holding a public position dare not
question it.


With the development of the physical sciences which came with the
renaissance, a certain release from this stifling soul cloud was obtained.
A man could think of astronomy, of the celestial bodies and their motions,
of gravitation and the like, without involving soul. Although the early


WHAT IS BEHAVIORISM? a


scientists were as a rule devout Christians, nevertheless they began to
leave soul out of their test tubes. Psychology and philosophy, however,
in dealing as they thought with non-material objects, found it difficult
to escape the language of the church, and hence the concepts of mind and
soul come down to the latter part of the nineteenth century. It was the
boast of Wundt’s students, in 1879, when the first psychological labora-
tory was established, that psychology had at last become a science without
a soul. For fifty years we have kept this pseudo-science, exactly as
Wundt laid it down. All that Wundt and his students really accomplished
was to substitute for the word “soul” the word “consciousness,”


An Examination of Consciousness


From the time of Wundt on, consciousness becomes the keynote of
psychology. It is the keynote of all psychologies today except behavior-
ism. It is a plain assumption just as unprovable, just as unapproachable,
as the old concept of the soul. And to the behaviorist the two terms are
essentially identical, so far as concerns their metaphysical’ implications.


To show how unscientific is the concept, look for a moment at William
James’ definition of psychology. “Psychology is the description and ex-
planation of states of consciousness as such.” Starting with a definition
which assumes what he starts out to prove, he escapes his difficulty by
an argumentum ad hominem. Consciousness—Oh, yes, everybody must
know what this “consciousness” is. When we have a sensation of red, a
perception, a thought, when we will to do something, or when we purpose
to do something, or when we desire to do something, we are being con-
scious. All other introspectionists are equally illogical. In other words,
they do not tell us what consciousness is, but merely begin to put things
into it by assumption; and then when they come to analyze consciousness,
naturally they find in it just what they put into it. Consequently, in the
analyses of consciousness made by certain of the psychologists you find
such elements as sensations and their ghosts, the images. With others you
find not only sensations, but so-called affective elements; in still others you
find such elements as will—the so-called conative element in consciousness.
With some psychologists you find many hundreds of sensations of a cer-
tain type; others maintain that only a few of that type exist. And so it
goes. Literally hundreds of thousands of printed pages have been pub-
lished on the minute analysis of this intangible something called “conscious-
ness.’ And how do we begin work upon it? Not by analyzing it as we
would a chemical compound, or the way a plant grows. No, those things
are material things. This thing we call consciousness can be analyzed only


6 BEHAVIORISM


by introspection—a looking in on what goes on inside of us.


As a result of this major assumption that there is such a thing as
consciousness and that we can analyze it by introspection, we find as
many analyses as there are individual psychologists. There is no way of
experimentally attacking and solving psychological problems and standard-
izing methods,


The Advent of the Behaviorists


In 1912 the behaviorists reached the conclusion that they could no
longer be content to work with intangibles and unapproachables. They
decided either to give up psychology or else to make it a natural science.
They saw their brother-scientists making progress in medicine, in chem-
istry, in physics. Every new discovery in those fields was of prime im-
portance; every new element isolated in one laboratory could be isolated
in some other laboratory; each new element was immediately taken up
in the warp and woof of science as a whole. May I call your attention to
the wireless, to radium, to insulin, to thyroxin, and hundreds of others?
Elements so isolated and methods so formulated immediately began to
function in human achievement.


In his first efforts to get uniformity in subject matter and in methods
the behaviorist began his own formulation of the problem of psychology
by sweeping aside all mediaeval conceptions. He dropped from his scien-
tific vocabulary all subjective terms such as sensation, perception, image,
desire, purpose, and even thinking and emotion as they were subjectively
defined,


The Behaviorist’s Platform


The behaviorist asks: Why don’t we make what we can observe the
real field of psychology? Let us limit ourselves to things that can be
observed, and formulate laws concerning only those things. Now what
can we observe? Well, we can observe behavior—what the organism does
or says. And let me make this fundamental point at once: that saying is
doing—that is, behaving. Speaking overtly or to ourselves (thinking) is
just as objective a type of behavior as baseball. ,


The rule, or measuring rod, which the behaviorist puts in front of him
always is: Can I describe this bit of behavior I see in terms of “stimulus
and response”? By stimulus we mean any object in the general environ-
ment or any change in the tissues themselves due to the physiological


WHAT IS BEHAVIORISM? 7


condition of the animal, such as the change we get when we keep an ani-
mal from sex activity, when we keep it from feeding, when we keep it
from building a nest. By response we mean anything the animal does—
such as turning towards or away from a light, jumping at a sound, and
more highly organized activities such as building a skyscraper, drawing
plans, having babies, writing books, and the like.


___ At this point let me diverge to emphasize the fact that almost from
infancy society begins to prescribe behavior. A Chinese baby must use
chop sticks, eat rice, wear certain kinds of clothes, grow a queue, learn
to speak Chinese, sit in a certain kind of way, worship his ancestors, and
the like. The American baby must use a fork, learn quickly to form habits
of personal cleanliness, wear certain kinds of clothes, learn reading, writ-
ing and arithmetic, become monogamous, worship the Christian God, go
to church and, yes, even to speak upon a public platform. It is presumably
not the function of the behaviorist to discuss whether these things which
society prescribes serve as a help or a hindrance to the growth or adjust-
ment of an individual. The behaviorist is working under the mandates of
society and consequently it does come within his province to say to society:
“Tf you decide that the human organism should behave in this way, you
must arrange situations of such and such kinds.” I would like to point out
here that some time we will have a behavioristic ethics, experimental in


_ type, which will tell us whether it is advisable from the standpoint of


present and future adjustments of the individual to have one wife or many
wives; to have capital punishment or punishment of any kind; whether
prohibition or no prohibition; easy divorces or no divorces; whether many
of our other prescribed courses of conduct make for adjustment of the
individual or the contrary, such for example as having a family life or
even knowing our own fathers and mothers,


Some Specific Problems of the Behaviorists


You will find, then, the behaviorist working like any other scientist.
His sole object is to gather facts about behavior—verify his data—subject
them both to logic and to mathematics (the tools of every scientist). He
brings the newborn individual into his experimental nursery and begins to
set problems: What is the baby doing now? What is the stimulus that
makes him behave this way? He finds that the stimulus of tickling the
cheek brings the response of turning the mouth to the side stimulated.
The stimulus of the nipple brings out the sucking response. The stimulus
of a rod placed on the palm of the hand brings closure of the hand and
the suspension of the whole body by that hand and arm if the rod is raised.


8 BEHAVIORISM


Stimulating the infant with a rapidly moving shadow across the eye will
not produce blinking until the individual is sixty-five days of age. Stimu-
lating the infant with an apple or stick of candy or any other object will
not call out attempts at reaching until the baby is around 120 days of age.
Stimulating a properly brought up infant at any age with snakes, fish,
darkness, burning paper, birds, cats, dogs, monkeys, will not bring out that
type of response which we call “fear” (which I would rather call reaction
“X”) which is a catching of the breath, a stiffening of the whole body, a
turning away of the body from the source of stimulation, a running or
crawling away. (See lecture 7.)


On the other hand, there are -just two things which will call out a
fear response, namely, a loud sound, and loss of support.


Now the behaviorist finds from observing children brought up outside
of his nursery that hundreds of these objects will call out fear responses.
Consequently, the scientific question arises: If at birth only two stimuli
will call out fear, how do all these other things ever finally come to call it
out? Please notice that the question is not a speculative one. It can be
answered by experiments, and the experiments can be reproduced and the
same findings can be had in every laboratory in the land. Convince your-
self of this by making a simple test.


If you will take a snake, mouse or dog and show it to a baby who has
never seen these objects or been frightened in other ways, he begins to
manipulate it, poking at this, that or the other part. Do this for ten days
until you are logically certain that the child will always go towards the dog
and never run away from it (positive reaction) and that it does not call out
a fear response at any time. In contrast to this, pick up a steel bar and
strike upon it loudly behind the infant’s head. Immediately the fear re-
sponse is called forth. Now try this: At the instant you show him the
animal and just as he begins to reach for it, strike the steel bar behind
his head. Repeat the experiment three or four times. A new and import-
ant change is apparent. The animal now calls out the same response as
the steel bar, namely a fear response. We call this, in behavioristic psy-
chology, the conditioned emotional response—a form of conditioned reflex.


Our studies of conditioned reflexes make it easy for us to account for
the child’s fear of the dog on a thoroughly natural science basis without
lugging in consciousness or any other so-called mental, process. A dog
comes toward the child rapidly, jumps upon him, pushes him down and at
the same time barks loudly. Oftentimes one such combined stimulation
is all that is necessary to make the baby run away from the dog the moment
it comes within his range of vision.


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WHAT IS BEHAVIORISM? 9


In another lecture I shall show you other conditioned emotional res-
ponses, such as those connected with love, where the mother by petting the
child, rocking it, stimulating its sex organs in bathing, and the like, calls
out the embrace, gurgling and crowing as an unlearned original response.
Soon this response becomes conditioned. The mere sight of the mother
calls out the same kind of response as actual bodily contacts. I should
like to point out that in rage we get a similar set of facts. The stimulus
of holding the infant’s moving members brings out the original unlearned
response we call rage. Soon the mere sight of a nurse that handles a
child badly throws the child into a fit. Thus we see how relatively simple
our emotional responses are in the beginning and how terribly complicated
home life soon makes them.


In the next lecture we shall develop the idea of conditioned responses
in general. We can set up conditioned responses in animals as low in
the scale as the amoeba—not necessarily of the same kind as the above, but
similar ones.


The behaviorist has his problems with the adult as well. What
methods shall we use systematically to condition the adult? For example,
to teach him business habits, scientific habits? Both manual habits (tech-
nique and skill) and laryngeal habits (habits of speech and thought) must
be formed and tied together before the task of learning is complete. After
these work habits are formed, what system of changing stimuli shall we
surround him with in order to keep his level of efficiency high and con-
stantly rising?


In addition to vocational habits, there comes the problem of his
emotional life. How much of it is carried over from childhood? What
part of it interferes with his present adjustment? How can we make him
lose this part of it; that is, uncondition him where unconditioning is nec-
essary, and condition him where conditioning is necessary? Indeed we
know nothing about the amount and kind of emotional or, better, visceral
habits (by this term we mean that our stomach, intestines, breathing, etc.
become conditioned—form habits) that should be formed. In one of the
later lectures I wish to bring out the fact that visceral habits can be formed,
that organization in this field is possible but has hitherto been neglected.


Probably more adults in this universe of ours suffer vicissitudes in
family life and in business activities because of poor and insufficient
visceral habits than through the lack of technique and skill in manual and
verbal accomplishments. One of the large problems in big organizations
teday is that of personality adjustments. The young men and young


10 BEHAVIORISM


women entering business organizations have plenty of skill to do their
work but they fail because they do not know how to get along with other,
people.


Does This Behavioristic Approach Leave Anything Out of Psychology?


After hearing this brief survey of the behavioristsic approach to the
problems of psychology, I can almost hear you exclaiming: “Why, yes, it
is worth while to study human behavior in this way, but the study of
behavior is not the whole of psychology. It leaves out too much. Don’t
I have sensations, perceptions, conceptions? Do I not forget things and
remember things, imagine things, have visual images and auditory images


of things I once have seen and heard? Can I not see and hear things that


I have never seen or heard in nature? Can I not be attentive or inatten-
tive? Can I not will to do a thing or will not to do it, as the case may be?
Do not certain things arouse pleasure in me, and others displeasure? Be-
haviorism is trying to rob us of everything we have believed in since
earliest childhood.”


Having been brought up on introspective psychology, as most of you
have, these questions are perfectly natural and you will find it hard to
put away this terminology and begin to formulate your psychological life
in terms of behaviorism. Behaviorism is new wine and it will not.go into
old bottles; therefore I am going to try to make new bottles out of
you. I am going to ask you to put away all of your old presuppositions
and to allay your natural antagonism and accept the behavioristic plat-
form at least for this series of lectures. Before they end I hope
you will find that you have progressed so far with behaviorism that
the questions you now raise will answer themselves in a perfectly satisfac-
tory natural science way. Let me hasten to add that if I were to ask you
to tell me what you mean by the terms you have been in the habit of using)
I could soon make you tongue tied with contradictions. I believe I could
even convince you that you do not know what you mean by them. You
have been using them uncritically as a part of your social and literary
tradition, Let us forget them until later Jectures,


To Understand Behaviorism Begin to Observe People


This is the fundamental starting point of behaviorism. You will
soon find that instead of self-observation being the easiest and most natural
way of studying psychology, it is an impossible one; you can observe in
yourselves only the most elementary forms of response. You will find, on


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WHAT IS BEHAVIORISM? 11


the other hand, that when you begin to study what your neighbor is doing,
you will rapidly become proficient in giving a reason for his behavior and
In setting situations, (presenting stimuli) that will make him behave in a
predictable manner.


Definition of Behaviorism


_ Definitions are not as popular today as they used to be. The defini-
tion of any one science, physics, for example. would necessarily include
the definition of all other sciences. And the same is true of behaviorism.
About all that we can do in the way of defining a science at the present
time is to mark a ring around that part of the whole of natural science
that we claim particularly as our own.


Behaviorism, as you have already grasped from our preliminary dis-
cussion, is, then, a natural science that takes the whole field of human
adjustments as its own. Its closest scientific companion is physiology.
Indeed you may wonder, as we proceed, whether behaviorism can be dif-
ferentiated from that science. It is different from physiology only in the
grouping of its problems, not in fundamentals or in central viewpoint.
Physiology is particularly interested in the functioning of parts of the
-animal—for example, its digestive system, the circulatory’ system, the
nervous system, the excretory. systems, the mechanics of neural and muscu-
lar response. Behaviorism, on the other hand, while it is intensely inter-
ested in all of the functioning of these parts, is intrinsically interested in
what the whole animal will do from morning to night and from night to
morning.


The interest of the behaviorist in man’s doings is more than the
interest of the spectator—he wants to control man’s reactions as physical
scientists want to control and manipulate other natural phenomena. It
is the business of behavioristic psychology to be able to predict and to
control human activity. To do this it must gather scientific data by experi-
mental methods. Only then can the trained behaviorist predict, given the
stimulus, what reaction will take place; or, given the reaction, state what
the situation or stimulus is that has caused the reaction.

Let us look for a moment more closely at the two terms—stimulus
and response.


What is a Stimulus?


If I suddenly flash a strong light in your eye, your pupil will contract
rapidly. If I were suddenly to shut off all light in the room, the pupil


12 BEHAVIORISM


would begin to widen. If a pistol shot were suddenly fired in the back
part of the room, practically all of you would jump and possibly turn your
heads around. If hydrogen sulphide were suddenly released in the room
you would begin to hold your noses and possibly even seek to leave the
room, If I suddenly made the room very warm, you would begin to un-
button your coats and perspire. If I suddenly made it cold, another re-
sponse would take place.


Again, on the inside of us we have an equally large realm in which
stimuli can exert their effect. For example, just before dinner tonight the
muscles of your stomach began to contract and expand rhythmically be-
cause of the absence of food. As soon as food was eaten those contrac-
tions ceased. By swallowing a small balloon and attaching it to a record-
ing instrument we can easily register the response of the stomach to lack
of food and note the lack of response when food is present. In the male,
at any rate, the pressure of certain fluids (semen) may lead to sex activity.
In the case of the female possibly the presence of certain chemical bodies
can lead in a similar way to overt sex behavior. The muscles of our arms
and legs and trunk are not only subject to stimuli coming from the blood,
they are also stimulated by their own responses—that is, the muscle is
under constant tension; any increase in that tension, as when a movement
is made, gives rise to a stimulus which leads to another response in that
same muscle or in one in some distant part of the body; any decrease in
that tension, as when the muscle is relaxed, similarly gives rise to a stimu-
lus.


So we see that the organism is constantly assailed by stimuli—which
come through the eye, the ear, the nose and the mouth—the so-called
objects of our environment ; at the same time the inside of our body is like-
wise assailed at every movement by stimuli arising from changes in the
tissues themselves. Don’t get the idea, please, that the inside of your body
is any different or any more mysterious than the outside of your body.


Through the process of evolution human beings have put on sense
organs—specialized areas where special types of stimuli are most effective
—such as the eye, the ear, the nose, the tongue, the skin and semi-circular
canals’, To these must be added the whole muscular system, both the
striped muscles and the unstriped muscles. The muscles are thus not only
organs of response—they are sense organs as well. You will see as we
proceed with the lectures that the last two systems play a tremendous réle


1 In my third lecture I will tell you how sense organs are made up and what their general
relation is to the rest of the body. ,


ee


WHAT IS BEHAVIORISM? 13


in the behavior of the human being. Many of our most intimate and
personal reactions are due to stimuli set up by tissue changes in our striped
muscles and in our viscera,


How Training Ever Enlarges the Range of Stimuli to Which We Respond


One of the problems of behaviorism is what might be called the
ever increasing range of stimuli to which an individual responds. In-
deed so marked is this that you might be tempted at first sight to doubt
the formulation we gave above, namely that response can be predicted. If
you will watch the growth and development of behavior in the human
being, you will find that while a great many stimuli will produce a response
in the new-born, many other stimuli will not. At any rate they do not call
out the same response they later call out. For example, you don’t get
very far by showing a new-born infant a crayon, a piece of paper, or the
printed score of a Beethoven symphony. In other words, habit formation
has to come in before certain stimuli can become effective. Later I shall
take up with you the procedure by means of which we can get stimuli
which do not ordinarily call out responses to call them out. The general
term we use to describe this is “conditioning.” Conditioned responses will
be more fully gone into in the next lecture.


It is due to conditioning from earliest childhood on that the problem
of the behaviorist in predicting what a given response will be is so diffi-
cult. The sight of a horse does not ordinarily produce the fear response,
and yet there is one person here tonight who will walk a block to avoid
coming near to a horse. While the study of behaviorism will never enable
its students to look at you and predict that such a state of affairs exists,
nevertheless if the behaviorist sees that reaction taking place, it is very
easy for him to state approximately what the situation was in the early
experience of such a one that brought about this unusual type of adult
response. After all, though, we have proceeded upon this practical basis
since the time of Adam,


What Does the Behaviorist Mean by Response?


We have already brought out the fact that from birth to death the
organism is being assailed by stimuli on the outside of the body and by
stimuli arising in the body itself. Now the organism does something
when it is assailed by stimuli. It responds. It moves. The response may
be so slight that it can be observed only by the use of instruments. The
response may confine itself merely to a change in respiration, or to an in-


14 BEHAVIORISM


crease or decrease in blood pressure. It may call out merely a movement
of the eye. The more commonly observed responses, however, are move-
ments of the whole body, movements of the arm, leg, trunk, or combina-
tions of all the moving parts.


Usually the response that the organism makes to a stimulus brings
about an adjustment, though not always. By an adjustment we mean
merely that the organism by moving so alters its physiological state that
the stimulus no longer arouses reaction. This may sound a bit complicated,
but examples will clear it up. If I am hungry, stomach contractions begin
to drive me ceaselessly to and fro. If, in these restless seeking movements,
I spy apples on a tree, I immediately climb the tree and pluck the apples
and begin to eat. When surfeited, the stomach contractions cease. Al-
though there are apples still hanging round about me, I no longer pluck
and eat them. Again, the cold air stimulates me. I move around about
until I am out of the wind. In the open I may even dig a hole. Having
escaped the wind, it no longer stimulates me to further action. Under sex
excitement the male may go to any length to capture a willing female.
Once sex activity has been completed the restless seeking movements dis-
appear. The female no longer stimulates the male to sex activity.


The behaviorist has often been criticized for this emphasis upon
response. Some psychologists seem to have the notion that} the behaviorist
is interested only in the recording of minute muscular responses. Nothing
could be further from the truth. Let me emphasize again that the be-
haviorist is primarily interested in the behavior of the whole man. From
morning to night he watches him perform his daily round of duties. If
it is brick-laying, he would like to measure the number of bricks he can
lay under different conditions, how long he can go without dropping from
fatigue, how long it takes him to learn his trade, whether we can improve
his efficiency or get him to do the same amount of work in a less period
of time. In other words, the response the behaviorist is interested in is
the commonsense answer to the question “what is he doing and why is he
doing it?” Surely with this as a general statement, no one can distort the


the behaviorist’s platform to such an extent that it can be claimed that the


behaviorist is merely a muscle physiologist.


The behaviorist claims that there is a response to every effective
stimulus and that the response is immediate. By effective stimulus we
mean that it must be strong enough to overcome the normal resistance to
the passage of the sensory impulse from sense organs to muscles. Don’t
get confused at this point by what the psychologist and the psycho-analyst
sometimes tell you. If you read their statements, you are likely to believe


WHAT IS BEHAVIORISM? 15


that the stimulus can be applied today and produce its effect maybe the
next day, maybe within the next few months, or years. The behaviorist
doesn’t believe in any such mythological conception. It is true that I can
give the verbal stimulus to you “Meet me at the Belmont tomorrow for
lunch at one o'clock.” Your immediate response is “All right, I’ll be
there.” Now what happens after that? We will not cross this difficult
bridge now but may I point out that we have in our verbal habits a mech-
anism by means of which the stimulus is reapplied from moment to mo-
ment until the final reaction occurs, namely going to the Belmont at one
o’clock the next day.


General Classification of Response


The two commonsense classifications of response are “external” and
“fnternal”—or possibly the terms “overt” (explicit) and “implicit” are
better. By external or overt responses we mean the ordinary doings of the
human beiig—he stoops to pick up a tennis ball, he writes a letter, he
enters an automobile and starts driving, he digs a hole in the ground, he
sits down to write a lecture, or dances, or flirts with a woman, or makes
love to his wife. We do not need instruments to make these observations.
On the other hand, responses may be wholly confined to the muscular and
glandular systems inside the body. A child or hungry adult may be stand- —
ing stock still in front of a window filled with pastry. Your first exclama-
tion may be “he isn’t doing anything” or “he is just looking at the pastry.”
An instrument would show that his salivary glands are pouring out se-
cretions, that his stomach is rhythmically contracting and expanding, and *
that marked changes in blood pressure are taking place—that the endo-

crine glands are pouring substances into the blood. The internal or im-
_ plicit responses are difficult to observe, not because they are inherently
_ different from the external or overt responses, but merely because they
are hidden from the eye.


Another general classification is that of learned and unlearned re-
sponses. I brought out the fact a little while ago that the range of stimuli
to which we react is ever increasing. The behaviorist has found by his
study that most of the things we see the adult doing are really learned.
We used to think that a lot of them were instinctive, that is “unlearned.”
But we are now almost at] the point of throwing away the word “instinct.”
Still there are a lot of things we do that we do not have to learn—to per-
spire, to breathe, to have our heart beat, to have digestion take place, to
have our eyes turn toward a source of light, to have our pupils contract,
to show a fear response when a loud sound is given. Let us keep as our


16 BEHAVIORISM


second classification then “learned responses,” and make it include all of
our complicated habits and all of our conditioned responses; and “un-
learned” responses, and mean by that all of the things that we do in
earliest infancy before the processes of conditioning and habit formation
get the upper hand,


Another purely logical way to classify responses is to designate them
by the sense organ which initiates them. We could thus have a visual
unlearned response—for example, the turning of the eye of the youngster
at birth toward a source of light. Contrast this with a visual learned
response, the response, for example, to a printed score of music or a word.
Again, we could have a kinaesthetic' unlearned response when the infant
reacts by crying to a long-sustained twisted position of the arm. We
could have a kinaesthetic learned response when we manipulate a delicate
object in the dark or, for example, tread a tortuous maze. Again, we can
have a visceral unlearned response where pressure of the urine produces
an erection in the male. Contrast this with the learned or visceral condi-
tioned response where the sight of a certain female or even the sound of
her voice or the perfume that she usually wears will produce an erection.


This discussion of stimulus and response shows what material we
have to work with in behavioristic psychology and why behavioristic psy-
chology has as its goal to be able, given the stimulus, to predict the re-
sponse—or, seeing the reaction take place to state what the stimulus is that
has called out the reaction,


Is Behaviorism Merely a Methodological Approach to the Study of
Psychological Problems, or is it an Actual System of Psychology?


If psychology can do without the terms “mind” and “consciousness,”
indeed if it can find no objective evidence for their existence, what is
going to become of philosophy and the so-called social sciences which
today are built around the concept of mind- and consciousness? Almost
every day the behaviorist is asked this question, sometimes in a friendly
inquiring way, and sometimes not so kindly. While behaviorism was
fighting for its existence it was afraid to answer this question. Its con-
tentions were too new; its field too unworked for it to allow itself even to
think that some day it might be able to stand up and to tell philosophy and
the social sciences that they, too, must scrutinize anew their own premises.


1 By kinaesthetic we mean the muscle sense. Our muscles are supplied with sensory nerve
endings. When we move the muscles these sensory nerve endings are stimulated. Thus,
the stimulus to the kinaesthetic or muscle sense is a movement of the muscle tself.


2a ein i aie eal


WHAT IS BEHAVIORISM? 17


Hence the behaviorist’s one answer when approached in this way was to
say, “I can’t let myself worry about such questions now. Behaviorism is
at present a satisfactory way of going at the solution of psychological
problems—it is really a methodological approach to psychological prob-
lems.” Today behaviorism is strongly entrenched. It finds its way of
going at the study of psychological problems and its formulation of those
problems growing more and more adequate.


Today the behaviorist can safely throw out a real challenge to the
subjective psychologists—“Show us that you have a possible method,
indeed that you have even a legitimate subject matter. Prove to us that
philosophy and the social sciences based upon your speculations have any
right to further take up the time and thought of developing students.”


The past ten years have seen a growing tendency—but one combatted
at every point by the old line philosopher—on the part of the “mental
sciences” to crawl over the stone wall that separates them from behavior-
ism. Let me put all of these “sciences” based upon the concept of mind
on the left hand side of a vertical line; on the right hand side of the line
I shall show you their present trend:


Up to the Advent of Behaviorism Now Showing the Following
Dominated by Concept of Leanings:
Consciousness :

Introspective psychology. Behaviorism.
Functional psychology.

: Gradually disappearing and becom-
Be ehy: ing the history of science.
Bthics.” Experimental ethics based entirely


upon behavioristic methods.


Rapidly becoming a behavioristic
study of how groups—family, vil-
lage, national, church and the like—
build up habits (attitudes) in the

, | individual during the formative
period and thus maintain control of
him throughout life.


Social Psychology.


Sociology. Merging into behavioristic social
psychology and into economics.


18 BEHAVIORISM


Up to the Advent of Behaviorism
Dominated by Concept of
Consciousness :


Religion.


Psycho-Analysis

(Based largely upon religion, intro-
spective psychology, and Voodoo-
ism, )


Now Showing the Following
Leanings :


Being replaced among the educated
by experimental ethics.


Being replaced slowly by behavior-
istic studies on the human child
where scientific methods are being
established for conditioning and un-
conditioning the child. When such
studies are carried to an ideal state,
there should be no reason for psy-
chopathic breakdowns or disturb-
ances in the adult.


While this discussion does not completely answer the question whether
behaviorism is a system or a method, nevertheless it does show that be-
havioristic formulations are becoming central in the whole field of what
has hitherto been called “the mental and moral sciences.”


I hope in the remaining lectures to show you why behavioristic formu-
lations and methods are an adequate way of accounting for all psycho-


logical problems.


II
HOW TO STUDY HUMAN BEHAVIOR
Problems, Methods, Technique, and Samples of Results


Analyzing Psychological Problems


Our last lecture touched many things lightly. From now on we must
prepare ourselves for more strenuous undertakings. In that lecture we
found that the behaviorist is constantly working with stimuli whose effect
on the human organism is unknown. He seeks to find out what kind of
reaction they will call forth when presented singly or in combination. He
varies not only the combination in which they are presented but their in-
tensity and the length of time they are allowed to exert their effect.


For example, a mother is sleeping in a chair in front of me. I speak
to her but my voice does not call out a response. I make my dog bark
gently out in the yard; that likewise fails to call out a response. Then I
go to the sleeping room of her youngest child and cause it to cry. Im-
mediately the mother springs from the chair and runs to the child’s room.
I next determine scientifically how strong the cry must be and the length
of time it must endure before the response is called out. I next vary
conditions, then I work with many other mothers; I apply mathematics and
logic to my results. This would be scientific procedure. But from a
commonsense point of view the whole result is expressed by the old famil-
iar saying—‘the slightest cry of her infant wakes a sleeping mother.”


Another example. My Airedale dog lies asleep at my feet. What
will happen if I rustle the paper? Only a change in respiration. If I
throw down a small note book? It causes a change in respiration—a
quickened pulse and a slight movement of the tail and foot. I get up
without touching him—immediately the dog springs up ready to play,
fight or eat.


Now the human race has been in existence for many hundreds of
thousands of years; during that time (even though at times we have
followed the false psychological god Introspection) we have succeeded
in gathering a lot of data on the effect various stimuli have upon human
behavior.


Possibly you may think I am choosing pretty artificial illustrations—
you may maintain that we never play with situations and stimuli as I have


19


20 BEHAVIORISM


here suggested. Go then to real life. We increase our employees’ salaries.
We offer a bonus—we offer them homes at nominal rental so they can
get married. We put in baths—playgrounds. We are constantly manipu-
lating stimuli, dangling this, that and the other combinations in front of
the human being in order to determine the reactions they will bring forth
—hoping that the reaction will be “in line with progress”, “desirable”,
“good”. (And society really means by “desirable”, “good”, “in line with
progress”, reactions that will not disturb its recognized and established


traditional order of things.)


Sometimes, on the other hand, the behaviorist (and I am now going
to admit that we are all behaviorists—we have to be) works the other way
round. The individual is doing something—reacting—behaving. The
behaviorist, to make his methods socially effective, to be able to reproduce
this reaction at another time (and possibly in other individuals as well)
attempts to determine what the situation is that causes this particular
reaction,


I see some of you yawning and fighting sleep in this crowded room.
I see the same behavior every night after we have been together for
about one half hour. Why? Some of you may say that it is a stupid
lecture—some that the ventilation is bad—and if they are scientifically
inclined they may even elaborate by saying “You see, in a crowded room


like this the oxygen is used up rapidly—this causes an excess of carbon


dioxide in the air we breathe; carbon dioxide is bad for you—it makes
you yawny and sleepy and if the tension gets very high it may even kill
you.” But suppose I am not satisfied and begin to experiment? We have
actually made such experiments but I will not take time now to tell you
about them—I’ll just give you the result. You yawn and grow sleepy
because of the increasing heat around your body—especially in the un-
stirred air spaces between your skin and clothing. If the janitor would
put in two or three fans to keep the air stirred up, your yawning and
sleepiness would disappear—the slightly increased CO, tension while it
is a fact, has nothing to do with the reaction. Scientific method has en-
abled us not only to find the stimulus causing the reaction but also how
effectively to control the reaction by removing or modifying the stimulus.


General Formulation


We have gone far enough for you to see that we can throw our psy-
chological problems and their solutions into terms of stimulus and response.
Let us use the abbreviations S for stimulus (or the more complex situa-


te reer


il 8 em


HOW TO STUDY HUMAN BEHAVIOR Zl


tion) and R for response. We may schematise our psychological problems
as follows:


Given ?(to be determined)
NOSE ohh ae Rd Ree, SD LO Re R
?(to be determined) given
Your problem reaches its explanation always when:
SS OE, IT Ss Ra eS R
has been determined has been determined


Substitution of stimuli or conditioning of stimuli


So far our method has been stated very simply. I have led you to
believe that the stimulus necessary to call out the reaction exists some-
where as a kind of entity only waiting to be found and presented to your
subject. I have talked, too, as though the reaction were a fixed kind of
thing or entity ready to be called out the moment the organism is stimu-
lated appropriately. A little observation shows that our formulation is in-
exact and in need of modification. I pointed out in the last lecture that
some stimuli when first applied seem to exert no marked effect and
certainly not the effect they come later to exert. Let us illustrate this
by going back to our formula. Suppose for example we take an already
established (unlearned) reaction with both stimulus and response known,
such as:


LC gale orca ANG he ee ae ak See a eae ed 8
Electric shock Withdrawal of hand


Now the mere visual stimulus of a patch of red light will not cause the
withdrawal of the hand. The patch of red light may produce no marked
reaction whatsoever (what reaction does appear will depend upon previous
conditioning). But if I show the red light and then immediately or shortly
thereafter stimulate my subject’s hand with the electric current and repeat
this routine often enough, the red light will cause the immediate with-
drawal of the hand. The red light now becomes a substitute stimulus—it
will call out the R whenever it stimulates the subject in that setting. Some-
thing has happened to bring about this change. This change, as we have
pointed out, is called conditioning—the reaction remains the same but we
have increased the number of stimuli that will call it out. To express the
new state of affairs we (rather inaccurately) describe the change by


22 BEHAVIORISM


speaking of the stimulus as being “conditioned.” Please remember, though,
that when we speak both of conditioned stimuli and of conditioned re-
sponses, we mean that what is conditioned is the whole organism.


Contrasted with a conditioned stimulus we have the unconditioned.
Certain stimuli from birth will call out definite responses. A few exam-
ples of unconditioned stimuli are as follows:


OAR ah RARE EDT Se serene does ot |
Light Closing pupil, turning eyes
Tapping tendon below knee Kickup of leg (Patellar
reflex)
Acid in the mouth Salivary secretion
Pricking, burning and Withdrawal of body, crying,
cutting skin screaming, etc


Observations on infants show quickly that while there are thousands of
unconditioned stimuli, they are relatively few when contrasted with the
conditioned. Conditioned stimuli are legion in number. Every one of the
printed and written 15,000 words that a well educated individual can
respond to in an organized way must be looked upon as an example of
a conditioned stimulus. Each tool that we work with, each person that
we respond to are equally good examples. The total number of con-
ditioned and unconditioned stimuli to which we can respond has never
been determined.


The importance of stimulus substitution or stimulus conditioning
cannot be overrated. It enormously widens the range of things that will
bring out responses. So far as we know now (actual experimental evi-
dence is lacking) we can take any stimulus calling out a standard reaction
and substitute another stimulus for it,


Let us go back to our general formula for a moment:


It is obvious that when we determine S we must now tell whether it is a
U (unconditioned) stimulus or a C (conditioned) stimulus. Experiment
teaches us as is shown in the above table that a drop of acid in the mouth
will from birth produce a flow of saliva. This is an example of a native
or unconditioned stimulus. The sight of the smoking hot cherry pie that
causes the salivary glands to flow so fully is an example of a conditioned
visual stimulus. The sound of the gentle footsteps of the mother that stops
the crying of her child is an example of a conditioned auditoty stimulus.


< el


ee eS alt une cus ce aan


Ce


HOW TO STUDY HUMAN BEHAVIOR 23


Substitution of Response


Can we substitute or condition responses? Experiment teaches us

that the process of response substitution or conditioning does take place

in all animals throughout life. Yesterday his puppy called out from a
two-year-old child—fondling, pet words, play and laughter:


ee ea A al en R
Sight of dog Manipulation, laughter, etc.
Today the dog calls out:
2 ok Sais ead eink Ua ee a R
Sight of dog Screaming,


withdrawal of body,


Something happened. Late yesterday the dog bit him too hard in play—
broke the skin and caused bleeding. We know that


AE SEE a Pe eg inate ene R


Cutting, burning of skin withdrawal of body, etc.
screaming, etc.


In other words while the visual stimulus dog has remained substantially
the same, the reaction belonging to another unconditioned stimulus (cut-
ting, pricking skin) has made its appearance.*


The conditioning of responses is just as important as the conditioning
of stimuli. It possibly has even greater social bearing. Many of
us are surrounded by fixed unchangeable situations such as the kind
of home we live in, parents who must be petted and handled gently,
wives “who do not understand,” sex hungers from which there is no
escaping (for example, marriage to an invalid or insane husband
or wife), malformations of the body (permanent inferiorities), and
the like. The reactions that we now make to these permanent stimuli are
often abortive, inadequate for adjustment; they wreck our constitutions
and may make us psychopathic. The fact that different reactions can
be conditioned—Adolph Meyer calls them “substitutive” reactions—gives
us a real hope for future generations if not for our own. This process
is sometimes called “sublimation.” Whether conditioned, substituted or
sublimated activity is just as adequate for permanent adjustment as the
- unconditioned has not yet been completely physiologically grounded.


1 From a laboratory standpoint there is ultimately no fundamental difference between a condi:
tioned stimulus and a conditioned responss.


24 BEHAVIORISM


Judging from the lack of permanence of many of the “cures” of the
psycho-analyst, one is inclined to think that substitutive reactions, in the
realm of sex at any rate, will not remain adequate for the organism,


Can We Make or Build in Totally New Responses?


Certainly no structurally new pathways are found in the brain after
infancy. Neural connections are largely laid down at birth. Yet the num-
ber of unconditioned, unlearned responses is too small to care for the adult.
May I call your attention, though, to the fact that there are thousands of
simple unlearned and unconditioned responses, such as finger and arm
movements, eye movements, toe and leg movements, that escape the notice


of all but trained observers. These are the elements out of which our ©


organized, learned, responses must be formed and apparently by the process
of conditioning. These simple, unconditioned, embryological responses,
by the presentation of appropriate stimuli (society does this for us), can
be grouped and tied together into complex conditioned responses, or habits,
such as tennis, fencing, shoe-making, mother reactions, religious reactions,


and the like. These complex responses are thus integrations. The organ- —
ism starts out life with more unit responses than it needs. Relatively few —


of its vast resources, numerous as its organized complicated acts seem to
be, are ever utilized.


For examples of unconditioned but diffuse and widespread groups of
responses to a stimulus changing over into a circumscribed group of
conditioned responses (or habits) let us go to the white rat. It has been
without food for 24 hours. I put food in a wire problem box opened by
raising an old-fashioned wooden latch. The rat has never been in this
situation before. By hypothesis we will assume that all of its first reactions
are native and unlearned (which is of course not the case). What does it
do? It runs round and round, bites at the wire, pokes its nose between
meshes, pulls cage toward it, sticks claws into moving door, raises head and


smells about the cage. Notice that every part reaction necessary to the -


solution of the problem has been many times displayed. These part-


reactions are present in its repertoire of unconditioned or unlearned acts. —


They are (1) walking or running to the door, (2) raising the head (which
if done at a given point will result in knocking the latch up), (3) pulling
at the moving door with the claws, (4) climbing over the sill to the food.


Out of the rat’s vast display of unconditioned responses only 4 are needed ©


a a ee eee an ae


_—if given time it will always accidentally stumble upon the solution. But to _
solve the problem efficiently these 4 part reactions must be spaced and —


timed—patterned or integrated. When integration, patterning or con-


ee
a a = oars
pean 3 Waren n


HOW TO STUDY HUMAN BEHAVIOR 25


ditioning is complete, all other responses except 1-2-3-4 disappear. We
would correctly speak of this 1-2-3-4 response as being a new and con-
ditioned response. We usually call this process the formation of a habit.


Most of you have studied habit formation and at least think you
know a great deal about it. But even if you knew all of the existing data
about it you could hardly construct a tenable theory of how habits are
formed. Both introspectionists and behaviorists have worked en masse,
so to speak, in this field in order to settle various questions of fact—such
as the factors making for rapidity of habit formation, accuracy of habits,
permanence of habits, effects of age on habit formation; the effect of
forming two or more habits simultaneously ; the transfer of habits and the
like. But no experimenter has yet set his experimental problems in such
a way as to construct from his data a guiding theory of habit formation.


Even today the relationship between what is generally called habit
formation and the conditioning of stimuli and of responses has not been
worked out. Personally I think there is little new in habit formation, but
I may be over-simplifying it. When we are teaching the animal or human
to go to a red light and not to a green, or to stay on the true pathway and
out of the culs-de-sac, or to open the problem box above described, I
__ think we are merely establishing a conditioned response—the stimulus
_femains constant. We work to get a “new” or conditioned reaction.
When, however, there is social or experimental need to keep the reaction
constant but to change the stimulus, as happens when an individual for
long periods makes love reactions to a certain female who will have none
of him (thereby possibly endangering his whole life structure) there is
need for stimulus substitution (“transfer,” the. psycho-analysts call it).
If the substitution takes place we have an example of a conditioned
stimulus.


While our studies on the formation of habits in both the human and
animal realms have lacked theoretical guidance, nevertheless much informa-
tion valuable for psychology has been obtained from them. Indeed the
prosecution of work on “habit formation” can be said to have been the
chief business of the psychologist until the very recent introduction of con- |
 ditioned reflex methods. This is causing a re-envisagement of the whole
problem and the rearrangement of our whole experimental program.


We shall postpone further discussion of “habit formation” proper
until a later lecture and continue here with experimental work done on
- “conditioned reflexes.” You will notice that most of the experimental work
concerns itself really with stimulus substitutions and not with reaction


26 BEHAVIORISM


substitutions. There has been relatively little experimental work done
upon reaction substitutions. Much of the practical work of the psychia-
trists and of the analysts has been of this character. If time permitted I
should like to discuss this phase of our problem more at length. Inhibi-
tion of response (by conditioning) is another problem of equal importance.
This, likewise, we shall have to neglect.


Conditioned Reflex Methods
Stimulus Substitution in Glandular Reactions


Laboratory studies on stimulus substitution have progressed further
in the animal field than in the human field. It may be worth your while
to review with me some of the work on the dog. Conditioned reflex work
began upon the dog and the experimental exactness of the method can
there best be demonstrated. The Russian physiologist, Pavlov, and his
students have been chiefly responsible for this work.


Please recall for a moment that there are two different sets of tissue
with which we can respond: 1, our glands; and 2, our muscles (and there
are really two kinds of muscles, striped and visceral).


The gland usually selected for experimentation is the salivary gland.
According to Dr. G. V. Anrep, a former pupil of Pavlov, the salivary gland
is a simple organ, not a composite one like the muscular system of the body.
It is far more independent too of the body than is the muscular system,
and the activity of the gland can be graduated with greater ease than can
muscular action.


The fundamental or unconditioned stimulus, as we have stated be-
fore, calling out a salivary response is some food or acid substance intro-
duced into the mouth:


S EERE NOL eA Pr LE tae


Food, acid Salivary flow


The problem now is to take some other stimulus that does not call out a
salivary flow—indeed it may not call out any marked general response
from the dog—and get it to call out the salivary response. Experiment
shows that visual stimuli, such as colored discs, geometrical forms, simple
noises, pure tones, bodily contacts, will not call out the salivary response.
Any one of them can, however, be made to. A simple operation is first
performed on the dog by making a permanent fistula of the parotid duct—
that is, a small opening is made to lead from the gland to the external


es ee


HOW TO STUDY HUMAN BEHAVIOR ao


surface of the cheek and a small tube is cemented to this outlet. The
drops of saliva coming from the gland now pass out through an external
_ tube instead of into the mouth. This tube is made to connect with an
apparatus which records automatically the number of drops that flow from
the gland. The animal is isolated from the experimenter and from any
auditory, olfactory, visual or other stimuli not controlled by the investi-
gator. The application of both the unconditioned and the conditioned
stimuli is performed automatically from outside the animal room. The
animal is viewed by means of a periscope.


It is found that we may substitute for food or acid any stimulus at
will and get the salivary response, provided we apply this stimulus (C)
_ simultaneously with the food or acid stimulus (U) ; indeed we may even
apply the C stimulus before the U stimulus. Apparently, however, if the U
stimulus is given first, the conditioning does not take place. For example,
Krestovnikov worked for a year giving the U stimulus first and applying
the C stimutus only a few seconds later without ever establishing the
reaction. When the C stimulus precedes the U stimulus the conditioning
takes place after about 20 to 30 combined applications. The time interval
between the application of C before the beginning of U may be varied
from a few seconds up to five or more minutes.


Suppose in a given case we wish to make a tactual stimulation call
out a salivary response. We stimulate the animal tactually for 4 sec-
-onds on one spot on the left thigh and then apply after a pause of 4 or
5 seconds the unconditioned stimulus, powdered meat and dog biscuit
(U). We continue this routine for approximately two months, giving
from four to ten stimulations a day with a pause of from 7 to 45 minutes
after each. By this time the stimulus substitution will be complete and
the tactual stimulus (C) will yield the same number of drops of saliva as
the powdered meat and dog biscuit (U).


By this simple procedure we have widened the range of stimuli to
which the dog can react in a definite way. Instead of our formula above,
it now should read:


C3 ul eka tenons 8 eR De RN ale te R
Powdered meat and dog biscuit For example, 60 drops

or of saliva in 30 seconds
Tactual stimulus on the left thigh each equal to 0.01 c.c.


We have here an example of a complete stimulus substitution. The
magnitude of the reaction following upon the conditioned stimulus is the


28 BEHAVIORISM


same as that called out by the unconditioned—within the limits of experi-


mental error.


By this simple procedure we can test out the whole range of stimuli
to which an animal can respond. For example, suppose we have so con-
ditioned an animal that light of any wave length brings out the salivary
response. After conditioning it we next try to find out whether it is
sensitive to wave lengths shorter than those that affect the human eye.
We start in with green light from the spectrum and gradually increase
the wave length of the stimulus light until the reaction fails. This gives
the animal’s range in the longer wave lengths. Again we build up the
reaction to the green light, then gradually shorten the wave length until the
reaction breaks down. This gives us its range in the shorter wave lengths.
We can work in the same way on the auditory side. It has been found by
certain investigators that the dog will react to tones far higher in pitch
frequency of vibration) than can the human being. Man and the dog have
never been tested under identical conditions, however.


Differential Glandular Responses


With a slightly different procedure we can establish so-called differ-
ential responses. Suppose, for example, we have conditioned the dog to
a given tone A, until tone A calls out the salivary response just as does
the powdered meat. Almost any other tone B will at first call out the
salivary response (irradiation). Can we so change and build up the dog’s
reaction system that he will not react to B but only to A? Yes, within
the limits of the dog’s ability to respond to differences in pitch (which is
somewhat in doubt). Anrep claims differential response to very slight
difference in pitch. Johnson, working by another method, finds no differ-
ential response to pitch differences. When working with differential re-
actions to tonal stimuli, for example, we proceed to “fix” or circumscribe
the stimulus A more narrowly by feeding each time A is sounded but never
feeding when B is sounded. Very soon A will call forth the full secretion
of saliva whereas B will not call out any secretion at all.


This method is equally applicable in every sense field We can return
accurate answers to the questions: How accurately can the dog react
to noises, to differences in wave length, to odors, etc.?


Some of the general facts summarized by Anrep, coming from the
study of the salivary reflexes in dogs, may be enumerated as follows:


1. The conditioned responses, like all other habits, are more or less tem-


his ee ee
ee ee


HOW, TO STUDY HUMAN BEHAVIOR 29


porary and unstable. After periods of no practice they cease to work;
they break down. They can, however, be quickly reestablished. In
one observed case in the salivary reflex of the dog a test was made
after 2 years. The conditioned reflex was present but not invariable.
After one reinforcement it was completely renewed.


2. The substituted stimulus can be fixed and made specific. No other
stimulus of its class will then call out the reflex. If you condition
the dog to a metronome no other noise will call out the response.


3. The magnitude of the response is dependent upon the strength of the
stimulus. Increase the stimulus and there is an increase in the re-
sponse. Again, if a continuous stimulus—say a noise or a tone—is
interrupted, it has the same effect as strengthening the stimulus—an
increased magnitude of response will appear.


4. There is a marked summation effect. If a dog is conditioned separ-
ately to sound and to color, there is a marked increase in the number
of drops if the stimuli are given simultaneously.


5. Conditioned responses can be “extinguished.” Lack of practice ex-
tinguishes them. They can be extinguished by very rapid repetition
of the stimulus. “Fatigue” is not the cause of their being extin-
guished: in the case of a dog conditioned separately to sound and to
color, if the visual stimulus is extinguished the auditory stimulus will
call out the response in full force,


Stimulus Substitution in Human Salivary Reactions


I pointed out to you that to work on salivary responses in dogs a
simple operation has to be performed. This is, of course, not possible in
the case of human beings (except in cases of accident). Dr. K. S. Lash-
ley, however, has perfected a small instrument which serves the same pur-
pose, It consists of a small silver disc about the diameter of a 5-cent
piece and about 1%” thick, grooved on one surface so as to form two non-
communicating chambers. Each chamber has a tiny silver tube leading
out from it. The central chamber is placed over the tiny opening where
the gland comes to the inner surface of the cheek. The tube leading from
this chamber conducts the saliva outside the mouth to a recording appa-
ratus. The tube from the other chamber leads over to a little aspirator
that creates a partial vacuum in this chamber. This serves to make the
whole disc cling tightly to the inner surface of the cheek. The whole
apparatus, called a sialometer, is more comfortable than my description
would seem to warrant. One can eat and sleep with it in place,


30 BEHAVIORISM


As in the case of the dog, food substances or acids (U) will call out
a salivary response:


Food, acid Secretion of salivary fluid


In humans as well as in dogs stimulus substitutions can be made. The
visual stimulus of a medicine dropper will not at first call out a salivary
flow—but if the subject watches you dip the pipette into a solution of acid
and then apply this acid to his tongue, the sight of the pipette soon
comes to call out the salivary flow. Now we have:


Food, acid
or Salivary flow
Sight of pipette


We have thus conditioned our subject. Here too, we have in the human
widened the range of stimuli that will call out a salivary response.


I have not the time tonight to go into all the work which has been
done upon the human salivary gland. Conditioning takes place apparent-
ly on a considerable scale throughout life—the watering of the mouth of
the child or the adult at the sight of savory viands is a good example.
Until experimental tests are made these conditioned responses cannot be
observed. There is no question of “association of ideas”—the subject
cannot “introspect about them”; he cannot even tell you whether they
are present or not. May I in passing call your attention to the fact that
this gland is not under so-called “voluntary” control—that is, that you can’t
“will” to make it secrete or “will” to make it stop secreting ?


Can Other Glands Be C onditioned ?


We certainly know from the work of Pavlov and his students that the
glands of the stomach and other visceral glands can be conditioned just as
are the salivary glands, Others have shown that glands in the stomach and
other visceral glands can also be conditioned in the human being. We
have no experimental work on stimulus substitution in other duct glands,
We have reason to believe that urination and the orgasm in the male can
be conditioned, but here we are probably dealing with muscular condition-
ing which is discussed on page 32.


The one other duct gland easily accessible to experimentation (but
60 far as I know yet unexperimented upon) is the tear gland. Probably


Readies ay Ss


HOW TO STUDY HUMAN BEHAVIOR 31


many of the tears of the infant—of the hardened theatre fan—of the
criminal, and the malingering invalid are true examples of conditioning.


The glands of the skin may also offer interesting experimental possibili-
ties.


Whether the ductless glands such as the thyroid, adrenal, pineal and
others can be conditioned is unknown. But emotional reactions can be con-
ditioned—and here the whole body is involved, If this is the case, ap-
parently the ductless glands have to follow suit and play their own réle.
We have fair evidence that this is the case. In conditioned emotional
reactions both adrenals and thyroids apparently do change their rhythm
of functioning,


Stimulus Substitution In Striped and U nstriped Motor Reactions.
In Striped Muscle Reactions


Bechterew, another Russian physiologist, and his students have taught
us that stimuli calling out striped muscular responses of arms, legs, trunk,
fingers, etc., similarly can be substituted for. One of the simplest ways
to bring about an unconditioned response by an unconditioned stimulus is
to use a cutting, bruising stimulus. The electric shock is a convenient one.
Our formula would read originally ;


Cutting, bruising, burning, Withdrawal of arm,
electric shock leg, finger


If the foot rests upon an electric grill the foot will be jerked up each time
the current is turned on. We can record ona smoked drum this jump of
the leg. We can likewise record each time the electric shock is given.


Now, early in this lecture I pointed out that ordinary visual and
auditory objects do not call out this sudden reflex withdrawal of the
foot. The noise of an ordinary electric buzzer for example will not. But
stimulate the subject jointly with the buzzer and electro-tactually 24-30
times (more in some subjects) and the buzzer alone will call out the with-
drawal of the foot. Here again we have widened the range of situations
that will call out this response. Our formula now reads:


22 sy aL ies sont LS ek IONE I LATS eNO PM * 2
lectric Shock
es ee 7 Withdrawal of foot


Buzzer


32 BEHAVIORISM


H. Cason has shown that stimulus substitution takes place with wink-
ing. The unlearned or unconditioned formula is as follows:


PEE AO MN OMA) AEE AA NSH. R
(1) Bright light Rapid wink
(2) Rapid approach of ob- (One of the fastest of
jects towards eye human reflexes)


(3) Irritation of cornea
or conjunctiva of eye
(4) Injury to lid itself
(cutting, electric shock,
etc. )


The noise of a telegraph sounder, or the slight click of a relay will
not cause the wink reflex, but if the eyelid is electrically shocked just as
the telegraph sounder or relay is sounded the substitution takes place
rapidly. It is interesting to note that the substituted stimulus calls out a
more rapid wink than the unconditioned stimulus.


Again I cannot in a single lecture tell you much about how service-
able this method is in teaching us to understand the makeup of a human
being. Here too, we can as in the glandular field so “fix” a given stimulus.
say a tone, noise, sight, or smell, that only that particular stimulus will call
out the response. A thousand noises go on around the dozing mother
as we showed on p. 19, without calling out the response of running to
the child, but let the child itself stir or even murmur and up she springs.
An auditory stimulus can be so strongly fixed, for example, middle C
(256 d.v.) that another tone a fraction higher or lower will not call out
the response,


In Unstriped Muscular Reaction


Considerable work has been done upon the conditioning of unstriped
muscular tissue. The circular unstriped muscles of the stomach begin
their rhythmical contractions after the stomach has been emptied of food.
These so-called hunger contractions serve as the most powerful general
stimuli we know. They initiate general bodily reactions usually called
exploratory. After food has been obtained and eaten the contractions die


1 In daily life I have seen many times an accidental contact with a hot electric iron or radiator
condition a child (substitution of visual for tissue destroying, tactual stimulus) after one


si Sac tomas We are shot through with such accidental conditionings from earliest


HOW. TO STUDY HUMAN BEHAVIOR 33


down. It is perfectly possible to change the rhythm of these reactions
and make them dependent upon our regular meal time. The well-brought-
up baby fed every three hours wakes up promptly at the end of the three
hour interval and begins to fuss or cry. Change the interval to a four
hour one and after a few days the infant wakes up promptly at the end of
the fourth hour.


One of the most interesting pieces of experimental work done in this
field is that of Cason on the pupillary reflexes. There are two sets of
unstriped muscular fibers in the eye. When the radial set contracts the
pupil dilates. When the circular or sphincter set contracts the pupil grows
smaller. The unconditioned formula is:


Occ eigeeeh  PE
Increase in light intensity Closure of pupil
Decrease in light intensity Dilatation of pupil


Stimulus substitution takes place here as in the various other reflexes. By
stimulating the subject with an electric bell or a buzzer just as we increase
or decrease the intensity of light falling on the retina, we finally condi-
tion the subject so that the sound stimulus alone will call out either dilata-
tion or constriction of the pupil.


Substitution In the Field of Total Bodily Reactions (Conditioned
. Emotional Reactions)


In Lecture 7 where we talk of so-called emotional reactions I will
take up some experiments which show that certain unconditioned stimuli
arousing total bodily reactions called “fear”, “rage”, “love”, etc., can be
substituted for just as in the simple reflex field we have just studied.
This accounts for the ever-increasing number of stimuli that can call out
emotional (really visceral) reactions. This experimental work does away
with the necessity for any “theory” of the emotions such as that of James.
Though I suppose the introspectionists will be writing a hundred years
from now as though James really had a theory of the emotions. Let us


leave this discussion to a more appropriate place.


Summary of Experiments on Stimulus Substitution


In a single lecture it is impossible to do more than just sketch ina
few general words the way the human body becomes conditioned. The
main point to emphasize here is that practically every responding organ


34 BEHAVIORISM


of the body can be conditioned; and that this conditioning takes place not
only throughout adult life but can and does take place daily from the
moment of birth (in all probability before birth). Most of this organiza-
tion takes place below the verbalized level. Indeed the glands and un-
striped muscular tissue do not belong to our so-called voluntary systems
of responses at all. All of us are shot through with stimulus substitutions
of one kind or another which we know nothing about until the behaviorist
tries us out and then tells about them.


This field lies wholly outside the introspectionist’s field. He can get
no grip on such reactions. This is an added proof that introspection can
at best yield only a very meagre and incomplete kind of psychology. Later
I shall attempt to show that “introspection” is nothing but another name
for talking about bodily reactions which are taking place. It is not a gen-
uine psychological method at all.


The importance of early conditionings in building up bodily attitudes,
especially on the emotional side, is almost undreamed of. It is practically
impossible for us in adult life to have a “new” stimulus thrust upon us
that does not arouse this vestigial organization. This work helps us, too,
in understanding why behaviorists are growing away from the concept of
instinct and substituting for it bodily sets and attitudes.


Other Experimental Methods


In one brief hour we can hardly hope to even mention by name the
various methods—even the worth while objective ones used in behavioristic
studies. We mention a few here to give you a little insight into their
numbers. Many of the methods center around learning and retention—
methods for studying the effects of drugs, hunger, thirst, loss of sleep,
etc.—methods for studying conditions that affect the performance of acts
after learning has been completed; methods for studying emotional re-
actions, such as the various forms of free and controlled word reactions—
galvanometric studies of emotional reaction. Methods for studying the
relative strength of hunger and sex stimuli (Moss’ recent work). Methods
of eliminating sense organs and parts of the brain in animals in order to
determine sense organ rdles and the réle of various parts of the nervous
system. (In work on humans in this field we have to wait for accident to
prepare our subjects.)


The So-Called “Mental” Test as a Behavioristic Method


During the past quarter of a century, in this country especially, there


has grown up an enormous number of so-called mental tests. For a time


Se ee


HOW TO STUDY HUMAN BEHAVIOR 35


it looked as though psychology would go test mad. Tests grew up with a

mushroom-like growth only to flourish for a few days and then be revised

by the next experimenter. Recent years have seen a gradual elimination

naa of the tests and the gradual development and standardizing of a
ew.


Today these general types of tests are in common use:


First Grade Intelligence Tests,

Kindergarten Tests,

Individual Will-Development Tests,

“Tntelligence” Tests: French, Latin,
Sight-Singing, Arithmetic and
Classification Tests,

Self-Administering Tests of “Mental” Ability,

Mechanical Aptitude Tests,

Group Tests of “Mental” Ability.

Employment Tests,

Vocational Guidance Tests,

Spelling and Reading Tests; Typewriting
and Stenographic Tests.


In building these tests hundreds of thousands of children and adults
were used. One can but admire the patience and assiduity of the origi-
nators of these tests. Once the test has been worked out it becomes a
tool. The main purpose behind all testing is to find a measuring rod for
classifying masses of individuals according to level of performance, ac-
cording to age, and the like; to show up deficiencies and special abilities,
racial and sex differences.


Two rather wild ideas have grown up about tests: (1) The claim
has been made that there is such a thing as “general” intelligence per se;
and (2) that there are tests that enable one to differentiate “native” ability
from acquired ability. To the behaviorist tests mean merely devices for
grading and sampling human performance.


Social Experimentation


It can be seen at a glance that in all social experimentation we have
two general procedures. (1) We attempt to answer the question What
would happen if we should make such and such changes 1n social situations ?
We can’t be sure that we will be any better off, but anything is better than


36 BEHAVIORISM


what we have now. Let us make a change.” Usually social situations
when they become intolerable cause us to dash blindly into action without
arousing any verbal correlates such as I have indicated here.


We can phrase the other procedure (2) as follows: “We want this
individual or this group of individuals to do a certain thing, but we do
not know just how to arrange a situation to get him to do it.” Here the
procedure is somewhat different. Society experiments blindly by trial
and error, but the reaction is known and approved. The stimulus is
manipulated not for the purpose of seeing what in general will happen
‘but to bring about the specific action. You may not clearly see the differ-
ence between the two types of procedure, but a few examples should clear
it up. First we all must admit that social experimentation is going on at
a very rapid rate at present—at an alarmingly rapid rate for comfortable,
conventional souls. As an example of social experimentation under No. 1
above, we have war. No one can predict what changes in reaction will be
brought upon a nation when that nation goes to war. It is a blind manipu-


lation of stimuli on a par with the experimentation of the child when he ~


knocks down his house of blocks so patiently and laboriously constructed.


Prohibition was only a blind rearrangement of a situation. The saloon
brought a series of actions condemned by society. The conventional
individuals in the community, without being able to make any reasonable
prediction as to what would occur, tore down the whole of the old situa-
tion and created a new one by ratifying the 18th Amendment. It is true
that here they expected certain results—the doing away of drinking, the
depletion of prisons of their inmates, a lessening of extra-marital inter-
course, and the like. But any student of human nature or even of geog-


raphy could have predicted that those results could not come although he’
might have been unable to predict what would occur. The result, except in’


the smaller towns, of course, has been quite contrary to these expectations.
Certainly in and near the larger cities (where legal control is less effective
and where public opinion is less of a factor in control) our prisons are
. more crowded today than ever. Crime is especially rampant, particularly
homicidal crimes. The latter are beginning to arouse the concern of life
insurance companies, One company in 1924 lost more than three quarters
of a million dollars due to homicides alone. Then, too, thousands of
citizens have been shot while engaged in rum running or have died from
alcohol poisoning. In spite of it all, the prohibition law has been trampled
under foot. With the successful breaking of this one law, fear of law has
been removed ; and when a taboo has been broken with impunity not only


tl set
- | Tr


HOW TO STUDY HUMAN BEHAVIOR 37


does that particular taboo of the medicine man lose its grip, but all of the

taboos of that particular medicine man tend to become ineffective. What

occurred in primitive society occurs today. All laws are unquestionably
more lightly esteemed,


‘The destruction of the monarchy in Russia and the formation of a
Soviet government is another example of blind manipulation of situa-
tions. Neither friend nor foe could predict what changes in behavior
would accrue. The fact is that this change has annihilated industrial prog-
ress in Russia and has thrown back the intellectual and scientific progress
of the Russian people possibly hundreds of years. Without further elabo-
chad we can formulate several of these problems under our general
scneme:


Stimuli given Reaction—outcome—too
complicated for prediction
LGR OIEES aes ee ME Selon RA COTE EEN
Overthrow of monarchy; formation ?
of Soviet government
War ?
Prohibition ?
Easy divorce ?
No marriage ?


Children brought up in ignorance


of their parents ?
Substitution of physiological

ethics for religion ;
Equalization of wealth >
Elimination of 2

hereditary wealth, etc.


In this type of social experimentation society often plunges—does not feet
its way out by means of small scale experimentations. It works with no
definite experimental program in front of it. Its behavior often becomes
mob-like which is another way of saying that the individuals composing
the groups fall back upon infantile behavior.


Similarly, social experimentation goes on in (2) above. Here the
reaction is already known and approved by society—marriage, continence
in the unmarried, joining the church, the positive actions demanded in the


38 BEHAVIORISM


ten commandments and the like are examples of such approved reactions.
Again we can summarize these in our formula :


? Marriage under modern
financial pressure


? Continence in great cities where

4 social control is difficult

£ Joining the church

? Truthfulness

? Rapid acquisition of skill in a
special line

? Correct deportment etc.


Our experimentation consists of setting up one set of stimuli after
another until the given specified reaction follows from the correct grouping
of stimuli. In trying to arrange these situations, society often works as
blindly and as haphazardly as does the infra-human animal. Indeed if one
were to characterize social experimentation in general during the past 2000
years one would have to call it precipitous, infantile, unplanned, and say
that when planned it is always in the interest of some nation, political
group, sect or individual, rather than under the guidance of social scien-


tists—-assuming their existence. Never, except possibly at certain periods ~


of Grecian history, have we had even an educated ruling class. Our own
country today is one of the worst offenders in history ruled as it is by
professional politicians, labor propagandists and religious persecutors.


' May I call your attention here to the fact that behavioristic psy-
chology, taking as it does its problems genetically and going from the
simple to the more complex, is amassing a wealth of information on the
reactions following stimuli and on the stimuli underlying given reactions,
that will prove of inestimable benefit to society? Believing that his science
is basal to the organization and control of society, the behaviorist has
hoped that sociology may accept its principles and re-envisage its own
problems in a more concrete way,


What Can We Learn by Commonsense Observation?


So far we have talked mainly about technical methods. Cannot we
achieve a commonsense psychology personally helpful by merely watching
people? The answer is yes, if we will observe them systematically and
over a long enough period of time. Indeed every human being already has


5 Ae
- 2


HOW TO STUDY HUMAN BEHAVIOR 39


considerable organization in psychology whether he has studied it or not.
Where would we be in our social life if we could not more or less confi-
dently predict Tesponses and puzzle out the possible effect of stimuli? The
more observations you make upon other people, the better psychologist you
become—the better you can get along with other people—and almost half
the battle for a more sanely adjusted life comes from this ability to get
_ along with people. One does not even have to become a student of condi-
tioned responses, helpful as this study is, in order to learn practical psy-
chology.


I visited a man over the weekend to whom I promised to try to give
a little helpful practical psychology. He had not been getting along too
well in his work. Monday morning he arose, sore and sleepy from the
strenuous exercises engaged in over the weekend. He groaned aloud and
complained about the unsatisfactory character of all vacations and was
just about ready to take a mournful shave and a hot bath. I said to him,
“Sling your. arms and legs about a bit and do your daily dozen and take a
tepid bath. This will set you up.” This verbal stimulus led to the act.
He went down to breakfast feeling fit. But his eggs were overdone. He
was just ready to “call” the maid but I noticed a certain stiffening of her
body and a certain snappiness to her words much as though she said, “I
- don’t like weekend guests anyway and it serves you both right.” I whis-
pered to my host, “Have a care; the Irish biddy is just fretting to go ona
rampage. You had better call your wife up by phone when she wakes up
and let her scold the cook.”


We rushed for the train only to miss it by twenty seconds. He
stamped his feet and cursed and said aloud, “This is the first time in three
months that train has been on time.” His reactions were almost infantile
in character. He calmed down finally and we took a later train to the
office. His whole tone was lowered as anyone could observe by watching
him. His day had started wrong. Previous commonsense observation
had given me, as a behaviorist, a store of data to predict that with his
temperament his day might go very wrong indeed, considering the start
he had. This situation called out from me the overt verbal response:
“You'll have to watch your step all day with the people you come in contact
with or you'll hurt somebody’s feelings and make a worse ending to a day


that started badly.”


This gave him a new start. He smiled when his secretary handed him
the mail. He plunged into his work. It gripped him and soon he was lost
to the world in the technical duties for which he is peculiarly fitted. When
lunch time came he slackened up in his work and I happened to hear his


40 BEHAVIORISM


voice raised in protest while talking with one of his associates. Observa-
tion of his family life over the weekend had taught me a lot. I was able
to predict what the probable situation was that was upsetting him. I
thought I could again change his world for him, and I said, “It’s too bad
you didn’t ask your wife to come in to town and have lunch with us today.
I heard her break her date yesterday for lunch with Mr. and Mrs, Jones,
(his wife, much to his distress, being particularly friendly with Mr. Jones)
while you were out tuning up the car.” Being an unpsychological person,
his relief was obvious and his next hour was his best.


If I had the time, I could take you over his whole business day and


back to his home life in the evening. Without asking him to introspect:


or psychologize or psycho-analyze himself, I could detect his weak spots,
his strong points, where he went wrong with his children, where he went
wrong with his wife.


Would you think it strange if I said that the behaviorist by training
him both in principles and in particulars, could almost remake this very
intelligent individual in a few weeks’ time? Would you think it boastful
if I stated that the behaviorist claims that his psychology is one which has
hopes of entering deeply into the life of every individual at every point?


But you say, “I am not a psychologist—I cannot go following people
around telling them to go easy here and hard there.” This is true but are
you sure of yourself? Has behaviorism nothing to teach you about your
own life? I think you will admit that you have a lot to learn but you
would not try to lay bricks on your own house until you had learned how
to lay bricks. So with personal psychology you have to watch other
people day by day—you have to systematise and classify your data—throw
them into logical moulds—and verbalize your results, e. g. “George Mar-
shall is the quietest man I know. He is always even-tempered and he
always speaks in a low even tone. I wonder if I could learn how to talk
like a gentleman.” This verbal formulation serves you as a stimulus
(implicit kinaesthetic word stimulus). It may lead to a changed response;


for words whether spoken by others or spoken subvocally in your own


throat are just as strong stimuli, lead just as swiftly to action, as hurtling
stones, threatening clubs and sharp knives.


If I were an experimental ethicist I’d point out to you the importance
of maxims—how potently cut and dried verbal formulae serve as stimuli
for shaping our own reactions. This is especially true when those formulae
are handed down by persons in authority—by parents, teachers, advisers.
Again, if we were studying ethics, I’d point out to you the reasonableness


HOW TO STUDY HUMAN BEHAVIOR 41


of arriving at such formulations from your own abundant observation,
rather than blindly accepting them second hand. But, I think, I would
just as quickly tell you not to reject the results of these collective social
experiments—now crystallized into verbal formulae and handed down
from father to son and from mother to daughter, until your own tentative
and small scale social experimentation has given you more trustworthy
formulations. In other words, I am trying in this early lecture to convince
you that the behaviorist is not a reactionist—not against anything or for


anything until it has been tried out and established like other scientific
formulations.


To know what is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ for the human organism—to know
how to guide man’s conduct on experimentally sound lines is beyond us at
present. We know far too little of the makeup of the human body and its
needs to be dogmatic in our prescription or in our proscriptions,


III
THE HUMAN BODY


What It Is Made Of, How It Is Put Together,
and How It Works


Part I. The Structures That Make Behavior Possible.


NTRODUCTION :—In this lecture and in the next we have what many

think is a difficult task—to learn something about the way the human
body is put together and the way it works. Does it seem ridiculous to try
to do this in the course of a lecture or two? Let us give it a fair trial.
You may be surprised to find how accurate a picture of the body you can
get in even one single hour.


The behaviorist is interested in the way the whole body works: If you
will pick up a physiology or an anatomy you will find that the human body
is studied part by part—the digestive apparatus, the circulatory apparatus,
the respiratory apparatus, the nervous system, and soon. The physiologist
has to carry out his experimental work first upon one organ and then upon
another. The student of human behavior, by contrast, works with the
whole body in action. It would be possible for him to carry out his studies
without any knowledge of the separate parts whatsoever, but we do not
need to work thus blindly. The study of the body is helpful to the be-
haviorist. Let us borrow as many helpful things as we can from phy-
siology.


While the whole body can do many things, there are very definite
limitations to its possibilities of functioning and these limitations are due
to the material out of which the body is composed and to the way that
material is put together. I mean by this merely that there is a limit to the
speed with which we can run; to the loads which we can lift; to the length
of time we can go without food and without sleep and without water;
that the body needs special types of food—that it can endure only a certain
amount of heat for a certain length of time, or a certain amount of cold
for a definite period ; that it must be supplied with oxygen and other special
materials. Even an hour’s study will convince you that the human body,
while beautifully put together to do many things, is not a treasure house of
mystery but a very commonsense kind of organic machine (and by organic
machine we mean something many millions of times more complicated than
anything man has yet succeeded in making)..


42


THE HUMAN BODY 43


Should We as Behaviorists Be Especially Interested in the Central
Nervous System? Because he places emphasis on the facts of adjustment
of the whole organism rather than upon the working of parts of the body,
the behaviorist is often accused of not making a place in his scheme for
the nervous system. To understand why it hurts the feelings of the intro-
spectionist for the behaviorist to place no more emphasis on the brain and
the spinal cord than upon the striped muscles of the body, the plain muscles
of the stomach, the glands, etc., you must remember that the nervous
system to the introspectionist has always been a mystery box—whatever
he couldn’t explain in “mental” terms he pushed over into the brain. Many
of our so-called physiological psychologies are filled with pretty pictures of
brain and spinal cord schemes. As a matter of fact we do not yet know
enough about the functioning of brain and spinal cord to draw diagrams
about their functions. For the behaviorist the nervous system is, Ist, a part
of the body—no more mysterious than muscles and glands; 2nd, it is a
specialized ‘body mechanism that enables its possessor to react more
quickly and in a more integrated way with muscles or glands when acted
upon by a given stimulus than would be the case if no nervous system
were present. There are many animals and free swimming plants without
- nervous systems. Their range of adjustment is limited and their reactions
to touch, light, sound, etc., are slow. You can react almost instantly with
your hand when any part of your body is touched. The nervous system
speeds up the passage of the message (known scientifically as a propagated
disturbance) from the sense organ (where the stimulus is applied) to the
reacting organ (the muscles and glands). Where there is no nervous
system the message still travels but it travels slowly,


This discussion should show you that the behaviorist has to be vitally
interested in the nervous system but only as an integral part of the whole
body.


Different Types of Cells and Tissues
That Make up the Body


What is the Body Made Of? Nearly everyone knows today that
the body is composed only of cells and the products that the cells manu-
facture. But what is a cell? The cell is a minute portion of living sub-
stance—most cells are so small that they can be seen only under a high


44 BEHAVIORISM


power microscope. It is enclosed usually by a membrane. The cell as
a whole always contains a mass of protoplasm (a very complex chemical
substance) in which granules of various kinds may be seen (possibly
stored products which may be used for food for the cell or for secretion).
Each cell contains a small oval nucleus (or more than one). The nucleus
contains a network of so-called chromatin material (material which takes
on a characteristic stain when certain dyes are used on it). The nucleus
in some way presides over the whole activity of the cell. Many cells main-
tain their characteristic appearance throughout the life of the organisms.
Others are obscured soon by their outgrowths or processes or by the very
materials which they themselves secrete.


If your skill in chemistry and physics and physiology had gone far
enough and you were called upon to build a human body what different
kinds of cells would you use and into what kinds of patterns (elementary
tissues) would you weave these cells?


It has been found that four different kinds of cells and their products
form the four fundamental tissues of the body. These four fundamental
tissues enter into various combinations to form every organ of the body,
such as skin, heart, lungs, brain, muscles, stomach, glands, etc.


(1) Cells for Covering the Body and Lining All Openings: In the
first place you would want cells which you could weave into a membrane
to cover the whole of the body—to form the outside layers of the skin.
In places you would want to modify the cells in this tissue to form the
nails of the fingers and toes and the hair and the teeth. In other places
such as the glassy window of the eye ball (the cornea) you would want
to modify the cells of this tissue so that they would admit light. Then
you would want to line all of the inside tubes and cavities, such as the whole
of the alimentary tract—mouth, back of throat, stomach, small intestines,
large intestines ; you would want to line the blood vessels and the openings


use or which the body must excrete or get rid of. Let us call the
cells we use for these purposes (1) epithelial cells, and the tissues they
form epithelial tissue. We shall see further on that we shall need very


highly specialized forms of these epithelial cells to furnish the sensitive


bec


THE HUMAN BODY 45


element in each of our sense organs. Fig. 1 sh briat -
thelial cells and Fig, 2 a gland made up of tHe ee


Fig.


Epithelial cells put together
to torma small stand


Two types of epithelial cells Fig. 2


(2) Cells That Form Tissue for Supporting and Connecting Bodily |
Parts: You could not go very far in constructing man with one type of
cell and the tissue it forms. You would quickly need strong tissue for
tying the bodily parts together. You would want heavy elastic tendons to
attach muscles to. You would want strong cartilages to give form to
your nose and to hold your windpipe open. During the embryonic (intra-
uterine) life of your infant you would need sturdy framework upon which
mineral salts could be deposited for forming bones (after the bones
are formed by these deposits the connective-tissue framework disappears).
You would want to sheathe your bones with a tough fibrous coating (pert-
osteum) and to put buffers where. bones come together and you would
want very strong tough fibres (white fibro-cartilage) to tie the moveable
bones together. All of this supporting connective framework is made
up of connective-tissue cells. The tissues themselves are called connective
tissues (cartilage and bone, elastic, fibrous, areolar). Fig. 3 shows two
connective-tissue cells that enter into the structure of the bones,


(3) Cells That Form Our Muscular Tissues: We would want to
build our human so that it would go from place to place; so that its heart
could beat and it could breathe; so that its stomach could get smaller or
larger, its blood vessels could expand or contract—in other words, we


46 BEHAVIORISM


need to provide locomotion for the body as a whole and for changes in the
shape and size of many of the hollow internal organs (e. g. the stomach
must vary considerably in size; the blood vessels have to vary in size).
To perform all of the varied muscular functions of the body we need really
two kinds of muscular cells and two kinds of tissue. i


Connective tissue cells (steobl asts)
F is 3


(a) Striped or Skeletal Muscle Cells and Striped Muscle Tissue:
The striped muscle cells are on the average about 1/500 of an inch in
diameter. They are often an inch or more in length. The cells are uni-
form throughout their length and there is no branching’. The cell is made
up of alternate dark and light stripes which run across the length of the
cell, This gives the cell its name—cross striated or striped. Like all
other cells, muscle cells are supplied with a nucleus—usually with several
nuclei. Over each cell is a tough connective-tissue membrane (called sar-
colemma). It usually takes hundreds and thousands of these cells to form
a single muscle (striped muscle tissue). Over the muscles as a whole
there is also a well marked connective-tissue sheath (called the epimysium).
Intermixed with muscle one finds the blood vessels which feed them.


1 In the heart we have striped muscle of a slightly different type. Here the individual cells
are short and show short intercommunicating branches. Since this type of muscle is found
only in the heart and is responsible for the rhythmic beat of the heart, we shall have very
little further to say about it. Hereafter throughout these lectures where we speak of
striped muscles we shall mean (a) above.


ee
oo nw
a ss >


THE HUMAN BODY 47


é This is
Fig. 4 the way the
ee. nerve fibre or axone great muscles

nEree a / such as_ the
MOA iTS biceps of the

arm, the mus-
cles of the leg
and trunk,
tongue, the
six big mus-
cles that con-


Parts of two striped muscles trol the eye
cells shown with motor nerve are made up.
endings Our striped


muscles are


: i used when-
ever movement has to be rapid or where big masses have to be moved.


Fig. 4 shows part of two individual striped muscle cells and the way
the motor nerve fibres enter them.


(b) The Unstriped
or Smooth Muscle Cells and
Smooth Muscle Tissue:
The cells which go to make
up the unstriped smooth
muscle tissue are thin,


Smooth muscle cell with a


herve fibre entering it.The dark = elongated, almost _hairlike

~ portioninthe centeristhenucleus structures. See Fig. 5.
: These cells are grouped into

Fy S layers to form muscular

s g coats. Unstriped muscular


tissue forms the chief mus-
cular coat of the stomach, intestines, the bladder, sex organs, the iris of
the eye (for opening and closing of the pupil), the walls of ducts (tubes)
leading from glands, and the arteries and veins.


The Nerve Cells and Nervous Tissue: We still need one other type
of cell and the tissue formed from it to perfect our human being. The
human animal (as well as all other higher vertebrates) must be able to
respond quickly and complexly to stimuli. We know that stimuli are
effective only when applied to an appropriate sense organ. We know
that the animal must respond with either striped or unstriped muscles,
with glands, or with combinations of these. Oftentimes the point where


'
48 BEHAVIORISM
Q axone ending in
Dy aw 7 & Striped meat
Fig.6 eER Sas
siENe aitecesce
One type of neurone—the lower motor neurone
(Atter Barker) .
»


Betas


THE HUMAN BODY 49


the Sensory stimulus is applied is very far distant from the point where
the reaction takes place. For example, we may run a thorn into our foot.
Immediately we stop, bend over with our trunk, grasp the thorn with our
fingers and pull it out. This reaction could not take place unless we had
specially differentiated and highly developed nerve cells with their pro-
cesses—put together in such a way as to form an actual neural pathway
extending from the skin of the foot into the spinal cord, then up the
spinal cord to the brain, from the brain back to the spinal cord and from
the spinal cord out to the muscles of the trunk, hand and fingers, Nerve
cells and their processes are the only bodily structures capable of connect-
ing sense organ with muscle in this speedy, intimate way.


So far as general structure goes, nerve cells are not very different
from other cells in the body. Each nerve cell consists of a cell body with
its outgrowths or processes—sometimes the processes are few in number;
sometimes there are hundreds of them. If we take as our example a cell
from the spinal cord (Fig. 6) (so-called lower motor neurone), we find a
large cell body with a nucleus. Growing out from the cell we find many
Short branches closely matted around the cell body. These are called
dendrites because they look like the branches of a tree. At one point a
slender fibre leaves the cell and extends for a longer or shorter distance
(it may vary in length from the merest fraction of an inch to several
feet). This slender process is called an axone or avis-cylinder. Often
during its course it throws out side branches called collaterals. A fatty
sheath (called the medullary sheath) clothes the whole of the axis-cylinder
with its collaterals (for details of axone, see Fig. 7). This fatty


Fi & Ff nodes(of Ranvier) axis cylinder


medullary sheath


A diagram of a part of a nerve fibre


The axis cylinder, consisting of a large number of very fine fibrils, makes
up the center of the nerve fibre. The dark outside portion represents the
medullary sheath. At certain definite intervals the medullary sheath is con-
stricted. These constricted portions are called “nodes” (of Ranvier).


pbeath, is not present on the dendrites. The whole structure so far
described is the cell with its processes. The cell with all of these processes
is usually called a neurone. There are many forms of these cells, some


50 BEHAVIORISM


with only a single
process such as the
afferent neurones
of the spinal cord
(those that connect


the sense organs
Another type of neurone-the so withthe op gue


called sensory or atferent neurone cord =< for cee


It has no dendrites—one branch of the axone ends in the his t of
sense organ. The other branch ends in the central nervous of t YPC .
system (brain or spinal cord). neurone see Fig.


8). The neurone is the unit of all nervous tissue such as we find the brain
and spinal cord made up of.


ucleus
ell body
axone, central branch


Fig. 8


The dendrites serve as receiving stations to pick up the various nerve
impulses. The impulses pass through the cell body, down the axis-cylinder
and the collaterals. The axis-cylinder of one neurone always ends by
contact around the dendrites of another neurone (in neurones that lie
wholly in the brain and cord). The neural impulse thus passes from cell
body to axis-cylinder and down the axis-cylinder to the dendrites of the
next neurone, etc. Thus there is always forward or one way conduction
in the nervous system,


The Principal Organs of the Body.


These Elementary Tissues Grouped Together Form the Various
Organs of the Body: So far in our discussion we have talked only of
cells and the elementary tissues they form. We must now take up some
of the organs made up of these tissues. For our purposes we need to
consider only a few: (1) The sense organs—where the various stimuli
produce their effect on the body; (2) the reacting organs—the whole
system of muscles and glands; (3) the nervous or conducting organs,
that connect sense organs with reacting organs—they are the brain,
spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. By peripheral nerves we mean nerves

-that run outside in the body from sense organs to brain and spinal cord,
and nerves that leave the brain and cord to end (directly) in striped
muscles and (indirectly) in smooth muscles and glands.


Your study of the elementary tissues already has taken you a long
way towards understanding these organs. They are made up wholly of
combinations of the four types of cells and their tissues which you have
already studied. For example, in the muscular system you will find con-


THE HUMAN BODY Ble


nective tissue covering each muscle cell, you will find epithelial tissue and
nervous tissue. Let us spend a short time upon the general features in
each of these groups of organs.


General Grouping of Organs or Structures: Let us first group the
organs we are most in need of studying:


1. The sense organs—where the various stimuli produce their effect
on the body.


2. The reacting organs—consisting of (a) the striped muscular
system that moves the skeleton (and the heart) ; (b) the unstriped
muscular system of the viscera; (c) glands.


3. The nervous system. It connects the sense organs with the react-
ing organs. It consists of the brain, spinal cord and the peripheral
nerves which run from sense organs into brain and spinal cord,
and from brain and cord to muscles and glands.


The General Plan of the Sense Organs; The general plan of a sense
organ is quite simple and almost uniform. Of course all sense organs
contain connective tissue for giving them form—blood vessels for supply-
ing them with nourishment, and muscular fibres of both the striped and
unstriped for adjusting them for the reception of stimuli. All of them
except sensory nerve endings in muscle and tendon contain epithelial tissue.
All of them contain nervous tissue.


These epithelial cells in the sense organs are most astonishing struc-
tures. Possibly the most interesting of the whole body. They are sensi-
tive (in general) only to one form of stimulation (selectively sensitive).
For example, the two types of epithelial elements in the eye sensitive to
light are called rods and cones, see Fig. 9. The nervous connecting ele-
ments (true optic nerve) end around the rods and cones. In the ear there
is a whole group of these specialized epithelial cells— (1) a cell that runs
across the bony cavity of the inner ear (called basilar membrane fibre) ;
(2) on this are to be found a pair of cells placed so as to form arches,
called arches of Corti; (3) on either side of the arches of Corti there is a
group of epithelial cells called hair cells (inner and outer row). It is
around these hair cells that the nervous elements end (auditory nerve).
This group of structures as a whole vibrates when a tone of a certain
wave length is sounded (it is best not to attempt now to go into theories
about the functioning of the ear). The muscle spindles (the sense organs


52 BEHAVIORISM


Epithelial cells.
in the eye


Nerve elements
in the eye


8 Epithelial and nerve
Fig. 4 elements in the eye


THE HUMAN BODY 53


in the muscles, see Fig. 10) act only when the muscle has been shortened
or lengthened by the
motor nerves; the
taste buds act when a
fluid (sapid sub-
stance) reaches them;
the olfactory cells
only when gaseous
particles strike them;
the semi-circular
E : canals only when head
movements disturb the
18.10 fluids in the inner
ear; the cells in the
skin are selectively sensitive to (i. e. are stimulated by) several forms of
stimuli—certain ones are stimulated by gentle touch (hairs, Meissner
corpuscles) ; others by sharp cuts, pricks, electric shocks( here of course
the nerve endings may be directly stimulated) ; others are stimulated by
warm objects; others by cold objects. Possibly still others by light stroking
(called “tickling,” “itching,” etc.).


A Sensory nerve endin
in a striped muscle cell


Let us conveniently group these facts:


Sense organ: Stimulated by:
(Visual sense) 1 Dy Gene Es Be i an ee Ether vibration
(Auditory sense) ar ((CGChiea:) serene ees Air waves
(Olfactory sense) Nose serpent eed Gaseous particles
(Gustatory sense) TOT enn Sapid fluids
(Dermal sense — Skin BRsa ls tach a Bhs tn


head: objects


a— temperature Cold objects


b— pressure Contact with any object

c— pain) Cutting, burning, pricking
(So-called Muscles Change in position of muscle

kinaesthetic sense) 1 Ret Gots eae econ, __. Change in position of tendon
(Equilibration sense)’ Ear (semi-circular canals)...-Change in position of head


What happens when the appropriate stimuli strikes or impinges upon
a given sense organ? Some kind of physical and chemical change takes
place in the epithelial cell. Let us look upon these cells constituting the
sense organs then as physico-chemical workshops. There are lots of
simple things in your own experience that may help to make this clear:
When light strikes a photographic plate it (the silver salts) turns black.


54 BEHAVIORISM


When you take the damper off the strings of your piano and sing middle
C the middle C string begins to “speak” without your having to touch
the keyboard (so-called sympathetic vibration).


This physico-chemical process set going in the sense organ by the
stimulus, starts another process going. It sets up a neural impulse in the
nerve ending which is in contact with the epithelial cell; this nervous
impulse travels over a chain of neurones to the central nervous system
(brain and spinal cord) and then out somewhere to a muscle or gland.


We have now talked about the organs where stimuli produce their
effect upon the body (sense organs or receptor organs). Let us now turn
to the muscular and glandular organs which move in response to sense
organ activity. Later, after finishing our study of the responding side of
our body (muscles and glands—called effector organs) we will come back
to the nervous system which forms the pathway or bridge between sense
organs and effector organs,


Organs of Response—Muscles and Glands


Introduction: 1 will try to give you in order a very sketchy picture
of the more important organs of response. They are: (1) the striped or
skeletal muscular system; (2) the unstriped muscular system; (3) the
glandular system. If it were not for these structures the body could not
do anything—could not even take care of itself.


The Skeletal Muscles: The striped or skeletal muscular system makes
up the principal mass of our body. Strip away the skin upon your arms,
legs or trunk, and you come immediately upon layers and layers of striped
muscles. The variety of arrangement seems endless and confusing and
yet each muscle in this system has a definite task to do. You have been
in the habit of calling these “voluntary muscles’—subject to the “will,”
but if you study their action you will soon discover that what you “will”
to do is to raise your arm or crook your finger, to hop, run or bend your
trunk. Now a whole system of muscles responds when each of those acts
is accomplished. The muscles always work in large groups. For example,
you may reach up to pull down the window shade. You think of the arm
and fingers as being the active moving members. But the muscles all
over the body are taking part. The whole body has to take on a new Set
or attitude before you can do this simple act. The next moment you stoop
over to pick up a pin. There is a rapid shift in every muscle of the body.


No discussion of the skeletal muscles can be complete without some


reference to the bones of the body with which the muscles collaborate so


—


bBiew ce > ™
> ws


THE HUMAN BODY 55


closely. In our body there are about 200 bones. Some of these bones
form rigid joints with their neighbors—as the bones of the skull. Others
form semi-mobile points capable of a small amount of movement—such
as the bones encasing the spinal cord and our ribs. Still others, like the
elbow joints, the knee, shoulder and hip are joined in such a way that
movement in one direction or several directions is possible. Our striped
muscles are attached to these bones by connective tissue (which we have
already studied). Most of the muscles are attached at one end to one bone
and at the other end (directly or through tendons) to a contiguous bone.
They thus cross one joint and a lever is created. The principle of the lever
is widely utilized in our bodily construction. Some of our movements
require the whole body to be raised slowly a short distance, as when we
stand on the ball of the foot and raise the body. Other movements require
great speed through a wide arc as the movements of the arms in boxing.


Each of these muscles or muscle groups that tend to move our limbs
in a given direction—e. g. to flex or bend the elbow (flexors )—has another
opposed set of muscles which tend to extend the arm or keep it straight
(extensors). Usually the muscles are kept under some slight tension due
to motor impulses coming constantly from the brain or spinal cord. This
is proven by the fact that when the belly of a resting muscle is cut across,
the two ends draw away from each other. This tension in both a muscle
and its antagonist tends to make our movements very fine and smooth.
When the motor nerve impulse sent from the brain or cord results in
raising the arm, the flexors contract (shorten); but at the same time
there occurs a lessening of the tension in the antagonistic muscles. When
a given muscular contraction has taken place the muscle gradually assumes
its normal size and shape (relaxation),


How efficient are our muscles as working machines?- Careful tests
have shown that the muscular system as a machine for work is quite as
efficient as the steam engine. The net efficiency as determined by the
Nutrition Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution is given at slightly
above 21%. The steam engine has a net efficiency of about 15 - 25%,


- The food of the muscle:- The well nourished muscle contains a
quantity of stored food brought in by the blood. In the blood this food
has the form of blood sugar. Muscle tissue has the power to convert this
blood sugar into glycogen (so-called animal starch). This food stored
in the muscle in the form of glycogen is gradually used up when the
muscle goes into action. After this stored supply is used up, the muscle
is dependent upon the blood sugar brought in by the blood for its further


56 BEHAVIORISM


supply. The ductless glands help increase the food supply to the muscles
as I shall show you later.


Waste products and fatigue of muscle:- As muscle work, is done
chemical changes take place in the muscle. Carbon dioxide is formed,
lactic and other acids are formed. Many so-called “fatigue products” are
formed. Finally the muscle can no longer do work. The ductless glands
here also come to the aid of the muscles by neutralizing the fatigue pro-
ducts (and by increasing the blood supply of the working muscle so that
fatigue products are more rapidly washed away). Probably the most
important process in working is the using up of stored food material.


Muscle Strain:- A muscle which has been contracted until it can —


no longer do work will contract again after a short rest. The rest allows
time for the blood to wash away fatigue products and to bring in a fresh
food supply. If the muscle has been greatly over-exercised—strained—
the period of recovery is very slow indeed. The muscle itself, however,
is rarely injured by over-exercise beyond, at least, the point where repair
can take place.


The effect of exercise: An unused muscle rapidly weakens and may
even atrophy. Lack of exercise means lack of good circulation and lack
of good circulation means a deficient supply of nutrition and insufficient
elimination of waste products. All hygienists today recognize the im-
portance of exercise in keeping the muscles in good condition. To the
busiest men and women they recommend simple setting up exercises, to
others more severe drills. To those with more leisure, outdoor games. To
those who engage steadily in activities where a fixed group of muscles are
used they recommend daily exercises which will call the other muscles of
the body into play. Social institutions like life insurance companies and
business organizations are providing facilities for regular muscular exer-
cise. There is general recognition that the tone of the muscle which is
heightened by exercise is conductive to the general well being of the body,
especially of the all important internal organs. There is little question
that the heeding of the advice “to exercise often and sensibly” is helping
to keep older men and women young for a much longer time than was
formerly the case; and to keep even the younger men and women supple
and graceful. :


The behaviorist is especially interested in these facts because stressing
the behavior side as he does he believes that supple, well nourished mus-
cles, regardless of the absolute age of the individual, prolong the period
of training—increase really the span of youth.


_ og


THE HUMAN BODY 57


The system of plain or unstriped muscles:- The smooth or plain
unstriped muscles—that enter so largely into the formation of our internal
organs—are less familiar to you than are the striped muscles. Before
discussing them, let us get a clear picture of what we mean by viscera—a
term which is playing an ever wider rdle in behavioristic psychology. The
viscera are playing this wider rdle because we are increasingly realizing
that changes in these organs often serve as stimuli to many of the major
reactions of the whole body. Often we can assign no verbal reason for
a reaction. When this is the case the stimulus to that act probably must
be sought for in the viscera (change in their shape or size or chemical
condition).


Let us extend the usual meaning of viscera to include the mouth, the
pharynx, the oesophagus, the stomach, the small intestines, the large intes-
tine, the heart, the lungs, the diaphragm, the arteries and veins, the blad-
der, the urinary and anal passages; the sex organs; the liver, spleen, pan-
creas, kidneys, and all the other glands of the body. This is not a strictly
scientific classification but we are in need of a term in psychology which
will include all our inside organs.


Smooth or plain muscle tissue dominates this field with the exception
of the glands which I shall come to in a moment.


Many of the visceral organs are hollow (they are sometimes called
the hollow organs). These hollow organs are always filled or partially
filled with something; stomach (food), lungs (air), heart, arteries and
blood vessels (blood), small intestine (digested food undergoing absorp-
tion), large intestine (waste products on the way towards elimination),
bladder (urine and other fluid wastes), etc. This is one reason why the
hollow organs are so important—they are always “quarreling” because
they are too full or too empty—their contents are constantly in motion,
constantly changing. Hence they are constantly reacting and each reaction
sets up a visceral stimulus that may drive the whole body into action. Let
me illustrate. The walls of the stomach are lined with several layers of
plain muscle. When food is present producing normal extension of the
stomach walls the muscles are quiet. Now in a few hours time in the
adult the food begins to pass into the small intestine. This leaves the
stomach empty. Immediately it begins to contract rhythmically. These
rhythmical contractions (called hunger contractions) make us search for
food—men have been known to steal or even kill to get food Fig. 11
shows the whole alimentary tract—mouth, stomach, small and large intes-
tines. Fig. 12 shows a cross section of this tract at the level of the stomach.


i i i i ithelial ti d nervous
1 Do not forget that in the viscera we also have connective tissue, epithelial tissue an
tissue. Smooth muscle tissue at least quantitatively dominates these organs.


58 BEHAVIORISM


stomach


small intestine


Diagram of alimentary tract


Fig.l


The revetse process
takes place i in the bladder
and in the colon—when
these hollow organs get
too full their distended
walls serve as powerful
stimuli to overt reaction
—causing us to seek
places where evacuation
may take place. Disten-
sion of the seminal duct
may lead to sex activity
in the male.*

Fluttering of the
heart, palpitation, drop-
ping of beats of the
heart, may lead to overt
action—lack of oxygen,
heat, cold, etc., may lead
to marked changes in the
movements of our dia-
phragm and lungs.

I think I have said
enough about these
smooth muscle organs to
show you that thousands


of responses are going


on in them every second,
and that every one of
these visceral responses
may also serve as a stim-


7
}


> -


ulus (since the viscera —


are lined also with sense


organ structures) for —
calling out general bodily —


activity—i.e., they may —


start activity in the
striped muscles.


5


1 In the case of the female there seems to be no presstire or lack of pressure which leads to —
sex activity in the same way. But we know that in the females of many mammals there is
seasonal rut and in the human female there is a menstrual period every lunar month. Prob-
ably in the case of the female there are certain glandular secretions (probably of the duct-


less glands) during the formation of the egg which may set up periodic or rhythmical


a me tly thie


i


THE HUMAN BODY 59


Layerot longitudinal
smooth musde fibres


Layer of cireular
‘smooth muscle tibres


Layer ot glandular
tissue (digestwe § lands)


eewtent or cavity of
stomach


Diagram of cross section of stomach


Fig.l


Our “environment”—our world of stimuli—ts thus not only one of
external objects, sights, sounds and smells; it is one of internal objects as
well—hunger contractions, bladder distensions, palpitating heart, rapid
breathing, muscular changes and the like.*


You probably think that I have got a long way off from my subject—
of telling you about smooth muscles. I have purposely avoided going
into detail. The way the smooth muscle enters into all of these organs
is too much of a subject for us to try to gain a foothold in tonight. I
have, I hope, given you a more or less faithful, though brief, picture of
what the smooth muscles are doing in our body. I'll add just another
thought—we find smooth muscles in the skin—they are responsible for


“goose-flesh” ; we find them in the eye, altering the diameter of the pupil;


in smooth muscles which may serve as stimuli to sex activity. I bring out these facts to
show that the unconditioned stimulus to sex activity in the case of the female is probably
much less definite than in the case of the male, ‘There is probably thus a reason physio-
logically sound which will account for the difference in sex standards between the human
male and female—a difference now not so clearly marked as in former times.

Please do not confuse the issue here between a_ conditioned response and an unconditioned

“one. Both males and females become sex conditioned to visual, auditory and other stimuli.
The sight of the male’s hat may stir the woman as much as the bonnet may stir the


1 These powerful visceral stimuli have been called “drives” by_a good many psycholo ists. This


is becoming vitalistic in order to be dramatic, Professor R. S. Woodworth of Columbia has


especially sinned in this direction.


oo. ~ BEHAVIORISM |
Thee hy
Ary we find them attached to hairs even in the human animal and we

“4 them in many other parts of the body. : Page:
. Raphi! The physiology of plain muscle differs in many cartioniare from th


of striped muscle. The main facts are alike. We have the phenom
___ of contraction, relaxation, latent period and summation. ot


: --—s«‘Tn our next lecture we will talk about structures that are fast b
ing of general popular interest—the glands.


~,


IV.


THE HUMAN BODY, Cont.


What It Is Made Of, How It Is Put Together,
and How It Works


Part II. The Réle the Glands Play in Everyday Behavior


THE Glands as Reacting Organs: You may not think at first of the
glands as being of especial importance as reacting organs. But if I
peel an onion in your presence or release tear gas you may stand stock
still but your eyes begin to drip water. Likewise if pain stimulation be-
comes intense tears begin to flow. Tear responses may become condi-
tioned—sad news may cause a copious flow of tears—the mere sight of
the doctor may bring honest tears to the eyes of the three-year-old. This
type of reaction, feigned or real, has saved many of us from just chas-
tisement at the hands of our parents; has filled the tin cups of beggars
and won many elections for politicians. Tears of females have more than
once swayed the fate of empires.


If I place you in a hot room, the sweat glands in your skin begin to
work; again your mouth may water, or become dry, owing to excess or
deficient secretion of the salivary glands. You can begin to see at least
that glands are organs with which we behave—that they are important
organs of reaction. They are closely associated with the viscera—they
really form part of the visceral system. They are not primarily muscular
ergans (although some smooth muscle fibres may be present). I brought
out the fact, you will remember, on page 44 that glands are really organs
made up of highly specialized epithelial tissue. Instead of contracting as
striped and smooth muscles do when they react, the glands secrete.


Duct Glands:- It would take us too far afield tonight to discuss in
detail all of the varieties of glands, how they are made up and how they
function. Let us divide the glands into duct and ductless glands. Duct
glands have a little opening or tube that leads from the gland to the out-
side of the body (eg. the sweat glands) or that leads into the hollow
viscera (e.g. the salivary glands). They secrete as a rule an appreciable
quantity of one or another kind of fluid or solid (e.g. wax in the external
ear). The whole of the alimentary tract is lined with small glands—all
of the so-called mucous surfaces, the nasal passages, interior of mouth,
throat, sex organs, ¢tc., are kept moist by means of the mucous glands,


61


62 BEHAVIORISM


Then there are many duct glands especially devoted to the digestion
of our food. The salivary glands in the mouth give out a secretion that
Starts the process of digestion. In the stomach there are several different
types of glands that continue the process of digestion. Again, nearby or
in the small intestine are glands that give out secretions that pour into it
to complete the process of digestion. Chief among these glands are the
pancreas (secreting the pancreatic juice) ; glands in the walls of the intes-
tine (gland cells lining the intestine are shown in Fig. 12); and the liver
(secreting bile). One of the large glands of the body is the kidney which
secretes urine.


The unconditioned stimuli that start glandular action are of sense
organ origin. In other words, secretion responses (one form of behavior)
are aroused in the same way that motor responses are aroused (through
sense organ stimulation).


After this short discussion of the duct glands, do you still find your-
self saying that secretions haven’t much to do with higher forms of human
behavior? Will you take my word for it that our so-called higher forms

of behavior are terribly at the mercy
Fy of just these lowly secretions we have
is 5 been talking about, especially when
something goes wrong with one or
more of them? Let the mouth glands
begin to over-secrete or under-secrete,
as happens at times; or the small mu-
cous glands begin to over-secrete as
they do in the nose when we have a
cold; let something go wrong with the
digestive secretions, or let the throat
become irritable and sensitive through
~ lack of secretions; let the kidney over-
LF secrete and keep the bladder overly
; : : full, or the secretions from the sex
Epithelial cells P xt Fox ether | cans become excessive —then our
to torma lining tissue whole conduct may become modified.
tor the intestines Even our social behavior may become
involved. We may insult or hurt the
feelings of a friend, spoil a piece of fine work, even lose our jobs, and,
what is worse, if the faulty glands are deep down in the visceral cavity we
may be able to give no verbal account of what has gone wrong. I shall
speak again about this lack of our ability to put anything in words about
visceral and glandular behavior.


TLE a te a WA Rit rae rent


iy,
-


THE HUMAN BODY 63


The Ductless Glands (sometimes called endocrine organs) :- During
recent years, physiology and medicine have centered a great deal of effort
and thought upon the exceedingly interesting and elusive structures we
call ductless glands. The duct glands pour out their secretions through
an opening, as we have just seen. These secretions are largely local in
their action. Again relatively large measurable amounts of the secretions
are poured out.


The situation is quite different with the ductless glands. While the
organ may be very large, e.g., the thyroid, the secretions from it are
minute—too small to be collected or directly measured by any know
physiological method.


Again these glands have no external opening. How do their products
get out into the body? The answer probably has already come to you.
Look upon these (closed or ductless) glands as a chemical laboratory—
each manufacturing a powerful compound or chemical body (some of
which we now know) but in minute quantities. As the blood bathes the
cells of these glands, it takes up the chemical bodies and carries them to
other organs, sometimes remotely removed, from the place where the
gland gave rise to the secretion. These minute chemical bodies have the
power to stir up activity in many other organs of the body. We have


a name for these ductless gland secretions — hormones — which means


literally something to arouse or to stir up. Hormones, then, are the chem-
ical messengers which the glands send to arouse or depress activity in
another part of the body (very often it is another ductless gland that is
aroused or checked).1 Everything that we know about ductless gland
secretions points to the fact that they act like drugs upon the body. They
play a vitally important rdle both in the general nutrition of the body and
in its growth. They likewise play an extremely important part in the gen-
eral behavior of human beings, as we shall soon see.


The most important Endocrine Glands: The most important ductless
glands are: (1) The thyroids and parathyroids; (2) the adrenal bodies;
(3) the pituitary bodies; (4) the pineal body; (5) the so-called puberty
gland. There are several other glands that furnish internal secretions, as
well as external secretions, such as the pancreas, liver, thymus and others,
but the above five are the important ones.


The Thyroid Gland:- If the men in the audience will feel along the
sides of their windpipe just below the Adam’s apple, they will feel the


1 Sometimes the ductless gland secretions which depress activities in other organs are called
chalones.


64 BEHAVIORISM


mass of the thyroid gland. The women haven’t the Adam’s apple but
they do have the gland at the corresponding level. It is a fairly large
gland. There are two lobes to it connected by a bridge that crosses in
front of the windpipe. It is.made up largely of specialized epithelial cells.
It has no duct. It is richly supplied with blood vessels and with nerve
fibres which run directly to the secreting gland cells.


In this workshop a most powerful chemical body is secreted. This
chemical body has been experimentally isolated and can now be made in
the laboratory. It is called thyroxin, It contains 60% iodine.


Effect of thyroid secretion upon growth:- If a child is born with
deficient or faulty thyroid apparatus it becomes a Cretin: growth is arrest-
ed and stunted, bones fail to become hard (incomplete ossification), the
skin becomes thick and dry and the hair dry and colorless, the reproductive
organs fail to develop. General behavior is markedly affected. Only the
simplest things can be learned. Age improves its condition not at all. It
remains infantile in all of its reactions.


If the thyroid is removed from the adult because of disease, of
course, there is no change in stature but the other disturbing symptoms
occur—the pasty, clammy appearance of the skin, the dry, falling hair.
The individual rapidly puts on weight. General activity becomes low.


Thanks to modern advances in physiological science, relief from this
condition can often be obtained both by the adult and by the child. Indeed,
normal growth can often be restored in the child by feeding it the dried
thyroid gland of sheep or by feeding at stated intervals a small amount of
Saas In both cases feeding of this substance must continue through-
out life.


Sometimes the gland is overdeveloped and gives out an over-secretion.
The body then works too fast—at too high a level. All vital processes are
speeded up (Grave’s disease). Blood pressure becomes high, the heart
speeds up in its action. The individual shows general overactivity, irri-
tableness, oftentimes insomnia. Formerly surgical treatment was resorted
to in such cases—part of the gland was removed. Now “special care and
feeding” are more often resorted to. Iodine—free diet is prescribed—as
are rest and freedom from occupational strain.


In general it may be said that the thyroid seems to act as a kind of
governor for the whole body. If it over-secretes every cell in the body
speeds up its action. If it under-secretes every cell in the body slows
down its rate.


oe


THE HUMAN BODY 65


Is it any wonder that all behaviorists are interested in everything the
_ physiologist can teach us about this gland?


The Parathyroid Glands:- Situated close to each lobe of the thyroid,
and sometimes imbedded in it, are two little structures about the size of a
pea (four structures in all). These structures are made up of solid masses
of specialized epithelial cells. The positive functions of the parathyroids
are still in the realm of speculation, but we know what happens when these
glands are removed. Occasionally when removing diseased thyroids in
men the parathyroids have been removed by accident. Their com-
plete removal brings death both in man and in practically all other mam-
mals. Following their loss the animal shows muscular tremor — then
spasms, uncoordinated contractions, a rise in body temperature, rapid
gasping respiration, vomiting and diarrhoea. Finally death ensues. It is
now believed that the parathyroids give rise to a secretion which tends to
keep in check or restrain overactivity of the nervous system (restrains the
discharge of nerve cells). Secretions from this gland seem also to exert
some influence upon the deposits of calcium for the bony tissue and the
formation of the teeth. In a few cases young animals have survived the
removal of these glands for several weeks. These animals showed poorly
formed bones and poorly formed teeth. Extract of parathyroid (made
from dried parathyroids of sheep) help to keep animals alive which have
suffered removal of the glands but no satisfactory way of keeping such
animals alive for any length of time has been found. The chemical body
given out by these glands has never been isolated.


The Adrenal Bodies or Glands:- The adrenal glands, of which there
are two (left and right) lie very close to the kidneys. Death follows the
removal of both glands. After removal of both glands, the animal begins
to show signs of muscular weakness. The body temperature drops, the
heart beat becomes slow. Death usually occurs by the end of the third
day.

The active secretion from this gland (that is from one portion of it—
the medulla) has been chemically isolated by Abel at the Johns Hopkins
Hospital, and others. It is called epinephrin, or adrenin.


Under emotional excitement relatively large quantities of adrenin
are released and find their way into the blood vessels. It is during strong
emotional excitement (“fear,” “rage” and “pain”) that we find great and
long continued muscular effort exhibited.


The reason for this increase in the muscular output in the presence
of exciting stimuli is to be sought for in the following factors: I pointed


66 BEHAVIORISM


out to you a while ago that there is a stored food supply in the liver called
glycogen. We have just seen that under emotiona] excitement there is
an increased supply of adrenin in the blood. Now adrenin has the power
to split up the glycogen in the liver and set it free in the blood stream in
the-form of blood sugar. The blood sugar is carried to the working mus-
cles giving them a readily utilizable food supply. The free adrenin in
the blood also causes the arteries to expand and pour through the work-
ing muscles a larger and faster stream of blood. This has the additional
effect of rapidly washing out the fast accumulating waste products that
come from the working muscles. Professor Cannon, of Harvard, whose
discovery this is, claims that this adrenal gland mechanism which makes
the animal fight harder and longer, run faster and farther, has been of
great biological service to man in his struggles with a hostile'environment.


The Pituitary Body: This very small body is situated underneath
the brain. If you were to make a small opening in the back part of the
roof of the mouth, you would come upon it just before you reached
the brain. It is made up of a posterior division and an anterior division.
Each of these divisions must be looked upon as a separate gland each
giving rise to a characteristic hormone (or possibly several).


The Anterior Division or Lobe: If the anterior division (or lobe) is
removed death occurs within a very few days. There is a fall in body
temperature, unsteadiness in gait, emaciation and diarrhoea. When, owing
to disease early in life, the anterior portion begins to over-secrete, there
comes a peculiar development of the whole body known as gigantism (you
have seen these overgrown giants in circuses). When the over-secretion
occurs in later life there is very great enlargement of the bones of the
face and of the hands and feet (acromegaly).


No one has yet succeeded in chemically isolating this hormone. Ex-
tracts made from the dried anterior portion of the pituitary seem to have
very little effect. There can be no doubt from all of the medical evidence
we have that the secretions from the anterior portion exert a profound
effect upon the growth of the skeleton and upon the growth of the con-
nective tissue of the body.


The Posterior Division or Lobe: Removal of the posterior lobe does
not produce death but it brings about a very marked change in metabolism
(the way our food is handled by the body). The body becomes very
tolerant of sugars. Fat is taken on rapidly. When the posterior lobe is
removed in young animals the growth of the sex glands is arrested and
the animal becomes almost like a eunuch in behavior.


we


Erin om ic


THE HUMAN BODY 67


While the chemical bodies set free by the posterior gland have not
been isolated, extracts of the dried gland when administered produce a
marked effect. The heart is slowed and the blood pressure is raised (an
effect somewhat similar to that of adrenin). The main effect can be seen
in the increased tone that comes to all unstriped muscles. It has an espe-
cially marked effect in causing the muscles of the uterus to contract (used
frequently in hastening childbirth). Extracts from this portion have a
distinct stimulating effect upon the kidneys and upon the mammary glands.
Like adrenin again the extract hastens the process of breaking up the
stored glycogen in the liver, thus releasing it in the form of blood sugar
for the use of active muscles.


The Pineal Gland: This is a very small gland situated in the brain
itself. It reaches its most active stage of development about the seventh
year and then begins to atrophy. The glandular tissue gradually disappears.
It is supposed that this gland furnishes a secretion early in life which
holds the development of the sex organs in check until puberty. It shares
this function with the thymus—another ductless gland in the neck which
also gradually disappears around puberty or even earlier.


The So-Called Puberty Gland: The sex glands in addition to furnish-
ing the external secretions for reproduction, furnish also a ductless gland '
secretion or hormone. The cells furnishing the external secretion are
called gonads (true sex cells). Lying among the sex cells or gonads are
numbers of small cells. called interstitial cells. The latter cells furnish the
ductless gland secretion or hormone that gets into the blood and is
distributed all over the body. This group of interstitial cells makes up
the so-called puberty gland.


This gland is much in the public and medical eye. All of the so-called
rejuvenation operations are concerned with it.


If this gland (or rather this group of interstitial cells) is removed
in the male youth, as it always has to be when castration occurs (removal
of testes) the youth grows to be tall, the face is beardless, the voice never
deepens. There is no sex aggressiveness. The effect of castration upon
the female (removal of ovaries) ‘5 not so marked as in the case of the


male.


The evidence is growing that it is the removal of the hormones coming
from the puberty glands which robs the castrated individual of sex aggres-
siveness and all positive forms of sex behavior, rather than the removal
of the gonads or true sex cells.


68 BEHAVIORISM


In other words the hormone coming from the puberty glands seems
to activate the whole sex life of both male and female. Lacking this
hormone there is a lack of sex vigor and what we call youthfulness of sex
life.


This has led to the thought, in recent years, that there may be a way
of restoring sex life to older men and women by operative methods. The
one method—that of Dr. Serge Voronoff of Paris—is to graft into the
old male small pieces of testes from a young hardy animal of the same
(or closely allied) species. He claims that the graft “takes”—i. e. lives,
and begins to send its hormone out into the blood, restoring sex aggressive-
ness and sex vitality. You can see that no matter in what part of the body
the gland tissue is grafted, it has to give out its secretion to the blood and
thus give sex tone to all the necessary tissues of the body. The question
whether such a rejuvenated old individual could impregnate the female
would depend upon whether the gonads or true sex cells remained func-
tional or not—upon the presence of live sperm in the testes. At any rate
erection would take place and an orgasm would occur (the essentials of
the male sex act). Sex life would thus be prolonged,


Another operation for increasing the production of the ductless gland
hormone from the puberty gland is employed by Steinach, the Viennese
surgeon. He finds that if the tube carrying the spermatozoa (the cell
passing from the male that fertilizes the female egg) is tied off so that
the spermatoza cannot escape, it causes the true sex cells to atrophy,?—
but not the interstitial cells. These increase in size and in number appar-
ently—thus causing an increase in their activity. Males having lost sex
vigor when operated upon in this way, have apparently a renewal of their
sex life. They are sterile, of course, because the spermatozoa do not form
nor could they get out if they did form.


It is too early yet to forecast the real effects upon society of these
attempts to prolong the period of the sex life. The effects of these opera-
tions, or the allied ones, on the female are still very much in doubt. In
the case of the male we know little yet of their permanency. If the
chemical body constituting the hormone could be experimentally isolated
and if it were found that it could exert its effect when taken through the
mouth as does thyroxin, it might considerably alleviate the inferiorities and
anxieties of advanced middle age.


Can the Activity of Ductless Glands be Conditioned? We saw in our
study of the other reacting organs, the striped and unstriped muscles and


2 Some. physiologists claim that the gonads (sex cells) do not atrophy when the vas (duct) is
ied off.


et


THE HUMAN BODY 69


the duct glands, that their activity could be conditioned—i. e. that habits
could be set up in them. No secure evidence is at hand to show that the
activity of ductless glands can be conditioned. Since these hormones act
like powerful drugs—since they control growth and development and regu-
late the speed at which the body runs—it is of utmost importance to know
whether or not they are conditioned. If they are, society is more than ever
under obligation to watch carefully the early home training of the infant :
and child. Too much or too little of these secretions or a lack of balance
of secretions may even prevent the possibility of the child’s developing
along normal behavior lines.


While experimental proof is lacking, I for one am convinced that
these glands can be and always are conditioned. We know that uncondi-
tioned stimuli arousing the reactions we call fear and rage (e. g. where
cats are tied down and harried and worried by a barking dog) bring
about an increase of adrenin. We now know that fear and rage behavior
can be conditioned. We have some reason, too, to think that the thyroid
is directly thrown into activity by unconditioned sex stimuli and since we
know that positive sex behavior can be conditioned we have good theo-
retical grounds for holding that thyroid activity can be conditioned. The
evidence is fair for holding that in the whole bodily process we call condi-
tioning the ductless glands are intimately involuved—that conditioned
stimuli may bring about both over-secretion (hyperactivity) and under-
secretion (hyposecretion) of the ductless glands.


This may explain in part why it is that psychopathological disturbance
of behavior may result from constant contact with an environment in
which a multitude of unfortunate conditioned stimuli are ever assailing
us and why it is that we very often get well as soon as we straighten out
that environment or else get away from it. Sometimes we carry the old
environment along with us to the new environment by means of our verbal
organization. ‘There is thus a good reason when going into the new en-
vironment for us to build up new activities with new verbalization—letting
‘the old world of overt activity die out and the old words lose their hold
upon us by the well known process we call disuse. Many a youthful
psychopath and many a youthful criminal have been reclaimed in this way
—even when we were working blindly and without any clear plan as to
what we hoped to accomplish. I think that it is becoming possible now to
work more definitely along these lines especially in the field of childhood
__with the difficult child—with the youthful criminal.


Resumé: In this long lecture please do not get lost. Recall for a mo-
ment that we started out to study the elementary cells and the elementary


70 BEHAVIORISM


tissues they form. We then took up the organs formed by these tissues. We
found that there are sense organs—where the stimuli are applied. These
we have studied. We found that there are reacting organs—striped mus-
cles, unstriped muscles, duct glands and ductless glands—all of these we
have studied. But there is one more set of organs—the conducting organs
—the nervous system. Its function is to conduct a nervous impulse from
the sense organs over to the reacting organs—the muscles and the glands.
Lo do this there must be an actual chain of nerve cells (and their fibres)
running from each sense organ to the central nervous system (the brain
and spinal cord) and out from the central nervous system to the muscles
and glands. Before finishing our study of the body tonight let us look
for a moment at this enormously important part of our body.

How the Nervous System is Made Up: I have already told you
about individual nerve cells and their fibres and have shown you a few pic-
tures of them. Now the whole of the nervous system is made up of these
neurones placed together in such a way as to form actual permanent path-
ways from sense organs to reacting organs—the central organs of the
brain and spinal cord form no exception to this rule since we must look
upon them as just a part of the system of pathways running from sense
organs to reacting organs. Naturally in the nervous system as a whole
and especially in the brain and spinal cord there are supporting structures
—connective-tissue membranes—blood vessels, etc.

The Simplest Pathway From Sense Organ to Reacting Organ—The
Short Reflex Arc: The simplest functional pathway from a sense organ to


afferent neurone


SO cell body of ,
x f afferent neurone
“es 6) ee organ


yt,


central


# neurone SS
<_<
% a e a
motor neurone


S4 striped muscle ;


Diagram of short reflex arc


Fig. i4


AIA


soy a
TEs a
ee (eS ete -


THE HUMAN BODY 71


a teacting organ is called a short reflex arc. Suppose the tip of my finger
is burnt as my hand touches an electric flat iron which has been left
standing with the electric current on! Immediately before “ouch!” or
some swear word can be spoken the hand is jerked back—reflexly jerked
back so we say. Only three neurones (theoretically) are involved in this
act—one extending from the skin to the spinal cord—the so-called afferent
neurone; one inside the spinal cord (and which doesn’t run outside of the
cord) called the central neurone; one extending from the spinal cord to
the muscles of the hand, called the motor neurone. Please try to think of
hundreds of thousands of these simple direct short reflex pathways. There
are many thousands of these short reflexes connecting the skin alone with
the reacting organs. These afford a direct connection—a segmental ar-
rangement—for getting prompt response to dangerous stimuli,


The Long Reflexes: No matter how complicated the pathway for
the neural impulse may be, two elements of the above described short
reflex arc are always involved—viz: the afferent neurone running from
sense organ to cord or brain, (please note now that the brain is connected
with some of the sense organs by these short reflex arcs, e. g. the eye,
ear, nose, tongue, semi-circular canals, the skin of the head and face, and
indeed with some of the sense organ structures in the viscera and striped
muscles) ; and the motor neurone running from the cord or brain to the
muscles and glands. Whenever we respond to a stimulus these two ele-
ments of the reflex arc are always involved.


Now the longer and more complicated neural pathways are made
longer and more complicated by the fact that sometimes more than one
central neurone is included in the arc. Sometimes the pathway in the
cord and brain is very complicated. Suppose this reaction is demanded of
us: I go downstairs to find a pencil in the dark. I left it lying on the
library table. I reach out my hand; it strikes something round and smooth.
I feel for its point; it has none. I say aloud: “My oldest boy’s pea-
shooter.” I drop it and continue my search. I come upon another round
object. It has a point. I touch the other end. It has no eraser on it. I
say again: “This is a stick belonging to the baby’s mechano set.” I drop it
and search further. Finally I come upon a round object; it is pointed ; it
has an eraser on it. I grasp it, turn upon my heels and go upstairs and
begin to write. Notice that this kind of response involves a wide range of
adjustments; muscles of hands, legs and trunk are all called into action;
earlier learned speech reactions are called into play; more than one seg-
ment of the body is involved ; many segments have to cooperate, to function
together. There is integration—a tying up of one bodily part with another.
For this process of integration we need a central nervous system—some


72 _ BEHAVIORISM


thing more than just an open connection between some sense organ point
and a single set of muscles—we need a complicated system of neural path-
ways—we need a brain and spinal cord.


Nature of Nervous Impulse: What is it that passes over the neural
pathways? <A neural impulse that starts in the chemical workshop of the
sense organ. By nature it is something like a series of local electric cur-
rents (one would scientifically describe it as a rapid passage of a wave
of chemical decomposition essentially electrical in nature). We know that
it travels at a rate of about 125 metres per second. We know further
that if the nerve elements are deprived of oxygen they will not conduct
the impulse—we know that when the nervous elements are actively at
work they give off C O, (carbon dioxide) more rapidly than when at rest,
etc. While we do not know everything about the nature of the nervous
impulse we know enough to be sure that it is a normal physico-chemical
process that is rapidly losing its mysteriousness by being brought under
laboratory control.


Summary: We have covered a good deal of ground in these lectures
but don’t you find that you have now a working notion of the body? That
while you couldn’t make it, you can at least understand its main functions?
Will not even this bird’s-eye view help you in building your psychological
foundations?


Let us now recapitulate in a hundred words or so our principal results:
The body is built of cells and their products. These cells are woven into
elementary tissues and the tissues are built up into larger structures, or-
gans, each possessing a certain unity and performing definite functions. One
such group of organs is (1) the sense organs—skin, eye, ear, nose, etc.
(don’t forget that some of the sense organs are hidden from the direct
observation—e. g. those in the muscles and tendons and those in the vis-
cera) ; another set is (2) the reacting organs—the striped or skeletal mus-
cles ; the unstriped muscles and glands (making up largely the viscera). A
third set is (3) the connecting organs, namely the nervous system consist-
ing of nerve paths running from sense organ to brain or cord and from
brain or cord to the reacting organs—and please do not forget that there
are very complicated, but not mysterious, pathways in the brain and cord
themselves.


The whole body of man is built around the keynote “rapid—and wken
needed, complicated—reactions to simple and complex stimuli.”


In the next lecture we shall study some of man’s unlearned embryo-
logical reactions—some of the things he does in advance of training—some


sib a Bambee: Oe


THE HUMAN BODY 73


of the things he does just because he comes here equipped to behave in that
way. We used to call such reactions instincts. We seriously doubt now
that they are ‘inborn’ and ‘native’ reactions. They apparently grow up
(modifying the structure as they grow up, just as exercise structurally
modifies the blacksmith’s arm and whole body) as a result of the compli-
cated stimuli that are offered throughout intra-uterine life,


Vv
ARE THERE ANY HUMAN INSTINCTS?


Part I—On the Subject of Talent, Tendencies and the
Inheritance of all So-called ‘Mental’ Traits


Introduction: In the next few lectures we shall talk about how man
is equipped to behave at birth—a subject that touches the very heart of
human psychology.


When the array of facts about any subject is not very complete it
is only human nature to announce a thesis, that is, state what one is going
to try to prove and then try to prove it by a logical argument. I am in
that position. I have not the full complement of facts about the so-called
‘instinctive’ natures of man—I do not know who has; hence, please look
upon my next few lectures both as logical presentations of what facts there
are in the case and as a thesis which I am trying to defend. I shall present
my thesis first.


The Thesis Presented


Man is an animal born with certain definite types of structure. Hav-
ing that kind of structure, he is forced to respond to stimuli at birth in
certain ways (for example: breathing, heart beat, sneezing, and the like.
A fairly full list I shall give you later on). This repertoire of responses
is in general the same for each of us. Yet there exists a certain amount
of variation in each—the variation is probably merely proportional to the
variation there is in structure (including in structure, of course, chemical
constitution). It is the same repertoire now that it was when the genus
homo first appeared many millions of years ago. Let us call this group of
reactions man’s unlearned behavior.


In this relatively simple list of human responses there is none corres-
ponding to what is called an ‘instinct’ by present-day psychologists and
biologists. There are then for us no instincts—we no longer need the
term in psychology. Everything we have been in the habit of calling


an ‘instinct’ today is a result largely of training—belongs to man’s learned
behavior.


Asa corollary from this I wish to draw the conclusion that there is no
such thing as an inheritance of capacity, talent, temperament, mental con-


74


+ ert


ARE THERE ANY HUMAN INSTINCTS? 75,


stitution and characteristics. These things again depend on training that
goes on mainly in the cradle. The behaviorist would not say: “He inherits
his father’s capacity or talent for being a fine swordsman.” He would say:
“This child certainly has his father’s slender build of body, the same type
of eyes. His build is wonderfully like his father’s. He, too, has the build
of a swordsman.” And he would go on to say: “ — and his father is very
fond of him. He put a tiny sword into his hand when he was a year
of age, and in all their walks he talks sword play, attack and defense,
the code of duelling and the like.” A certain type of structure, plus early
training—slanting—accounts for adult performance,


The Argument In Iis Defense


Let me start by saying that from now on man for us is a whole animal.
When he reacts he reacts with each and every part of his body. Some-
times he reacts more strongly with one group of muscles and glands than
with another. We then say he is doing something. We have named many
of these acts such as breathing, sleeping, crawling, walking, running, fight-
ing, crying, etc. But please do not forget that each of these named acts
involves the whole body.


We must begin, too, to think of man as a mammal—a primate—a two-
legged animal with two arms and two delicate mobile hands. As an
animal that has a nine-months embryonic life, a long helpless infancy, a
slowly developing childhood, eight years of adolescence and a total. life
span of some three score years and ten.


We find this animal living in the tropics almost without shelter; going
naked, living upon easily caught animals and upon fruit and herbs that
require no cultivation. We find him in temperate regions, but dwelling
here in well built, steam heated houses. We find the male always heavily
clad even in summer, wearing a hat upon his head—the only naturally pro-
tected part of his body. We find the female of this species dressed in the
scantiest of clothes. We find the male working frantically (the female
rarely) at almost every kind of vocation, from digging holes in the ground,
damming up water like beavers, to building tall buildings of steel and
concrete. Again we find man in arctic regions, clad in furs, eating fatty
foods and living in houses built of snow and ice.


Everywhere we find man, we find him doing the strangest things, dis-
playing the most divergent manners and customs. In Africa we find the
blacks eating one another; in China we find men eating mainly rice and
throwing it towards the mouth with dainty chopsticks. In other countries


76 BEHAVIORISM


we find man using a metal knife and fork. So widely different is the
adult behavior of the primitive Australian bushmen from that of the
dwellers in internal China, and both of these groups differ so widely in
behavior from the cultivated Englishman, that the question is forced upon
us—Do all members of the species homo wherever they are found in
biological history start at birth with the same group of responses and are
these responses aroused by the same set of stimuli? Put in another way,
is the unlearned, birth equipment of man, which you have been in the habit
of calling instincts, the same wherever he is found, be it in Africa or in
Boston, be it in the year six million B. C. or in 1925 A. D.? Has he the
same unlearned equipment, whether born in the cotton fields of the South,
in the Mayflower or beneath the silken purple quilts of European royalty?


The Genetic Psychologists’ Answer


The genetic psychologist—the student best qualified to answer this
question—hates to be faced with it because his data are limited. But since
he is forced to answer he can give his honest conviction. His answer is,
“Yes, within the limits of individual variation, man is born with the same
general set of responses (let us wait before we call them instincts though)
regardless of the station of his parents, regardless of the geological age in
which he was born and regardless of the geographical zone in which he
was born.”


But you say: “Is there nothing in heredity—is there nothing in
eugenics—is there no advantage in being born an “F. F. V.”—has there
been no progress in human evolution?” Let us examine a few of the ques-
tions you are now bursting to utter.


Certainly black parents will bear black children if the line is pure


~ (except possibly once in a million years or so when a sport or “mutant”


is born which theoretically may be white, yellow or red). Certainly the
yellow skinned Chinese parents will bear a yellow skinned offspring. Cer-
tainly Caucasian parents will bear white children. But these differences
are relatively slight. They are due among other things to differences in
the amount and kind of pigments in the skin. I defy anyone to take these
infants at birth, study their behavior, and mark off differences in behavior
that will characterize white from black and white or black from yellow.
There will be differences in behavior but the burden of proof is upon the
individual be he biologist or eugenicist who claims that these racial diff-
erences are greater than the individual differences.


Again you say: “How about children born from parents who have
large hands, with short stiff fingers, extra fingers or toes? It can


a re ee ee


ARE THERE ANY HUMAN INSTINCTS? 77/7.


be shown that children from these parents inherit these peculiarities of
structure.” Our answer is: Yes, thousands of variations are laid down
in the germ plasm and will always appear (other factors being equal) in
the offspring. Other inheritances are color of hair, color of eyes, texture
of skin, Albinism (very light individuals with little or no pigment in hair
and eyes—vision always being defective). The biologist, knowing the
makeup of the parents and grandparents, can predict many of even the finer
structural characteristics of the offspring.


So let us hasten to admit—yes, there are heritable differences in form,
in structure. Some people are born with long slender fingers, with delicate
throat structure; some are born tall, large, of prize-fighter build; others
with delicate skin and eye coloring. These differences are in the germ
plasm and are handed down from parent to child. More questionable is
the inheritance of such things as the early or late graying of hair, the
early loss of hair, the span of life, the bearing of twins, and the like.
Many of these questions have already been answered by biologists and
many others are in the process of being answered. But do not let these
undoubted facts of inheritance lead you astray as they have some of the
biologists. The mere presence of these structures tells us not one thing
about function. This has been the source of a great deal of confusion in
the subject we now have under consideration. Much of our structure
laid down in heredity would never come to light, would never show in
function, unless the organism were put in a certain environment, subjected
to certain stimuli and forced to undergo training. Our hereditary structure
lies ready to be shaped in a thousand different ways—the same structure
mind you—depending on the way in which the child is brought up. To
convince yourself, measure the right arm of the blacksmith, look at the
pictures of strong men in our terrible magazines devoted to physical cul-
ture. Or turn to the poor bent back of the ancient bookkeeper. These
people are structurally shaped (within limits) by the kinds of lives they
lead.


Are ‘Mental’ Traits Inherited?


But every one admits this about bone and tendons and muscles—‘‘now
how about mental traits? Do you mean to say that great talent is not
inherited? That criminal tendencies are not inherited? Surely we can
prove that these things can be inherited.” This was the older idea, the
idea which grew up before we knew as much about what early shaping
throughout infant life will do as we now know. The question is often
put in specific form: “Took at the musicians who are sons of musicians;


78 BEHAVIORISM |


look at Wesley Smith, the son of the great economist, John Smith—surely
a chip off the old block if ever there was one.” You already know the
behaviorist’s way of answering these questions. You know he recognizes
no such things as mental traits, dispositions or tendencies. Hence, to him,
there is no sense to the question of the inheritance of talent as the question
is ordinarily raised,


Wesley Smith was thrown into an environment early in life that fairly
reeked with economic, political and social questions. His attachment for
his father was strong. The path he took was a very natural one. He went
into that life for the same reason that your son becomes a lawyer, a doctor,
or a politician. If the father is a shoemaker, a saloonkeeper, or a street
cleaner—or is engaged in any other socially unrecognized occupation, the
son does not follow so easily in the father’s footsteps, but that is another
story. Why did Wesley Smith succeed in reaching eminence when so
many sons who had famous fathers failed to attain equal eminence?
Was it because this particular son inherited his father’s talent? There
may be a thousand reasons, not one of which lends any color to the view
that Wesley Smith inherited the ‘talent’ of his father. Suppose John
Smith had had three sons who by hypothesis all had bodies so made up
anatomically and physiologically that each could put on the same organiza-
tion (habits) as the other two. Suppose further that all three began to
work upon economics at the age of six months.1 One was beloved by his
father. He followed in his father’s footsteps and due to his father’s tutor-
ship this son overtook and finally surpassed his father. Two years after
the birth of Wesley, the second son was born; but the father was taken
up with the elder son. The second son was beloved by the mother who
now got less and less of her husband’s time, so she devoted her time to the


second son. The second son could not follow so closely in the footsteps of —


his father ; he was influenced naturally by what his mother was doing. He
early gave up his economic studies, entered society and ultimately became
a “lounge lizard.” The third son, born two years later, was unwanted.
The father was taken up with the eldest son, the mother with the second
son. The third son was also put to work upon economics, but receiving
little parental care, he drifted daily towards the servants’ quarters. An
unscrupulous maid had taught him to masturbate at three. At twelve the
chauffeur made a homosexual of him. Later falling in with neighborhood
thieves he became a pick-pocket, then a stool-pigeon and finally a drug
fiend. He died of paresis in an insane asylum. There was nothing wrong
with the heredity of any one of these sons. All by hypothesis had equal


1 And by this statement we do mot mean that their genetic constitution is identical.


Pci itn otra RC Dore Cat!


ARE THERE ANY HUMAN INSTINCTS? 79


chances at birth. All could have been the fathers of fine, healthy sons if
their respective wives had been of good stock (except possibly the third
son after he contracted syphilis).


You will probably say that I am flying in the face of the known facts
of eugenics and experimental evolution—that the geneticists have proven
that many of the behavior characteristics of the parents are handed down
to the offspring—they will cite mathematical ability, musical ability, and
many, many other types. My reply is that the geneticists are working
under the banner of the old “faculty” psychology. One need not give very
much weight to any of their present conclusions. Before the lecture is.
over I hope to show you that there are no “faculties” and no stereotyped
patterns of behavior which deserve the name of either “talent” or
“instinct.”


Differences in Structure and Differences in Early Training Will Account
: For All Differences in Later Behavior


A while ago I said that granting individual variation in structure
we could find no real proof that man’s unlearned repertoire of acts has
differed through the ages or that he has ever been either more or less capa-
ble of putting on complex training than he is in 1925. The fact that there
are marked individual variations in structure among men has been known
since biology began. But we have never sufficiently utilized it in analyzing
man’s behavior. In this lecture I want to utilize another fact only recently
brought out by the behaviorists and other students of animal psychology.
Namely, that habit formation starts in all probability in embryonic life and
that even in the human young environment shapes behavior so quickly
that all of the older ideas about what types of behavior are inherited and
what are learned break down. Grant variations in structure at birth and
rapid habit formation from birth, and you have a basis for explaining
many of the so-called facts of inheritance of “mental” characteristics. Let
us take up these two points;


(1) Human Beings Differ in the Way They Are Put Together


My last lecture gave you a faint idea of the complexity of the materi-
al that goes into the human body. It enabled you to tolerate the fact too
that there must be variation in the way these complicated tissues are put
together. We have just brought out the fact that some human beings are


born with long fingers, some with short ; some with long arm and leg bones,
some with short; some with hard bones, and some with soft; some with


80 BEHAVIORISM


over-developed glands; some with poorly functioning glands. Again you
know that we can identify human beings by differences in their finger


prints. No two human beings have ever had the same finger prints, yet .


you can mark off man’s hand and foot prints from the tracks of all other
animals. No two human beings have bones exactly alike, yet any good
comparative anatomist can pick out a human bone (and there are over
200 of them) from the bones of every other mammal. If so simple a
thing as the markings on the fingers differs in every individual, you have
absolute proof that general behavior will and must be different. Infants
crawl differently, cry differently, differ in.the frequency with which de-
faecation and urination occur, differ in early vocal efforts, in requirements
for food, in the speed and rapidity with which they use their hands— even
identical twins show these differences—because they differ structurally
and differ slightly in their chemical makeup. They differ likewise in the
finer details of sense organ equipment, in the details of brain and cord
structure, in the heart and circulatory mechanisms and in the length,
breadth, thickness and flexibility of the striped muscular systems,


Yet with all of these structural differences “a man’s a man for a’ that”
—he is made up of the same material as other men and has the same gen-
eral architectural plan regardless of habit.


(2) Differences In Early Training Make Man Still More Different


There are then admittedly these slight but significant differences in
structure between each human being and every other human being. Dif-
ferences in early training are even more marked. I will not stop now
to give much proof of this—the next few lectures will furnish it abund-
antly. We now know that conditioned reflexes start in the human child
at birth (and probably before)—we know that there is no such thing as
giving two children, even though belonging to the same family, the same
training. A’ doting young married couple have twins—a boy and a girl—
the children are dressed alike and fed alike. But the father pets and
fondles the girl, surrounds her with love; the mother treats the boy in the
same way, but the father wants the boy to follow in his own footsteps. He
is stern with him—he can’t help shaping the boy his way. The mother
wants the girl to be modest and maidenly. Soon these children show great
differences in behavior. They receive different training from infancy. The
next children are born. Now the father is more taken up with affairs—he
has to work harder. The mother is more taken up with social duties;
servants are brought in. The younger children have brothers and sisters;
they are brought up in a world wholly different from that of the older


ree? mers ue agg


ial teat)
> es —


ARE THERE ANY HUMAN INSTINCTS? 81


children. One child falls ill. Strict training is abandoned, all rules are
off with a sickly child. Again, one child gets badly frightened—
becomes _conditioned—shows fear at everything; he becomes timid and
his regular course of boyish activity is interfered with. Indeed we may
take an actual case. Two girls, aged nine, live in adjoining houses. They
have the “same” training (mothers are close friends and bring up children
according to the same rules). One day they took a walk. The girl on the
left looked at the street and saw only street activity, the one on the right
looked towards the houses and saw a man exposing his sex organs. The
girl on the right was considerably troubled and disturbed and reached equa-
nimity only after months of discussion with her parents.


We shall come back again and again to these facts so I will not
multiply instances of early differences in training and conditioning.


The Conclusion We Draw


How will these two points explain the so-called facts of inheritance
of talent or mental characteristics. Let us take a hypothetical case. Here
are two boys, one aged 7, the other 6. The father is a pianist of great
talent, the mother an artist working in oil, a portrait painter of note. The™
father has strong large hands but with long, flexible fingers (it is a myth
that all artists have long, tapering, finely formed fingers). The older
son has the same type of hand. The father loves his first born, the mother
the younger. Then the process of creating “them in his own image”
begins. The world is brought up on the basis largely of shaping the young
you are attached to as you yourself have been shaped. Well, in this case
the older becomes a wonderful pianist, the younger an indifferent artist.
So much for different training or different slanting in youth. But what
about different structure? Please note this. The younger son, under ordi-
nary conditions, could not have been trained into a pianist. His fingers
were not long enough and the muscular arrangement of the hand was not
flexible enough. But even here we should be cautious—the piano is a
standard instrument—a certain finger span and a certain hand, wrist and
finger strength are needed. But suppose the father had been fond of the
younger child and said, “I want him to be a pianist and I am going to
try an experiment—his fingers are short—he’ll never have a flexible hand,
so V’ll build him a piano. I’ll make the keys narrow so that even with his
short fingers his span will be sufficient, and I’ll make a different leverage
for the keys so that no particular strength or even flexibility will be need-
ed.” Who knows—the younger son under these conditions might have
become the world’s greatest pianist.


82 BEHAVIORISM


Such factors, especially those on the training side, have been wholly
neglected in the study of inheritance. We have not the facts to build up
statistics on the inheritance of special types of behavior, and until the
facts have been brought out by the study of the human young, all data on
the evolution of different forms of human behavior and eugenics must
be accepted with the greatest caution.


Our conclusion, then, is that we have no real evidence of the inherit-
ance of traits. I would feel perfectly confident in the ultimately favorable
outcome of careful upbringing of a healthy, well-formed baby born of a
Jong line of crooks, murderers and thieves, and prostitutes. Who has any
evidence to the contrary? Many, many thousands of children yearly, born
from moral households and steadfast parents become wayward, steal, be-
come prostitutes, through one mishap or another of nurture. Many more
thousands of sons and daughters of the wicked grow up to be wicked be-
_cause they couldn’t grow up any other way in such surroundings. But
let one adopted child who has a bad ancestry go wrong and it is used as
incontestable evidence for the inheritance of moral turpitude and criminal
tendencies. As a matter of fact, there has not been a double handful of
cases in the whole of our civilization of which records have been carefully
enough kept for us to draw any such conclusions—mental testers, Lom-
broso, and all other students of criminality to the contrary notwithstanding,
As a matter of fact adopted children are never brought up as one’s own.
One cannot use statistics gained from observations in charitable institu-
tions and orphan asylums. All one needs to do to discount such statistics
is to go there and work for awhile, and I say this without trying to belittle
the work of such organizations.


I should like to go one step further now and say, “Give me a dozen
healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them
up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to be-
come any type of specialist I might select—doctor, lawyer, artist,
merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his
talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors.
I am going beyond my facts and I admit it, but so have the advocates of


the contrary and they have been doing it for many thousands of years.


Please note that when this experiment is made I am to be allowed to specify
ae way the children are to be brought up and the type of world they have
to live in.


Where there are structural defects that are inherited, as apparently is
the case in certain glandular diseases ; in “mental” defectives ; where there
is intra-uterine infection as in syphillis and in gonorrhea, troublesome be-


oat ettcall


<a
Me


7


ARE THERE ANY HUMAN INSTINCTS? 83


havior of one kind or another may develop early and rapidly. But some
of these children haven’t the structural possibilities to be trained—as when
fundamental connections in body and brain are lacking. Again, where
there are structural defects more easily observed as in deformities, loss
of digits, possession of extra digits, etc., there is social inferiority—compe-
tition on equal grounds is denied. The same is true when “inferior” races
are brought up along with “superior” races. We have no sure evidence of
inferiority in the negro race. Yet, educate a white child and a negro child
in the same school—bring them up in the same family (theoretically with-
out difference) and when society begins to exert its crushing might, the
negro cannot compete.


The truth is society does not like to face facts. Pride of race has
been strong, hence our Mayflower ancestry—our Daughters of the Revolu-
tion. We like to boast of our ancestry. It sets us apart. We like to
think that it takes three generations to make a gentleman (sometimes a
lot longer!) and that we have more than three behind us. Again, on the
other harid, the belief in the inheritance of tendencies and traits saves us
from blame in the training of our young. The mother says when her son
goes wrong—‘Look at his father” or “Look at his grandfather” (which-
ever one she hates). ‘What could you expect with that ancestry on his
father’s side?” And the father, when the girl shows wayward tendencies
—‘‘What can you expect? Her mother has always let every man she came
in contact with make love to her.” “If these tendencies are inherited we
can’t be much blamed for it. Traits in the older psychologies are God-
given and if my boy or girl goes wrong, I as a parent can’t be blamed.”


The behaviorist has an ax to grind, you say, by being so emphatic?
Yes, he has—he would like to see the presuppositions and assumptions
that are blocking us in our efforts to spend millions of dollars and years
of patient research on infant psychology removed because then, and only
then, can we build up a real psychology of mankind,


Are There Any Instincts?


Let us, then, forever lay the ghosts of inheritance of aptitudes, of
“mental” characteristics, of special abilities (not based upon favorable
structure such as throat formation in singing, hand formation in playing,
structurally sound eyes and ears, etc., and take up the more general ques-
tion of what the world has been in the habit of calling instincts.


1 thine here on the inheritance of acquired behavior characteristics. The evidence in

. e hielony is ail against it. An infant descended from a long line of blacksmith ancestors starts
with approximately the same puny upper right arm girth as his original blacksmith forbear~
and with one no larger than his own left arm.


84 BEHAVIORISM


It is not easy to answer this question. Up to the advent of the be-
haviorist man was supposed to be a creature of many complicated instincts.
A group of older writers, under the sway of the newly created theories of
Darwin, vied with one another in finding new and perfect instincts in both
man and animals. William James made a careful selection from among
these asserted instincts and gave man the following list: Climbing, imita-
tion, emulation, rivalry, pugnacity, anger, resentment, sympthy, hunting,
fear, appropriation, acquisitiveness, kleptomania, constructiveness, play,
curiosity, sociability, shyness, cleanliness, modesty, shame, love, jealousy,
parental love. James claims that no other mammal, not even the monkey
can lay claim to so large a list.


The behaviorist finds himself wholly unable to agree with James and
the other psychologists who claim that man has unlearned activities of these
complicated kinds. But you who are here tonight have been brought up
on James or possibly even on a worse diet, and it will be hard to dislodge
his teaching. You say James says an instinct is “a tendency to act in such
a way as to bring about certain ends without having foresight of those
ends.” Surely this formulation fits a lot of the early behavior of children
and young animals. You think you understand it anyway. At first it
looks convincing. But when you test it out in terms of your own observa-
tions on young animals and children, you find that you have not a scientific
definition but a metaphysical assumption. You get lost in the sophistry
of ‘foresight’ and ‘end’.


I don’t blame you for being confused. No subject in psychology to-
day is more written about than the so-called instincts. In the past three
years more than a hundred articles have been written about instincts. The
articles in general are of the armchair variety written by men who have
never watched the whole life history of animals and the early childhood
of the human young. Philosophy will never answer any questions about
instincts. The questions asked are factual ones—to be answered only by
genetic observation. Let me hasten to add that the behaviorist’s knowledge
of instinct also suffers from lack of observed facts but you cannot accuse
him of going beyond natural science in his inferences. Before attempting


to answer the question ‘what is an instinct’ let us take a little journey


oe mechanics, Possibly we may find that we do not need the term after
a


A Lesson From the Boomerang


I have in my hand a hardwood stick. If I throw it forward and up-
ward it goes a certain distance and drops to the ground. I retrieve the


* eee


ARE THERE ANY HUMAN INSTINCTS? 85


stick, put in in hot water, bend it at a certain angle, throw it out again—it
goes outward, revolving as it goes for a short distance, turns to the right
and then drops down. Again I retrieve the stick, reshape it slightly and
make its edges convex. I call it a boomerang. Again I throw it upward
and outward. Again it goes forward revolving as it goes. Suddenly it
turns, comes back and gracefully and kindly falls at my feet. It is still a
stick, still made of the same material, but it has been shaped differently.
Has the boomerang an instinct to return to the hand of the thrower? No?
Well why does it return? Because it is made in such a way that when it
is thrown upward and outward with a given force it must return (parallel-
ogram of forces). Let me call attention to the fact here that all well made —
and well thrown boomerangs will return to or near to the thrower’s feet,
but no two will follow exactly the same forward pathway or the same
return pathway, even if shot mechanically with the same application of
force and at the same elevation, yet they are called boomerangs. This
example may be a little unusual to you. Let us take one a little easier.
Most of us have rolled dice now and again. Take a die, load it in a cer-
tain way, roll it, and the face bearing “six” will always come up when the
die is thrown. Why? The die must roll that way because of the way it was
constructed. Again take a toy soldier. Mount it on a semi-circular loaded
rubber base. No matter how you throw this soldier, he will always bob
upright, oscillate a bit, then come to a steady vertical position. Has the
vyubber soldier an instinct to stand erect?


Notice that not until the boomerang, the toy soldier and the die are
hurled into space do they exhibit their peculiarities of motion. Change
their form or their structure, or alter greatly the material out of which
they are made (make them of iron instead of wood or rubber) and their
characteristic motion may markedly change. But man is made up of cer-
tain kinds of material put together in certain ways. If he is hurled
into action (as a result of stimulation) may he not exhibit movement (in
advance of training) just as peculiar as (but no more mysterious than)
that of the boomerang ?*


Concept Of Instinct No Longer Needed In Psychology


This brings us now to our central thought. If the boomerang has


1 You will argue that in mechanics action and reaction are equal—that the thrower imparts to the
boomerang a quantity of energy equal to so many dynes and that just that same quantity of
energy is used up by the boomerang in returning to the thrower (including the heat loss to
the air). When I touch a man with a hair, though, and he jumps two feet, the reaction is
out of all proportion to the energy in the stimulus. The explanation is that in man the energy
used in the reaction was stored. In dynamics you find the same thing when a match touches
off a powder blast or when a breeze blows a rocking boulder from a cliff and the boulder
destroys a house in the valley.


86 BEHAVIORISM


no instinct (aptitude, capacity, tendency, trait, etc.) to return to the hand
of the thrower; if we need no mysterious way of accounting for the mo-
tion of the boomerang, if the laws of physics will account for its motions—
cannot psychology see in this a much needed lesson in simplicity? Can it
not dispense with instincts? Can we not say that man is built of certain
materials put together in certain complex ways, and as a corollary of the
way he is put together and of the material out of which he is made—he
must act (until learning has reshaped him) as he does act?


But you say: “That gives your whole argument away—you admit he
does a lot of things at birth which he is forced to do by his structure—
this is just what I mean by instinct.” My answer is that we must now
go to the facts. We can no longer postpone a visit to the nursery. I think
you will find there, in the study of the infant and child, little that will
encourage you to keep sacred James’ list of instincts. In the next lecture
we shall study just what the human offspring does do at birth.


oo +


}
;
/
}


VI
ARE THERE ANY HUMAN INSTINCTS?


Part II—W hat the Study of the
Human Young Teaches Us


Introduction :—I pointed out in my last lecture that most of the prob-
lems about the unlearned equipment of man can be solved only by a study
of his life history. This means beginning our study on the newborn human
infant. It is my sad duty now to have to tell you that we know a great
deal more about the young of other species of animals than we know about
the human young. During the past 25 years the students of animal be-
havior have been gathering a sound body of facts about the young of
nearly every species of animal except that of man. We have lived with
young monkeys, we have watched the growth of young rats, rabbits,
guinea pigs, and birds of many species. We have watched them develop
daily in our laboratories from the moment of birth to maturity. To check
our laboratory results we have watched many of them grow up in their
own native habitat—in a natural environment.


These studies have enabled us to reach a fair understanding of both
the unlearned and learned equipment of many species of animals, They
have taught us that no one by watching the performance of the adult
can determine what part of a complicated series of acts belongs in the
unlearned category and what part belongs in the category of the learned.
Best of all they have given us a method that we can apply to the study of
the human young. Finally animal studies have taught us that it is not
safe to generalize from the data we gather on one species as to what will
be true in another species. For example, the guinea pig is born with a
heavy coat of fur and with a very complete set of motor responses. It
becomes practically independent of the mother at three days of age. The
white rat, on the other hand, is born in a very immature state, has a long
period of infancy; it becomes independent of the mother only at the end
of thirty days. Such a wide divergence of birth equipment in two animal
species so closely related (both rodents) proves how unsafe it is to general-
ize, on the basis of infra-human animal studies, as to what the unlearned
equipment of man is.


Resistance to the Study of the Human Young
Until very recently we have had no reliable data on what happens
during the first few years of human infancy and childhood. Indeed there


87


88 BEHAVIORISM


has been very great resistance to studying the behavior of the human
young. Society is in the habit of seeing them starve by hundreds, of seeing
them grow up in dives and slums, without getting particularly wrought
up about it. But let the hardy behaviorist attempt an experimental study
of the infant or even begin systematic observation, and criticism begins at
once. When experiments and observations are made in the maternity
wards of hospitals there is naturally also considerable misunderstanding of
the behaviorist’s aims. The child is not sick, the behaviorist is not advanc-
ing clinical methods—therefore what good are such studies? Again, when
the parents who have children under observation learn of it they become
excited. They are ignorant of what you are doing and you have great diffi-
culty in making them understand what you are doing. These difficulties
at first confronted us in our work at the Johns Hopkins Hospital but
thanks to the broadmindedness of Dr. J. Whitridge Williams, Dean of the
Johns Hopkins Medical School, and of Dr. John Howland, physician-in-
chief of the Harriet Lane Hospital, a satisfactory condition for study was
finally arranged. It was arranged in such a way that psychological exami-
nation of the infants became a part of the regular routine of the care of
all infants born in the hospital. I mention this because if any of you ever
attempt to make such studies you will be confronted, until the work has
become more generally accepted, with a similar set of difficulties,


Studying the Behavior of the Human Infant


No one should attempt to make studies upon the infant tuntil he has
had considerable training in physiology and in animal psychology. He
should have practical training in the nursery of the hospital where the
work is to be done. In this way he can learn what is safe to do with a
baby and what is not. Before recording observations he should watch a
few deliveries. By watching deliveries he will speedily learn that the
human infant can stand considerable necessary hard usage without break-
ing under the strain!


What We Know About Intra-Uterine Behavior


Our knowledge of the intra-uterine life of the human young is very
meagre indeed. Intra-uterine life begins with the fertilization of the
ovum. Recent observations by M. Minkowski, at the University of Zurich,
upon embryos which have had to be taken from the uterus show that the
foetus two to two and one-half months of age exhibits considerable move-
ment of the head, the trunk, and the extremities. The movements are


ARE THERE ANY HUMAN INSTINCTS? = 89


slow, asytmtnetrical, arhythmic and tncoordinated. Theit amplittide is
small. Response to cutaneous stimulation is present, as is also response
to changes in position of the limbs. The heart beat in the foetus begins to
show at a much earlier time, often as early as the third week. There is


some evidence that the stomach glands begin to function at the end of the
5th month.


__ The position of the foetus in the uterus is not without significance
since it affects the movements and posture of the infant for a considerable
time after birth. Dr. J. Whitridge Williams describes the intra-uterine
position of the foetus as follows: “Irrespective of the relation which it
may bear to the mother, the foetus in the later months of pregnancy
assumes a characteristic posture, which is described as its attitude or
habitus; and, as a general rule, it may be said to form an ovoid mass,
which roughly corresponds with the shape of the uterine cavity. Thus,
it is folded or bent upon itself in such a way that the back becomes
markedly convex, the head is sharply flexed so that the chin is almost in
contact with the breast, the thighs are flexed over the abdomen, the legs
are bent at the knee-joints, and the arches of the feet rest upon the ante-
rior surfaces of the legs. The arms are usually crossed over the thorax
or are parallel to the sides, while the umbilical cord lies in the space be-
tween them and the lower extremities.. This attitude is usually retained
throughout pregnancy, though it is frequently modified somewhat by the
movements of the extremities, and in rare instances the head may become
extended, when a totally different posture is assumed. The characteristic
attitude results partly from the mode of growth of the foetus, and partly
from a process of accommodation between it and the outlines of the
uterine cavity.” (Obstetrics, p. 180.) The extent to which slight differ-
ences in the intra-uterine position of the foetus may possibly later influ-
ence or even determine right and left handedness of the individual is not
known. Attention is called to the fact that the liver is on the right side
in about 80% of the observed cases. Whether this large organ may swing
the foetus slightly so that the right side is constantly under less restraint
than the left is not known. If this is true the infants with the liver on
the right side should be right-handed from birth. My records on hundreds
of infants prove that this is not the case.


In general we get our best information on foetal structures ready

to function by study of infants prematurely born. At 6 months (lunar)
the infant may draw a few gasping breaths and make a few abortive move-
ments. It never lives. From the 7th month on to full term infants may
live. At birth they display the usual birth equipment. This proves that


90 BEHAVIORISM


from the beginning of the 7th month many structures exist in the foetus
ready to function as soon as the appropriate stimulus is applied: e. g.
breathing as soon as the air strikes the lungs; complete and independent
circulation and purification of the blood as soon as the umbilical cord is
severed; independent metabolism showing that visceral system is ready to
function, etc,


The Birth Equipment of the Human Young


Almost daily observation of several hundred infants from birth
through the first thirty days of infancy and of a smaller number through
the first years of childhood has given us the following set of (rough) facts
on unlearned responses ;*


Sneezing: This apparently can begin in a full-fledged way from
birth. Sometimes it appears even before the so-called birth cry is given.
It is one of the responses that stays in the activity stream throughout life
(see p. 106); habit factors apparently affect it very little indeed. No
experiments so far have ever been made to see if the mere sight of the
pepper box may not after a sufficient number of conditioning experiments
call out sneezing. The normal intra-organic stimulus calling out sneezing
is not very well defined. Sometimes it occurs when the baby is taken from
a cooler room into an overheated room. With some babies carrying them
out into the sunshine apparently will produce sneezing.


Hiccoughing: ‘This usually does not begin at birth but can be noticed
in children from 7 days of age on with great ease. Over 50 cases have been
observed carefully. The earliest noted case of hiccoughing was 6 hours
after birth. So far as is known this response is rarely conditioned under
the ordinary conditions of life. The stimulus most commonly calling it
se apparently is the pressure on the diaphragm coming from a full stom-
ach,


Crying: The so-called birth cry takes place at the establishment of
respiration. The lungs are not inflated until the stimulus of the air is


present. As the air strikes the lungs and mucous membranes of the up-


per alimentary tract, the mechanism of breathing is gradually established.
To establish breathing, the infant has sometimes to be plunged into icy
water. Coincident with the plunge into the icy water, the cry appears. It
usually appears during the vigorous rubbing and slapping of the infant’s


1 Mrs. Margaret Gray Blanton, working in the psychological laboratory of the Johns Hopkins


Hospital has given us our best data upon this subject (Psychological Review, Vol. 24, p. 456). _


Bn some ce estima NP _ ae


ARE THERE ANY HUMAN INSTINCTS? 91


back and buttocks—a method invariably employed to establish respiration.
The birth cry itself differs markedly in different infants.


_ Hunger will bring out crying. Noxious stimuli such as rough han-
dling, circumcision, or the lancing and care of boils will bring out cries even
in extremely young infants. When the baby suspends itself with either
hand crying is usually elicited.


Crying as such very shortly becomes conditioned. The child quickly
learns that it can control the responses of nurse, parents and attendants,
by the cry and uses it as a weapon ever thereafter. Crying in infants
is not always accompanied by tears, although tears can sometimes be ob-
served as soon as 10 minutes after birth. Owing to the almost universal
practice now of putting silver nitrate into the eyes shortly after birth, the
normal appearance of tears is hard to determine. Tears have been ob-
served, though, on a great many babies from the 4th day on. Tears, in
all probability, are also conditioned very quickly since they are a much
more effective means of controlling the movements of nurses and parents
than is dry crying.


Numerous experiments have been carried out to see whether the
crying of one infant in a nursery will serve as a stimulus to set off the
rest of the children in the nursery. Our results are entirely negative.
In order to more thoroughly control the conditions, we made phonographic
records of a lusty crier. We would then reproduce this sound very close
to the ear of, first, a sleeping infant, then a wakeful but quiet infant.
The results again were wholly negative. Hunger contractions and noxious
stimuli (also loud sounds, see Lecture 7) are unquestionably the uncondi-
tioned stimuli which call out crying. I shall take up crying again in later
lectures.


Colic, bringing a set of noxious stimuli, may and usually does call
out a cry and apparently one slightly different from other types. — This
is due to the pressure in the abdominal cavity caused by the formation of
gas. The full set of muscles used in the hunger cry is thus not available
for the colic cry. The cries of infants are so different that at night in a
nursery of 25 it does not take very long to be able to name the child
which is crying, regardless of its location in the nursery.


Erection of Penis: This can occur at birth and from that time on
throughout life. The complete set of stimuli calling out this response
is not known. Apparently radiant heat, warm water, stroking of the sex
organs, possibly pressure from the urine, are the main factors operative at
birth. This, of course, is conditioned later on in life through visual


92 BEHAVIORISM


stimulation and the like. The stimulus to the later appearing orgasm is
possibly different. Short rhythmical contacts as in coition and in mastur-
bation lead to the orgasm (and after puberty to its attendant ejaculation).
Probably the orgasm itself both in men and women can be hastened or
slowed through stimulus substitutions (through words, sounds, etc.—a
factor of the utmost sociological importance).

At what age tumescence becomes a conditioned response is not known.
Masturbation (a better term with infants is manipulation of the penis or
vagina respectively) can occur at almost any age. The earliest case I have
personally observed was a girl around 1 year of age (it often begins
much earlier). The infant was sitting up in the bathtub and in reaching
for the soap accidentally touched the external opening of the vagina with
her finger. The search for the soap stopped, stroking of the vagina began
and a smile overspread the face. In the case of neither infant boys nor
infant girls have I seen masturbation carried to the point where the
orgasm takes place (it must be remembered that the orgasm can occur
without ejaculation in the male before the age of puberty is reached).
Apparently a great many of the muscular responses later to be used in the
sex act such as pushing, climbing, stroking, are ready to function in the
male at least at a very much earlier age than we are accustomed to think.
In one observed case which came into the clinic, a boy of 3% years of
age would mount his mother or nurse, whichever one happened to be
sleeping with him. Erection would take place and he would manipulate
and bite her breasts, then clasping and sex movements similar to those of
adults would ensue. In this case the mother, who was separated from her
husband, had deliberately attempted to build up this reaction in her child.


Voiding of Urine: This occurs from birth. The unconditioned
stimulus is unquestionably intra-organic due to the pressure of the fluid
in the bladder. Conditioning of the act of urination can begin as early
as the second week. Usually, however, conditioning at this age requires
almost infinite patience. Anywhere from the third month on, the infant
can be conditioned easily by a little care. If the infant is observed closely
at intervals of a half hour or so, it will occasionally be found dry. When
this occurs, place it upon the chamber. If the bladder is quite full, the
increased pressure which comes from putting the infant in a sitting posi-
tion will be stimulus enough to release the act. After repeated trials the
conditioned response is perfected. Young children can be so thoroughly
conditioned in this act that the response can be called out without awaken-
ing them.

Defaecation: This mechanism seems to be perfect from birth and in
all probability the mechanism was perfected several weeks before birth.


ARE THERE ANY HUMAN INSTINCTS? 93


The stimulus probably is pressure in the lower colon. Pressing a clinical
thermometer into the anus often brings about the passage of faeces.


Defaecation can also be conditioned at a very early age. One of the
methods of course is to introduce a glycerine or soap suppository at the
time the infant is placed upon the chamber. After considerable repetition
of this routine, contact with the chamber will be sufficient to call out the
response.


Early Eye Movements: Infants from birth when lying flat on their
backs in a dark room with their heads held horizontally will slowly turn
their eyes towards a faint light. Movements of the eyes are not very well
coordinated at birth, but ‘cross eyes’ are not nearly so prevalent as most
people seem to believe. Right and left coordinated movements of the eyes
are the first to appear. Upward and downward movements of the eyes
come at a slightly later period. Still later on a light can be followed when
revolved in a circle over the baby’s face.


As is well known, habit factors almost immediately begin to enter
into fixation and other eye responses. I have already brought out the fact
that movements both of the lids and of the pupils can be conditioned.


Smiling: Smiling is due in all probability at first to the presence of
kinaesthetic and tactual stimuli. It appears as early as the fourth day. It
can most often be seen after a full feeding. Light touches on parts of
the body, blowing upon the body, touching the sex organs and sensitive
zones of the skin are the unconditioned stimuli that will produce smiling.
Tickling under the chin and a gentle jogging and rocking of the infant
will often bring out smiling.


Smiling is the response in whiclr conditioning factors begin to appear
as early as the thirtieth day. Mrs. Mary Cover Jones has made an exten-
sive study of smiling. In a large group of children she found that con-
ditioned smiling—that is, smiling when the experimenter smiles or says
babyish words to the infant (both auditory and visual factors)—begins to
appear at around the 30th day. In her total study of 185 cases, the latest
age at which the conditioned smile first appeared was 80 days.


Manual Responses: By manual responses hereafter in these lectures
let us mean different movements of the head, neck, legs, trunk, toes, as well
as of the arms, hands and fingers.


Turning the Head: A great many infants at birth if placed stomach
down with chin on the mattress can swing their heads to right or left and


94. BEHAVIORISM


lift their heads from the mattress. We have noticed these reactions from
30 minutes of age on. On one occasion 15 babies were tested one at a time
in succession. All except one could make these head reactions.


Holding up Head when the Infant is held in Upright Position: This
seems to vary with the development of the head and neck musculature.


Some newborn infants can support their heads for a few seconds. The


infant is held in the experimenter’s lap with stomach and back supported.
There seems to be a rapid improvement in this response due apparently
to the development of structure rather than to training factors. The head
can be held up in most infants from the 6th month on,


Hand Movements at Birth: Marked hand movements in many chil-
dren can be observed even at birth, such as closing the hand, opening it,
spreading the fingers, stretching the fingers of one hand or both hands at
the same time. Usually in these hand movements the thumb is ‘folded
inside the palm and takes no part in hand response. It does not begin to
Participate in the movements of the hand until a much later period—around
the 100th day. I shall speak of grasping, which is also present at birth,
later on (p. 92).


Arm Movements: The slightest stimulation of the skin anywhere
will usually bring out marked arm, wrist, hand, and shoulder responses.
Apparently kinaesthetic and organic stimuli may bring out these responses
as well as tactual, auditory and visual stimuli. The arms can be thrown
up to the face and even as far as the top of the head and down to the legs.
Usually, however, the first movements of the arms, no matter where the
stimulus is applied, are towards the chest and head (probably a remnant of
the intra-uterine habit). One of the most characteristic ways of produc-
ing violent movements of arms and hands is to hold the nose. In a very few
seconds one or the other arm or both arms fly upward until the hand
actually comes in contact with the hand of the experimenter. If one hand
is held, the other hand will go up just the same.


Leg and Foot Movements: Kicking is one of the most pronounced
movements to be seen at birth. It can be brought out by touching the
soles of the feet, by stimulation with hot or cold air, by contact with the
skin and directly through kinaesthetic stimulation, One characteristic
way of producing leg and foot movements is to pinch the skin over the
knee. If the left leg is held out straight and the knee cap pinched, the
right foot comes up and in contact with the experimenter’s fingers. When
the inside of the right knee is pinched, the left leg goes up and strikes the
experimenter’s fingers. This will appear perfectly at birth. Sometimes it


= et ily


oa ~ a ee


ARE THERE ANY HUMAN INSTINCTS? — 95


takes only a few seconds for the foot to be brought up as far as the experi-
menter’s fingers.


: Trunk, Leg, Foot and Toe Movements: When an infant is suspend-
ing itself with either right or left hand, marked “climbing” motions in the
trunk and hips are noticeable. There seems to be a wave of contraction
pulling the trunk and legs upward followed by a relaxation period, then
another wave of contraction sets in. Tickling the foot, stimulating
the foot with hot water, will produce marked movements in foot and toes.
Usually if the bottom of the foot is stimulated with a match stick, the
characteristic Babinski reflex appears in nearly all infants. This is a
variable reflex. The usual pattern is an upward jump of the great toe
(extension) and a drawing down of the other toes (flexion). Occasion-
ally the Babinski takes the form merely of “fanning,” that is, spreading
of all the toes. The Babinski reflex usually disappears around the end
of the first year although it may continue longer even in normal children.
Infants cannot suspend themselves with their toes. A wire or other small
round object placed under the toes will often produce flexion, that is, a
closing of the toes, but the slightest pressure will release the rod or wire.


Many infants almost from birth can turn over from face to back
when placed naked face downward on an unyielding surface. Mrs.
Blanton describes one case as follows: Subject T, at 7 days of age,
turned repeatedly from face to back when not impeded by clothing.
Placed face downward on an unyielding surface, her arms in line
with her body, she would immediately start crying. Relaxing and con-
tracting of the muscles of the legs, arms, abdomen and back are natural
accompaniments of crying. During the act she pulled her knees under
her and contracted her muscles generally, then relaxed them. Gradually,
owing to the unequal activity of the two sides of the body, she would
finally come to lie nearer to one side of the body—a final spasm of
muscular effort would put her over. In one case it took 10 minutes to
effect the turn and 9 separate spasms,


Picture here all of the hundreds of partial responses called out in the
general larger act of turning over. Here again, habit very quickly sets
in and the response becomes sharper and sharper with the dropping away
of many of the part reactions. It takes many weeks and months for an
infant to learn to turn over quickly and with a minimum of muscular effort.


Feeding Responses: Touching the face of a hungry baby at the cor-
ners of the mouth or on the cheek or on the chin, will cause quick, jerky
head movements which result in bringing the mouth near the source of


96 BEHAVIORISM


stimulation. This has been observed many, many times from 5 hours
of age onward. The lip or sucking reflex is another characteristic re-
sponse. Tapping slightly with the tip of the finger below or above the
corner of the mouth of a sleeping baby may bring the lips and tongue
almost immediately into the nursing position. Suckling as such varies
tremendously in young infants. It can be demonstrated in practically
every infant within the first hour after birth. Occasionally when there is
marked injury during birth suckling is retarded. The feeding response
as such includes sucking, tongue, lip and cheek movements and swallowing.
With most newborn infants this mechanism, unless there is birth injury
(or possibly when the parents are “feeble-minded”) is fairly perfect.


The whole group of feeding responses can be easily conditioned.
Conditioning can be most easily observed in a bottle fed baby. Even be-
fore reaching (occurring around the 120th day) the infant will get extreme-
ly active in its bodily “squirmings” the instant the bottle is shown. After
reaching has developed, the mere sight of the bottle will call out the lusti-
est kind of bodily movements and crying begins immediately. So sensi-
tive do infants become to the visual stimulus of the bottle that if it is
shown from 12 to 15 feet away, the response begins to appear. There are
many, many other conditioned factors in connection with feeding which
I wish I had time to go into—negative reactions to food, food tantrums,
and the like. Most of these, so far as I can judge, are purely conditioned
responses.


Crawling: Crawling is an indeterminate kind of response. Many
infants never crawl at all, and all of them exhibit different behavior in
crawling. After many experiments I am inclined to believe that crawling
comes largely as a result of a habit formation. When the infant is placed
face downward, the contact and kinaesthetic stimuli bring out very general
bodily activity. Oftentimes one side of the body is more active than the
opposite side; circular (circus) motions result. In one 9 months old infant,
turning in a circle resulted for days but no forward progress could be
observed. In this gradual twisting and turning of the body, the child
sometimes moves right, sometimes left, sometimes forward, and sometimes
backward. If, in these movements, it manages to reach and manipulate
some object, we have practically a situation like that of the hungry rat
in a maze that has food at its center. A habit of crawling toward objects
results. Crawling probably could always be taught if teaching were
regularly instituted with the milk bottle as the stimulus. Our daily
test is conducted as follows. The naked infant is placed on the carpet.
His legs are extended and a mark is set at the furthest reach of the toes.
Then a nursing bottle or a lump of sugar (previously conditioning him on


AS LE te le al lla


ARE THERE ANY HUMAN INSTINCTS? 97


sugar so that he will struggle for it) is put just out of reach of the hands.
Five minutes is enough for the test. Sometimes at the end of the test if
crawling does not appear an electric heater is placed a few feet behind
him. This merely hastens general bodily activity.


Standing and Walking: The whole complex mechanism of standing
upright first with support, then without support, then walking, then run-
ning, then jumping, is a very slowly developing one. The start of the
whole mechanism seems to lie in the development of the so-called “exten-
sor thrust.” The extensor thrust is not usually present during the first
few months of infancy. Some months after birth if the infant is gradually
lifted up by the arms to nearly a standing position with a part of its feet
in contact with the floor at all times, there comes, as weight falls on the
feet, a stiffening of the muscles of both legs. Soon after the appearance
of this reflex, the child begins to attempt to pull itself up. Between 7 and
8 months of age many infants can pull themselves up with very little help
and can support themselves in a standing position holding on to some ob-
ject for a short space of time. After this feat has been accomplished, the
next stage in the general process is walking around holding on to an
object. The final stage is the first step alone. The first step alone occurs
at very variable times, depending upon the weight of the baby, its general
health, whether or not it has had serious mishaps through falling (con-
ditioning). Often the first step is taken at 1 year of age and sometimes
slightly earlier. In the most completely observed case in my records the
first step was taken at the end of 11 months and 3 days. After the first.
step is taken the remainder of the act has to be learned just as the
youth learns to “balance” himself in bicycle riding, swimming, skating,
and tight rope walking. Two factors seem to go hand in hand in the de-
velopment of this mechanism. One is the actual growth of body tissue, the
other is habit formation. The act can be hastened by coaching (positive
conditioning) ; it can be markedly retarded at almost any of these stages
if the infant falls and injures itself (negative conditioning).


Vocal Behavior: The early sounds made by infants and the con-
ditioning and organization of these sounds into words and speech habits,
will be taken up in detail in Lecture 10.


Swimming: Swimming is very largely a process of learning. By
the time the child first attempts to swim the well-organized habits of using
arms, legs, hands and trunk are well established. “Balancing,” breathing,
removal of fear, etc., are the remaining important factors.


When the new born infant is placed in water at body temperature with
head only supported above the water, almost no general response is called


98 BEHAVIORISM


out. If plunged into cold water, violent general bodily response is called
out but no movements even approximating swimming appear.


Grasping: With few exceptions infants at birth can support their
full weight with either right or left hands. The method we use in testing
them is to place a small rod about the diameter of a pencil in one or the
other hand and close the fingers on the rod. This stimulus causes the grasp-
ing reflex to appear. It usually starts a cry at the same time. Then fingers
and hands clamp tightly on the rod. During the reaction the infant can be
completely lifted from the pillow upon which it lies. An assistant places
her two hands below the infant ready to catch it as it falls back to the
pillow. The length of time the infant can support itself varies all the way
from a fraction of a second to more than a minute. The time in a given
case may vary considerably on different days.


The reaction is almost invariable from birth until it begins to disappear
around the 120th day. The time of disappearance of this response varies
considerably—in observed cases from 80 days to well over 150 days. There
seems to be a continuance of the reflex in defective infants long after the
normal period of disappearance.


Prematurely born infants of 7 and 8 months gestation exhibit the
reflex in a normal manner. Infants born without cerebral hemispheres


exhibit the same reaction: in one observed case this was tested from birth —


to death 18 days later.


How much more than their own weight the infants can support has
never been tested out but we have made these tests when the infants were
fully clothed and sometimes slightly weighted.


This primitive reaction of course finally disappears from the stream
of activity never to reappear. It gives place as we shall show to the habit
of handling and manipulation.


Blinking: Any newborn infant will close the lids when the eye (cor-
nea) is touched or when a current of air strikes the eye. But no infant at
birth will “blink” when a shadow rapidly crosses the eye as when a pencil
or piece of paper is passed rapidly across the whole field of vision, The
earliest reaction I have noted occurred on the 65th day. Mrs, Mary Cover
Jones noted the reaction in one infant at 40 days.


It apparently appears quite suddenly—it is at first easily “fatigued”
and is quite variable. Even up to the age of 80 days some infants will not
blink every time the stimulus is applied. Usually at 100 days the infant
will blink whenever the stimulus is applied if at least one minute is allowed


ana ee a se


ARE THERE ANY HUMAN INSTINCTS? 99


between stimulations. This reaction stays in the activity stream until death.
We cannot prove it yet but this reaction looks to us very much like a
conditioned visual eyelid response, as follows:


[2.39 Se nea eae aa ese Deere (U)R
Contact with cornea blink
but objects which touch the eye often cast a shadow, hence
ee ee (U)R
Shadow blink


If this reasoning is correct, blinking at a shadow is not an unlearned
response.


Handedness: We have already pointed out the possibility of handed-
ness being due to the long enforced intra-uterine position of the child
(really a habit). Studies of handedness can be made from birth on in
several different ways.


f 1. Measurements of right and left anatomical structures such as
width of right and left wrist, palm, length of forearm, etc. With specially
devised instruments the measurements have been made upon several hun-
dred children. The results show that there is no significant difference in |
the right and left measurements. The average error of the measurement
is greater than each observed difference.


2, By recording the time of suspension (see Grasping) with left and
right hand. Care is taken in all such tests to begin work with the right
hand on one day and with the left on the following day. Chart I (left
_ two columns) shows that there is no constancy in time of suspension from


day to day.


3. By recording approximately the total amount of work done with
right and left hands for a given period of time. For this work we use an
especially devised work adder. This in principle is an escapement wheel
‘that works in such a way that no matter how the baby slashes its arms
about it turns the wheel always in one direction. As the wheel revolves
it winds up a small lead weight attached to the wheel by a cord. Of
course there is a separate instrument in use for each hand. At the begin-
ning of the work period the two weights are let down until they just touch
the table top. The hands of the baby are then attached. His slashing
movements begin to wind the ball up. Usually the baby lies naked on its
back, unstimulated by the observer. At the end of 5 minutes the baby is
taken out of the apparatus and the height in inches of the two weights
above the table top is measured.


100 BEHAVIORISM


Again when we face the records obtained in this way we find little
significant difference between the work of the two hands.


Subject J


Chart I
showing daily record of results on the two hands:
Age Time of suspension (in seconds) Work done on adders
in (in inches)
Days Right Left Right Left
1 1.2 5.6 16.16 13.75
2 ie 3.0 25.00 15.00
3 6 1.4 37.50 36.25
4 6 4 12.00 15.00
5 1.2 1.0 15.00 27.00
6 1.0 1.6 17.16 16.00
7 6 32 21.25 29.37
8 1.0 pe 24.16 18.37
9 1.8 1.8 17.25 13.00 —
10 1.4 6 28.00 9.00
Average 1.16 2.08 21.34 19.27
“Ga ek EE EN se eee NOES MME RES
Longer with right W. 3 More work with right. 7
Longer with left... «6 More work with left. 3
LOE STO ee ee aS Equal. 23. See


Chart I (right two columns) gives the record of one infant for the first
ten days of its life. The table as a whole shows the results obtained both
from the work adder and from suspension. Note that the average time
of suspension for J. was with right hand 1.16 seconds; with the left 2.08
seconds. The average work done (average height weight was wound up)
with right hand was 21.34 inches; with left hand 19.27 inches. On 3 days
he suspended himself longer with right hand; on 6 days with left hand;
on 1 day the time of suspension was equal. Note, too, that he wound the
weight up faster with right hand on 7 days and with left 3 days.


em
?


Se ee
arr vera ” Eger ee a


a


ARE THERE ANY HUMAN INSTINCTS? 101


_ _ Thus we see how handedness varies during the first few days of
infancy. No dependence can be placed in the records of one child. We
give one record here simply to show the type of results to expect. When
a distribution curve is made by plotting a large number of such records
no significant difference can be found between the hands either when time
of suspension is charted or when total work done on work adders is charted.
Evidently habit (or some hitherto undetermined structural factor) must
come in to stabilize it.


4, Testing handedness by presenting objects after the act of reaching
has been established: Learning to reach for and to manipulate small
objects will be taken up in Lecture 9. In this lecture I want you to think
of an infant 150 to 175 days of age. At the age of approximately 120 days
you can begin to get the baby to reach for a stick of gaudily striped pepper-
mint candy. You must first positively condition him to the candy. This
can be done, long before the habit of reaching is established, by visually
stimulating the infant with the stick of candy and then putting the candy
in the mouth or else putting it in the baby’s hands. If the latter is done the
baby puts the candy in its mouth. Usually by the 160th day the infant
- will reach readily for the candy as soon as it is exhibited. The infant is
then ready to test for handedness.


In all I have worked with about 20 babies during this interesting
period. In making the test the baby is held in the mother’s lap so that both
hands are equally free. The experimenter stands in front of the baby
and extends the candy slowly towards the baby at the level of its eyes
using care to advance on a line between the two hands. When the candy
gets just within reach (and usually not much before) the two hands get
active, then one or the other or both are lifted and advanced towards the
candy. The hand touching it first is noted.


The results of all our tests of this nature extending from the age of
150 days to one year show no steady and uniform handedness. Some days
the right is used more often, some days the left.


The Conclusion We Draw
Our whole group of results on handedness leads us to believe that
- there is no fixed differentiation of response in either hand until social
usage begins to establish handedness. Society soon thereafter steps in
and says “Thou shalt use thy right hand.” Pressure promptly begins.
“Shake hands with your right hand, Willy.” We hold the infant so that
it will wave “bye bye” with the right hand. We force it to eat with the
right hand. This in itself is a potent enough conditioning factor to account
for handedness. But you say “Why is society right handed >” This prob-


102 BEHAVIORISM


ably goes back to primitive days. One old theory often advanced is prob-
ably the true one. The heart is on the left side. It was easy enough for
our most primitive ancestors to learn that the men who carried their shields
with the left hand and jabbed with or hurled their spears with the right
were the ones who more often came back bearing their shields rather than
being borne upon them. If there is any truth in this it is easy enough to
see why our primitive ancestors began to teach their young to be right
handed.

Long before the shield was put aside the day of manuscripts and
books had come; and long before that the strolling bards and minstrels
had orally crystallized the tradition. The strong right arm has become a
part of our legends of the hero. All of our implements—candle snuffers,
scissors and the like were and are made for right handed people.

If handedness is a habit socially instilled, should we or should we not
change over the left handers—those hardy souls who have resisted social
pressure? I am firmly convinced that if the job is done early enough and
wisely enough not the slightest harm results. I should want to do it before
language develops very much. In a later lecture I will attempt to prove
to you that from the beginning we begin to verbalize our acts—that is put
acts into words and vice versa. Now changing over a left handed, talking
child suddenly into a right handed child is likely to reduce the child to the
level of a 6 months old infant. By interfering constantly with his acts you
break down his manual habits and you may simultaneously interfere with
speech (since the word and the manual act are simultaneously condi-
tioned). In other words, while he is relearning he will fumble not only
with his hands but also with his speech. The child is reduced to sheer
infancy again. The unorganized (emotional) visceral control of the body
as a whole again becomes predominant. It takes wiser handling to change
the child over at this age than the average parent or teacher is prepared
to give.

The main problem is, I believe, settled : handedness is not an “instinct.”
It is possibly not even structurally determined. It is socially conditioned.
But why we have 5% of out and out left handers and from 10-15% who
are mixtures—e. g. using right hand to throw a ball, write or eat, but the
left hand to guide an axe or hoe, etc.—is not known.

1 There are several factors which must be noted and followed through. Thumb, fingers and
hand sucking are present in many infants and often unless very wisely handled last into late
childhood. Usually but not always one or the other hand is fairly steadily used. One
would expect the hand not used in thumb sucking to quickly become more facile in the
manipulation of objects.

Again, sometimes for months the infant reaching the standing stage holds on with one or
the other hand—possibly indeed with the better trained, stronger hand! During this period
the other hand is left free. It may overtake or even surpass the hand slowed up from


non-use. Questionnaires and statistical studies upon adults will never throw any light upon
the problem. : ; b


Wee a Om Se


—


ARE THERE ANY HUMAN INSTINCTS? = 103


Summary of Unlearned Equipment


Although our studies of man’s birth equipment have only begun, we
can get a fair picture of the type of activity to be seen and of the method
of studying this equipment by what I have just told you.


At birth or soon thereafter we find nearly all of the so-called clinical
neurological signs or reflexes established such as the reaction of the pupil
to light, the patellar reflex and many others.


_ We find the birth cry followed by breathing; the heart beat and all
circulatory phenomena, such as vaso-motor constriction (decrease in
diameter of vessels) and dilatation, pulse beat, etc. Beginning with the
alimentary tract we find sucking, tongue movements, and swallowing. We
find hunger contractions, digestion, necessitating glandular reactions
in the whole alimentary tract, and elimination (defaecation, urination,
sweat). The acts of smiling, sneezing, hiccoughing belong in part
at least to the alimentary canal system. We find also erection of the penis.


We find general movements of the trunk, head and neck best observed
so far as the trunk is concerned when the infant suspends himself with
the hands. Rhythmical “climbing” movements then appear. We can see
_ the trunk at work in breathing, when the infant cries, during defaecation

and urination, when turning over or when the head is raised or turned, —


We find the arms, wrist, hands and fingers in almost ceaseless activity
(the thumb rarely taking part until later). In this activity especially are
to be noted, grasping, opening and closing hands repeatedly, “slashing”
about of whole arm, putting hand or fingers into mouth, throwing arm
and fingers to face when nose is held.


We find the legs, ankles, foot and fingers in almost ceaseless movement
except in sleep and even during sleep if external (and internal) stimuli are
present. The knee can be bent, leg moved at hip, ankle turned, toes spread,
etc. If the bottom of the foot is touched there is a characteristic movement
of the toes (Babinski reflex) ; if the left knee is pinched the right foot is
brought up to the point of stimulation and vice versa.


Other activities appear at a later stage—such as blinking, reaching, —
handling, handedness, crawling, standing, sitting up, walking, running,
jumping. In the great majority of these later activities it is difficult to
say how much of the act as a whole is due to training or conditioning. A
considerable part is unquestionably due to the growth changes in structure,
and the remainder is due to training and conditioning.


104 BEHAVIORISM


What Has Become of Instincts


Are we not ready to admit that the whole concept of instinct is thus
academic and meaningless? Even from the earliest moment we find habit
_ factors present—present even in many acts so apparently simple that we
used to call them physiological reflexes. Now turn back to James’ list of
instincts on p. 84 or turn to any other list of instincts. The infant is a
graduate student in the subject of learned responses (he is multitudinously
conditioned) by the time behavior such as James describes—imitation,
rivalry, cleanliness, and the other forms he lists—can be observed.


Actual observation thus makes it impossible for us any longer to
entertain the concept of instinct. We have seen that every act has a
genetic history. Is not the only correct scientific procedure then to single
out for study whatever act is in question and to watch and record its life
history?


Take smiling. It begins at birth—aroused by intra-organic stimula-


tion and by contact. Quickly it becomes conditioned, the sight of the
mother calls it out, then vocal stimuli, finally pictures, then words and then
life situations either viewed, told or read about. Naturally what we laugh
at, whom we laugh at and with whom we laugh are determined by our
whole life history of special conditionings. No theory is required to ex-
plain it—only a systematic observation of genetic facts. All the elaborate
nonsense the Freudians have written on humor and laughter is just so
much chaff which will be blown aside as observation brings out the facts.


Again take manipulation. It starts at 120 days, becomes smooth, sharp
and facile at 6 months. It can be built up in a thousand ways, depending
upon the time allowed for it, the toys the infant plays with, whether the
infant is hurt by any of its toys, whether it is frightened by loud sounds
often at the time it is handling its toys. To argue for a so-called “con-
structive building instinct” apart. from early training factors is to leave
the world of facts.


Again there is a similar printed collection of meaningless material in


educative propaganda—taking the form of “let the child develop its own —


inward nature.” Other phrases expressive of this mystical inner life of
bents and instincts are “self-realization,” “self-expression,” “untutored
life” (of the savage, for example), the “brute instincts,” “man’s baser
self,” “elemental facts,” etc. Such writers as Albert Payson Terhune,
Jack London, Rex Beach and Edgar Rice Burroughs, owe the response
they call out from their public to the organization laid down by social


ee


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a a me


et end


Sis i PE


‘ Cnet pk ha ht EE oe


ARE THERE ANY HUMAN INSTINCTS? 105


traditions (especially through taboos upon sex) aided and supported by
the misconceptions of the psychologists themselves.


In order that you may more easily grasp one of the central principles
of behaviorism—viz. that all complex behavior is a growth.or development
out of simple responses, I want to introduce here the notion of “activity
stream,”


The Activity Stream as a Substitute for James’ “Stream of Consciousness”


Most of you are familiar with William James’ classic chapter on the
stream of consciousness. We have all loved that chapter. Today it seems
as much out of touch with modern psychology as the stage coach would be
with modern New York’s Fifth Avenue. The stage coach was picturesque
but it has given place to a more effective means of transportation. In this
lecture I want to give you something in place of James’ classical contribu-
tion; less picturesque but more adequate to the facts.


We have passed in review many of the known facts on the early
behavior of the human infant. Let us draw a diagram to represent the
increasingly complex whole of man’s organization. This picture will be
very incomplete for several reasons. In the first place we have room on
the chart to show only a few of those activities. In the second place our
studies are not complete enough to draw an adequate chart even if we had
the space, and finally we have not yet taken up in the lectures man’s visceral

and emotional equipment, his manual habits and his language habits.


~ In spite of these handicaps, though, try to think of a complete life
chart—of the ceaseless stream of activity beginning when the egg is fer-
tilized and ever becoming more complex as age increases. Some of the
unlearned acts we perform are shortlived—they stay in the stream only a
little time—such, for example, as suckling, unlearned grasping (as opposed
to learned grasping and manipulation) extension of the great toe (Babin-
ski), etc., then disappear forever from the stream. Try to think of
_ others beginning later in life, e. g. blinking, menstruation, ejaculation, etc.,
and remaining in the stream—blinking until death, menstruation until from,
say, 45-55 years, then disappearing; the act of ejaculation remaining on ~
the chart of the male until the 70th-80th years or even longer.


But try hardest of all to think of each unlearned act as becoming
conditioned shortly after birth—even our respiration and circulation. Try
to remember, too, that the unlearned movements of arms, hands, trunk,


legs, feet and toes become organized quickly into our stabilized habits,


3
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x CIRCULATION AND RESPIRATION
Fal {eS  . COND. RESPIRATION AND CIRCULATION = =e ee
A GRASPING
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DEFAECATION AND URINATION LHANDEDNESS tconay ~~ ~~ ~~
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CRYING AND onic. COND. ELIMINATION RESEG _
= HER Duct GLanp -— : ERP
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THE ACTIVITY STREAM “a


Rough diagram showing increasing com-
plexity of certain human action systems.
The black solid line shows the wnlearned
beginning of each system. The dotted
line shows how each system is made com-
plex by conditioning.


Some of the systems apparently are not
modified. They exist in the stream
throughout life without increasing in com-
plexity.


The chart is neither complete nor accurate.
Until more thorough genetic work has
been done, a chart of this kind cannot be
used as a measuring rod of what to expect
of infants at different ages.


106


ARE THERE ANY HUMAN INSTINCTS? 107


~ some of which remain in the stream throughout life, others staying in only
a short time and then disappearing forever. For example, our 2-year
habits must give place to 3 and 4-year habits.


T should like to spend a whole evening upon this chart of human
activity. It gives you quickly in graphic form the whole scope of psy-
chology. Every problem the behaviorist works upon has some kind of
setting in this stream of definite, tangible, actually observable happenings.
It gives you, too, the fundamental point of view of the behaviorist—viz.
that in order to understand man you have to understand the life history of
his activities. It shows too most convincingly that psychology is a natural
science—a definite part of biology.


In our next two lectures we shall see whether at the hands of the
behaviorist the case for human emotions fares better than that for instincts.


VII
EMOTIONS


What Emotions Are We Born With—
How Do We Acquire New Ones—
How Do We Lose Our Old Ones?


Part I—A General Survey of the Field and Some
Experimental Studies


The last two chapters have shown us that the current psychological
view of instincts is not in harmony with the experimental findings of the
behaviorist. Can the case for the present conception of emotions be made
out any better? Probably no subject, unless it be that of instinct, has been
more written about than emotions. Indeed the awe-inspiring number
of volumes and papers and journals produced by Freudians and post-
Freudians in the last 20 years would fill a good-sized room. And yet
the behaviorist, as he reads through this great mass of literature cannot
but feel in it a lack of any central scientific viewpoint. Not until his
own genetic studies, started less than 10 years ago, began to bear fruit.
did it become apparent to the behaviorist that he could simplify the prob-
lems of emotion and apply objective experimental methods to their solu-
tion. Since most of you have been brought up on James’ “theory” of the
emotions, let us start with him. Pointing out the weakness of his position
will be the easiest way to convince you that the behaviorist has some-
thing genuine to contribute both on methods and in results.


James’ Introverted Viewpoint about Emotions


Nearly 40 years ago James gave the psychology of the emotions a
setback from which it has only recently begun to recover. Before James’
time, Darwin had a much saner viewpoint. The physiologist, Lange, also
kept close to the true pathway. I quote here a part of Lange’s famous
passage on “Grief”:


_, By this the grieving person gets his outward stamp; he walks slowly, un-
steadily, dragging his feet and hanging his arms. His voice is weak and without
resonance, in consequence of the feeble activity of the muscles of expiration and of
the larynx. He prefers to sit still, sunk in himself and silent, The tonicity or


108


pan
re


EMOTIONS 109


latent innervation’ of the muscles is strikingly diminish i
y diminished. The neck
head hangs (‘bowed down’ with grief), the relaxation of the seo Lae
muscles makes the face look long and narrow, the jaw may even hang open, The
eyes appear large, as is always. the case where the orbicularis muscle is paralyzed, but
they may often be partly covered by the upper lid which droops in consequence of
the laming of its own levator.” ..... - “But this weakness of the entire
voluntary motor apparatus (the so-called apparatus of ‘animal’ life) is only one
side of the physiology of grief. Another side, hardly less important, and in its
consequences perhaps even more so, belongs to another subdivision of the motor
apparatus, namely, the involuntary or ‘organic’ muscles, especially those which are
found in the walls of the blood-vessels, and the use of which is, by contracting, to
diminish the latter’s calibre. These muscles and their nerves, forming together the
- ‘yaso-motor apparatus,’ act in grief contrarily to the voluntary motor apparatus.
Instead of being paralyzed, like the latter, the vascular muscles are more strongly
contracted than usual, so that the tissues and organs of the body become anaemic.
The immediate consequence of this bloodlessness is pallor and shrunkenness, and the
pale color and collapsed. features are the peculiarities which, in connection with the
relaxation of the visage, give to the victim of. grief his characteristic physiognomy,
and often give an impression of emaciation which ensues too rapidly to be possibly
due to real disturbance of nutrition, or waste uncompensated by repair. nother
regular consequence of the bloodlessness of the skin is a feeling of cold, and shiver-
ing. A constant symptom of grief is sensitiveness to cold, and difficulty in keeping
warm, In grief, the inner organs are unquestionably anaemic as well as the skin.
This is of course not obvious to the eye, but many phenomena prove it. Such is
the diminution of the various secretions, at least of such as are accessible to obser-
wation. The mouth grows dry, the tongue sticky, and a bitter taste ensues which,
it would appear, is only a consequence of the tongue’s dryness. (The expression
‘hitter sorrow’ may possibly arise from this.) In nursing women the milk diminishes
or altogether dries up. There is one of the most regular manifestations of grief,
which apparently contradicts these other physiological phenomena, and that is the
weeping, with its profuse secretion of tears, its swollen, reddened face, red eyes,
and augmented secretion from the nasal mucous membrane.”


Allowing for the fact that Lange worked many years before the days of

the behaviorist, we see that his method was headed in the right direc-

tion, at least it was an observational one. It yielded an objective descrip-

tion of the various part reactions entering into that general group of re-

sponses, the whole of which we popularly call grief. ;
Again, take Darwin’s description of fear:


“The frightened man at first stands like a statue, motionless and breathless,
or crouches down as if instinctively to escape observation. The heart beats quickly
and violently, so that it palpitates or knocks against the ribs; but it is very doubtful
if it then works more efficiently than usual so as to send a greater supply of blood
to all parts of the body; for the skin instantly becomes pale as during incipient
faintness. This paleness of the surface, however, is probably in large part, or is
exclusively, due to the vaso-motor centre being affected in such a manner as to
cause the contraction of the small arteries of the skin. That the skin is much
affected under the sense of great fear, we see in the marvelous manner in which
perspiration immediately exudes from it. This exudation is all the more remark-
able, as the surface is then cold, and hence the term, a cold sweat; whereas when the


110 BEHAVIORISM


sudorific glands are properly excited into action the surface is heated. The hairs
also on the skin stand erect, and the superficial muscles shiver. In connection
with the disturbed action of the heart the breathing is hurried. The salivary glands
act imperfectly; the mouth becomes dry and is often opened and shut. I have
also noticed that under slight fear there is strong tendency to yawn. One of the
best marked symptoms is the trembling of all the muscles of the body; and this is
often first seen in the lips. From this cause, and from the dryness of the mouth, the
voice becomes husky or indistinct or may altogether fail. ‘Obstupui steteruntque
comae, et vox faucibus haesit. . . As fear increases into an agony of terror,
we behold, as under all violent emotions, diversified results. The heart beats
wildly or must fail to act and faintness ensue; there is a death-like pallor; the
breathing is labored; the wings or the nostrils are widely dilated; there is a gasping
and convulsive motion of the lips. a tremor on the hollow cheek. a gulping and
catching of the throat; the uncovered and protruding eyeballs are fixed on the
object of terror; or they may roll restlessly from side to side, huc illuc volens oculos
totumque pererrat. The pupils are said to be enormously dilated. All the muscles
of the body may become rigid or may be thrown into convulsive movements. The
hands are alternately clenched and opened, often with a twitching movement. The
arms may be protruded as if to avert some dreadful danger, or may be thrown
wildly over the head. The Rev. Mr. Hagenauer has seen this latter action in a terri-
fied Australian. In other cases there is a sudden and uncontrollable tendency to
headlong flight; and so strong is this that the boldest soldiers may be seized with
a sudden panic.”


Take Sig. Mantegazza’s description of hatred:


“Withdrawal of the head backwards, withdrawal of the trunk; projection
forwards of the hands, as if to defend one’s self against the hated object; contrac-
tion or closure of the eyes; elevation of the upper lip and closure of the nose—
these are all elementary movements of turning away. Next, threatening movements,
as: intense frowning; eyes wide open; display of teeth; grinding teeth and contract-
ing jaws; opened mouth with tongue advanced; clenched fists; threatening action
of arms; stamping with the feet; deep inspirations—panting ; growling and various
cries; automatic repetition of one word or syllable; sudden weakness and trembling
of voice; spitting. Finally, various miscellaneous reactions and vaso-motor symp-
toms; general trembling; convulsions of lips and facial muscles, of limbs and of
trunk; acts of violence to one’s self, as biting fist or nails; sardonic laughter; bright
redness of face; sudden pallor of face; extreme dilation of nostrils; standing up
of hair on head.” ;


You can see in all of these descriptions a systematic observation of
what happens in emotional reactions. Let me say here that I do not wish
to imply by quoting from these authors that I agree with their theoretical


points of view. I quote merely to show that they were willing to observe
people objectively in an emotional state.


But close to the truth as was the method of the older biologists,
James would have none of it. He says in comment upon these very
excerpts: “The result of all this flux is that the merely descriptive litera-
ture of the emotions is one of the most tedious parts of psychology.


pines nem


re rh


EMOTIONS 111


And not only is it tedious, but you feel that its subdivisions are to a great
extent either fictitious or unimportant, and that its pretenses to accuracy
are a sham.” He sought for a formula—a verbal container into which he
could toss every separate emotion. To use his own simile, he sought to
capture the goose that lays the golden egg, “for then,” says he, “the de-
scription of each egg laid is a minor matter,”


— James’ Goose Which Lays the Golden Eggs


James found such a formula. Here it is. “My theory, on the con-
trary, is that the bodily changes follow directly the perception of the
exciting fact, and that our feeling of the same changes as they occur IS
the emotions.” His proof for this formulation? Merely a bit of intro-
specting that leads him to make the further statement which he says is the
vital point of his whole theory: “If we fancy some strong emotion, and
then try to abstract from our consciousness of it all the feelings of tts
bodily symptoms, we find that we have nothing left behind, no ‘mind-stuff’
out of which the emotion can be constituted, and that a cold and neutral
state of intellectual perception is all that remains.” Thus we see that
according to James the best way to study emotions is to stand stock still
while having one and begin to introspect. The result of your introspec-
tion might take the following form: I have a ‘sensation’ of a slowed heart
beat—a ‘sensation’ of dryness in my mouth—a group of ‘sensations’ com-
ing from my legs, etc. This group of ‘sensations’-—this conscious state—
IS the emotion of fear. Each man has to make his own introspections.
No experimental method of approach is possible. No verification of ob-
servations is possible. In other words, no scientific objective study of
emotions is possible.


Apparently it never occurred to James or to any of his followers
for that matter, to speculate, much less experiment, upon the genesis of
the emotional forms of response. To him they were true heritages from
our primitive ancestors. By this empty, verbal formulation, James
robbed psychology of perhaps its most beautiful and most interesting field
of research. He saddled upon the study of the emotions a condition from
which it can scarcely recover because his formula has been swallowed by
practically all the leading psychologists in the country who will continue


1 Prof. Walter S. Hunter in his superhuman efforts to straddle the gulf that divides behaviorism
from introspectionism uses the verb ‘to be’ in a similar mystical way when he says certain
types of bodily response ARE consciousness. We are too conversant with the various methods
the Gntecinfoctlonist uses to conceal his metaphysical difficulties to be misled by so old a device.
We can, however, smile and admire the sophistry.


112 BEHAVIORISM


to teach it for a greater number of years than I can think of with
equanimity.


The Current List of Emotions


Without attempting to use any other method than the introspective
one, James gives us a list of, first, what he calls the coarser emotions—
grief, fear, rage, love; and a list of subtler emotions which he says may be
grouped under the heading of moral, intellectual and aesthetic feelings.
The latter are entirely too numerous to be separately listed.


McDougall has made a different grouping. He finds that every prin-
cipal instinct has a primary emotion coupled with it; for example, the emo-
tion of fear is coupled with the instinct of flight; the emotion of disgust
is coupled with the instinct of repulsion; the emotion of wonder with the
instinct of curiosity; the emotion of anger with the instinct of pugnacity;
the emotions of subjection and elation with the instincts of self-abasement
and self-assertion; the tender emotions coupled with the parental instincts.
In addition there is a whole group of emotional tendencies less marked in
character. Since we have already shown that this elaborate group of Mc-
Dougallian instincts does not exist (as instincts) it would be futile for us
to consider it further, nor can we spend the time examining all of the lists
of emotions in other current psychological texts. They are valueless be-
cause no objective method was used in determining them.


The Behaviorist’s Approach to the Problem of Emotion


During the past 8 years the behaviorist has approached the problem of
emotions from a new angle. In accordance with his usual procedure, he
decided before beginning work himself to consign to the waste basket the
work of his predecessors and to start the problem over again. His observa-
tion of adults soon told him that mature individuals, both men and
women, display a wide group of reactions which go under the general name
of emotions. The negro down South whines and trembles at the darkness
which comes with a total eclipse of the sun, often falling on his knees and
crying out, begging the Deity to forgive him for his sins. These same
negroes will not pass through graveyards at night. They cringe and
shrink when charms and relics are shown. They will not burn wood.
which has been struck by lightning. In rural communities adults and chil-
dren collect around the home as soon as dusk begins to fall. They often
rationalize it by saying that they will get the “misery” from the night air.
Situations of the most ordinary kinds judged from our more sophisticated
standpoint arouse the strongest kinds of emotional reactions in them.


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5
as


EMOTIONS 113


But let us be even more specific and bring the matter closer home.
Here is the list of things a 3-year-old youngster in New York fears: Dark-
ness, all rabbits, rats, dogs, fish, frogs, insects, mechanical animal toys.
This infant may be playing excitedly with blocks, When a rabbit or other
animal is introduced, all constructive activity ceases. He crowds towards
one corner of his pen and begins to cry out “take it away,” “take it away.”
Another child examined the same day shows a different set. Another may
show no fear reactions,


The more the behaviorist goes about examining the sets of reactions of
adults, the more he finds that the world of objects and situations surround-
ing people brings out more complex reactions than the efficient use or
manipulation of the object or situation would call for. In other words, the
object seems to be ‘charged,’ seems to bring out thousands of accessory
bodily reactions which the laws of efficient habit do not call for. I can
illustrate this by the negro’s rabbit foot. For us the rabbit foot is some-
thing to he cut off from the carcass of the animal and thrown away. One
might toss it to one’s dog as a part of its food. But to many of the negroes
the rabbit foot is not an object to be reacted to in this simple way. It is
dried, polished, put into the pocket, cared for and guarded jealously. He
examines it now and then; when in trouble he calls upon it for guidance
and aid, and in general reacts to it not as to a rabbit’s foot but in the same
way that a religious man reacts to a Deity.


Civilization to some extent has stripped from man these superfluous
reactions to objects and situations, but as I pointed out in my first lecture,
many still persist especially in the realm of religion. Bread is something
to be eaten when hungry. Wine is something to be drunk with meals or
on festive occasions. But these simple, commonplace, unemotional objects
call out kneeling, prayer, bowing of the head, closing of the eyes, and a
whole mass of other verbal and bodily responses, when fed to the individual
at church under the guise of communion. The bones and relics of the saints
may call out in devout religious individuals a set of reactions different
from those the rabbit foot calls out in the negro but entirely homologous
(from the standpoint of origin). The behaviorist even goes further and
investigates his colleagues’ everyday behavior. He finds that a noise in the
basement at night may reduce his nextdoor neighbors to reactions quite in-
fantile ; that many of them are shocked when the Lord’s name is “taken in
vain,” giving as a rationalization that it is irreverent, ‘that punishment will
be visited upon the individual so misbehaving. He finds many of them
walking away from dogs and horses, even though they have to turn back
or cross the street to avoid coming near them. He finds men and women


114 BEHAVIORISM


picking out impossible mates without being able to rationalize the act at all
in any way. In other words, if we were to take all of life’s objects and
situations into the laboratory and were to work out a physiologically sound
and scientific way of reacting to them (experimental ethics may approach
this some day) and call these forms the norms or standards, and were then
to examine man’s everyday behavior in the light of such norms, we would
find divergence from them the rule. Divergence takes the form of acces-
sory reactions, slowed reactions, non-reactions (paralysis), blocked reac-
tions, negative reactions, reactions not sanctioned by society (stealing,
murder, etc.), reactions belonging to other stimuli (substitute).1 It seems
fair to call all of this group emotional without further defining the word
at the present time.


Now as you know, we haven’t physiologically standardized norms of
reactions as yet. There is some approach to it. Progress in physical
sciences has done much towards standardizing our way of reacting to day
and night, the seasons, the weather. We no longer react to a tree struck
by lightning as if it were accursed. We no longer think that we have any
advantage over our enemy when we come into possession of his nail par-
ings, hair and excrement. We no longer look upon the blue of the heavens
above as a kingdom in which super-mundane beings dwell (at least some
of us hardy souls do not!). We no longer react to distant and almost in-
visible mountains as if they were the homes of gnomes and fairies.
Science, geography and travel have standardized our responses. Our
reactions to foods are becoming standardized through the work of the food
chemist. We no longer think of any particular form of food as being
“clean” or “unclean.” We think of it now as fulfilling or not fulfilling
definite bodily requirements. ‘


1 Examples:


Of accessory reactions: The subject does the task quickly and correctly but he becomes pale,

e@ may even cry, urinate or defaecate, his mouth glands may become inactive. He reacts

steadily and correctly in spite of his emotional state, Other examples of accessory reactions
are whistling, talking, singing, while at work.


Of slowed reactions: He does the act but his reaction time is increased—he may fumble and
drop his work, or react with too much or too little energy. Response to questions comes
slowly or very rapidly.

Of negative reactions: He may show fear at food—push it away or run away from. it himself.
Instead of the ordinary reactions to dog or horse, the subject may walk away from them,
Phobias belong in this group.


Of reactions not sanctioned by society: The subject may in “heat of anger,” for example, com-


mit murder, injure Property. I have in mind here all acts which the law punishes but for
which it tempers justice with mercy because of emotional factors.

Of reactions belonging to other stimuli: All homosexual reactions; all sex attacks by sons upon
their mothers; all sex reactions to fetishes, etc. Emotional responses of parents to children
masquerading under the guise of natural affection.


There are, of course, legions of responses we call “emotional,” that cannot be listed under any
one of these headings.


EMOTIONS 115


Our social reactions, however, remain unstandardized. There is even
no historical guide. Professor Sumner, of Yale, has well pointed this out.
According to him, every conceivable kind of social reaction has at one time
or another been considered the “normal” and unemotional way of acting.
One woman could have many husbands; one man many wives; the off-
spring could be killed in times of famine; human flesh could be eaten;
sacrifice of offspring could be made to appease deities; you could lend
your wife to your neighbor or guest; the wife was acting properly when
she burned herself on the pyre that consumed her husband’s body.


Our social reactions are not standardized any better today. Think of
our 1925 accessory responses when we are in the presence of our parents,
in front of our social leaders. Think of our hero worship, our veneration
for the intellectual giant, the author, the artist, the church! Think of the
- way we behave in crowds, at masked parties (Ku Klux as well as social )—
at football and baseball games, at elections, in religious revivals (conver-
sions, antics of the holy rollers, etc.), in grief at the loss of loved objects
and people. We have a host of words to cover these accessory reactions—
reverence, love of family, of God, of church, of country; respect, adulation,
awe, enthusiasm. When in the presence of many of these emotional stimuli
we act like infants.


H ow the Behaviorist Works: The complicated nature of all these
adult responses makes it hopeless for the behaviorist to begin his study of
emotion upon adults. He has to study emotional behavior genetically.


Suppose we start with three-year-olds—we will go out into the high-
ways and byways and collect them ; and then let us go to the mansions of the
tich. We bring them into our laboratory. We put them face to face with
certain situations. Suppose we first let a boy go alone into a well lighted
playroom and begin to play with his toys. Suddenly we release a small
boa constrictor or some other animal. Next we may take him to a dark
room and suddenly start a miniature bonfire with newspapers. I cannot
take time tonight to tell you all of the stage settings used by the behaviorist
in experiments of this type. As you can see we can set the stage so that
we can duplicate almost any kind of life situation.


But after testing him alone in all these situations we must test him
again when an adult, possibly father or mother, is with him—when another
child of his own age and sex is nearby, when another child of opposite sex
accompanies him, when groups of children are present.


In order to get a picture of his emotional behavior, we have to test
separation from mother. We have to test him with different and uncustom-


116 BEHAVIORISM


aty foods, with strange people to feed him, with strange nurses to bathe
him, clothe him and put him to bed. We must rob him of his toys, of
things he is playing with. We must let a bigger boy or girl bully him, we
must put him in high places, on ledges (making injury impossible how-
ever), on the backs of ponies or dogs.


I am giving you a picture of how we work just to convince you of the
simplicity, naturalness and accuracy of our methods—that there is a wide
field for objective experimentation.


Brief Summary of Results of Such Tests


One of the sad things we find by such tests is that even at three
years of age many (but not all) of the children are shot through with all
kinds of useless and actually harmful reactions which go under the general
name emotional,


They are afraid in many situations. They are shy in dozens of
others. They go into tantrums at being bathed or dressed. They go into
tantrums when given certain foods—or when a new nurse feeds them.
They go into crying fits when the mother leaves them. They hide behind
their mother’s dress. They become shy and silent when visitors come.
A characteristic picture is to have one hand in the mouth and the other
grasping the mother’s dress. One fights every child who comes near. He
is called a bully, a ruffian, sadistic. Another cries and runs away if a
child half his size threatens him. His parents call him a coward and his
playmates make him the scapegoat.


Whence Arise These Varied Forms of Emotional Response?


A child three years of age is very young. Must we conclude that
emotional reactions are hereditary? Is there an hereditary pattern of love,
of fear, rage, shame, shyness, humor, anger, jealousy, timidity, awe, rever-
ence, admiration, cruelty? Or are these just words to describe general
types of behavior without implying anything as to their origin? Historic-
ally they have been considered hereditary in origin. To answer the ques-
tion scientifically, we need new methods of experimentation.


1 Mrs. Mary Cover Jones reports that in the work with the older children at the Heckscher
Foundation, the frog especially, when its suddenly jumps, is the most potent stimulus of all in
bringing out fear reactions, The most pronounced reactions were called out from the children
by an animal when it was come upon suddenly. For this reason the smaller animals were

a left around the room concealed in boxes. General manipulation of objects in the room
lead the child sooner or later to the sudden uncovering of the animal.


— ee


OF, ee a i


EMOTIONS 117


Experiments Upon the Origin and Growth of Emotional Reactions


_ In our experimental work we early reached the conclusion that young
children taken at random from homes both of the poor and of the well-to-
do do not make good subjects for the study of the origin of emotions.
Their emotional behavior is too complex. Fortunately we have been able
to study a number of strong healthy children belonging to wet nurses in
hospitals, and other children brought up in the home under the eye of the
experimenters. Several of these children were observed from approxi-
mately birth through the first year, others through the second year and two
or three children through the third year. I wish to give you an account of
these studies.


In putting these hospital reared children through emotional situations
we usually had the older ones sit in small infants’ chairs. If the infant
was very small—too young to sit up—we allowed it to sit in the lap of the
mother or-that of an attendant.


(a) Reactions to Animals in the Laboratory: We first took the chil-
dren to the laboratory and put them through the routine of tests with various
animals. We had the laboratory so arranged that they could be tested in
the open room, alone; with an attendant; with the mother. They were
tested in the dark room, the walls of which were painted black. This room
was bare of furniture. It offered an unusual situation in itself. In the |
dark room we had conditions so arranged that we could turn on a light
behind the infant’s head or illuminate the room with the light in front of
and above the infant. The infants were always tested one at a time. The
following group of situations was usually presented :


First, a lively black cat invariably affectionately aggressive, was
shown. ‘The cat never ceased its purring. It climbed over and walked
around the infant many times during the course of each test, rubbing its
body against the infant in the usual feline way. So many false notions
have grown up around the response of infants to furry animals that we
were surprised ourselves to see these youngsters positive always in theit
behavior toward this proverbial ‘black cat.’ Reaching out to touch the cat’s
fur, eyes and nose was the invariable response,


A rabbit was always presented. This, likewise, in every case called
out manipulatory responses and nothing else. Catching the ears of the
animal in one hand and attempting to put it in the mouth was one of the
favorite responses.


118 BEHAVIORISM


Another furry animal invariably used was the white rat. This, pos-
sibly on account of its size and whiteness, rarely called out continued fixa-
tion of the eyes of the infant. When, however, the animal was fixated,
reaching occurred.


Airedale dogs, large and small, were also presented. The dogs were
also very friendly. The dogs rarely called out the amount of manipulatory
response that an animal the size of the cat and rabbit called out. Not even
when the children were tested with these animals in the dark room, either in
full illumination or with a dim light behind the head of the child, was any
fear response evoked,


These tests on children not emotionally conditioned proved to us con-
clusively that the classical illustrations of hereditary responses to furry
objects and animals are just old wives’ tales.


Next a feathery animal was used, usually a pigeon. The pigeon was
presented first in a paper bag. This was a rather unusual situation even
for an adult. The bird struggled and in struggling would move the bag
around the couch. Oftentimes it would coo. While the pigeon was rattling
and moving the paper bag about, the child rarely reached for the bag. The
moment, however, the pigeon was taken into the experimenter’s hands, the
usual manipulatory responses were called forth. We have even had the
pigeon moving and flapping its wings near the baby’s face. This can be
done easily by holding the pigeon by its feet, head down. Under these
conditions even an adult will sometimes dodge and flinch a bit. When the
wings fanned the infant’s eyes, blinking was usually called out. Hesitation
in response and failure to reach occur. When the bird quieted down,
reaching began,


Another form of test which we have often made under these same
conditions, was the lighting of a small newspaper bonfire both out in the
open room and in the dark room. In several cases when the paper first
caught fire, the infant reached eagerly toward the flame and had to be
restrained. As soon, however, as the fire became hot, reaching and manipu-


latory responses died down. At such times the infant may sit with hands


partly up in a position that looks almost like the start of the shading reac-
tion that the adult uses when coming too close to a fire. There isn’t much
question that this type of habit would have developed if the experiment

had been repeated often. It probably is entirely similar to the reaction
animals and humans make to the sun. When the sun gets too hot and they
are not active they move into whatever shade is available.


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EMOTIONS 119


(6) To Animals in Zoological Parks: On several occasions hospital
reared children and home reared children whose emotional history was
known, have been taken to zoological parks—always as a first experience.
The children under observation were not pronounced in any of their reac-
tions in the zoological park. Every effort was made to give them a good
presentation of those animals which apparently have played considerable
part in the biological history of the human. For example, a great deal of
time was spent in the primates’ house. Considerable time was spent also
in the rooms where reptiles, frogs, turtles, and snakes were kept. In such
tests I have never got the slightest negative reaction to frogs and snakes,
although the jumping frog, to children who have been conditioned, is an
extremely strong stimulus in bringing out fear responses as I pointed out
a moment ago (p. 116).


In the summer of 1924, I took my own two children to the Bronx
Zoological Park. The older child, B, was a boy 2%4 years of age. The
younger child, J, was a boy 7 months of age. The younger child was
without conditioned emotional fear responses. The older child had been
conditioned but ina known way. For example, the first time he was taken
into water up over his neck, he showed fear (I am sure that the so-called
fear of the water is the same type of response that we get from loss of
support). Before his trip to the Park he had seen horses, dogs, cats, pig-
eons, English sparrows, sea gulls, toads, worms, caterpillars and butterflies.
He had developed no negative responses to any of these animals except the
dog. Once a dog had attacked him and thereafter he was partly conditioned
to dogs, but this fear had not been transferred to other animals or to woolly
toys or mechanical animals. In everyday life he began to play with
every animal (other than the dog) as soon as it came within his ken,
Much to the distress of his mother, he would often bring to her worms and
caterpillars of every description. Even to the hoptoad he showed not the


_ slightest negative response.


In going to the Bronx Zoological Park, we had to take a ferry which
was his first experience on a large boat. Before this trip he had been in a
canoe with me several times. The first time I took him out in the canoe,


it was a little rough and the canoe was a tippy one. I got him out about


300 yards. A small wave struck us and he stiffened up a bit and said,
“Daddy, too much water.” I then took him closer in and paddled around
the shore line for awhile. All fear responses to the canoe disappeared
although even now he sits pretty close and pretty tight when out in it.
Shortly after his first trip in the canoe, he took the trip in question to the


- Zoological Park. On the ferry almost the same type of behavior devel-


120 BEHAVIORISM


oped. We got about half way over. He was leaning down and looking at
the passage of the water. Suddenly he looked up and said, “Mama, too
much water; Billy not afraid.” But his general behavior belied his words
somewhat,


In the Zoological Park he showed a tremendous eagerness to go after
every animal he saw and we took him religiously to every cage, pen and
yard. The animals that brought out his greatest reluctance to leave were
a pair of chimpanzees. They were having a gorgeous time. They were
carrying armfuls of hay up the chains of the swing. After getting to the
seat they tried to slip the hay underneath them. Then suddenly they would
swing down and catch each others hands, drop and hit the floor with a bang. ©


The animals calling out the most excited verbal response were the ©
elephants; and next came the gaudily colored tropical birds. Every reac- ©
tion to every animal was positive.


The behavior of the 7-months old baby was that of resigned boredom ~
throughout the whole afternoon. Not once was any response shown either
positive or negative. Now and then set fixation of the eyes was noticed. —
The birds seemed to bring out the most prolonged fixation.


We think that we have carried these experiments far enough on in-
fants, the genesis of whose emotional behavior we know, to uphold our ©
main contention that when fear responses occur in the presence of all ob-
jects and situations such as we have described they are always conditioned. —


Are we to conclude from this work that in infants there are no un-
learned reactions of a kind that might give us a starting point for building —
up emotional behavior? . |


Evidence for Three Types of Unlearned Beginnings
of Emotional Reactions


- I feel reasonably sure that there are three different forms of emotional
response that can be called out at birth by three sets of stimuli. Don’t
misunderstand me if I call these responses “fear,” “rage” and “love.” Let
me hasten to assure you that while I use the words fear, rage and love, I
want you to strip them of all their old connotations. Please look upon the
reactions we designate by them just as you look upon breathing, heart beat
grasping and other unlearned responses studied in the last chapter.


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EMOTIONS 121


The facets follow.


Fear: You will recall that in my first lecture I talked to you about
the panicky state into which the primitive individual fell when limbs of trees
broke and crashed around him, and when thunder and other loud sounds
occurred in his presence. This is more than a mere hypothesis. Our work
upon infants, especially those without cerebral hemispheres where the
reaction 1s more pronounced, early taught us that loud sounds almost
invariably produced a marked reaction in infants from the very moment
of birth. For example, the striking of a steel bar with a hammer will call
out a jump, a start, a respiratory pause followed by more rapid breathing
with marked vasomotor changes, sudden closure of the eye, clutching of
hands, puckering of lips. Then occur, depending upon the age of the infant,
crying, falling down, crawling, walking or running away. I have never
made a very systematic study of the range of sound stimuli that will call
out fear responses. Not every type of sound will do it. Some extremely
low pitched, rumbling noises will not call them out, nor will the very high
tones of the Galton whistle. In the half sleeping infant of 2 or 3 days of
age I have called them out repeatedly by suddenly crinkling a half of a
newspaper near its ear, and by making a loud, shrill, hissing sound with
the lips. Pure tones, such as those obtained from the tuning fork at any
rate, are not very effective in calling them out. Considerably more work
must be done upon the nature of the auditory stimulus as well as upon the
Separate part reactions in the response before the whole stimulus-response
picture is complete.


_ The passage I read from Darwin at the beginning of the lecture is a
very good picture of adult fear behavior, although many, many conditioned
responses are present. In his description we see organized fear behavior
on a large scale, learned as well as unlearned elements appearing.


The other stimulus calling out this same fear reaction is loss of sup-
port—especially when the body is not set to compensate for it. It can best
be observed in newborns just when they are falling asleep. If dropped
then, or if the blanket upon which they lie is suddenly jerked, pulling the
infant along with it, the response invariably occurs.


In infants only a few hours old this fear reaction is quickly ‘fatigued.’
In other words, if the same sound or the same kind of loss of support


1 I have found only one child out of many hundreds worked with in whom a fear response
could not be called out by loud sounds. _ She is well developed, well nourished, and normal in
every way. There were no fear reactions to any other stimuli. The nearest approach to
fear I saw was at the sight and sound of am opening and closing umbrella. I have no ex-
planation to offer for this exception.


122 BEHAVIORISM


stimulus is frequently applied, you can often call out the reaction only once.
After a few moments’ rest those same stimuli are again effective.


Even in the case of the adult human and higher mammals, loss of
support when the individual is not set for it calls out a strong fear reaction.
If we have to walk across a slender plank, naturally as we approach it the
muscles of the body are all set for it, but if we cross a bridge which
remains perfectly steady until the middle has been reached and then sud-
denly begins to give way, our response is very marked. When this happens
in the case of a horse one can with difficulty get him, to cross a bridge
again. There are many horses in the country bridge shy. I am sure the
same principle is operative when a child is rapidly led out into deep water
for the first time. The buoyancy of the water actually throws him off his
balance. Even when the water is warm there is a catching of the breath,
clutching with the hands and crying.


Rage: Have you ever had the never to be forgotten experience when


proudly walking across a crowded street holding your two-year-old daugh-


ter’s hand, of having her suddenly pull you in some other direction? And


when you quickly and sharply jerked her back and exerted steady pressure }


on her arm to keep her straight did she then suddenly stiffen, begin to
scream at the top of her voice and lie down stiff as a ramrod in the middle
of the street, yelling with wide open mouth until she became blue in the
face, and continuing to yell until she could make no further sound? If
you have not, any picture of rage behavior must appear lifeless to you.


Possibly you have seen the large village bully take some child, down ~


him and hold his arms and legs so closely to his body that the child could ©


not even struggle. Have you watched the youngster stiffen and yell until
he became blue in the face?


Did you ever notice the sudden changes that come into the faces of
men when they are jostled and suddenly and unduly crowded in the street
cars and railway trains? Hampering of bodily movement brings out the


series of responses we call rage. This can be observed from the moment —


of birth but more easily in infants 10 to 15 days of age. When the head
is held lightly between the hands; when the arms are pressed to the sides;
and when the legs are held tightly together, rage behavior begins. The
unlearned response elements in rage behavior have never been completely
catalogued. Some of the elements, however, are easily observed, such as
the stiffening of the whole body, the free slashing movements of hands,


arms and legs, and the holding of the breath. There is no crying at first, —


then the mouth is opened to the fullest extent and the breath is held until —


4


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so
=
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EMOTIONS 123


the face appears blue. These states can be brought on without the pressure
in any case being severe enough to produce the slightest injury to the
child. The experiments are discontinued the moment the slightest blue-
ness appears in the skin. All children can be thrown into such a state and
the reactions will continue until the irritating situation is relieved and
sometimes for a considerable period thereafter. We have had this state
brought out when the arms were held upward by a cord to which was
attached a lead ball not exceeding an ounce in weight. The constant ham-
pering of the arms produced by even this slight weight is sufficient to bring
out the response. When the child is lying on its back the response can
occasionally be brought out by pressing on each side of the head with
cotton wool. In many cases this state can be observed quite easily when
the mother or nurse has to dress the child somewhat roughly or hurriedly.


Love: The study of this emotion in the infant is beset with a great
many difficulties on the conventional side. Our observations consequently
have been incidental rather than directly experimental. The stimulus to
love responses apparently is stroking of the skin, tickling, gentle rocking,
patting. The responses are especially easy to bring out by the stimulation
of what, for lack of a better term, we may call the erogenous zones, such
as the nipples, the lips and the sex organs. The response in an infant
depends upon its state; when crying the crying will cease and a smile
begin. Gurgling and cooing appear. Violent movements of arms and
trunk with pronounced laughter occur in even 6-8 months old infants when
tickled. It is thus seen that we use the term “love” in a much broader
sense than it is popularly used. The responses we intend to mark off here
are those popularly called “affectionate,” “good natured,” “kindly,” etc.
The term “love” embraces all of these as well as the responses we see in
adults between the sexes. They all have a common origin.


Are There Other Unlearned Responses than These Three General Types?


Whether these three types of response are all that have an hereditary
background we are not sure. Whether or not there are other stimuli
which will call out these responses we must also leave in doubt. If our
observations are in any way complete, it would seem that emotional reac-
tions are quite simple in the infant and the stimuli which call them out
quite few in number.

These reactions which we have agreed, then, to call fear, rage and
love, are at first quite indefinite. Much work remains to be done to see


oats 5 ay :

1 For example, I am uncertain what the relationsh is between the fear reactions we have been
( be es "and the reactions called out by a ae objects, ice cold water, and other noxious
stimuli.


124 BEHAVIORISM


what the various part reactions are in each and how much they differ.
They are certainly not the complicated kinds of emotional reactions we see
later on in life but at least I believe they form the nucleus out of which
all future emotional reactions arise. So quickly do they become condi-
tioned as we shall show later, that it gives a wrong impression to call them
hereditary modes of response. It is probably better just to keep to the
actual facts of observation thus:


(Ordinarily called Fear :)


CF scanner ni .(U)R
Loud sounds Checking of breathing, “jump” or
Loss of support start of whole body, crying, often


defaecation and urination (and
many others not worked out experi-
mentally. Probably the largest
group of part reactions are viscer-


al).
(Ordinarily called Rage:)
(62.222 eee
Restraint of bodily movement Stiffening of whole body, scream-


ing, temporary cessation of breath-
ing, reddening of face changing to
blueness of face, etc. It is obvious
that while there are general overt
responses, the greatest concentra-
tion of movement is in the visceral
field. Blood tests of infants so man-
handled show that there is an in-
crease in blood sugar. This means
probably an increase in the secre-
tion of the adrenal glands.
(Ordinarily called Love:)


Gt G3 i Dee OO RENE tieg arr A (U)R
Stroking skin and sex organs, rock- Cessation of crying; gurgling,


ing, riding on foot, etc. cooing and many others not deter-
| mined. That visceral factors pre-
dominate is shown by changes in

circulation and in respiration, erec-

tion of penis, etc,


ee


EMOTIONS 125


If we think of these unlearned (so-called emotional) responses in the
terms of these simple formulae, we cannot go very far wrong.


How Our Emotional Life Becomes Complicated


How can we square these observations with those which show the
enormous complexity in the emotional life of the adult? We know that
hundreds of children are afraid of the dark, we know that many women
are afraid of snakes, mice and insects, and that emotions are attached to
many ordinary objects of almost daily use. Fears become attached to
persons and to places and to general situations, such as the woods, the
water, etc. In the same way the number of objects and situations which
can call out rage and love become enormously increased. Rage and love
at first are not produced by the mere sight of an object. We know that
later on in life the mere sight of persons may call out both of these primi-
tive emotions. How do such “attachments” grow up? How can objects
which at first do not call out emotions come later to call them out and thus
greatly increase the richness as well as the dangers of our emotional life?


Since 1918 we have been at work upon this problem. We were rather
loath at first to conduct such experiments, but the need of this kind of
study was so great that we finally decided to experiment upon the pos-
sibility of building up fears in the infant and then later.to study practical
methods for removing them. We chose as our first subject Albert B, an
infant weighing twenty-one pounds, at eleven months of age. Albert was
the son of one of the wet nurses in the Harriet Lane Hospital. He had
lived his whole life in the hospital. He was a wonderfully “good” baby.
In all the months we worked with him we never saw him cry until after
our experiments were made!


Before turning to the experiments by means of which we built up
emotional responses in the laboratory, it is necessary for you to recall all
that I tried to tell you on the conditioning of reflexes. I am going to
- assume that you know that when you establish a conditioned reaction, you
must have a fundamental stimulus to start with which will call out the
_ response in question. Your next step is to get some other stimulus to
call it out. For example, if your purpose is to make the arm and hand
jerk away every time a buzzer sounds, you must use the electric shock
or other noxious stimulus each time the electric buzzer is sounded.
Shortly, as you know, the arm will begin to jump away when the buzzer
is sounded just as it jumps away when the electric shock is given. We
already know now that there is an unconditioned or fundamental stimulys


126 BEHAVIORISM


which will call out the fear reaction quickly and easily. It is a loud sound,
We determined to use this just as we used the electric shock in the experi-
ments I told you about in Lecture 2.


Our first experiment with Albert had for its object the conditioning
of a fear response to a white rat. We first showed by repeated tests that
nothing but loud sounds and removal of support would bring out fear
response in this child. Everything coming within twelve inches of him
was reached for and manipulated. His reaction, however, to a loud sound
was characteristic of what occurs with most children. A steel bar about
one inch in diameter and three feet long, when struck with a carpenter’s
hammer produced the most marked kind of reaction.


Our laboratory notes showing the progress in establishing a con-
_ ditioned emotional response are given here in full:


Eleven months, 3 days old. (1) White rat which he had played with for
weeks was suddenly taken from the basket (the usual routine) and presented to
Albert. He began to reach for rat with left hand. Just as his hand touched the
animal the bar was struck immediately behind his head. The infant jumped
violently and fell forward, burying his face in the mattress. He did not cry, how-
ever.


(2) Just as his right hand touched the rat the bar was again struck. Again
the infant jumped violently, fell forward and began to whimper,


On account of his disturbed condition no further tests were made
for one week.


; Eleven months, ten days old. (1) Rat presented suddenly without sound.
There was steady fixation but no tendency at first to reach for it. The rat was then
placed nearer, whereupon tentative reaching movements began with the right hand.
When the rat nosed the infant’s left hand the hand was immediately withdrawn. He
started to reach for the head of the animal with the forefinger of his left hand
but withdrew it suddenly before contact. It is thus seen that the two joint stimula-
tions given last week were not without effect. He was tested with his blocks imme-
diately afterwards to see if they shared in the process of conditioning. He began
immediately to pick them up, dropping them and pounding them, etc. In the re-
mainder of the tests the blocks were given frequently to quiet him and to test his
Beneral emotional state. They were always removed from sight when the process
of conditioning was under way.


(2) Combined stimulation with rat and sound. Started, then fell over im-
mediately to right side. No crying.


(3) Combined stimulation, Fell to right side and rested on hands with head
turned from rat. No crying.


(4) Combined stimulation. Same reaction.


1 See the original paper by Rosalie Rayner and John B, Watson, Scientific Monthly, 1921, p. 493,


EMOTIONS 127


(5) Rat suddenly presented alone. Puckered face, whimpered and withdrew
body sharply to left.


(6) Combined stimulation. Fell over immediately to right side and began
to whimper.


(7) Combined stimulation. Started violently and cried, but did not fall
over.


(8) Rat alone. The instant the rat was shown the baby began to cry.
Almost instantly he turned sharply to the left, fell over, raised himself on all fours
and began to crawl away so rapidly that he was caught with difficulty before he
reached the edge of the mattress.


Surely this proof of the conditioned origin of a fear response puts
us on natural science grounds in our study of emotional behavior. It is
a far more prolific goose for laying golden eggs than is James’ barren
verbal formulation. It yields an explanatory principle that will account
for the enormous complexity in the emotional behavior of adults. We no
longer in accounting for such behavior have to fall back upon heredity.


The Spread or Transfer of Conditioned Emotional Responses


Before the above experiment on the rat was made Albert had been
playing for weeks with rabbits, pigeons, fur muffs, the hair of the attend-
ants, and false faces. What effect will conditioning him upon the rat have
upon his response to these animals and other objects when next he sees
them? To test this we made no further experiments upon him for five
days. That is, during this five day period he was not allowed to see any
of the above objects. At the end of the 6th day we again tested him first
with the rat to see if the conditioned fear response to it had carried over.
Our notes are as follows:


Eleven months, fifteen days old.


(1) Tested first with blocks. He reached readily for them, playing with
them as usual. This shows that there has been no general transfer to the room,
table, blocks, etc.


(2) Rat alone. Whimpered immediately, withdrew right hand and turned
head and trunk away.


(3) Blocks again offered. Played readily with them, smiling and gurgling.


(4) Rat alone. Leaned over to the left side as far away from the rat as
possible, then fell over, getting up on all fours and scurrying away as rapidly as
possible.


(5) Blocks again offered. Reached immediately for them, smiling and
laughing as before.


128 BEHAVIORISM


This shows that the conditioned response was carried over the five
day period. Next we presented in order a rabbit, a dog, a sealskin coat,
cotton wool, human hair and a false face:


(6) Rabbit alone. A rabbit was suddenly placed on the mattress in front
of him. The reaction was pronounced. Negative responses began at once. He
leaned as far away from the animal as possible, whimpered, then burst into tears.
When the rabbit was placed in contact with him he buried his face in the mattress,
then got up on all fours and crawled away, crying as he went. This was a most
convincing test.


(7) The blocks were next given him, after an interval. He played with
them as before. It was observed by four people that he played far more energeti-
cally with them than ever before. The blocks were raised high over his head and
slammed down with a great deal of force.


(8) Dog alone. The dog did not produce as violent a reaction as the rabbit.
The moment fixation of the eyes occurred the child shrank back and as the animal
came nearer he attempted to get on all fours but did not cry at first. As soon as
the dog passed out of his range of vision he became quiet. The dog was then made
to approach the infant’s head (he was lying down at the moment). Albert straight-
ened up immediately, fell over to the opposite side and turned his head away. He
then began to cry.


(9) Blocks were again presented. He began immediately to play with them.


(10) Fur coat (seal). Withdrew immediately to the left side and began
to fret. Coat put close to him on the left side, he turned immediately, began to cry
and tried to crawl away on all fours.


(11) Cotton wool. The wool was presented in a paper package. At the
ends the cotton was not covered by the paper. It was placed first on his feet. He
kicked it away but did not touch it with his hands. When his hand was laid on the
wool he immediately withdrew it but did not show the shock that the animals or
fur coat produced in him. He then began to play with the paper, avoiding contact
with the wool itself. Before the hour was up, however, he lost some of his
megativism to the wool.


(12) Just in play W. who had made the experiments, put his head down to
see if Albert would play with his hair. Albert was completely negative. The
two other observers did the same thing. He began immediately to play with their
hair. A Santa Claus mask was then brought and presented to Albert. He was
ages jpranncncelly negative, although on all previous occasions he had played
with it.

Our notes thus give a convincing proof of spread or transfer.


We have here further proof in these transfers that conditioned emo-
tional responses are exactly like other conditioned responses. Please
recall what I told you in Lecture 2 (p. 28) about differential responses,
I showed there that if you condition an animal, say, to a tone A of a
given pitch almost any other tone will at first call out the response. I


— —


* EMOTIONS 129


showed you there, too, that by continuing the experiment—say by always
feeding when tone A is sounded but never when any other tone is sound-
ed—you soon get the animal to the point where it will respond only to A.


I am sure that in these cases of transfer or spread of conditioned
emotional responses the same factors are at work.


I believe, although I have never tried the experiments, that we could
set up just as sharp a differential reaction in the emotional field as we can
in any other. I mean by this merely that if the experiment were long con-
tinued we could bring the fear reaction out sharply whenever the rat was
shown but never when any other furry object was shown. If this were
the case, we should have a differential conditioned emotional response.
This seems to be what happens in real life. Most of us in infancy and in
early youth are in the undifferentiated emotional state. Many adults, es-
pecially women, remain in it. All primitive peoples remain in it (super-
stitions, etc.). But educated adults by the long training they get in man-
ipulating objects, handling animals, working with electricity, etc., reach
the second or differentiated stage of the conditioned emotional reaction.


There is thus, if my reasoning is correct, a thoroughly sound way of
accounting for transferred emotional responses—and for the Freudian’s
so-called “free-floating affects.” When conditioned emotional responses .
are first set up, a wide range of stimuli (in this case all hairy objects)
physically similar will at first call out a response and so far as we know


- will continue to call it out unless experimental steps (or a very fortunate


series of environmental settings) are taken to bring the undifferentiated
conditioned response up to the differentiated stage. In the differentiated
stage, only the object or situation you were conditioned upon originally will
call out the response.


Summary


We must see that there is just as little evidence for a wholesale in-
heritance of those complicated patterns of response commonly called
emotional as there is for the inheritance of those called imstinctiwe.


Possibly a better way to describe our findings is to say that in work-
ing over the whole field of the human infant’s reaction to stimuli, we find
that certain types of stimuli—loud sounds and removal of support—pro-
duce a certain general type of response, namely, momentary checking of
breath, a start of the whole body, crying, marked visceral responses, etc. ;
that another type of stimulus—holding or restraint—produces crying with


130 BEHAVIORISM


wide open mouth, prolonged holding of breath, marked changes in circula-
tion and other visceral changes; that a third stimulus—stroking the skin,
especially in sex sensitive areas—produces smiling, changes in respiration,
cessation of crying, cooing, gurgling, erection and other visceral changes.
Attention is called to the fact that responses to these stimuli are not
mutually exclusive—many of the part reactions are the same.


These unconditioned stimuli with their relatively simple unconditioned
responses are our starting points in building up those complicated con-
ditioned habit patterns we later call our emotions. In other words,
emotional reactions are built in and to order like most of our other reac-
tion patterns. Not only do we get an increase in the number of stimuli
calling out the response (substitution) through direct conditioning and
through transfers (thus enormously widening the stimulus range) but
also we get marked additions to the responses and other modifications of
them.

Another set of factors increasing the complexity of our emotional
life must be taken into account. The same object (for example a person)
can become a substitute stimulus for a fear response in one situation and
a little later a substitute stimulus for a love response in another, or even
for a rage response. The increasing complexity brought about by these
factors soon gives us an emotional organization sufficiently complicated
to satisfy even the novelist and the poet.


I am loath to close this lecture until I have introduced, parenthetically
at least, a thought which I shall take up later in describing some of the
human being’s more complicated types of reaction (Lecture 11). The
thought is that notwithstanding the fact that in all emotional responses
there are overt factors such as the movement of the eyes and the arms
and the legs and the trunk, visceral and glandular factors predominate.
The ‘cold sweat’ of fear, the ‘bursting heart,’ the ‘bowed head’ in apathy
and grief, the ‘exuberance of youth,’ the ‘palpitating heart’ of the swain
or maiden, are more than mere literary expressions; they are bits of
genuine observation.


I want to develop the thesis for you later on that society has never
been able to get hold of these implicit concealed visceral and glandular
reactions of ours, or else it would have schooled them in us, for, as you
know, society has a great propensity for regulating all of our reactions.
Hence most of our adult overt reactions—our speech, the movements of
- our arms, legs and trunk—are schooled and habitized. Owing to their
concealed nature, however, society cannot get hold of visceral behavior to


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EMOTIONS 131


lay down rules and regulations for its integration. It follows as a corollary
from this that we have no names, no words with which to describe these
reactions. They remain unverbalized. One can describe in well chosen
words every act of two boxers, two fencers, and can criticize each in-
dividual detail of their. responses, because there are verbal manuals of
‘procedure and practice in the performance of these skillful acts. But
what Hoyle has laid down the rules by which the separate movements of
our viscera and glands must take place when in the presence of an emo-
tionally exciting object.


Because, then, of the fact that we have never verbalized these re-
sponses, a good many things happen to us that we cannot talk about. We
have never learned how to talk about them. There are no words for them.
The theory of the unverbalized in human behavior gives us a natural
science way of explaining many things the Freudians now call “uncon-
scious complexes,” “suppressed wishes” and the like. In other words, we
can now come back to natural science in our study of emotional behavior.
Our emotional life grows and develops like our other sets of habits. But
do our emotional habits once implanted suffer from disuse? Can they be

_ put away and outgrown like our manual and verbal habits? Until very
recently we had no facts to guide us in answering these questions. Some
are now available. In my next lecture I shall attempt to present them.


VIII
EMOTIONS


What Emotions Are We Born With—
How Do We Acquire New Ones—
How Do We Lose Our Old Ones?


Part II—Further Experiments and Observations on How
We Acquire, Shift and Lose Our Emotional Life


Introduction:—The experiments I discussed in my last lecture were
completed in 1920. Until the fall of 1923 no further experiments were
undertaken, Finding that emotional responses could be built in with great
readiness, we were all the more eager to see whether they could be broken
down, and if so by what methods. No further tests could be made upon
Albert B., the youngster in whom the conditioned responses had been built
up, because he was shortly afterwards adopted by an out-of-town family.
It was just at this time that my work at Johns Hopkins was interrupted.


The matter of further experimentation rested until the fall of 1923.
At that time a sum of money was granted by the Laura Spelman Rocke-
feller Memorial to the Institute of Educational Research of Teachers’
College, a part of which was used for continuing the study of the emotional
life of children. We found a place for work—the Heckscher Foundation.
Approximately 70 children are kept there ranging in age from 3 months
to 7 years. It was not an ideal place for our experimental work because
we were not allowed full control of the children and because of the fre-
quency with which work had to be stopped on account of unavoidable epi-
demics of one kind or another. In spite of these handicaps much work
was done. While I spent considerable time there as consultant and helped
to plan the work, Mrs. Mary Cover Jones conducted all of the experiments
and wrote up all of the results,


In this lecture I wish to give you an account of this work.


1 Partial report on this work has alread appeared. See The Elimination of Children’s Fears, by
Mary Cover Jones, Jr., Exp. Pay ology, 1924, p.382.


132


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EMOTIONS 133


The Different Methods Used in Attempting to
Eliminate Fear Responses


Locating the Conditioned Fear Responses in Children:—A number
of children of different ages were put through a group of situations de-
signed to bring out fear responses if any were present. As has already
been mentioned, children brought up in the home show fear reactions.
These we have every reason to believe are conditioned. By passing each
individual through these situations we were able not only to locate the
children possessing the most pronounced conditioned fear reactions but also
to locate the objects (and the general situations) that called out those
reactions.


We worked here of course under one disadvantage. We did not know
the genetic history of their fear responses. Hence we did not know
whether a given fear reaction when observed was directly conditioned or
merely transferred. This is always a handicap—an especially hard one in
this work as I shall show you later.


Elimination of Fear Responses Through Disuse :—Having located a
child with a fear response and the stimulus calling it out, our next step
was to attempt to remove it.


It has commonly been supposed that the mere removal of the stimulus
for a sufficient length of time will cause the child or adult to “forget his
fear.” All of us have heard the expressions “Just keep him away from it
and he’ll outgrow it. He will forget all about it.’ Laboratory tests were
made to determine the efficacy of this method. I quote from Mrs. Jones’
laboratory notes:


Case 1—Rose D. Age 21 months. General situation: sitting in play-pen
with other children none of whom showed specific fears. A rabbit was introduced
from behind a screen.


Jan. 19. At sight of the rabbit, Rose burst into tears, her crying lessened
when the experimenter picked up the rabbit, but again increased when the rabbit
was put back on the floor. At the removal of the rabbit she quieted down, accepted
a cracker, and presently returned to her blocks. -


Feb. 5. After 2 weeks the situation was repeated. She cried and trembled
upon seeing the rabbit. E. (the experimenter) sat on the floor between Rose and
the rabbit; she continued to cry for several minutes. E. tried to divert her atten-
tion with the peg-board; she finally stopped crying, but continued to watch the
rabbit and would not attempt to play.


Case 8—Bobby G. Age 30 months.


134 BEHAVIORISM


Dec. 6. Bobby showed a slight fear response when a rat was presented in
a box. He looked at it from a distance of several feet, drew back and cried. A
3-day period of training followed bringing Bobby to the point where he tolerated
a rat in the pen in which he was playing, and even touched it without overt fear
indications. No further stimulation with the rat occurred until


Jan. 30. After nearly two months of no experience with the specific stimulus,
Bobby was again brought into the laboratory. While he was playing in the pen,
E. appeared, with a rat held in her hand. Bobby jumped up, ran outside the pen,
and cried. The rat having been returned to its box, Bobby ran to E., held her
hand, and showed marked disturbance.


Case 33.—Eleanor J. Age 21 months.


Jan. 17. While playing in the pen, a frog was introduced from behind her.
She watched, came nearer, and finally touched it. The frog jumped. She with-
drew and when later presented with the frog, shook her head and pushed the
experimenter’s hand away violently.


Mar. 26. After two months of no further experience with animals, Eleanor
was taken to the laboratory and offered the frog. When the frog hopped she drew
back, ran from the pen and cried.


These tests and many others similar in character incline us to believe
that the method of disuse in the case of emotional disturbance is not as
effective as is commonly supposed. It is admitted, however, that the tests
were not extended over long enough time to yield complete evidence.


Method of Verbal Organization


Most of the stibjects in the Heckscher Foundation were under 4 years
of age and the possibility of verbally organizing the children about the
objects that called out fear responses was very limited. Naturally nothing
can be accomplished by the use of this method until the child has a fairly
wide language organization. However, one satisfactory subject—Jean E.,
a girl in her 5th year, was found sufficiently well organized to be used in an
extended test. At the initial presentation of the rabbit, marked fear
responses were shown. The rabbit was not shown again for some time,
but ten minutes daily conversation was given her on the subject of rabbits,
The experimenter introduced such devices as the picture book of Peter
Rabbit, toy rabbits and rabbits modeled from plasticine. Brief stories
about rabbits were told. During the telling of these stories, she would say
“Where is your rabbit?” or “Show me a rabbit”; and once she said “1
touched your rabbit and stroked it and never cried” (which was not true),
At the end of one week of verbal organization, the rabbit was shown
again. Her reaction was practically the same as at the first encounter.
She jumped up from her play and retreated. When coaxed she touched


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EMOTIONS 135


the rabbit while the experimenter held it, but when the animal was put
down on the floor she sobbed “Put it away—take it.” Verbal organization
when not connected with actual manual or visceral adjustments to the
animal had little effect in removing her fear responses.


Method of Frequent Application of Stimulus


While experiments with this method have not been extended, the
results have not been very hopeful. The routine adopted in applying this
method is to have the animal calling out the fear reaction brought in many
times each day. While in some cases no actual negative responses were
made, this was the only form of improvement noted—no positive reactions
developed from the use of this method. In some cases a summation effect
rather than an adjustment was obtained.


Method of Introducing Social Factors


Most of us are familiar both in the school and on the playground with
what happens among groups of children. If one shows fear of any object
of which the group does not show fear, the one showing fear is made a
scapegoat and is called a “’fraidy cat.” We attempted to use this social
factor in the case of some of the children. One case is given here in detail:


Case 41—Arthur G. Age 4 years.


Arthur was shown the frogs in an aquarium, no other children being present.
He cried, said “they bite,” and ran out of the play-pen. Later, however, he was
brought into the room with four other boys; he swaggered up to the aquarium,
pressing ahead of the others who were with him. When one of his companions
picked up a frog and turned to him with it, he screamed and fled; at this he was
chased and made fun of, but with naturally no lessening of the fear on this
particular occasion.


This is probably one of the most unsafe methods in common use for
eliminating fears. It tends to breed negative reactions not only to the
animal feared but to society as a whole.


Where milder social methods are used, ordinarily called social imita-
tion, better results are obtained. Mrs. Jones gives two cases which I quote:


Case 8—Bobby G. Age 30 months.


Bobby was playing in the pen with Mary and Laurel. The rabbit was intro#
duced in a basket. Bobby cried “No, no,” and motioned for the experimenter te
remove it. The two girls, however, ran up readily enough, looked in at the rabbit
and talked excitedly. Bobby became promptly interested, said “What? Me see,”


136 BEHAVIORISM


and ran forward, his curiosity and assertiveness in the social situation overmaster-
ing other impulses.


Case 54.—Vincent W. Age 21 months,


Jan. 19. Vincent showed no fear of the rabbit, even when it was pushed
against his hands or face. His only response was to laugh and reach for the
rabbit’s fur. On the same day he was taken into the pen with Rosey, who cried
at the sight of the rabbit. Vincent immediately developed a fear response; in the
ordinary playroom situation he would pay no attention to her crying, but in connec-
tion with the rabbit, her distress had a marked suggestion value. The fear trans-
ferred in this way persisted for over two weeks.


Feb. 6. Eli and Herbert were in the play-pen with the rabbit. When Vincent
was brought in, he remained cautiously standing at some distance. Eli led Vincent
over to the rabbit, and induced him to touch the animal. Vincent laughed.


As will be noted, however, there are difficulties in the way of the use
of this method. Occasionally the children showing no fear to the object
become conditioned by the behavior of the child showing fear reactions to
the object.


While all of these methods are suggestive and while none of them has
been worked out to a final conclusion, none seems especially fruitful or
free from danger.


The Method of Re-Conditioning or Un-Conditioning


The most successful method so far discovered for. use in removing
fears is the method of unconditioning or reconditioning. Reconditioning
would be a little more satisfactory word to use except for the fact that it
has been used by the physical culturists in various types of health propa-
ganda. Unconditioning seems the only other available word.


I wish to go into the details of one case where unconditioning was
attempted because it illustrates not only the method used but the various
difficulties one is likely to encounter in such work.


Peter was an active eager child approximately 3 years of age.1 This
child was well adjusted to ordinary life situations except for his fear or-
ganization. He was afraid of white rats, rabbits, fur coats, feathers, cotton
wool, frogs, fish and mechanical toys. From the description of his fears,
you might well think that Peter was merely Albert B. of the last lecture
grown up. Only you must remember that Peter’s fears were “home
grown,” not experimentally produced as were Albert’s, Peter’s fears,


1 A full report on Peter is given by Mrs. Jones in the December, 1924 number of the Peda-
gogical Seminary.


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; EMOTIONS 137


acl were much more pronounced, as the following description will
show:


Peter was put in a crib in a play room and immediately became ab-
sorbed in his toys. A white rat was introduced into the crib from behind.
(The experimenter was behind a screen.) At sight of the rat, Peter
screamed and fell flat on his back in a paroxysm of fear. The stimulus
was removed, and Peter was taken out of the crib and put into a chair.
Barbara, a girl of two, was brought to the crib and the white rat introduced
as before. She exhibited no fear but picked the rat up in her hand. Peter
sat quietly watching Barbara and the rat. A string of beads belonging to
Peter had been left in the crib. Whenever the rat touched a part of the
string, he would say “my beads” in a complaining voice, although he made
no objections when Barbara touched them. Invited to get down from the
chair, he shook his head, fear not yet subsided. Twenty-five minutes
elapsed before he was ready to play about freely,


The next day his reactions to the following situations and objects were
noted:


Play room and crib........-____.--.... look his toys, got into crib without protest.
Minite ball rolled in Picked it up and held it.

Fur rug hung over Crib Cried until it was removed.

Fur coat hung over crib..... «Cried until it was removed.

CONG 2 een Whimpered, withdrew, cried.

ratawit feathers... icc Cried.

White toy rabbit of rough cloth........Neither negative nor positive reaction.
\VESTING Toor) ae Nan a Neither negative nor positive reaction.


Training for removal of these fears in Peter was first begun util-
izing social factors as discussed on p. 135. There was considerable improve-
ment, but before retraining was completed the child fell ill with scarlet
fever and had to go toa hospital for a period of two months. When com-
ing back from the hospital a large barking dog attacked him and the nurse
just as they entered a taxicab. Both the nurse and Peter were terribly
frightened. Peter lay back in the taxi ill and exhausted. After allowing
a few days for recovery he was taken to the laboratory and again tested
with animals. His fear reactions to all the animals had returned in exag-
gerated form. We determined then to use another type of procedure—
that of direct unconditioning. We did not have control over his meals,
but we secured permission to give him his mid-afternoon lunch consisting
of crackers and a glass of milk. We seated him at a small table in a high
chair. The lunch was served in a room about 40 feet long. Just as he
began to eat his lunch, the rabbit was displayed in a wire cage of wide
mesh. We displayed it on the first day just far enough away not to disturb


138 BEHAVIORISM


his eating. This point was then marked. The next day the rabbit was
brought closer and closer until disturbance was first barely noticed. This
place was marked. The third and succeeding days the same routine was
maintained. Finally the rabbit could be placed upon the table—then in
Peter’s lap. Next tolerance changed to positive reaction. Finally he would
eat with one hand and play with the rabbit with the other, a proof that
his viscera were retrained along with his hands!


After having broken down his fear reactions to the rabbit—the animal
calling out fear responses of the most exaggerated kinds—we were next
interested in seeing what his reactions would be to other furry animals
and furry objects. Fear responses to cotton, the fur coat, and feathers
were entirely gone. He looked at them and handled them and then turned
to other things. He would even pick up the fur rug and bring it to the
experimenter.


The reaction to white rats was greatly improved—it had at least
reached the tolerance stage but did not call out any very excited positive
manipulation. He would pick up the small tin boxes containing rats and
frogs and carry them around the room.


He was then tested in an entirely new animal situation. A mouse
which he had not hitherto seen was handed to him together with a tangled
mass of earthworms. His reaction was at first partly negative but this gave
way in a few minutes to positive response to the worms and undisturbed
watching of the mouse.


We suffered here as always in working with home grown fears by not
knowing the primary situation upon which the child was conditioned
(conditioned reflex of the Ist order). Possibly if we had had information
upon this point and had unconditioned him on his primary fear, all of the
‘transferred’ responses would have evaporated at once. Not until we have
had more experience with building up a primary fear, noting the transfers
and then unconditioning for the primary, will we be working upon sure
ground in this interesting field. It is just possible that there may be certain
reaction differences (intensity) between the primary conditioned response,
(1st order), the secondarily conditioned responses (2nd and succeeding
orders) and the various transferred responses. If this is true, then we
might be able to tell, by presenting widely varying situations to children
whose emotional history is unknown, just which one any given child was
originally conditioned upon.


The whole field of emotions, when thus experimentally approached,


a


Mile en gan: 3 Sa nee ante


EMOTIONS 139


is a very thrilling one and one which opens up real vistas of practical appli-
cation in the home and in the school—even in everyday life.


_ At any rate we have now seen grow up under our very eyes the ex-
perimental genesis of a fear response and at least one case where the fear
response was uprooted by a safe experimental method. If fear can be
handled in this way, why not all other forms of emotional organization
- connected with rage (tantrums) and love? I believe firmly that they can
be. In other words, emotional organization is subject to exactly the same
laws as other habits, both as to origin, as we have already pointed out, and
as to decline.


The use of the method in the case we have sketched had a serious
drawback, mainly because we did not have control over all the meals of the
child. (By the way, never start an experiment upon a child or infant unless
you have full control.) .Probably if the child had been stroked, petted, and
rocked (sexual stimulation, thus leading to retraining of viscera) just as
the fear object was presented, unconditioning might have taken place much
more rapidly. ;


Incomplete and unsatisfactory as is this preliminary report upon the
work of unconditioning, there are at present no further facts. We must
leave the subject of conditioning and unconditioning of emotional reactions
until we can work upon a larger number of infants and work with them
under better conditions of control.


Home Factors Leading to Emotional Conditioning of Children


It is conceivable that some day we may be able to bring up the human
young through infancy and childhood without their crying or showing fear
reactions except when in the presence of the unconditioned stimuli (pain,
noxious stimuli, loud sounds, etc.) calling out these responses. Since these
unconditioned stimuli are rarely present, children ought practically never
to cry. And yet look at them—morning, noon and night they are at it!
An infant has an honest right to cry when it has colic, when its diaper pin
is sticking into its tender flesh, and to whimper a bit when hungry, when
it gets its head in between the slats of the bed, or falls down between the
mattress and the side of the. bed, or when the cat scratches it, or its bodily
tissue is otherwise injured, or when loud sounds and loss of support assail
it. But on no other occasion is the cry justifiable. This means that owing
to our unsatisfactory training methods in the home, we spoil the emotional
make-up of each child as rapidly as the twig can be bent.


140 BEHAVIORISM


What Situations Make the Child Cry


In line with this thought, Mrs. Jones followed around a group of nine
children from the time they first waked up in the morning until they were
fast asleep at night. Every cry was noted, every laugh observed. The
duration of laughing and crying was noted and the time of day it occurred
and, most carefully of all, the general situations calling out these reactions
were recorded and the after effects crying and laughing had upon subse-
quent behavior. Children in the group ranged from 16 months to 3 years
of age. These children were tested in the Heckscher Foundation, but they
were living there temporarily. They had been brought up in the home.
One month after the first set of observations was made another set was
undertaken. The results of these observations have never been published
by Mrs, Jones, but she has given me the main facts which I now present.


The situations calling out cries are listed in the order of the number of
cries elicited, as follows:


Having to sit on the toilet chair.

2. Having property taken away.

3. Having the face washed.

4. Being left alone in a room.

5. Having the adult leave the room.

6. Working at something which won’t pan out.
7. Failure to get adults and other children to play with them, or

look at them and talk to them.

8. Being dressed.

9. Failure to get adults to pick them up.
10. Being undressed.
11. Being bathed.
12, Having the nose wiped.


These are only twelve of the most usual situations calling out such
responses. More than 100 situations called out weeping or whining.
Many of the responses to these situations can be looked upon as uncon-
ditioned or conditioned rage responses, for example: (1) sitting on the
toilet chair, (2) having property taken away, (3) having its face washed,
(6) working at something which won’t pan out, (10) being undressed,
(11) being bathed, (12) having the nose wiped. On the other hand, (5)
having the adult leave the room, (7 ) failure to get adults to play with
them, and (9) failure to get adults to pick them up—would seem to be-
long more in the love conditioned responses approaching somewhat the
grief situation where the object or person to whom the attachment is


ere my


ee ae


EMOTIONS 141


formed is removed or else will not exhibit the customary responses (as
where ‘love’ has grown cold). Mrs. Jones states that there were a number
of cases, too, where fears of both the conditioned and the unconditioned
type were responsible for a good deal of crying—for example, when the
children were made to stand on the top of the slides, to slide down the
slide, to stand on the tables. Possibly (4) and (5) of the above classifica-
tion may have elements of the fear response in them.


In making a study of this kind, it should be always borne in mind
that crying may be due to organic factors, such as sleepiness, hunger, colic,
and the like. Mrs. Jones found that the largest number of cries (probably )
due to intraorganic causes occurred between 9 and 11 o’clock in the morn-
ing. As a result of this finding, the institution placed its rest hours before
lunch instead of after lunch, with two rest periods for the very young
children. This considerably lessened the amount of crying and disturbed
behavior due to intraorganic factors,


What Makes Children Laugh


The situations which call out laughter and smiling were recorded in
the same way. The common causes of laughter are, in order, as follows:


Being played with (playfully dressed, tickled, etc.).

Running, chasing, romping with other children.

Playing with toys (a ball was particularly effective).

Teasing other children.

Watching other children at play.

Making attempts which resulted in adjustment (e. g. getting parts
of toys or apparatus to fit together or work).

Making sounds, more or less musical, at the piano, with a mouth
organ, singing, pounding, etc.


a Se oi


In all 85 situations were listed calling out laughter and smiling.
Tickling, playful dressing, gentle bathing, romping with other children,
teasing (but always where there was a chance at a ‘comeback’—probably
a learned response sexually based since the comeback involved being gently
handled, pummeled and tickled) were the most frequent situations eliciting
laughter. It is hardly possible to attempt to discuss here to what extent
these smiling reactions were unconditioned and to what extent conditioned.
Attention is called to the fact that depending on the way the situations are
manipulated and upon the intraorganic condition of the youngsters, the
same stimuli can at one time bring out laughter and at another time bring
out crying ; for example, although cries predominated in the bathroom when


142 | BEHAVIORISM


their faces were being washed or when they were being bathed, it was
always possible to produce a laugh. On one occasion the introduction of
a mouth organ altered the whole tenor of the room, changing distress into
laughter. Where the youngsters are just being dressed by the ordinary
procedure, that is, being pulled, twisted and turned, crying nearly always
results, and where dressing is playfully done, smiles and laughter instead
of crying are the responses. Attention should be called to the fact, how-
_ ever, that we can very easily overdo the matter of amusing the child when
it is doing the things it has to do. I have seen children who had been spoiled
in this way undergo torture when a new nurse was called in who did not or


would not yield to their demand to be amused while being bathed, put to


bed, dressed or fed.


While our results again are very incomplete, we have gone far enough
to show that it is very easy to substitute for a great many of the situations
in the home which now call out crying, situations that will call out smiling
(and generally laughter) instead, which, in moderation, is unquestionably
better so far as concerns the general metabolic state of the organism.
Furthermore, when we have gone far enough to learn by continual watch-
ing what the sticking points are in the child’s environment, we can rebuild
his environment and thereby keep an unfavorable organization from
developing,


Should We Implant Negative Responses in Our Children?


There is a certain amount of sentimentality going the pedagogical
rounds in this country to the effect that no negative reactions should ever
be forced on the child. I have never been very much in favor of this
propaganda. In fact, I believe that certain negative responses should be
scientifically implanted as a matter of protection to the organism. I don’t
see any other way out of it. I think, though, we should make a distinction


between conditioned fear responses and mere negative responses. Nega-


tive responses conditioned upon the original (unconditioned) fear stimuli
always apparently involve vast changes in the viscera—possibly always
disruptive to normal metabolism. Conditioned rage responses, while not
necessarily negative in character (they include the positive responses in
fighting, attack, etc.) apparently do the same thing. I have the simple
facts in view here which Cannon has brought out that in fear and rage
behavior, digestion and absorption are often completely interfered with—
food is left in the stomach to ferment and to form a breeding ground for
bacteria and to set free toxic products. So there is some justice in the
view that fear and rage behavior aré in general harmful to the organism


ce ee


a


EMOTIONS 143


(yet the race possibly could not have survived if it had not reacted nega-
tively to loud sounds and loss of support and had not struggled when
movement was hampered). Love behavior, on the other hand, seems
usually to heighten metabolism. Digestion and absorption apparently
take place more rapidly. Questioning of husbands and wives leads to the
disclosure of the fact that after normal sexual intercourse hunger contrac-
tions begin in the stomach and food is very frequently sought.


But to come back to negative reactions. It is at least an opinion of
mine that where negative responses are built into manual behavior (con-
ditioned)—such as withdrawal of hands, legs, body, etc., by the use of
faint noxious stimuli, there is little involvement of the viscera. To make
myself clear, let me cite a case: I can build in negative behavior to a snake
in two ways. Just as I show the snake I can make a terrible noise and
cause the child to fall down and cry out completely terror stricken. Soon
the mere sight of the snake will have the same effect. Or I can present the
snake several times and each time as the infant reaches for it I can tap
its fingers with a pencil and gradually establish the negative reaction with-
out shock. I have not tried this with a snake, but I have with a candle. A
child can be conditioned by a severe burn with one stimulation, but this
involves always a severe reaction. By presenting the candle flame many
times and each time letting it just heat the finger enough to produce with-
drawal of the hand, a negative conditioned response can be built up without
the severe features of shock. Building in negative responses without shock
requires time, however,


I cannot tonight dwell too long upon the interesting psychological
and social factors involved in the building in of negative reactions.


May I just say dogmatically that our civilization is built upon “don'ts”
and taboos of many kinds? Individuals living adjustedly in it must learn
to heed them. Since the negative responses must be built in they should
be built in as sanely as possible without involving strong emotional re- —
actions. Children and adolescents must not play in the street, run in
front of automobiles, play with strange dogs and cats, run up and stand
under the feet of horses, point firearms at people, run any chance of
catching venereal diseases or having illegitimate children ; they must
not do thousands of other things that I might mention. 1 am not saying
that all the negative reactions demanded by society are ethically right (and
when I say ethically I mean according to the new experimental ethics that
does not exist today). I don’t know whether many of the taboos now ad-
hered to are ultimately good for the organism. I am merely saying that
society exists—it is a fact, and if we live under it we must draw back when


144 BEHAVIORISM


social customs say draw back, or we must get our adult hands slapped.
There is, of course, an ever increasing number of people in the world whose
hands are tough and who do many tabooed things and take the social
chastisement that inevitably follows. This means of course that social
trial and error experimentation is becoming possible—the smoking of
women, now tolerated in restaurants and hotels and even in many homes,
is a good example. As long as society rules every act through its agencies
(such as political systems, church, family) no learning, no trying out of new
social responses is possible. In the last 20 years we have seen marked
changes in the social status of women, marked weakening of marriage ties,
marked diminution in thoroughness of control of political parties (to wit,
the overthrow of practically all monarchies), a marked weakening of the
church’s hold upon genuinely educated people, the lessening of taboos upon
sex. The danger, of course, comes now from too rapid lessening of control,
too superficial trials of new forms of behavior, and from the acceptance of
new methods without sufficient trial.


Use of Corporal Punishment in Building in Negative Responses


The question of corporal punishment in the bringing up of children at
home and at school comes up periodically for discussion. I believe our
experiments almost settle the problem. Punishment is a word which
ought never to have crept into our language.


Whipping or beating the body is a custom as old as the race. Even
our modern views on the punishment of criminals and children have as
their basis the old religious masochistic practices of the church. Punish-
ment in the biblical sense of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”
honeycombs our whole social and religious life.


Certainly punishment of children is not a scientific method. As
parents, teachers and jurists, we are or ought to be interested only in
setting up ways of acting in the individual that square with group behavior.
You have already grasped the notion that the behaviorist is a strict deter-
minist—the child or adult has to do what he does do. The only way he
can be made to act differently is first to untrain him and then to retrain
him. That both children and adults do things which do not correspond
with the standards of behavior set up by the home or by the group, is
due to the fact that the home and the group have not sufficiently trained
the individual during the formative period. Since the formative period is
coextensive with life, social training should be continuous throughout life.


ee ee HS rea) al


——a


cl om


EMOTIONS 145


It is our own fault, then, that individuals (other than defectives and psy-
chopaths) go “wrong,” that is, deviate from set standards of behavior—
and by “our own fault” I mean the fault of the parent, the teacher and
every other member of the group; we have neglected and are neglecting
our opportunities.


But to return to the question of whipping and beating. There is no
excuse for whipping or beating!


First, because very often the deviating act occurs many hours before
father or mother comes home to engage in the act of chastising. Condi-
tioned responses are not built up by this unscientific procedure. The idea
that a child’s future bad behavior will be prevented by giving him a licking
in the evening for something he did in the morning is ridiculous, Equally
ridiculous, from the standpoint of preventing crime, is our legal and judi-
cial method of punishment which allows a crime to be committed in one
year and punishment administered a year or two later—if at all,


Second, whipping is used more often than not to serve as an emotional
outlet (sadistic) for parent or teacher.


Third, often when the beating occurs immediately after the act (the
only time for it if it is to take place at all), it is not and cannot be regu-
lated according to any scientific dosage. It is either too mild, therefore not
a strong enough stimulus to establish the conditioned negative response ; or
too severe, thus stirring up unnecessarily the whole visceral system of the
child; or the deviating act does not occur frequently enough, with attend-
ant punishment, to meet the scientific conditions for setting up a negative
response; or, finally, the beating is repeated so frequently that all effect is
lost—habituation comes in, leading possibly to the psychopathological con-
dition known as ‘masochism,’ a condition in which the individual responds
positively (sexually) to noxious stimuli.


How, then, are we to build in the negative responses which I said
above it is necessary to build in? I thoroughly believe in rapping a child’s
fingers when it puts them in its mouth, when it constantly fingers its
sex organs, when it reaches up and pulls down glass dishes and trays, or
turns on gas cocks or water hydrants, etc., provided the child is caught mn
the act and the parent can administer the rap at once in a thoroughly
objective way—just as objectively as the behaviorist administers the faint
electric shock when building up a negative or withdrawal response to any
given object. Society, both the group and the immediate parents, uses
the verbal “don’t” to older children in place of the rap. It will of course


146 BEHAVIORISM


always have to use “don’t” but I hope some time we can rearrange the
environment so that less and less negative reactions will have to be built
in in both child and adult.


One bad feature in the whole system of the building in of negative
responses is the fact that the parent becomes involved in the situation—
I mean by that becomes a part of the punishment system. The child
grows up to “hate” the person who has most often to administer the beat-
ing—usually the father. I hope some time to try out the experiment of
having a table top electrically wired in such a way that if a child reaches
for a glass or a delicate vase it will be punished, whereas if it reaches for
its toys or other things it is allowed to play with, it can get them without
being electrically shocked. In other words, I should like to make the
objects and situations of life build in their own negative reactions.


Present Methods of Punishment for Crime are Relics of the Dark Ages


What we have said about punishment in the rearing of children holds
equally well for adults in the field of crime. Since in my opinion only
the sick or psychopaths (insane) or untrained (socially untrained) indi-
viduals commit crimes, society should be interested in just two things:
(1) Seeing that the insane or psychopathic individuals are made well if
possible, and if not, placed in well run (non-political) institutions where
no harm can come to them and where they can do no harm to other
members of the group. In other words, the fate of those individuals
should be in medical (psychiatric) hands. The question as to whether
the hopelessly insane should be etherized has of course been raised time
and time again. There can be no reasons against it except exaggerated
sentiment and mediaeval religious mandates. (2) Seeing that the socially
untrained individuals, not insane or psychopathological, are placed where
they can be trained, sent to school, made to learn, regardless of their
age, a trade, made to put on culture, made to become social. Further-
more, during this period they should be placed where they cannot harm
other members of the group. Such education and training may take ten
to fifteen years or even longer. Failing to put on the training necessary
to fit them to again enter society, they should be restrained always, and
made to earn their daily bread, in vast manufacturing and agricultural
institutions, escape from which is impossible. Naturally, no human being
—criminal or otherwise—should be deprived of air, sunshine, food, exer-
cise and other physiological factors necessary to optimum living condi-
tions. On the other hand, strenuous work twelve hours per day will hurt


el” te EA tens senegal


EMOTIONS 147


no one. Individuals put aside thus for additional training should of course
be kept in the hands of the behaviorists.


Naturally such a view does away completely with criminal law (but
not with policing). It does away naturally with the criminal lawyer and
with legal (criminal) precedent, and with courts for the trial of criminals.
Many jurists of note agree substantially with this view. But until all
law books are burned in some great upheaval of nature and until all law-
yers and jurists suddenly decide to become behaviorists, I never expect
to see the present retaliation or punishment theory (a religious theory)
of handling the deviant give place to a scientific theory based upon what
we know of the establishing and breaking down of conditioned emotional
responses,


Implanted Negative Responses and the Prevention of Suicide


Our. discussion above on implanted negative response makes me
somewhat speculative I have very often wondered why some behav-
joristic student of ethics does not supply us with verbal stimuli (call them
‘motives’ or ‘social values’ if you will) which will help educated, even
sophisticated individuals to go on living when surrounded by serious
difficulties. Why should an individual go on living when he is continually
hungry, cold, deserted, maltreated, misunderstood, in grief, in pain? A
sociology based upon the premises of the three “needs”—food, sex and
shelter_-cannot answer this question. Continuation of existence under
such conditions cannot be rationalized on the basis of positive responses,
no matter what their kind is or their number. We go on living because
unconditioned and conditioned negative responses have made it tmpossible
for us under ordinary conditions to reach out and take the necessary
positive steps to put an end to our existence. Camouflage it to ourselves
as we tay, indulge in all the sentimental drivel we like, talk about the
_ joy of living and loving, the facts seem to be as I have stated them. But
we are taught from infancy that to commit suicide condemns us to punish-
ment hereafter. We have implanted in us from infancy negative reactions
(conditioned visual responses) to sharp instruments and poisons—nega-
tive reactions to all objects and situations that may bring on injury
or death. These are implanted fear reactions rather than the ordinary
and milder negative reactions I discussed above. So many conditioned
responses are built in about the act of death that the seen or heard word
“death,” paralyzes any positive response that the individual might make
to bring death about. Hence as long as the individual is “normal” (or
rather as he is normally built today) sticide is impossible, no matter what


148 BEHAVIORISM


situation he is in. In pathological cases where there is, for one reason
or another, a break-down in organization, suicide can and does take place.
Suicide is in this view always pathological, always means a break-down
of one’s organized life. Under another system of training, e. g., the
Japanese, this is not true: suicide is the response as soon as honor is lost.
There is, then, no emotion or instinct or other unlearned response that
can give rise to the so-called law of “self preservation” in man. There are
a few situations, but only a very few, that from birth will call out negative
responses (as we have already seen, injuring of bodily tissue, burning,
tearing of skin, bruises, etc., and other noxious stimuli, loud sounds and
loss of support)— entirely too few to have very much influence upon
taking care of the individual. The rest are built in by society. And yet
there are enough of the unconditioned responses present to start the pro-
cess of negative conditioning. It is that mass of built-in negative re-
sponses that keeps our life craft riding safely on a “sea of trouble.”


I hope some day someone will give us a more positive justification
of life!


What Are the Most Important Forms of Built-in Emotional Behavior?


In addition to the various forms of emotional behavior both learned -


and unlearned that we have discussed in this and the preceding lecture,
there are two other types which interest the behaviorist very greatly.
These are jealousy and shame. So far the behaviorist has had very little
opportunity to make any study of them. I believe that both jealousy and
shame are built in.


Other forms of emotional behavior, popularly known as sorrow, grief,
resentment, anger, reverence, awe, justice, mercy, seem to the behaviorist
to be quite simple. He believes them to be vast super-structures built
upon the very simple types of unlearned behavior that we have already
abundantly discussed.


Jealousy and shame, however, require considerable further study. So
far I have not had opportunity to observe the first appearance of shame
and its genetic growth. I am inclined to think that shame is in some way
connected with the first overt masturbation that involves the orgasm.
The stimulus is the manipulation of the sex organs, the final responses
are heightened blood pressure, superficial dilatation of the capillaries of
the skin known as flushing, among many others. Almost from infancy
the child is taught not to masturbate or is punished if it masturbates.
Consequently any situation, verbal or otherwise, connected with the


I i A a_i ss ot, Ni Si


wt nea


me — <


ee, ee neat LC em


EMOTIONS 149


touching of the sex organs or reference to the sex organs may condition
the blushing and bowing of the head which nearly always take place in
masturbation. This, however, is purely speculative and I must lay it
aside here for future observation.


Ph Nave recently made some observations and experiments upon
jealousy.


Jealousy: Ask any group of individuals what they mean by jealousy
—what the stimulus is that produces it, what the pattern of the response
is, and you get only the vaguest, most unserviceable kind of replies. Ask
these same individuals what the unlearned (unconditioned) stimulus is
that calls out the response; ask them what the unlearned (unconditioned)
response pattern is. To both questions you get unscientific answers.
ash individuals say, “Oh, jealousy is a pure instinct.” If we diagram

us


ee R
? ?


we have to put a question mark under both stimulus and response.


And yet jealousy is one of the most powerful factors in the organi-
zation of present day individuals. It is recognized by the courts as one
of the strongest of “motives” leading to action. Robberies and murders
are committed because of it; careers are both made and unmade becatse
of it; marital quarrels, separations and divorces are probably more fre-

_ quently to be traced to it than to any other single cause. Its almost uni-
versal permeation through the whole action stream of all individuals has
led to the view that it is an inborn instinct. And yet the moment you
begin to observe people and try to determine what kinds of situations
call out jealous behavior and what the details of that behavior are, you
see that the situations are highly complex (social) and that the reactions
are all highly organized (learned). This in itself should make us doubt
its hereditary origin. Let us watch people for awhile to see if their be-
havior will not throw light upon the situations and the responses,


What Situations Call Out Jealous Behavior?


In the first place, as we have said, the situation is always a social
one—it involves people. What people? Always the person who calls out
our conditioned love responses. This may be the mother, father, or
brother, sister or sweetheart, wife or husband, etc. The person may be
of the same or the opposite sex. The wife-husband situation is second


150 BEHAVIORISM


only to the sweetheart one for calling out violent response. This brief
examination helps us somewhat in our understanding of jealousy. The
situation is always a substitutive one, that is, conditioned. It involves the
person calling out conditioned love responses, This generalization, if
true, takes it out of the class of inherited forms of behavior at once,


What Are the Responses?


The responses in adults are legion. I have taken notes on a great
many cases among both children and adults. To vary our procedure let
us take the responses of an adult first. Case A. Aisa ‘very jealous
husband,’ married two years to a beautiful young woman only slightly
younger. They go out frequently to parties. If his wife (1) dances a
little close to her partner, (2) if she sits out a dance to talk to a man and
talks in a low tone to him, (3) if in a moment of gaiety she kisses another
man in the open light of the room before everyone, (4) if she goes out
even with other women to lunch or tea or to shop, (5) if she invites her
own group of friends for a party at home—then jealous behavior is ex-
hibited. Such stimuli bring out the responses (1) refusal to talk or
dance with his wife, (2) increased tension of all his muscles, mouth
shuts tightly, eyes seem to grow smaller, jaw ‘hardens.’ He next with-
draws himself from other people in the room. His face becomes flushed,
then black. This behavior may and usually does persist for days after
the affair is started. He will talk to no one about the affair. Mediation
is impossible. The jealous state seems to have to run itself down or out.
The wife herself by no amount of assurance of love, of innocence, by
no system of apology or obeisance can do anything towards hastening
recovery. Yet his wife is devoted to him and has never been even in the
slightest measure unfaithful, as he himself admits verbally when not in
the jealous state. In a person less well bred, less well schooled, it is easy
to see that his behavior might become overt—he might blacken his wife’s
eye or if there were a real male aggressor, might attack or murder him.


Take the child’s jealous behavior next. The first sign of jealousy
was noted in child B at about 2 years of age. It shows whenever the
mother embraces the father, clings to him, kisses him, At 2% years of
age this child who had never been made the “scapegoat,” who had always
been allowed to be present and even welcomed into the family love-making,
began to attack the father whenever the mother embraced the father. He
(1) pulled at his coat, (2) cried out “my mamma,” (3) pushed his father


away and crowded in between them. If the kissing continued, the child’s


reaction state became very marked and intense. Always in the morning


pei a ae


Fe


Sil ie Rian aM


BE ee : ia Sans :


EMOTIONS 151


—Sundays especially, when he comes into the bedroom before his parents
are up—he is taken up and welcomed and made much of by both. And
yet at 234 years of age he would say to his father, “You going to office,
dada ?”—or else give the direct command, “You go to office, dada.” At
three years of age this boy was sent with his infant brother to his grand-
mother’s, in charge of a nurse. He was separated from his mother for
one month. During this time his strong attachment for his mother weak-
ened. When the parents visited the child (then 37 months of age) no
jealous behavior was exhibited when they made love in front of him.
When the parents clung together for a considerable time, to see if jealous
behavior would finally occur, he merely ran up and hugged first one and
then the other. This test was repeated for four days with the same results.


The father then seeing that the old situation failed to call it out,
tried next attacking the mother, striking her on the body and head and
shaking her from side to side. She on her part simulated crying, but
fought back. The youngster stood this for a few minutes, then started
in for his father tooth and nail and would not let up until the fight was
ohn He cried, kicked, tugged at his father’s leg and struck with his

and.


Next the father remained passive while the mother attacked him. She
inadvertently punched below the belt, causing the father to double up in no
simulated way. Nevertheless, the youngster started his attack on his
father again and continued it even after he was hors de combat. By this
time the youngster was genuinely disturbed and the experiment had to be
discontinued. The next day, however, no jealous behavior was exhibited
when mother and father embraced.


How Early Does this Form of Jealousy against one or
the other Parent Occur?


To further test the genesis of this type of jealous behavior, a test
was made upon an eleven months old infant boy. This infant was well
nourished and wholly without conditioned fears, yet there was a strong
attachment for the mother, but none for the father who often spanked
his hand when he attempted to suck his thumb and otherwise. broke in
upon his quiet by trying various types of experiment. At eleven months
he could crawl quickly and for considerable distances.


When father and mother violently embraced, the youngster could not
be made to keep his eyes on his parents. Love making between them was
nothing in his young life. This was tested again and again. There was


152 BEHAVIORISM


no tendency to crawl towards them, much less to crawl in between them.
Jealousy was absent.


Next the father and mother attacked one another. The floor was
carpeted and the noise of the blows and the low whimper of the mother
(or the father in his turn) was not very loud. The fight immediately
stopped his crawling about, brought prolonged fixation—always of the
mother and never of the father. As it continued, he whimpered and cried
out aloud several times but made no effort to enter the fight on either
side. The noises, shaking of the floor, and the sight of the parents’ faces—
which offered the same visual stimulus to him as when he himself got slap-
ped and was made to cry, were sufficiently complex stimuli to call out the
observed behavior. His behavior was of the fear type partly visually con-
ditioned. There was apparently no jealousy behavior in this infant, either
when its parents made love or when either parent attacked the other.
Eleven months seems to be too tender an age for jealousy to appear,


Does Jealousy Appear Suddenly when an Only Child
Has to Face His Infant Brother?


Many Freudians insist that the beginning of jealousy behavior very
often dates back in the life of the child to the appearance of a brother or
a sister. They claim that it starts practically full-blown even though the
child in question is a year or less than a year of age. And yet, so far as
I know, no Freudian has ever attempted to put his theories to practical
experimental test.


During my own observations on the origin of jealousy, I have had one
favorable opportunity to observe the behavior of an only child when he
received his newborn brother. B, whose jealous behavior directed against
his father I have just told you about, was 2% years of age when the event


occurred. He had formed a very strong attachment to his mother and to _
his own regular nurse. He had no organized reactions toward any —


youngster under a year of age. The mother had been absent in the hospi-
tal for two weeks. B was taken care of by his regular nurse during these
two weeks. The day the mother returned, his own nurse kept B busy in
his room playing until the conditions for the test were all set. The test
was made at noon in a well-lighted sitting room. The mother was sitting
nursing the baby, with her breast exposed. B had not seen the mother
during the two weeks. In addition to the mother with her infant, there


were present a trained nurse new to B, a grandmother, and the father, B


was allowed to walk down the steps alone and into the room. Everyone


ee ee ee


EMOTIONS eae!


had been instructed to remain absolutely quiet and to make the situation
as natural as possible. B walked into the room and up to his mother,
leaned on her knee and said, “How do, Mama.” He did not attempt to
kiss her or hug her. He did not notice the breast, or the baby for 30
seconds. Then he saw the baby. He said, “Little baby.” Then he took
the baby’s hands and gently patted them, rubbed its head and its face and
began to say, “That baby, that baby.” Then he kissed it without any
prompting. He was very gentle and tender in all of his responses. The
trained nurse, who was unknown to him, took up the new baby. He re-
acted against this, at least verbally, saying, “Mama take baby.” Thus the
baby was reacted to really as a part of the mother situation and the first
element of jealousy response was directed against the person who took
something away from his mother (hampered his mother’s movements).
Surely this was as typically an un-Freudian reaction as could be imagined.
This was the first sign of a jealousy response. But the response was posi-
tive for the infant and not against it—nothwithstanding the fact that the
brother was usurping his place on his mother’s lap,


Then the new baby was taken by its nurse to its room and put to bed.
B tagged along, too. When he came back, the father said, “How do you
like Jimmie?” And he said, “Like Jimmie—Jimmie sleeping.” He did
not notice at any time the exposed breast of the mother and really paid
very little attention to the mother except when the nurse tried to take the
baby away. During the whole setting, he reacted positively to the baby for
only a few minutes and then turned to other things,


_ The following day, B had to give up his own room which contained
most of his toys, books, and the like, in preparation for the new baby. He
was told that Jimmie had to have his room for a while. This situation called
out only the most eager positive response in helping to push and pull all of
his own furniture to the new room. He slept in the new room that night
and every night until the trained nurse left. There was never the slightest
sign of resentment, jealousy, etc., in his behavior directed against the new
baby.


The behavior of these two children has been under constant obsetva-
tion for one year now. Never has there been the slightest sign of jealousy.
The three-year-old today is just as kind and considerate to the one year
old infant as he was on his first introduction. Not even when nurse, mother
or father takes the infant up and pets it is there any jealousy. Once a
- new nurse almost succeeded in establishing it by attempting to control the
older child by saying: “You are a naughty boy. Jimmie is a nice boy—I


154 BEHAVIORISM


love him.” ‘For just a few days jealousy threatened, but the discharge of
the nurse saved the situation.


Although there is no attachment pronounced enough to cause any dis-
turbance of his daily routine, if the younger child is not around, the older
youngster takes the part of the one-year-old if mother or father attempts
to chastise the youngster by spanking its hand. The moment the younger
infant cries, the three-year-old will actually attack either one or both
parents, saying “Jimmie good boy; you mustn’t make Jimmie cry.”


Can We Draw Any Conclusions About Jealousy?


So far our experiments on jealousy are merely preliminary. If any
generalization at all can be made, it would seem to take the following
form: Jealousy is a bit of behavior whose stimulus is a (conditioned )
love stimulus the response to which is rage—but a pattern of rage contain-
ing possibly the original visceral components but in addition parts of many
habit patterns (fighting, boxing, shooting, talking, etc.). We may use this
diagram to hold our facts together:


NS eee Oe ee _(U&C) R


Sight (or sound) of loved object Stiffening of whole body,

being tampered or interfered with. clenching of hands, reddening and
then blackening of face— pro-
nounced breathing, fighting, verbal
recrimination, etc.

Naturally this is reduced only to the barest schematism. The response

may take many forms and the stimulus may consist of far more subtle

factors than I have noted here, but I believe we are on the right track in

trying to formulate jealousy in these terms,


Experimental Methods of Studying Adult Emotional Behavior


During the past few years Benussi in Germany, Burtt and Marston
in the Harvard Psychological Laboratory, and J. A. Larson in the Research
Laboratory of the Berkeley School for Police, have done some very inter-
esting work on the changes which go on in circulation and respiration when
a ‘guilty’ individual lies or attempts to lie about his crime. This work
has been of considerable use in the police courts. While the results of
such tests cannot now and possibly never can be introduced into the court
as direct evidence for determining guilt or innocence, nevertheless, accord-
ing to these authors, they have prepared the way for a confession of guilt.
Let us describe their methods in rather general terms. ‘4


Cae el ke Soe ae


ee ee ee ee ee


ee &


-


EMOTIONS 155


Most of you are familiar with the hollow band the physician puts
around your arm and then pumps up for testing your blood pressure. This
is one of the most important tests the insurance physician makes when you
seek to take out a new policy or to increase the amount of your old one.
Instruments of this same general nature may be made to show not only
blood pressure, but the form of heart beat, changes in rate of heart beat,
and the like. Recently Larson has used an instrument which on smoked
paper actually records circulation changes.


Another instrument used in this kind of work is the pneumograph,
an instrument which enables the experimenter to record changes in breath-
ing. A graphic record made by this instrument on smoked paper will
show the general form of the breathing curve, changes in its amplitude,
time of inspiration and expiration, and the like. It is possible, and is the
usual procedure, to make both a blood pressure record and a breathing
record at the same time. _


In applying the test we first obtain a normal set of records of breath-
ing and circulation. Then, after a brief rest, we begin to ask a series of
perfectly colorless questions to which the subject has to answer “yes” or
“no.” When the questions are simple in nature and the subject’s “con-
science” is clear, there is no significant rise in blood pressure and no par-
ticular change in the breathing curve.


Suppose, however, I were to put a package of jewelry on the platform
just before beginning a lecture. After the lecture six of you gather
around to question me. After all of you leave I discover that my package
has disappeared. Suppose, next, I send for all of you who had been around
the desk that hour. I ask each of you about the package. Each one would
say “No, I didn’t take it.” Suppose, however, I decide to record your
breathing and circulation. Three of you might be eager to take the test,
might really demand it so as to prove your innocence. On the other hand,
three of you might object. This would not prove the innocence of those
who asked for the test or the guilt of those who refused it. I decide to
take the breathing and blood pressure records of the whole group. I take
each of you into the test room, seat you comfortably and, after letting the
record run for a time, I begin to ask some irrelevant questions mixed in
with questions which had to do with the theft. I might ask, for example:
(1) Do you object to this test? (2) Do you smoke? (3) Do you like
lectures? (4) Do you like the movies? (5) Do you like to dance? (6)
Did you take the package of jewelry off the platform? (7) Did you just
lie? (8) Do you gamble? (9) Have you ever been arrested? (10) Did


156 BEHAVIORISM


you take the jewelry package? ‘You have to answer each question with a
direct “yes” or “no.”


Under these conditions apparently the individual who lies shows a
marked increase in blood pressure (systolic). Likewise his breathing curve
shows marked changes. In general, though, blood pressure records seem
to be more satisfactory than respiratory records. Larson claims that this
method has been of real service to the police of California in the detection
of guilt. He says: “In practical application of the present test, it has
been possible to select records of the guilty from those of the innocent sus-
pects before a confession. This has been done in about ninety per cent. of
the cases. How much greater than 90 per cent. the determination is, can-
not be learned, owing to the disappearance of the suspect, inability to obtain
a confession, or innumerable other causes.” Considerably more work must
be done before these results can be finally accepted,


Word Reaction Methods


During the past 20 years much has been said and written about the
word reaction method, The theory of the method is based upon the assump-
tion that our verbal responses to verbal stimuli are usually pretty rapid
and smooth running: For example, if I say “cat” to you and ask you to
respond with another word—any word—just as rapidly as you can, you
are likely to say “rat” in a second or so, and if I say “father” you are
likely to say “mother” in an equally short time. But if I knew beforehand
that on your last trip to Baltimore your sweetheart had rejected you, and
on the list of stimulus words put the word “Baltimore,” then you might
fumble on your response word. Stumbling might take any of the follow-
ing forms: (1) no response—complete blocking; (2) a lengthened time of
response; (3) a response in too loud or too low a voice; (4) an especially
rapid response; (5) a response with other accessory reactions such as
blushing, laughter, hanging of head, etc. :


The method has many complications that we need not go into. It
has been used considerably by psychoanalysts for the purpose of finding
leads into so-called “unconscious complexes.” (Since we as behaviorists
find no need of an unconscious, I forego discussion of its use in analysis.)
Its use has been attempted in police work for the purpose mainly of con-
fronting suspects with their own emotional disturbance when responding
to significant word stimuli—that is, to words connected with the crime.
It is sometimes useful in leading to a confession. The suspect, being in
awe of the method and being made to believe that the test has proved his
guilt, confesses, .


+ ge a


EMOTIONS £57,


? That the method is not very useful in any field is a growing convic-
tion. Our habit of responding to words depends upon our organization to
those words. If I am in a work shop I can pick up this tool, that tool
and the other tool and use them with equal speed and with equal absence
of trial or other accessory movements (without fumbling). Another
innocent-looking tool, say a curved chisel, I fumble with considerably. Yet
they are all wood-working tools and I am pretty familiar with such tools.
Words are not different from tools. Fumbling with response words may
mean lack of practice with stimulus words,


The method has been used as a plaything of the psychologists—and it
is a pretty toy. I could send six of you out of the room, with an assistant.
The assistant would give one of you at random a card instructing that one
to walk over to the library and propose to the young girl at the desk. I
could then put the six of you through the word reaction test and select
the proposer in the course of a very few minutes. Furthermore, my
assistant might instruct the ‘culprit’ to lie and attempt in every way to
deceive me. I think I could tell, but I would make some errors, how
many of the remaining five individuals had ‘guilty’ knowledge of the affair,
that is, had seen the card of instruction, and how many had not seen the
card.


You can readily understand that under the inexact and insecure knowl-
edge the experimenter has to work with in police and psychiatric cases,
failures are quite frequent. We do not know enough about the crime or
past emotional situation to frame a crucial set of stimulus words. For
this reason, among many others, the method has little applicability to
ctiminology or to psychiatry.


There are many other experimental methods of studying emotional
‘behavior—ranging from questionnaires that you have to fill in about your
past life to the use of the galvanometer which is an instrument that
measures the varying resistance of the body to faint electrical currents.
On account of their technical nature and the unsatisfactory results com-
ing from their use, we may safely neglect them in this lecture.


Summary :—We must bring this long lecture to a close. We have
studied many phases of the human being’s emotional life. I hope you have
got from it the behaviorist’s main contention—that man’s emotional life
is built up bit by bit by the wear and tear of environment upon him; that
hitherto the process has been hit or miss. The various forms of behavior
have grown up unscrutinized by society. I think you believe with me now
that we can build up emotional reactions in an orderly way—in any speci-


158 BEHAVIORISM


fied way as soon as society finds out which way it wants them built up. In
other words, the process of building them in is at least partly understood.
Furthermore, I think you will again agree when I say that we are beginning
to understand how to tear them down and out once they have been estab-
lished. The future development of methods along this latter line interests
us all—there are precious few of us who haven’t some childish loves, rages
or fears that we would like to lose. Such methods will enable us to sub-
stitute natural science in our treatment of the emotionally sick in place of
the doubtful and passing unscientific method now known as psychoanaly-
sis.


May the behaviorist, though, interject here a word of caution about
his own views? All of his conclusions are based now upon too few cases
and too few experiments. This will be remedied in the near future. More
and more students are at work upon emotional behavior using behavioristic
methods. No sane person can ever again use the old introspective method
with which James and his immediate followers came so near wrecking
this most thrilling part of psychology.


In our next lecture we will take up the steps we use in acquiring our
great system of bodily habits, our acts of skill, vocations and the like.


IX
OUR MANUAL HABITS


How They Start; How We Retain Them
and How We Discard Them


Introduction :—In the last lecture we left the human infant in a some-
what helpless and precarious state of development, Even with all the or-
ganization (conditioning) taking place in its unlearned activities, it is still
quite unable to fight very many worldly battles. If we contrast the develop-
ment of the year-old child with that of the year-old monkey, we are struck
at once by the contrast.


The year-old monkey dashes hither and yon, jumping from pillar to
post, squealing the adult cry of its parents. It cannot fight with its parents
for food, so it resorts to trickery. It gets into a corner, screams, and tears
at a stick or watering pan as though some enemy attacked. The parents
leave their own food to come to the rescue of the youngster. The young-
ster stops squealing immediately and dashes to the food trough and steals
as much as his food pouches, mouth and paws will hold. On their return
the mother or father, or both, may strike, bite or even knock down the
youngster, if he has not made good his escape. We are reminded, in
watching the year-old monkey, of the behavior of the oversophisticated
twelve-year-old newsboy. At one year of age the human infant still gets
all of its food at the mother’s breast or from the bottle. It still gurgles and
and coos, saying no words at all or at best only ten or twelve. It moves
about by crawling or by standing erect and pulling itself from place to
place through the aid of opportunely placed pieces of furniture. Some
adult has to fight its battles for it and protect it. It seems to be true,
with some exceptions, that the higher we go in the animal series, the more
dependent the organism is upon learned behavior.


Notwithstanding the human infant’s helplessness, he is slowly to
emerge into a being the like of which can nowhere be found in the animal
kingdom. Greater development in three systems of habit forever differen-
tiates him: (1) The number, delicacy and accuracy of visceral or emotional
habits, which we discussed in the last two lectures ; (2) the number, com-
plexity, and fineness of his laryngeal or verbal habits, which we will discuss
in the next lecture; (3) the number and fineness of his manual habits,
which we will now consider,


159


160 BEHAVIORISM


I hope you have often marveled, as I have, over the human being’s
enormous capacity for forming finger, hand, arm, leg and trunk habits. In
several of the preceding lectures I have called this whole system the system
of manual habits. I still wish to use this term. We must be sure to make
the word manual include organization in trunk, legs, arms and feet,


The Shifting of our Environment Leads
to Habit Formation


You are prepared to believe now from what you know of the human
infant and child that it is constantly being stimulated by sights, sounds,
contacts, smells and tastes from the outside of its body, and by secretions,
absence of secretions, by pressure, lack of pressure, by movements of
food along the intestinal tract and by changes in the position of muscles,
both striped and unstriped, inside the body. It is, thus, under constant
stimulation. Now the human is so built (and so are all other animals) that
it must move when these stimuli assail it from within or without. The
whole group of visual, auditory, tactual, temperature, smell and taste
stimuli (so-called objects of the external world) constitutes what most
people think of as environment. I want you to think of this as merely part
of man’s environment, namely his external environment (more or less com-
mon to groups). The whole group of visceral, temperature, muscular and
glandular stimuli, both conditioned and unconditioned, present inside the
body, are just as truly objects of stimulation as are chairs and tables. They
constitute the other part of man’s (each man’s) environment—his internal
environment, an environment not shared by others. This part of man’s en-
vironment is left out usually in all discussions of the relative influence of
environment and heredity. The organism, being stimulated always by both
environments simultaneously, naturally never is responding at any one time
just to the inside or just to the outside. Under the stimulus of stomach
contractions the individual will start to snatch a loaf of bread; the visual
stimulus of the policeman may stay his hand and lead to the taking up of
another notch in his belt. Under the action of a group of stimuli coming
from the sex organs, he may start to seek a mate, but the flabby condition
of his purse may hold in abeyance conventional courtship and marriage,
and verbal precepts instilled in his youth (laryngeal verbal stimulus) may
check association with a temporary mate.


As long as these powerful stimuli from outside and inside his body—
such as absence of food, absence of sex and absence of customary activity
both manual and verbal—assail it, the human organism has to keep respond-
ing, keep moving. These stimuli call out ceaselessly movements of fingers,


Aen a.


Fis nets ee ged


tcl racist ani chin >: wat


OUR MANUAL HABITS 161


hands, trunk, legs, arms—and of the internal motor and glandular organs
of response as well. These movements in the infant have been called
“random.” They are naturally not random if you mean that they are not
caused like other movements. They are direct responses to stimulation
and are just as orderly as are movements later on in life.


__ Ceaseless stimulation, ceaseless movement are the order by day and by
- night—not even in sleep is the organism unassailable by stimulation nor is
it ever motionless.


Yes, you say, but doesn’t the organism ever become adjusted ? In these
days of psychologists and psychoanalysts we often hear of “adjustments.”
We are told that the individual must get adjusted. Sometimes you wonder
what these eminent scholars mean. The behaviorist believes that the only ad-
justed person is a dead person—one from whom no response can be called
out to any stimulus. The facts seem to show that when the individual by
responding (by learned or unlearned reactions, or both in combination) to
stimulus A, changes his environment in such away that he next has to react
to stimulus B, then one of two things takes place: Stimulus B may actual-
ly remove stimulus A; or, by reacting to stimulus B, he may so change his
environment that he passes out of the range of stimulus A. In the first case
A is annihilated or “downed” ; in the second case A ceases to be an effective
stimulus in the new environment. Does this sound complicated? Let us
take an example. Hunger contractions begin in the stomach (stimulus
A). The individual begins to move about. He reaches an environment
where food is plentiful—in other words, he goes to the pantry and eats
(stimulus B). The hunger contractions (stimulus A) stop immediately.
This represents adjustment, you will say. To be sure he is no longer
stimulated by food, but after having eaten, other stimuli, non-food stimuli,
immediately become effective and lead to other reactions—thus proving my
contention that the organism is not and cannot be “adjusted” for longer
than a period corresponding almost to a mathematical point. Let me illus-
trate the second case—where the reaction of an individual to stimulus A
leads to such an alteration of the environment that stimulus A is no longer
effective. Individual X is lying on the bed trying to get to sleep. The arc
light on the street shines through a crack in the shade. He wriggles around
a bit. It still strikes his eye. He wriggles about some more. Again it
strikes the eye. He puts his head under the covers. There the stuffiness
and the heat soon make him put his head out. Again the insistent light
strikes him. Then he gets up and does the one sensible thing—he pins a
heavy piece of paper over the break in the shade. This response to A leads
him into a new environment which no longer contains A as a stimulus.
The two cases are thus on analysis not very different. The individual gets


162. BEHAVIORISM


rid of the stimulus! But he gets rid only of that stimulus! Some other
one can now effectively and successfully assail him. What the psycholo-
gists mean by maladjustment usually is that two stimuli with opposed
action tendencies keep the organism from getting out of range of the in-
citing stimulus. The term “adjustment” however is convenient and we
may still use it provided we mean by it the momentary point where the
individual by his action has quieted a stimulus or has gotten out of its
range. Let us mean by “adjustment,” then, something similar to the end
of a trial in learning—where the animal gets food, sex or water, or becomes
oriented away from a stimulus that produces negative reaction, etc.


Our illustrations so far show cases where the individual possesses an
organization adequate to “meet the situation.” This means merely that he
has had to form habits of such a type that he can either blot out stimulus
A or move in such a way that he can get out of its effective range. He
reaches that happy state through no flowery path. He has to form habits
to effect it. He has learned to go to the pantry when he is hungry. Not
so the one-year-old—he can only cry. The adult has learned to get up and
pin a piece of paper over the crack in the shade when the light strikes his
oe The three-year-old can only call aloud to his mother to shut out the
ight.


This is the keynote of the formation of all our habits. Some stimulus
in the outside environment or in the inside environment (please remember


that the so-called “absence” of a stimulus is also a perfectly good stimulus) -


sets the individual moving. He may move in many ways, do many hun-
dreds of things, before he blots out stimulus A or moves himself beyond
its range. If, when he gets into the same situation again, he can accomplish
the one or the other of these results more rapidly and with fewer move-
ments, then we say he has learned or has formed a habit,


Watching the Steps in Habit Formation


To understand the formation of basal habits, we must again observe
the human infant. Take a baby brought up on the bottle. When he is
three months of age, slowly present the bottle of milk. When it is close
to him, almost within reaching distance, you will find that his body begins
to wriggle and squirm, his hands, feet and arms become slightly active,
his eyes fixate, his mouth moves, he cries, but he does not extend his
arms towards the bottle. At the end of the test always give him his
bottle immediately. Repeat the procedure the next day. Notice that all
of the bodily movements are a bit more pronounced. As this routine is
repeated daily, movements of the whole body become still more perceptible


OUR MANUAL HABITS 163


but the arms are levers built to permit wide excursive movements. The
trunk, the legs and the feet, while they are levers, are levers of a different
kind—powerful ones but with slight range of movement. The chance of
the arms and the hands striking or touching the bottle before the rest of
the body is great. This is why our habits of manipulation are formed with
the arms, hands and fingers, and not with the feet, legs and toes. lf the


ee loses its arms, or has never possessed them, these habits form with
ie reet.


Once the bottle or, better for our immediate purposes, some other
food object, like a piece of candy or a lump of sugar, is touched, the hand
closes over it (unlearned grasping). It is then carried to the mouth (part
of a habit system previously learned). In 30 days, by giving the baby 10
or 12 trials of this kind each day, the habit of reaching for a small object
and carrying it to the mouth becomes nearly perfect. Note at this point
that the reaction to the milk bottle or lump of sugar is a conditioned visual
response. The infant has become conditioned through having been fed
with the bottle, so that even in this simple experiment we are starting with
a certain amount of organization which has been going on for a consider-
able time. If we wanted him to reach for a pencil or some other object
not connected with food, we would have to start farther back and condition
him to the pencil before that stimulus would call out a response. Note,
too, that the stimulus of the bottle calls out a more and more complicated
reaction. First just squirming, then more and more active movements of
the whole body but most active movements of arms, hands and fingers, as
I have pointed out before. In other words, the reaction is becoming
changed, organized or, as we sometimes say, integrated. This is what 1
meant in Lecture II when I spoke about the reaction itself becoming con-
ditioned. Possibly it is better to speak of the reaction as becoming more
and more highly integrated (newer and newer elements becoming condi-
tioned in such a way that they come together and function as a new or
more complicated response).


Note, finally, that as the arm, hand and finger movements are perfected
—that is, as the response becomes more highly organized—movements not
related to the business in hand, such as in this instance those of the trunk,
legs and feet, die away. In its perfected form, reaching takes place with
perfect efficiency; movements not demanded in the act do not appear.
Reaching is the child’s basal primary manual habit. Very soon it grows
more complex. He not only reaches and grasps but he learns to let the
object drop at times. Again, he reaches not only for an object held out
in front of him, but for objects to the right or left of him. Finally he
learns to turn and twist and pull at his objects—to pull the top from a


164 BEHAVIORISM


box, to take the cork from a bottle, to stick the end of his rattle into a box,
to close and open the lid of the box. This whole complicated group of
habits starting with reaching we call manipulation. Anyone who thinks
that manipulation is an instinct should work daily with a baby from the
120th day to the 200th day. The baby learns to manipulate objects and
even its own bodily parts literally by the sweat of its brow.


I do not want to mislead you here into thinking that habits of ma-
nipulation involve only arm, hand and finger movements. You understand
perfectly from all that has gone before that any movement such as reach-
ing for an object brings about an adjustment of practically every muscle of
the body—and let us include the viscera here as well. In other words,
every movement accurately executed involves a response of the whole body
in each and in every part. This is what we mean by a total reaction. This
is what we mean by perfect integration. Movements of the shoulder, the
arm, the elbow, the wrist, the palm, the fingers, the trunk, the legs, the
feet, yes, even breathing, circulation, etc., all have to take place according
to a certain order. This order must be beautifully timed and the amount
of energy in each muscular group must be just right before any fine act of
skill, such as hitting the bull’s eye with the rifle or making a perfect shot
at billiards, can take place.


With these early basal habits of reaching and manipulation estab-
lished, the infant begins his mastery of the world. The steps from fashion-
ing his implements of clay and mud to fashioning them from tempered
steel; from bridging a stream by crudely felling a tree to bridging a part of
the ocean with steel and concrete; from building houses of rough grass and


clay to building the skyscraper of concrete and steel, are largely but


illustrations of the growth of manual habits,


Example of the Growth of a Habit


To make the whole process a little more concrete, let us put in front
of the three-year-old child, whose habits of manipulation are well estab-
lished, a problem box—a box that can be opened only after a certain thing
has been done; for example, he has to press inward a small wooden button.
Before we hand it to him, we show him the open box containing several
small pieces of candy and then we close it and tell him that if he opens it
he may have a piece of candy. This situation is new to him. None of his
previously formed manipulation habits will completely and instantly work
in this situation. None of his unlearned reactions will help him very much.
What does he do? That depends upon his previous organization. If well
organized by previous handling of toys, he goes at the problem at once—


ate ny


Pe


i


i ee ee ee ee ees


Sale


pet


se


Der ee


ans


es


OUR MANUAL HABITS 165


(1) he picks the box up, (2) he pounds it on the floor, (3) he drags it
round and round, (4) he pushes it up against the baseboard, (5) he turns
it over, (6) he strikes it with his fist. In other words, he does everything
he has learned to do in the past in similar situations. He displays his
whole repertoire of acts—brings all of his previously acquired organization
to bear upon the new problem. Let us suppose that he has 50 learned and
unlearned separate responses at his command. At one time or another
during his first attempt to open the box, let us assume that he displays, as
he will, nearly all of them before he pushes the button hard enough to
release the catch. The time the whole process takes, we will say, is about
twenty minutes. When he opens it, we give him his bit of candy, close up
the box and hand it to him again. The next time he makes fewer move-
ments; the third time fewer still. In 10 trials or less he can open the box
without making a useless movement and he can open it in two seconds.


Why is the time cut down, and why do movements not necessary to
the solution gradually drop out of the series? This has been a hard prob-
lem to solve because none of us, I believe, has ever simplified the problem
enough to really bring experimental technique to bear upon it. I have tried
to explain on what we may call a frequency and recency basis, why the one
movement finally persists whereas all the rest die away. I think I can
make clear to you what we mean. Let us designate each of the separate
acts of the three-year-old by a number. We will designate the final act—
pressing the button which opens the box—number 50. Then on the first
trial all of the 50 acts will occur (and many may appear more than once),
let us say, in chance order:


~ AZ, 21, 3, 7, 14, 16, 19, 38, 28, 2, tC. ne meneenennnvnnenntnnmemnrntennentmemnnmtnaneatt 00


On the second trial:
18, 6, 9, 16, 47, 19, 23, 27, Ae NNER OO SERED OR ae.


On the third trial:
17, 11, 29, 66, 71, 18, tC. nennnnnennseesnmennmnrntnrnnnnn 50


On the ninth trial:
re ete 50


On the tenth trial and all succeeding trials:
50


In other words, number 50 tends to come earlier and earlier in the
series and by doing so there is less and less opportunity for other move-
ments to appear. Why? On our premise we can see that response number


166 BEHAVIORISM


50 is the only one that occurred on each and every trial; that is, the en-
vironment in the shape of the person conducting the test arranges the series
in such a way that 50 has to be the end of the series—the infant then gets
food; the box is closed and is handed to him again. Act number 50 is
therefore the one most frequently repeated—more frequently, that is, than
any of the other 49 acts,


Again, since act number 50 is always the last response in the previous
trial, there is some reason for believing that it will appear sooner in the
series of acts on the next succeeding trial. This is what is called the factor
of recency. The recency and frequency factors as explanations of the for-
mation of habit have been criticized by some writers—among others:
Professor Joseph Peterson, of George Peabody College, Nashville, Ten-
nessee, and Professor Bertrand Russell. No experimental test, that I
consider crucial at any rate, has ever been made in this very important
field. Only a few psychologists have been interested in the problem. Most
of the psychologists, it is to be regretted, have even failed to see that there
is a problem. They believe habit formation is implanted by kind fairies.
For example, Thorndike speaks of pleasure stamping in the successful
movement and displeasure stamping out the unsuccessful movements. Most
of the psychologists talk, too, quite volubly about the formation of new
pathways in the brain, as though there were a group of tiny servants of
Vulcan there who run through the nervous system with hammer and chisel
digging new trenches and deepening old ones.


I am not sure that the problem when phrased in this way is a soluble
one. I feel that there must come some simpler way of envisaging
the whole process of habit formation or else it may remain insoluble.
Since the advent of the conditioned reflex hypothesis in psychology with
all of the simplifications (and I am often fearful that it may be an over-
simplification!) I have had my own laryngeal processes stimulated to
work upon this problem from another angle,


The Relation of Habit to Conditioned Reflexes


The relationship, theoretically, between the simplest cases of the con-
ditioned responses we have studied and the more complicated, integrated,
spaced and timed habit responses we are considering tonight, seems to me
to be quite simple. It is the relationship apparently of part to whole—
that is, the conditioned reflex is the unit out of which the whole habit is
formed. In other words, when a complicated habit is completely analyzed,
each unit of the habit is a conditioned reflex. Let us go back a moment


pl DS oP im ee


ee ee ee Oe
a 1 eee ear


OUR MANUAL HABITS 167


- ee type of conditioned reflex we have already considered in previous
ectures :


pars ke tt tae ial ee aA +
Electrical Contact (Noxious) Movement of the foot
When conditioned, the
Nieual ctimulus of circle Calls out same movement of foot


This is a simple type of conditioned response. Now by hypothesis every
complicated habit is made up of just such units. I shall try to make this a
little clearer. Suppose’ in place of conditioning my subject to withdraw
his foot when a visual stimulus of a circle is shown, I condition him to
turn, say, one step to the right. When he turns to the right he faces a
visual stimulus of a square. To this stimulus he is conditioned to walk
forward five steps. He then faces a triangle. To this stimulus he is con-
ditioned to move two steps to the right. This puts him face to face with a
cube. In response to this he has to step up three steps instead of turning
to right or left. You can see from this simple illustration that I can lead
him all around the room and back to the starting point. I do this by
arranging a series of visual stimuli to each of which I condition him so
that he must move in a certain way—that is, turn to the right, to the left,
move upward, downward, forward or backward, put his right hand up,
stretch out his left hand, and the like. Now suppose each time I begin
experimenting upon him, I run him: through the whole series from the
beginning. Isn’t this a description (after the whole system has been turned
over to kinaesthesis—see p. 176) of just what happens when the rat or the
human learns, say, a complicated maze? Does not every alley, bypath or
turn in the maze represent a unit in the whole process of learning the
maze? Isn’t typewriting, piano playing and every other special act of skill
resolvable or analyzable into just such a set of units? Of course in real
life, in establishing separate conditioned reflexes making up the whole
habit, we sometimes use food or we pet the child to condition it when the
right response is made; we may cuff it or otherwise punish it for a wrong
response or allow it to run itself down into blind alleys, bringing on partial
fatigue (which is an equivalent of punishment).


And why are these units timed and spaced as they are? Why is the
series arranged as it is? There is no order or sequence as such in the
world we live in—except in a few such things as the sun, moon, stars, etc.,
and even these are obscured for days and weeks sometimes. Even they
are not orderly enough for us to steer a ship by, hence the compass and
sextant. The answer is this: Society, or the accident of environment places
them that way. By society I mean the men and women constituting it
who have set up complicated patterns of response that must be literally fol-


168 BEHAVIORISM


lowed. Words have a certain number of letters and they follow one
another in definite sequence established by Mr. Johnson or Mr. Webster
and our other early lexicographers. The holes of the golf course must be
played in a certain sequence, pool balls must be shot into certain pockets.
By accident of environment I mean, for instance, the simple fact that if
you are to go from your own home to the old swimming hole you must (1)
go to the right of a certain hill, (2) cross a small stream, (3) pass through
a grove of pine trees, (4) follow down the left bank of a dry stream until
you (5) get to the cow pasture, (6) then from behind a clump of large
willow trees (7) you have come to your desired haven. Each of the num-
bers represents a visual stimulus that must be reacted to, at least during
the learning stages. ;


You may say “Yes” to all this, “but what of it? Is the explanation
of the formation of a conditioned reflex any simpler than the explanation
of this phenomena we have been calling habit?’ My answer is: Even
though we cannot “explain” a conditioned reflex, we have by our analysis
reduced to simpler terms a complicated process which we have neither
been able to solve nor, apparently, to begin experimentation upon. I be-
lieve we can now turn our formulation over to the physiologist or to the
physiological chemist for solution.


The problem we leave with him is:


Stimulus X will not now call out reaction R; stimulus V will call out
reaction R (unconditioned reflex) ; but when stimulus X is presented first
and then Y (which does call out R) shortly thereafter, X will thereafter
call out R. In other words, stimulus X becomes ever thereafter substitut-
able for Y.


The physiologist may come back at once with some such explanation
as this: “You are wrong in your assumption about X not stimulating the
organism. X does stimulate the whole organism and consequently does
faintly arouse reaction R, only not strongly enough to appear as an overt
response. Y does call out R overtly because the organism is biologically
built to respond overtly with R when stimulated by Y (unconditioned


ge ne pee AR MS


response). But after Y has called out R, resistance or inertia in this —


whole sensory motor segment is lessened to such an extent that X, which
only faintly called out R, will now call out R overtly.” Certainly if the


1 This is not an exaggeration. I have seen a conditioned response firmly set up in a child by
one contact with a hot radiator, a conditioned response which has been retained for twa
years without further training. If we should keep our old habit terminology, we should
have in this example a habit formed by a single trial. There can be then in this case
no stamping in of the successful movement” and no “stamping out of the unsuccessful
movement.


et kDa ant Tia


“fe
-


ee


OUR MANUAL HABITS 169


physiologist attempts to explain the various phenomena underlying con-
ditioned responses at the present time, he will have to couch his explana-
tions in terms of resistance in the nervous system, interference, summation,
inhibition, reinforcement, facilitation, all or none law, etc., because these
are the phenomena he works with; but they are very complicated phe-
nomena, far too complicated for us even to attempt to describe them.
Until he has reduced them to electrical and chemical processes I am afraid
he cannot help us very much.


Fortunately we can continue our work in behavior without awaiting
the true explanation of these biological phenomena couched in physico-
chemical terms.


Some Details of the Learning Curve


Below (fig. 16) is the curve showing the records of 19 rats in learn-
ing the complicated Hampton Court maze (modified). The horizontal line
shows the ‘number of trials the rats were given. Each rat was tested
separately. Each point on the vertical line shows the average number of
minutes it took the rats to reach the food on the various trials. Note that


This curve shows the progress 19 white rats made in learning the complicated
Hampton Court Maze. The vertical line shows the number of minutes required to
get to the food. The horizontal line shows the number of trials given. Thus, on
the first trial an average of 16 minutes was required; on the thirtieth trial approxi-
mately 20 seconds. Note that improvement at first was very rapid and then went on
more and more slowly.


170 BEHAVIORISM


the first trial required on the average over 17 minutes. During this time
the rat was running around the maze, into blind alleys, running back to the
starting point, starting for the food again, biting at the wires around him,
scratching himself, smelling this spot and that on the floor. Finally he got
to the food. He was allowed only a bite. Again he was put back into the
maze. The taste of the food made him almost frantic in his activity. He
‘dashed about more rapidly. The average time for the group on the second
trial is only a little over 7 minutes; on the fourth trial not quite 3 minutes;
from this_point on to the 23rd trial the improvement is very gradual. Then
improvement seems to cease (with this method of training). Whether or
not they have reached the physiological limit of training, cannot be de-
termined from this curve. Less frequent practise than five trials per day
might create a new situation which would bring about improvement.
Partial starvation might bring about improvement. Many other factors
may be operative in bringing it about (see page 171).


I have chosen this animal curve to illustrate the details of learning be-
cause most of the curves showing the learning of humans have many com-
plications. When we work with rats we can keep the stimulus fairly con-
stant. The rat has to run that maze five times or he does not get his full
quota of food. At the end of his fifth and last trial for the day he can eat
his fill, The human being becomes bored while learning. Other things
stimulate him. The internal environment is complicated; internal speech
(thought), for example, may always be a disturbing factor. Social and
economic factors may enter.


His learning curves on, say, typewriting or telegraphy, for examples,
often show so-called resting places or plateaus in the learning process.
These are periods where no improvement is taking place, where the curve


remains horizontal instead of constantly dropping. How to get individuals —


off these plateaus and to start improving again is one of the problems both
in business and in the laboratory. The offering of so-called incentives,
such as increases in salaries, bonuses, participation in profits, increased
responsibilities, has been tried in business, resulting in rapid improve-
ment at first, followed usually by another plateau. Sometimes the trouble
is a family situation—a sick wife or child, or the individual may be jealous
of his wife. Sometimes it is economic—that is, the individual has as much
money as he needs to get along in his group; there is no stimulus to im-
provement. Usually when increased demands are made upon him, im-
provement begins again. He may get married, he may have a child, he
may move to another more expensive city. No cure-all method for bring-
ing improvement can be found.


AE ll Ae ta a ne oo


OUR MANUAL HABITS 171


It seems to be a human failing to stop improving at the lowest econo-
mic level that enables an individual to get along in his group. People are
lazy. Few want to work; the sentiment of the times is all against it. The
least work and the sloppiest you can get by on is the 1925 order of the day
in most industries. The worker, be he executive, foreman or manual
laborer, often rationalizes it to himself in this way: “I am not working for
myself; why should I slave for a corporation and let someone else get all
the profits of my work?” The individual loses sight of the fact that the
improvement in skill and the general organization that come in work
habits are his own. They are personal possessions in which no one else can
share. The formation of early work habits in youth, of working longer
hours than others, of practising more intensively than others, is probably
the most reasonable explanation we have today not only for success in any
line, but even for genius. The only geniuses I have ever met have been
thoroughly hard working fellows.


What Factors Influence the Formation of Manual Habits


The factors influencing the formation of manual habits (and verbal
as well) have never been worked out in a wholly satisfactory manner.
The results of experiments are conflicting and there is considerable varia-
tion even in theory. The problems themselves are interesting however.
Let us raise some of them and give examples of the types of work now
going on to solve them.


(1) The effect of age on habit formation -—We know very little
about the effect of age upon habit formation in the human. There seems
to be a curious resistance to working at the problem. We know the differ-
ence between an old rat’s way and a young rat’s way of learning the maze.
We have charted the difference in the number of steps they take, in the
length of time they consume on each successive trial and in the final time of
running errorless trials. A rat apparently never grows too old to learn the
maze. There is very little difference in the number of trials required by the
young rats and by the old rats to learn the maze. The old rats do less
scampering about; they are slower in their explorations. Their final run-
ning time—that is, the minimal tinte in which they can run the maze after
it is learned—is considerably longer than that of the young animals.


We have no similar series of facts on humans. It is obvious that
humans stop learning too soon. Something ought to be done to disturb the
average householder once in a while and force him to learn something new;
but we have no control over him. In the case of the animal, we have com-
plete control over food, water, sex and other factors in its environment that


172 BEHAVIORISM


T have already brought out. Only an earthquake, a flood or some other
catastrophe can put the average adult individual back into a situation
where he has to learn something new. This explains, too, why there are
so few experiments upon human learning. The psychologists know that
the stimulus cannot be kept constant or the same in different laboratories.
Most of the work on learning has, therefore, been incidental—class room
devices, doctors’ dissertations, and the like. We have no real facilities for
doing the complicated work which should be done on human learning.
Some day we ought to have great laboratories where squads can be kept at
work. Their food, water, sex and shelter could then be kept under very
definite control—this all by way of proof of the fact that there is no real
evidence that the human ever needs to quit learning. If the situation is
urgent enough, the man of 60, 70 and, yes, even 80 can learn. James was
right when he said most people do not learn after 30, but there is no reason
for it except that most people after 30 have explored the mysteries of sex
and get their food and water without speeding up or having to do any-
thing unusual in order to obtain it. Poor as they are in their vocation, they
can still live.


(2) Distribution of practise:—Considerable work has been done
both in the manual field and in the verbal field on the effect of variously
distributing practise in learning. ;


Shall we give our rat learning the maze five trials per day, three trials
per day, one trial per day or one trial every other day? If we take differ-
ent groups of animals and train each group in a different way, we find,
Strange to'say, that the less frequently the practise is given within certain
limits, the more efficient is each unit of practise. In other words, if each
of the groups gets only a total of 50 trials, the longer the interval between
the various 50 practise periods the better the results. (Dr. J. L. Ulrich)
Dr. K. S. Lashley found the same thing to be true for humans learning to
shoot the English long bow. Others working upon typewriting and upon
other acts of skill have also confirmed this general principle.


_ Rosalie Rayner Watson ( Psychological Laboratory, Johns Hopkins
University) in her unpublished dissertation, presents some interesting re-
sults bearing on several phases of the learning process. All of her work
was upon the learning of adults to throw a small steel-pointed dart with
feathered shaft at a target. The target was a piece of cork matting 8 x 8
feet tacked vertically upon a frame. In the center of the target was a two-
inch white paper bull’s eye. The subjects threw the darts from a distance


of 20 feet. The first problem she undertook to study was the effect of


continuous practise upon learning—in other words, what would happen if


OUR MANUAL HABITS 173


individuals threw darts at the rate of one every two minutes for 24 hours?
The curve below (fig. 17) shows what actually happened. Ten persons
took part in the experiment. Each shot in turn once every two minutes
_ beginning at 8 P.M. Saturday evening and ending at 8 P.M. Sunday

evening. The last four hours were used for testing the effects of drugs so
that only 20 are shown. The moment each individual shot was made, the
distance in inches of the dart from the center of the bull’s eye was mea-
sured. Each point on the curve is thus an average of approximately 300
shots. Food was taken at six-hour intervals. Eating was not allowed


123450789 10 Il 12 13 14 15 16 17 38 19 20 Hours
8 PM Saturday 8 PM Sunday
Fig 17
This curve shows what happens when 10 subjects throw darts at a target every
two minutes for 20 hours. The vertical line shows the error—that is the distance
the shot was from the center of the target. The horizontal line gives the record by
hours. Note that progress for the first 4 hours was rapid, then accuracy fell off a
little until food was taken; then follows another period of 3 hours’ progress. Learn-
ing was fairly steady and uniform up to the Sth hour. After that apparently no
further improvement was made. At the end of the 20th hour*the subjects were
shooting just as inaccurately as they did at the beginning of the test. The food which
was taken here without rest seemed to bring a slight improvement in the function.


ce)


to interfere with or to interrupt the work—the individuals eating between
shots. A regular cold meal was served. If the individual usually took
coffee or tea, he was allowed to take it in this experiment. It can be seen


=


174 BEHAVIORISM


that the average distance from the center of the bull’s eye of the first hour’s
shooting was nearly 17 inches. Improvement was rapid for the first four
hours, then the shooting became less efficient during the next two hours.
Food at the end of the sixth hour seemed to bring a certain improvement
which continued to the end of the ninth hour. After that, efficiency was
gradually lost. At the end of the twentieth hour the group was shooting no
better than at the beginning of the experiment. Learning apparently had
been either obscured or lost—whether obscured or lost the experimenter
has not yet determined.


Just why widely distributed practise does bring better results, only can
be guessed at, with the facts we now have at hand. We have no real ex-
planation. Please remember here, though, that if your object were to teach
individuals to shoot the long bow so as to have warriors as soon as pos-
sible, you would crowd them with practise as long as practise produced any
improvement at all. Concentrated practise is wasteful from the standpoint
of the number of trials required for learning, but sometimes our practical
needs demand that we adopt this wasteful method.


The main moral to be drawn from these experiments is that even
though we have little time at our disposal, still if we use that little tine in
concentrated practise, even over widely spaced time intervals, we can get
astonishingly good results.


(3) Exercise of acquired functions :—After practising a given act
for a sufficient time, the learning curve becomes horizontal. No further
improvement comes (unless new factors are introduced). Let us call all
such well learned habits, functions. Suppose you are exercising one of
these functions day in and day out—for example, typewriting which you
have been doing for ten years, or doing piece work of one kind or another
ina factory. Do you do the job faster in the morning, towards noon, after
lunch, or just before quitting time? Do you do it better on Monday,
Wednesday or Friday? Better in spring, summer, fall or winter? All of
these problems have been worked upon but the results do not agree,


The whole subject of the course of diurnal efficiency, to single out
just one of the problems, is in quite a muddle. In order to throw some
light upon this problem, Rosalie Rayner Watson, whose work we cited
above, took nine subjects whose learning curves on dart throwing had
been thoroughly practised (daily for more than 2 months) and allowed
them to throw darts from 8 A.M. to8 P.M. Her results (Table 1) show
that efficiency in this function and under the conditions of this experiment
does not vary during the whole of the 12 hours.


rr!


Se ee


OUR MANUAL HABITS 175


In this experiment there was considerable rivalry among the partici-
pants and the stimulating value of the situation was kept high throughout
the 12 hours. Where there is variation—that is, where efficiency itself de-
clines at one time of day or another—it is probably due to such things as
hunger contractions, slight torpidity after lunch and various other easily
explainable factors. We cannot take time to discuss them now. The facts
have not been brought out clearly enough yet.


Table 1 Showing Diurnal Course of Efficiency in a
Practised Function


(Figures are given in inches from center of bull’s eye.)


B Gich Gre H L Ray Rich G W Av.


Bee 9 AM—Av. end of ist hr. 6.3]10.3]12.5]11.5}10. 2/10.


9-10 AM—Av. end of 2nd hr. | 7.2) 9.5/11.1] 9.9} 9.2)11.


10-11 AM—Av. end of 3rd hr. | 7.0)10.2)11.6/11.7) 8.3)12.


11-12 AM—Av. end of 4th hr. | 8.8| 9.7] 9.6]10.9] 8.9/12.


12 Noon-1 PM—
Av. end of 5th hr. {10.0} 9.7] 9.7|12.7/11.3] 8.


i— 2 PM—Av. end of 6th hr. 7.6/11.6}) 9.5]10.9)10.0)11.


2— 3 PM—Av. end of 7th hr. | 8.8/10.0)10.6/11.4) 8.38/10.


3— 4 PM—Av. end of 8th hr. | 6.9} 9.8) 9.6/12.2/10.0)/10.


4— 5 PM—Av. end of 9th hr. 7.6]13.3]12.5} 9.8) 8.7)10.


5— 6 PM—Av. end of 10th hr. | 9.2/12.3)11.4) 9.9)11.0) 8.


6—- 7 PM—Av. end of 1ith hr. | 7.1]11.3) 9.3/16.7/10.3] 9.


7- 8 PM—Av. end of 12th hr. | 8.8]... ./10.4/15.6) 9.3/10.


(4) Effects of Drugs upon the Exercise of a Function:—In a simi-
lar way the effect of drugs upon the efficiency of given functions has
many times been tested. The effects of cocaine, strychnine, alcohol, caf-
feine, of starvation, cold, heat, oxygen hunger, of castration (upon ani-


176 BEHAVIORISM


mals), of administration of thyroxin, adrenalin, testicular extracts and the
like, have all been tested. It requires a monographic treatment to do all
this work justice. May I say this in commenting upon it: When the
function has been practised for a long time, as was true for example, in
my own work on dart throwing (see record of “W” in Table 1), it is
surprising how little effect drugs have upon the score. On different
days I took double doses of strychnine and of cocaine; on another
day I drank 50 c.c. of rye whisky every two hours for approximately six
hours; none of these had the slightest effect upon the score. (The score
when drugs were used is not shown in the above table.) Results ob-
tained upon other individuals possibly would. have been different. Such
results might not have held true in my own case if some other function
had been under the test. Of course, when such drugs as strychnine and
cocaine are taken in unduly large quantities, they must necessarily affect
all motor coordination.


The Final Stage in the Formation of Many Habits


After a habit has been set up by reacting to visual, auditory, tactual
and other stimuli, such as we have described above, an additional factor
enters in. As we exercise the habit continually, the actual visual, auditory,
olfactory and tactual stimuli become of less and less importance. When
habits are thoroughly ingrained, we can execute many of them blindfolded
and with our ears and noses plugged up and our skin covered with cloth.
In other words, visual, auditory, olfactory and tactual stimuli no longer
have to be placed at turning points. What has happened? A second stage
of conditioning has taken place. In the early stages of the learning pro-
cess, each time the visual stimulus is given us we make a muscular re-
sponse (with our striped muscles) to that visual stimulus. In a very
short time the muscular response itself can serve as a stimulus to set off
the next motor response in order, and then the next motor response can
set off the succeeding motor response, so that thereafter complicated mazes
can be run, complicated acts of various kinds can be accomplished without
the presence of visual, auditory, olfactory and tactual stimuli. The mus-
cular stimuli coming from the movements of the muscles themselves are
all we need to keep our manual responses occurring in proper sequence
To understand this process thoroughly, you should recall what I told you
about the muscles being not only responding organs but sense organs as
well. We can diagram this double conditioning as follows:


eh ee ee Oe eee a en ee — abe _


ee ee


Pe ee ee ae ee


i |
2}
|
|


OUR MANUAL HABITS 177


After the individual is conditioned to respond to the sight of the circle
us:


Me pe er es BS CC i
(1st order) Visual (circle) Two steps to right (or any other
Then muscular response called for by
(after further conditioning) habit series )
Movement of muscle itself. Can call out the identical response.


This is often called a kinaesthetic or “muscular” habit. Our internal lang-
uage habits (thought) are very good examples of such habits. There
seems to be a strong tendency for all of our habits to reach this second
stage which we may call kinaesthetic. This process represents no mysteri-
ous vitalistic energy-saving function on the part of the organism. It is ex-
ape what you would expect from the law of the formation of conditioned
reflexes.


Has the Behaviorist Any Memory


The behaviorist never uses the term “memory.” He believes that it
has no place in an objective psychology. This state of affairs seems to
worry a good many psychologists and all of the general public who at-
tempt to read behavioristic writings.


Let us see how we come out when we appeal to the facts. Let us
start with an animal lower in the scale than the human—with the white
rat, for example. I have in front of me the record of a rat’s learning of
the maze. It took this particular rat 40 minutes, on his first trip, to get to
the food in the center of the maze. He made almost every error that it
is possible to make in the maze—that is, he retraced his steps many times
and ran into all the blind alleys again and again. On his 7th trial he got
to the food in 4 minutes and made only 8 errors. On his 20th trial he
reached the food in 2 minutes and made only 6 errors. On his 30th trip
he reached the food in 10 seconds and made no errors. On his 35th trip
and on practically every trip thereafter for 150 trips, he reached the food
in about 6 seconds and made no errors. From the 35th trip on, he ran the
maze like a beautiful machine. No further work in the maze improved
his record. Learning was complete. He had reached his limit in speed.


Suppose we keep the rat away from the maze for six months. Does
he have any memory of it? Let us not speculate. Let us try him out. We
arrange everything as it was on his last trip. To our astonishment we find
that he gets to the food in just 2 minutes and makes only 6 errors. In


178 BEHAVIORISM


other words, the habit of running the maze was lar gely retained. A part
of the organization was gone, but even at the end of 6 months without
practise his initial relearning record was as good as was the record of his
20th trial in the original learning series.


Let us next look at the record of a Rhesus monkey learning to open
a complicated problem box. It took him 20 minutes to open it the first
time. On the 20th trial, 20 days later, it took him only 2 seconds to open
it. We gave him no further practise for 6 months, then we tried him
again. He opened it in 4 seconds with barely a fumble.


Are things different with the human child? The year-old child crawls
to his father, gurgles and coos and pulls at his legs. He will come to his
father if a dozen people are in the room. Now send him off for two
months and surround him with other people. Try him again with his
father. He no longer crawls (or walks) to his father but goes to the per-
son who fed and cared for him during the two months interval (much to
the chagrin of the father if it happens to be his first-born and only boy).
His habit of reacting positively to his father has been lost.


Let us take the three-year-old boy and let him learn to ride his scooter
and tricycle until they are skillfully handled. Put them away for six
months and test him again. He dashes off on either with little loss in skill.


Finally, take a youth of twenty and let him learn to play golf. Keep
a record of his slow, laborious progress in mastering the game. In two
years, with twice weekly practise, he will get his score down to 80 or to an
occasional 78 on an 18-hole course. Take him away from golf for three
years and try him again. He will probably make a 95 on his first round.
In two weeks he will again be making his 80.


Putting all of our various facts together, we find that after a manual
act has been learned and then put aside for a definite period of disuse or
no practise—some loss in the efficiency of the habit occurs, but usually
(except for the baby in our illustration, for instance) the loss is not total.


If the period of disuse is long enough, a total loss can occur in any habit. —


The amount of loss in a given habit varies in different individuals. Again,
the same individual will show a different rate of loss for different types of
habit. ~


It is astonishing, however, how little loss there is in most of our man-
ual habits during relatively long periods of disuse; e. g. swimming, box-
ing, shooting, skating, dancing, golf and the like. If a poor shot or an
inexpert golfer tells you that he was good five years ago but that lack of


or get ee nm


I er Ft oe


OUR MANUAL HABITS 172


practise has made him poor, don’t believe him; he never was good! In
general, if we keep a record of an individual’s learning and compare it with
his relearning record, we can always measure accurately the loss during
any given period of disuse.


: But to come back to the question of our need for the term “memory”
in psychology: the behaviorist if he were speaking scientifically, would
never say, “Does James remember how to ride his bicycle after all these
years of no practise?” He would say, rather, “How accurately can James
ride his bicycle now that he hasn’t touched it in five years ?” He doesn’t
ask James to introspect and tell him. He proceeds to give James his bi-
cycle and then to measure the time for riding six blocks, to record the num-
ber of falls, and the like. At the end of the test he will say, “James rides
his bicycle 75% as well as he rode it five years ago.” In other words, to
find out how much has been retained and how much has been lost, the be-
haviorist has only to put the individual into the old situation, after a period
of no practise, and watch what happens. If James in the above situation
rode no better than he did the first day he got his bicycle, the behaviorist
would say, “James has lost the habit of riding a bicycle.”


This applies to every form of organization the human being puts on.
It is surprising how well even the simple conditioned reflexes are retained
by both humans and lower animals. In the laboratory I have been able to
re-establish a conditioned reflex to a bell (R=withdrawal of finger) after
only one punishment with the electric current, following a year of no prac-
tise. G. V. Anrep speaks of a similar retention in the case of his dog after
a year of no practise (tonal stimulus with a conditioned salivary response).


So, instead of speaking of memory, the behaviorist speaks of the re-
tention of a given habit in terms of how much skill has been retained and
how much has been lost in the period of no practise. We do not need the
term “memory,” shot through as it is with all kinds of philosophical and
subjective connotations.


This treatment of memory is not complete because we have not yet
discussed word and language habits and their retention. The next lecture
concerns itself with the formation and retention of our verbal habits.


Xx
TALKING AND THINKING


Which, When Rightly Understood, Go Far In
Breaking Down the Fiction That There Is
Any Such Thing As ‘Mental’ Life


Introduction:—In my last lecture I brought out the fact that man,
although born more helpless almost than any other mammal, very quickly
learns to outstrip other animals by reason of the manual habits he acquires.
He can never learn how to run fast enough to win in a foot race with the
greyhound or the deer, he can never learn how to compete in sheer strength
with the horse or the elephant, yet he masters all of them. He does it by
learning how to construct and how to use manual devices. First he learns
to use a club and then to throw stones—later he learns to use the sling so
that he can throw stones with greater force. Then he constructs sharp
stone instruments. Next he fashions and uses the bow and the arrow
with which he can conquer even the fleetest of animals; then he learns
how to start a fire. Next he learns how to make bronze and iron knives,
then the cross bow and finally firearms. His mastery of the world is made
complete.


But with all the delicacy of his manipulative skill, man is not the ex-
clusive possessor even of acquired manual dexterity. The elephant can be
trained to load and unload heavy trucks of lumber. Even the lower types
of monkeys can be trained to manipulate delicate latches, pull strings and
the like. The chimpanzee learns to ride the bicycle with grace, to weave
his way on it in and out among a dozen bottles standing in a row without
touching one; to uncork and drink from a bottle, smoke a pipe, light a
cigarette, to lock and unlock doors and to do many hundreds of other
things. When he stands up and manipulates his world of objects with a
cap on his head and a pipe in his mouth, he looks wonderfully like the
usual caricature of the Irish hod carrier.


In this lecture we take up one great field of learned activities which
the brute cannot even enter, much less compete in. This is the field of
language habits—habits which when exercised implicitly behind the closed
doors of the lips we call thinking.


1 We will defer until later the question whether the man who cannot talk, cannot think, When
we have made our elementary presentation complete, you will find that man both talks and
thinks with his whole body—just as he does everything else with his whole body. We


will discuss this more completely in the next lecture.


180


A NL LO A se re i tal i es at a ys ce nt Socata


=


Sie


SO cs eae AO cnc om


TALKING AND THINKING 181


What is Language?


; Language as we ordinarily understand it, in spite of its complexities,
is in the beginning a very simple type of behavior. It is really a manipu-
lative habit. Down in the throat at the level of the Adam’s apple we have
a simple little instrument called the larynx or “voice box.” It is a tube
made up largely of cartilage across which two very simple membranes are
stretched (membranous glottis), the edges of which form the vocal cords.
Instead of manipulating this quite primitive instrument with our hands,
we manipulate it with its attached muscles as we expel the air from out
lungs. When you think of it, try to think of some simple reed instrument
which we hold between our lips and blow air through. We tighten the
vocal cords, change the width of the opening between them much as we
tune the strings of a violin by turning the pegs. The air is expelled from
the lungs through the opening between the vocal cords. This causes them
to vibrate and to give out a sound. We call this the voice. But as we
make this sound another group of muscles changes the shape of the throat,
still another set changes the position of the tongue, another the position
of the teeth, and still another the position of the lips. The mouth cavity
above the larynx and the visceral cavities below constantly alter in size
and in shape so as to change the volume of the sound, the character of
the sound (timbre), and the pitch of. the sound. All of these responses
are called into action the first time the baby cries. They are called into
action again when he makes his unlearned sounds such as “da” or “ma.”


The picture is then not very different from the one we saw in studying
the movements of hands and fingers, is it?


Early Vocal Sounds


You will recall, too, from the last lecture that in order to begin to
build in manipulative habits we have to have something to start on, namely
the unlearned movements of fingers, hands, toes and the like. In language
we have something similar to start on, namely the unlearned vocal sounds
the infant makes at birth and afterwards. From the first moment such
fnaads as “a.” “a,” “nah,” “wah,” “wuh”? appear, then later “la,”
“sh,” “ba,” “ahgoo,” “ma,” “da.’ Mrs. Blanton from her experience in
a nursery of 25 during the first month of infancy, says, “Of interest was
the variety of animal cries simulated in the nursery. The ‘pot-rack’ of the
quail, the cry of the goat, the whine of the young pig, and the wail of the

wild cat, each had a close imitation.”


182 BEHAVIORISM


Beginning of Word Organization


In studying manual activity we found that the habit of reaching begins
about the 120th day; that by the 150th day, under proper training, it is
fairly well developed. The first true vocal habit starts at a much later age
and develops more slowly. In some children we find no verbal habits of
the conventional kind even at 18 months of age. In some we find quite a
few at the end of the first year.


My wife and I attempted to form a simple verbal habit in a very
young infant. The experiments were carried out upon B—the infant
whose jealous behavior we have already taken up. He was born November
21st, 1921. Up to the end of the 5th month he showed merely the reper-
toire of almost every other child of that age. The cooing sounds, “ah goo”
and variations of “a” and “ah” were quite pronounced. We began on the
12th of May to tie this sound up to the bottle (this infant was bottle-fed
from the end of the second month). Our method was as follows: We
gave him the bottle and allowed him to nurse for a moment, then we took
it away and held it in front of him. He began to kick and squirm and
reach for it. We next gave the stimulus sound “da” aloud. We repeated
this procedure once per day for three weeks. When he began to whimper
and whine we always gave him the bottle. On June 5th, 1922, he said the
word “dada” when we gave the stimulus word and held the bottle in front
of him. The bottle was immediately given him. This procedure was
repeated three times with success on that occasion—each time we gave the
stimulus word. Then we took the bottle away five successive times and
without our giving the stimulus word he said “dada” for the bottle. At
one of the trials he kept on saying “da da,” “da da,” “da da,” several
times without our giving the stimulus word. Thereafter for several weeks
it was as easy to touch off this response as to call out any other bodily
reflex. The verbal response was confined almost exclusively to this one
stimulus. On a few ocasions he said it when his rabbit was held in front
of him but not when other things were shown him.


It was very interesting to note that on June 23rd he got his mouth
set on other types of sound, such as “boo-boo” and “bla-bla” and “g00-
goo” (newly appearing unlearned sounds). On this occasion he could not
reset for “dada.” He would splutter out these other sounds valiantly and
in a string but never once got out “dada.” On the following day “dada”
appeared again without the slightest difficulty. On July 1st the “dada”
sound was changed suddenly without any stimulus word being given to
“dad-en” with the old “dada” appearing once in awhile. I think it is quite
probable that if we had been willing to break up the infant's strict feeding


tn A i NR cae reli Ma lag Ps pt ntl Lg


TALKING AND THINKING 183


habits and had watched for the verbal occasions on which he himself made
the sound “dada” and had given him the bottle immediately, on each such
occasion, then he would have formed this habit much earlier and much
more quickly. I think it is quite debatable whether our speaking aloud the
stimulus word “dada” had the slightest effect in calling out this response
on the favorable occasion it did appear when we started to feed him. In
other words, I doubt that there was any verbal imitation at this early age.
Later on, of course, such so-called verbal imitation does appear but most
of it is more a matter of our imitating the child than the child imitating
us. Once these sound responses have been conditioned, naturally the whole
of language may be looked upon as being ‘imitative’ since socially the
spoken word of one individual is the stimulus touching off the same or
another verbal response in another individual.


Thus at the end of 614 months we established a conditioned vocal


response corresponding roughly, let us say, to the reaching habit which is
_ fairly well perfected at the end of the 150th day.


The Further Development of Language


After conditioned word responses have become partly established,
phrase and sentence habits begin to form, Naturally single word condi-
tioning does not stop. All types of word, phrase and sentence habits thus
develop simultaneously.


When B, whose word conditioning we have just considered, had 52
- words at his command! we noticed the first putting together of two words.
This occurred on August 13th, 1923, at the age of 1 year, 7 months, 25
days. For a month prior to that date we had been setting a verbal pattern:
of two words for some time, such as “hello, mama,” “hello, dada,” without
results. On this day his mother said, “Say goodbye to daddy.” She set
the pattern, “goodbye da.” He repeated after her, “bye”—then hesitation
and five seconds later came the word, “da.” This brought upon him a
shower of petting, verbal commendation and the like. Later in the day
he said with the same long interval between the two sounds, “bye—bow
wow.” On August 15th, two days later, we got him to say “hello—mama,”
“hello—Rose,” “ta-ta—Rose,” “ta-ta—mama” (“ta-ta” means “thank


1 The full list of his words is as follows: Ta-ta (thank you), Blea (please), Mama, Da, Roe
Cos No-No (Nora Heemneare, whey Oat UD GE O92" Jatin, Buday tore
ag ), Arche (Archer), Tick, (stick) Tor" (candy), Abba (Albert), Bleu S(blue),
More, Moe, (water), Bop, (boat) CP CGady), Gir (ail), Ae (eet eno0- Choo’ (train),
fal, Sa Gago tn is Ge) sl Son Cums Boeaeaiee:


184 BEHAVIORISM


you”). In each case the two word stimulus had to be given before the
response could be called out. He also said, “blea—mama” for the first
time. Never up to this time could we get the two word response without
giving the two word stimulus. On August 24th he put two words together
without any verbal stimulus from the parents, for example, he pointed to
his father’s shoe and said “shoe—da,” and pointing to his mother’ shoe,
“shoe—ma.” Then the next four days he used all of the above two word
responses at one time or another without any pattern being set, and some
additional ones for which a two word pattern had never been set, such as
the following: “tee-tee bow-wow (dog urinates), “bébé go-go” (when a
little neighbor took his cart), “mama toa,” “howdo shoes,” “haa mama,”
“awri mama.” Often when put back into his room for his sleep or his
midday nap, he ran over these words and combinations again and again
aloud in his room—an observation which has considerable importance in
the behaviorist’s theory of thinking as we shall see later.


From this time on development in the two-word stage took place
rapidly. The three-word stage was somewhat slow in coming as was talk-


ete al


ing in sentences corresponding to the ordinary adult social patterns. No ~


new facts, however, seemed to come to light during these stages.


At three years of age this child has a remarkable command of lan-
guage, although nothing has been done to force it. At one year of age he
had only 12 words which is about the average number for one year olds.
At 18 months B with his 52 words was distinctly behind the average, a
condition which often occurs when a child is constantly attended by a
nurse who waits upon it hand and foot—and in this case a French woman
who used scarcely a larger number of English words than the child used.
I mention these facts to bring out the point that many factors play a réle
in the speed at which word, phrase and sentence habits form,


Words Are But Substitutes for Objects and Situations


You can see from this example of the formation of single and double
word habits that the process is entirely analogous to that of the establish-


ment of simple conditioned motor reflexes such as the withdrawal of the
hand upon the presentation of an auditory or visual stimulus. We may
again employ our old familiar formula


oy Os CO Ba inal Ek.

Some intraorganic stimulus Dada
When conditioned—

then ss


Sight of bottle


TALKING AND THINKING 185


The unconditioned or unlearned stimulus is some change in the muscular
and glandular tissues of the throat, chest and mouth regions (of course
changes in this region in turn may have been brought about by stimulation
from the stomach or from the external environment, etc.). The unlearned
response is the vocal utterance we call ‘“dada”—in other words here, as in
manual activity, we have the unlearned and unconditioned responses to
start building upon. We watch our chances and build upon these. Word
conditioning in this early stage is pretty harum scarum because we know
so little about the fundamental stimuli calling out the repertoire of un-
learned vocal responses. Indeed we know more about the stimuli calling
out the unlearned responses of animals than we do in babies. I know how
to make a frog croak by rubbing a certain spot on its body. I can make
a dog bark, or a monkey give out a certain sound. I do not know how
to “press that button” on his body, be it inside or out, which will make a
baby say “da,” “glub,” “boo-boo” or “aw.” If I did, I could build in words
and phrases and sentences at an early date and very, very rapidly. In the
case of the-human young we just have to watch for a sound which is near-
est some conventional word and try to tie it up to the object (make it sub-
stitutible for the object) that calls out that word in the adult. In other
words, we begin to attempt to bring him into verbal conformity with his
group at even this early age. Sometimes we have to condition syllable by
syllable in order to get a complete word, that is, in a long word there may
be a dozen separate conditioned responses. A long word would thus corres-
pond to the picture I drew for you in my last lecture of the learning of the
miaze. But even so, it is my belief that in the unlearned sounds made by
the infant we have all the units of response which when later brought
together (by conditioning) are the words of our dictionaries. Thus all the
sounds that the distinguished, eloquent and facile lecturer makes in his
impassioned address are but his unlearned infantile sounds put together by
patient conditioning in infancy, childhood and youth,


One thing seems quite obvious in the formation of verbal habits and
that is that conditioned reflexes of the second, third and succeeding orders
are formed with very great rapidity. It is quite obvious in the child of
three that the word “mama” is called out (1) by the sight of the mother,
(2) by the photograph of the mother, (3) by the sound of her voice, (4)
by the sound of her footsteps, (5) by the sight of the printed English
word “mother,” (6) by the sight of the written English word “mother,”
(7) by the sight of the printed French word mére, (8) by the sight of the
written French word mére, and by several other stimuli such as the visual
stimulus of her hat, her clothes, her shoes, etc. While these substitute
stimuli are being set up, the response “mama” itself becomes elaborated.


186 BEHAVIORISM


Sometimes he screams it at the top of his voice, sometimes he speaks it
in an ordinary conversational tone, sometimes in a whining tone, some-
times down deep in his throat, sometimes softly, sometimes harshly. Set
verbal patterns for him to imitate and he can say “mama” in many differ-
ent ways. This means that the response “mama” is made with dozens
and possibly even with hundreds of different muscular sets.

In other words, in bringing children up in our own verbal footsteps
we verbally condition them as we were conditioned both as to the words
themselves (English, French, German, etc.), and as to their pronunciation
and inflexion. We can spot a Southern child by the way it says “store”
or “door” and by several phrases such as “you-all,” “may I carry you
home,” by a certain softness and a certain slowness in speech. We
can spot a Chicago child by the way it says one word, “water.” We can
spot the East Side newsboy of New York by the harshness of his high
pitched voice, and by the types of words he uses. We not only learn our
parents’ language—we learn their tricks of language as well. These differ-


ences between north and south, east and west, between the Latin or Oriental —


and the negro or the Saxon are not due to differences in throat formation
or in the numbers and types of the elementary unlearned infantile response
units. Many northern mothers and fathers went south in “carpet bagging”
times and their children learned to speak Southern and not New England
English. Certainly children of French parents put on perfect English
when brought to this country and reared by English people.


It is difficult to learn to speak a foreign language without accent if
we start to learn that language late in life for the very same reason that a
40-year-old blacksmith can never learn toe dancing. Habitual types of
response rob the organism of its muscular flexibility—they tend to shape
the actual structures of the body. A person always despondent, always
with drooping facial muscles, tends to take on that facial set that we char-
acterize as gloomy, despondent, kill-joy. Another important factor comes
in at this point, too. The larynx begins to change structurally in adoles-
cence. It actually becomes less flexible, less capable of being shaped to
utter new sounds.


As the child grows up then, it establishes a conditioned word response
for every object and situation in its external environment. Society in the
form of parent and teacher and other members of the social group arranges
this. But strange as it may seem at first sight, it does not have to be word
conditioned to many, many objects in its internal environment—to changes


in the viscera themselves—because parents and the other members of the


social group haven’t any words for them. Visceral happenings are at
present largely unverbalized even in the human race. The significance of


o a ee as : ‘ > ~~ 7 —
Nae I AP ELD AO IOI Pan SS en i Pra ig OR alma Dr an it lta ih tn Nt accel alge neg nape
ee ae


ee


Se ne


esl


Bair es en nea


TALKING AND THINKING 187


this as an explanation for the so-called ‘unconscious’ I shall bring out in
the next lecture. ‘


The Bodily Economy of Having Word Substitutes for Objects


The fact that every object and situation in the external environment
is named is of vast importance. Words not only can and do call out other
words, phrases and sentences, but when the human being is properly or-
ganized they can call out all of his manual activity. The words function
in the matter of calling out responses exactly as did the objects for which
the words serve as substitutes. Wasn’t it Dean Swift who had one of his
characters who couldn’t or wouldn’t speak carry around in a bag all the
objects of common use so that instead of having to say words to influence
the behavior of others, he pulled out the actual object from his bag and
showed it? The world would be in this situation today if we did not have
this equivalence for reaction between objects and words. You get some-
thing of the helpless state humanity would be in unless we had this equiva-
lence, in your own household when you by chance employ a Roumanian
nurse, a German cook and a French butler and you yourself speak only
English,


Think what it means in the economy of time and the ability to call
out cooperation from, groups to have word substitutes for objects common
to all members.


Soon the human has a: verbal substitute within himself theoretically
for every object in the world. Thereafter he carries the world around with
him by means of this organization. And he can manipulate this word
world in the privacy of his room or when he lies down in his bed in the
dark. Many of our discoveries come largely through this ability to ma-
nipulate a world of objects not actually present to our senses. Don’t make
the mistake that used to be made about “memory’—that “memories” are
crowded inside a theoretical mind like proverbial jacks in the box ready to
spring up even without a stimulus. We carry this world around with us
as actual bodily organization, in the muscular and glandular organization
of our throat, chest, etc. (including, of course, the sense organs in the
muscles and the nervous system). That organization is ready to function
day and night whenever the appropriate stimulus is given. What is this
appropriate stimulus?


The Final Stage in Our Word Organization (Kinaesthetic)


It is clear to you now that word habits are built up like manual habits.
You will recall that I pointed out to you (p. 176) that once a series of re-


188 BEHAVIORISM


sponses (manual habits) is organized around a series of objects, we can
run through the whole series of responses without having the original
series of objects present. In other words, when you are first learning to
pick out the air of “Yankee Doodle” on the piano with one finger from the
printed score, you first look at the score and see note G, then you strike it;
then you see note A and strike it; then note B and strike it, ete. Your
notes are a series of visual stimuli, your responses are organized accord-
ing to this series. But when you have practiced a short time, some one
can remove the score and you can go right on. You can even go to the
piano at night, if some one asks you to (in this case the spoken word of
a friend is the initial stimulus that starts the process going) and hammer
it out without a falter. You know how to explain this—you know that
the first muscular response you make—the first key you strike in beginning
to play the melody, substitutes for the visual stimulus of the second note.
Muscular stimuli (kinaesthetic) now serve in place of visual stimuli and
the whole process goes on as smoothly as before. I brought all this out
in an early lecture so that this explanation should be a fixed habit by now!


Now exactly the same thing happens in word behavior. Suppose you
read from your little book (your mother usually sets an auditory pattern),
“Now—I—lay—me—down—to—sleep.” The sight of “now” brings the
saying of “now” (response 1), the sight of “I,” response of saying “I”
(response 2) and so on throughout the series. Soon the mere saying of
“now” becomes the motor (kinaesthetic) stimulus for saying “I,” etc.*
This explains why we can shut off the world of stimuli and talk glibly
about sights and sounds in distant places or about things that happened
years ago. A chance word from a bystander, or a question of a friend,
or even the sights and sounds in front of you may touch off this old verbal
organization, But you say this is “memory.”


“Memory,” or the Retention of Verbal Habits


What the man on the street ordinarily means by an exhibition of mem-
ory is what occurs in some such situation as this: An old friend comes to
see him, after many years’ absence. The moment he sees this friend, he
says: “Upon my life! Addison Sims of Seattle! I haven’t seen you since the
World’s Fair in Chicago. Do you remember the gay parties we used to
have in the old Windermere Hotel? Do you remember the Midway?
Do you remember ,” etc., ad infinitum. The psychology of this process
is so simple that it seems almost an insult to your intelligence to discuss


1 In the next lecture we will diagram this whole process,


ee ns le ae Sate RC ty Pe


—


souiaiiimiaiaaaie


TALKING AND THINKING 189


it, and yet a good many of the behaviorists’ kindly critics have said that
behaviorism cannot adequately explain memory. Let us see if this is a fact.


_ When the man on the street originally made the acquaintance of Mr.
Sims, he saw him and was told his name at the same time. Possibly he
did not see him again until a week or two later. He had to be re-intro-
duced. Again, when he saw Mr. Sims he heard his name. Then, shortly
afterwards, the two men became friends and saw one another every day
and became really acquainted—that is, formed verbal and manual habits
towards one another and towards the same or similar situations. In other
words, the man on the street became completely organized to react in many
habit ways to Mr. Addison Sims, Finally, just the sight of the man, even
after months of absence, would call out not only the old verbal habits, but
many other types of bodily and visceral responses.”


Now, when Mr. Sims came into the room, the man on the street
might have rushed to him and showed every evidence of “memory,” but
when he got to him he might have stumbled over his name. If so, he
would have had to fall back on the old alibi, “Your face is familiar but I
can’t quite get back your name.” What happens here is that the old man-
ual and visceral organizations have persisted (handshaking, noisy welcome,
slapping on the shoulder, etc.), but the verbal organization is partially if
not wholly gone. One overt repetition of the verbal stimulus (the sound
of the name) would re-establish the whole of the old habit.


But Mr. Sims may have stayed away so long, or our original acquaint-
ance with him (period of practice) may have been so slight that, after an
absence of ten years, the whole organization may have been lost—manual,
visceral and verbal (all three are necessary to a complete reaction). In
your terminology, you would have completely “forgotten” Mr. Addison
Sims.


In the course of our lives we are daily being organized in this way
by the people we meet, by the books we read and study, and by the events
that happen to us. Sometimes the organization is incidental and casual;
sometimes it is drilled into us by teachers, as in the case of the multiplica-
tion tables, facts of history, stanzas of poetry and the like. In learn-
ing, sometimes the organization is predominantly manual (which we
studied in the last lecture), sometimes largely verbal (e, g., the multiplica-


1 Indeed you don’t need even the visual (or other sense organ) stimulus of Mr. Sims to start
verbal processes (‘memory’) going about that gentleman. Some one may, in the course
‘of a business conversation ask you about the type of people living in Seattle. This may
start off a whole chain of verbal organization a out the names of people living there.
Almost inevitably Mr. Sims’ name will come up in its turn,


190 BEHAVIORISM


tion tables), sometimes largely visceral; usually it is a combination of all
three. This organization is constantly renewed and strengthened, as long
as the stimulus is present daily (or frequently) ; but when the stimulus has
been long removed (period of no practice), the organization disintegrates
(retention becomes imperfect). When, after absence, the stimulus is pre-
sented once more, the responses involving the old manual habits appear
along with the name (laryngeal habits) and the smiling, laughter, etc.
(visceral habits), and the response is complete—“memory” is intact. Any
part of this total organization may be totally or partially absent. What
James means, behavioristically, when he says that a feeling of warmth and
intimacy clings around true memory, is that there has been a retention of
the visceral organization as well as of the laryngeal and manual organiza-
tions.


By “memory,” then, we mean nothing except the fact that when we
meet a stimulus again after an absence, we do the old habitual thing (say
the old words and show the old visceral—emotional—behavior) that we
learned to do when we were in the presence of that stimulus in the first
place.


If I had the time and you had the patience, I would take you over the
field of verbal learning and “forgetting” and show you how the two are
related. I would take up with you the effect of distribution of practice,
the experiments upon the diurnal course of efficiency in “memory” func-
tions, the so-called “fatigue” (or rather the almost lack of it) in the
exercise of a memory function! There are many thousands of experi-
ments in this chapter of psychology. Some of this chapter is interesting ;
less of it is valuable. I have given you enough of the behaviorists’ point
of view, though, for you to be able safely to read about these experiments
for yourself without danger of losing yourself in the introspective reports
which accompany them.


One further point should be mentioned. When a series of words or
nonsense syllables is learned, loss in retention is at first very rapid indeed.
This is quite in contrast to the facts I brought out about manual learning.
need the first rapid initial loss, however, the loss takes place much more
slowly.


What is Thinking?


You may agree with all I have had to say above. You may even have
wondered why I have spent so much time in talking about things which


1 These are all sometimes called mental functions—as for example fati i ental i
as contrasted with fatigue in a manual function, Almost hereuee the taitosperace ies
so-called functionalist use the term: mental, we use the natural science term verbal,


TALKING AND THINKING 191


are obvious to everyone. I did it because I wanted to give you a back-
ground to clear away any misunderstanding about the nature of thought.


Before trying to understand this theory of thinking which I am now
about to propound, won't you please pick up any of your present psycho-
logical texts and read the chapter on thinking? Won’t you then try to
digest some of the pabulum the philosophers have offered us on this all-
_ important function? I have tried to understand it. I had to give it up. I
believe you will give it up too. But until you have read their explanations,
don’t quarrel with the behaviorist for weaknesses in his presentation. His
own theory is quite simple. The only difficulty about it lies in your pre-
vious organization. You begin to resist it, to show negative reactions, the
moment you hear about it. You have been trained both at your
mother’s knee and in psychological laboratories to say that thinking
is something peculiarly uncorporeal, something very intangible, very evan-
escent, something peculiarly mental. To the behaviorist this resistance is
due to the reluctance of the psychologists to give up the teaching of
religion in their psychology. Thinking, on account of the concealed nature
of the musculature with which it is done, has always been inaccessible to
unaided observation and to direct experimentation. And there is always
a strong inclination to attach a mystery to something you can’t see. As
new scientific facts are discovered we have fewer and fewer phenomena
which cannot be observed, hence fewer and fewer pegs upon which to hang
our folk-lore. The behaviorist advances a natural science theory about
thinking which makes it just as simple, and just as much a part of biolog-
ical processes, as tennis playing.


The Behaviorist’s View of Thought


The behaviorist advances the view that what the psychologists have
hitherto called thought is in short nothing but talking to ourselves. The
evidence for this view is admittedly largely theoretical but it is the one
theory so far advanced which explains thought in terms of natural science.
I wish here expressly to affirm that in developing this view I have never
believed that the laryngeal movements (see page 181) as such played the
predominating role in thought. I admit that in my former presentations
I have, in order to gain pedagogical simplicity, expressed myself in ways
which can be so interpreted. We have all had the proofs before us time
and again that the larynx can be removed without completely destroying a
person’s ability to think. Removal of the larynx does destroy articulate
speech but it does not destroy whispered speech. Whispered speech (with-
out articulation) depends upon muscular responses of the cheek, tongue,


192 BEHAVIORISM


throat and chest—organization which, to be sure, has been built up with
the use of the larynx, but which remains ready to function after the larynx
has been removed. Anyone who has read my various presentations knows
that I have tried everywhere to emphasize the enormous complexity of the
musculature in the throat and chest. To claim that a mass of cartilage such
as that composing the larynx is responsible for thought (internal speech)
is like saying that the bone and cartilage that make up the elbow joint form
the chief organ with which one plays tennis.


My theory does hold that the muscular habits learned in overt speech
are responsible for implicit or internal speech (thought). It holds, too,
that there are hundreds of muscular combinations with which one can say
either aloud or to himself almost any word, so rich and so flexible is
language organization and so varied are our overt speech habits. A good
imitator, as you already know, can say the same phrases in dozens of differ-
ent ways, in a bass voice, in a tenor voice, in a mezzo, in a soprano, ina
loud whisper, in a soft whisper, as an English cockney would say them,
as a broken-English-speaking Frenchman would say them, as a Southerner
would say them, as a child, etc. The number and variety of habits we
form in the speaking of almost every word is thus well nigh legion. We
use speech, from infancy on, a thousand times to using our hands once.
From this circumstance there grows up a complexity of organization which
even the psychologist seemingly cannot grasp. Again, after our overt
speech habits are formed, we are constantly talking to ourselves (thought).
New combinations occur, new complexities arise, new substitutions take
place—for example, where the shrug of the shoulders or the movement
of any other bodily part becomes substituted for a word. Soon any, and
every bodily response may become a word substitute (see p. 187).


The alternative sometimes advanced to this theory is that so-called
central processes may take place in the brain so faintly that no neural
impulse passes out over the motor nerve to the muscle, hence no response
takes place in the muscles and glands. Even Lashley and his students, on
account of their strong interest in the nervous system, seem to hold this
view. Recently Agnes M. Thorson’ has found that tongue movements are
not universally present in internal speech. This, even if true, can have no


1 The Relation of Tongue Movements to Internal Speech, Journal of Experimental Psychology.
1925. Her experiments are very inconclusive. Tongue movements were recorded by a
compound system of delicate levers. Her setup could probably be depended upon for
[positive results, but the method was too inexact to serve as a basis for negative conclu-
sions, No instrument less sensitive than the string galvanometer can be depended upon
for negative results. Her saying that because she could find by the use of this method
no correlation between tongue movements and internal speechi therefore “this leaves only
the hypothesis that the activities are intra-neural, and do not necessarily involve complete
motor expression at each stage of the process’—is in need of modification,


‘i il lly ti Pee Sete ls cl I Dalene


ee


TALKING AND THINKING 193


bearing upon the present view. The tongue, while bearing very delicate
receptors, is on the muscular side a bulk organ for rolling our food around.
It plays a part in internal speech to be sure, but probably about the same
part that the fist of the jazz cornet player plays when he thrusts it into the
horn to modify the sound.


Some Positive Evidence for the Behaviorist’s View


(1) Our main line of evidence comes from watching the child’s
behavior. The child talks incessantly when alone, as I pointed out a
moment ago (p. 184). At three he even plans the day aloud, as my own
ear placed outside the keyhole of the nursery door has very often con-
firmed. Aloud he voices (may I use literary terms and not psychological
ones?) his wishes, his hopes, his fears, his annoyances, his dissatisfactions
with his nurse or his father. Soon society in the form of nurse and par-
ents steps in. “Don’t talk aloud—daddy and mother are not always talking
to themselves.” Soon the overt speech dies down to whispered speech and
a good lip reader can still read what the child thinks of the world and of
himself. Some individuals never even make this concession to society.
When alone they talk aloud to themselves. A still larger number never
go beyond even the whispering stage when alone. Watch people reading

on the street car; peep through the keyhole some time when individuals
not too highly socialized are just sitting and thinking. But the great
majority of people pass on to the third stage under the influence of social
pressure constantly exerted. “Quit whispering to yourself,” and “Can’t you
even read without moving your lips?” and the like are constant mandates.
Soon the process is forced to take place behind the lips. Behind these walls
you can call the biggest bully the worst name you can think of without
even smiling. You can tell the female bore how terrible she really is and
the next moment smile and overtly pay her a verbal compliment,


(2) I have collected considerable evidence that those deaf and dumb
individuals who when talking use manual movements instead of words,
use the same manual responses they employ in talking, in their own think-
ing. But even here society forces minimal movements so that evidence of
overt responses is often hard to obtain. To Dr. W. I. Thomas I am in-
debted for the following observation: Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, Super-
intendent of the Perkins Institute and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind,
taught the deaf, dumb and blind Laura Bridgman a hand and finger
language. He states (in one of the annual reports of the Institute) that
even in her dreams Laura talked to herself using the finger language with


great rapidity.


194. BEHAVIORISM


Possibly it always will be difficult to obtain an overwhelming mass of
positive evidence for this view. The processes are faint and other pro-
cesses such as swallowing, breathing, circulation, etc., are always going on
and they will probably always obscure the more delicate internal speech
activities. But there is no other theory at present advanced which is ten-
able—no other view in line with the known facts of physiology.


This throws all the burden of proof on any contrary hypothesis, such
as that advanced by the imagists and by the psychological irradiationists.
Naturally we are all interested in facts. If when they are obtained they
make the present theory untenable, the behaviorist will give it up cheer-
fully. But the whole physiological conception of motor activity—that
motor activity follows sensory stimulation—will have to be given up along
with it,


When and How We Think


Before trying to answer the question “When do we think ?’, let me put
a question to you. When do you act with your hands, legs, trunk, etc?
You answer rightly, “Whenever action with hands and legs and trunk will
help me escape from a situation to which I am not adjusted.” The example I
used in the last lecture (p. 161) was walking to the icebox and eating when
stomach contractions became intense; or pasting a piece of paper over a
hole in the window shade to shut out the light. I would like to ask one
other question, too. When do we overtly act with the laryngeal muscles
—in other words, when do we talk and whisper aloud? The answer is:
Whenever a situation demands it—whenever overt action with the voice
will help us out of a situation which we cannot get out of otherwise. For
example: I get upon a platform to lecture; I won’t get my fifty dollars
unless the words are forthcoming. I have broken through the ice and am
in the water; I cannot get out unless I call aloud for help. Again, some-
body asks me a question; politeness bids me return a civil answer.


This all seems fairly clear. Now let us go back to our original ques-
tion—when do we think? And please bear in mind that thinking with us
is subvocal talking. We think whenever by the subvocal use of our lan-
guage organization we can escape from a situation to which we are not
adjusted. Thousands of examples of such situations confront you almost
daily. I will give you a rather dramatic one. R’s employer called him in
one day and said, “I think you would become a much more stable member
of this organization if you would get married. Will you do it? I want
you to answer me one way or the other before you leave this room, because
you either have to get married or I am going to fire you.” R cannot talk


TALKING AND THINKING 195


aloud to himself. He would tell too much about his ptivate affairs. If
he did, he would probably get fired anyway! Manual action will not help
him out. He has to think it out and having thought it out he must speak
aloud “yes” or “no”—make the final overt response in a whole series of
subvocal reactions. Not all situations which must be met by subvocal
language responses are quite so severe or so dramatic. Daily you are asked
such questions as, “Can you lunch with me next Thursday ?”—“Would it
be possible for you to take a trip to Chicago next week?”—“Could you
lend me one hundred dollars until the first of the month?’—and the like.


In accordance with our theory of thinking we would like to suggest
certain definitions and propositions.


The term “thinking” should cover all word behavior of whatever kind
that goes on subvocally. You immediately say: “Well, you told us just
awhile ago that there are people who think aloud and people who never
get beyond the whispering stage.” By definition this would not be think-
ing in the strict sense. We would have to say in such cases: He talks out
his verbal problems aloud to himself or he whispers them aloud to himself.
This does not mean that thinking is really different from the process of
talking or whispering aloud to oneself. But since most people do really
think according to the strict definition of the term, how many obviously
different kinds of thinking must we assume in order to account for all the
facts that we know about thinking—which facts we arrive at by watching
the end result of thinking? And by end result we mean the final overtly
spoken word (conclusion) of the individual, or the manual action that he
performs after the process of thinking comes to an end. We believe that
all forms of thinking can be brought under the following heads:


(1) The subvocal use of words which have been already completely
habitized. For example, suppose I ask you the question, “What is the
last word in the little prayer ‘Now I lay me down to sleep’ ?? Tf the ques-
tion has not been asked before, you merely run it off to yourself and then
respond overtly with the word “take.” No learning whatsoever is involved
in thinking of this kind. You run through the old verbal habit just the
way the accomplished musician runs through a familiar selection, or a child
says a well memorized multiplication table aloud. You are merely exer-
cising implicitly a verbal function you have already acquired,


(2) Thinking of a slightly different type goes on where fairly well
organized implicit verbal processes are initiated by the situation or stimu-
lus but are not so well or so recently exercised that they can function with-
out some learning or relearning occurring. I can make this clear also by


196 BEHAVIORISM


an example. Very few of you can give me offhand the result of subvocally
multiplying 333 by 33, yet all of you are familiar with subvocal arithmetic.
No new process or procedure is demanded, and with a few inefficient
verbal movements (verbal fumbling) you can arrive at the correct answer.
The organization for carrying out this operation is all there but it is a
little rusty. It has to be practiced before the operation can proceed
smoothly. Two weeks of practice of three place numbers by two place
numbers will enable you to give perfect answers almost immediately. We
have in this type of thinking something similar to what we have in many
manual activities, Nearly everybody knows how to shuffle and deal cards.
At the end of a long summer vacation we get pretty adept at it. If we
happen to go a year or two without playing bridge and then take up the
cards to shuffle and deal, thé operation is a little rusty, must be practiced
for a few days before we become adept again. Similarly in this kind of
thinking ,we are exercising a verbal function implicitly which we never


completely acquired, or acquired so long ago that there has been some loss
in retention.


(3) There is still another kind of thinking. Historically it has been
called constructive thinking, planning, and the like. It always involves
the same amount of learning that any first trial involves. The situation
is new, or practically new to us—that is, it is as new as any situation can
be to us. Before I give you an example of a new thinking situation, let
me give you an example of a new manual situation. I first blindfold you
and then hand you a mechanical puzzle consisting of three rings joined to-
gether. The problem is to get the three rings to come apart. No amount
of thinking or “reasoning” or even talking aloud or whispering to yourself
will bring the solution. In my last lecture I described your behavior in
getting out of this situation. You would bring to bear all your previous
manual organization upon the present problem. You would pull at the
rings, turn them this way and that; finally in one combination of positions
of the rings they would suddenly slip apart. Such a situation corresponds
to one trial—the first one in a regular learning experiment,


In a similar way we are often placed in new thinking situations. We
have to get out of them by following a similar procedure. Isgave you an
example a moment ago when I told you about the employer who asked his
employee to get married. Here is another example,


Your friend comes to you and tells you that he is forming a new
business. He asks you to leave your present splendid position and come
into the new business as an equal partner. He is a responsible person; he
has good financial backing. He makes the offer attractive. _He urges the


Fo ee yg cg A FR ITE Ae a a i AR A A A gee lt Ate pu Peary alt Oe ee ee ee


~e


OR etn A i


TALKING AND THINKING 197


larger ultimate profits you will make. He enlarges upon the fact that
you will be your own boss. He has to leave at once to see other people
interested in the venture. He asks you to call him up and give him an
answer in an hour. Will you think? Yes, you will, and you’ll walk the
floor too, and you will pull your hair, and you may even sweat and you
will smoke. Follow out the process step by step: Your whole body is as
busy as though you were cracking rock—but your laryngeal mechanisms
are setting the pace—they are dominant.


_ Let me say once again for emphasis that the most interesting point in
this kind of thinking is the fact that after such new thinking situations
have been met or solved once, we usually do not have to face them again
exactly in the same form. Only the first trial of the learning process takes
place. But many of our manual situations are like this too. Suppose I
start out to drive my car to Washington. I do not know much about the
insides of a car. The car stops—something is wrong. I work and work
and finally get it going. Fifty miles farther on something goes wrong
again. Again I meet the situation. In real life we go from one difficult
situation to another, but each situation is a little different from all the
others (except where we are acquiring definite functions like typewriting
or other acts of skill). We cannot plot the curves of our escapes from
these situations as we can plot learning curves in the laboratory. Our daily
thinking activity goes on in exactly the same way. Complicated verbal
situations usually have to be thought out but once, :


What evidence has the behaviorist that the complicated thinking such
as we have just described goes on in terms of internal speech? I find that
when I ask my subjects to think aloud they do so, and in terms of words
(other bodily accessory movements do occur, of course). Their behavior
in reacting in words is quite similar psychologically to the behavior of the
rat in the maze. I cannot take the time to dwell very long upon this. You
will remember that in the last lecture I told you that the rat started out
from the entrance point slowly; that on the straightaways he ran rapidly;
that he blundered into the blind alleys and often went back to the starting
point, instead of going on towards food; that, after getting back to the
starting point, he would turn and again start towards the food. Now put
a question to your subject. Ask him to tell you what a certain object is to
be used for (it must be new and strange to him, and complicated) and ask
him to figure it out aloud. See if he does not wander about into every
possible verbal blind alley, get lost, come back and ask you to start him off
again, or to show him the object or to tell him again all you propose to tell
him about it, until finally he arrives at the solution or else gives it up (the


198 BEHAVIORISM


equivalent of the rat’s giving up the problem of the maze and lying down
in it and going to sleep).


I am sure that when you have tried this out for yourself you will be
convinced that you have an accurate story of how your subject worked
his problem out by word behavior. If then, you grant that you have the
whole story of thinking when he thinks aloud, why make a mystery out
of it when he thinks to himself ?


You may object here and ask—how does the subject know when to
stop thinking, when he has solved his problem? You may argue that the
rat ‘knows’ when it has solved its problem because it gets the food which
makes the hunger contractions die down. How does a man know when a
verbal problem is solved? The answer is equally simple. Why in our
last lecture didn’t our individual keep pasting pieces of paper over the hole
in the shade when he had shut out the light? Because the light was no
longer present as a stimulus to keep him moving. Just so in thinking
situations; as long as there are elements in the situation (verbal) that
keep stimulating the individual to further internal speech, the process keeps
going. When he reaches a verbal conclusion, there is no further stimulus
to thinking (equivalent of getting food). But the verbal conclusion, the
Q. E. D., may not be reached at one sitting—he may get tired or bored. He
goes to sleep and tackles it again the next day—if it has to be tackled.


How the ‘new’ comes into being:—One natural question often raised
is: How do we ever get new verbal creations such as a poem or a bril-
liant essay? The answer is that we get them by manipulating words,
shifting them about until a new pattern is hit upon. Since we are never
twice in the same general situation when we begin to think, the word pat-
terns will always be different. The elements are all old, that is the words
that present themselves are just our standard vocabulary—it is only the
arrangement that is different. Why can’t you, who are not literary, write
@ poem or an essay? You can use all the words the literary man uses.
It is not your trade, you do not deal in words, your word manipulation is
poor; the literary man’s is good. He has manipulated words under the
influence of emotional and practical situations of one kind or another, as
you have manipulated the keys of the typewriter or a group of statistics,


or wood, brass and lead. It may help us to go to manual behavior again |


here. How do you suppose Patou builds a new gown? Has he any “pic-
ture in his mind” of what the gown is to look like when it is finished? He
has not, or he would not waste his time making it up; he would make a
rough sketch of it or he would tell his assistant how to make it. In starting
upon his work of creation, remember that his organization about gowns is


1 I SN ce ea


t=


—


my


ee es ke


Rats aS Teams oe


TALKING AND THINKING 199


enormous. Everything in the mode is at his finger tips, as is everything
that has been done in the past. He calls his model in, picks up a new piece
of silk, throws it around her; he pulls it in here, he pulls it out there,
makes it tight or loose at the waist, high or low, he makes the skirt short
or long. He manipulates the material until it takes on the semblance of
adress. He has to react to it as a new creation before manipulation stops.
Nothing exactly like it has ever been made before. His emotional reac-
tions are aroused one way or another by the finished product. He may rip
it off and start over again. On the other hand, he may smile and say,
“Voila, parfait!” In this case the model looks at herself in the mirror and
smiles and says, “Merci, monsieur.” The other assistants say, “Magni-
fique!” Behold, a Patou model has come into being! But suppose a rival
couturier happens to be present and Patou hears him in an aside say,
“Very pretty, but is it not a little like the one he made three years ago? Is
it that Patou grows a little stale? Is he not becoming too old to keep up
with this rapidly shifting world of fashion?’ One can believe that Patou
would tear off the creation and tramp it under foot. In this case manipula-
tion would start again. Not until the new creation aroused admiration and
commendation, both his own (an emotional reaction either verbalized or
unverbalized) and others’, would manipulation be complete (the equivalent
of the rat’s finding food).


The painter plies his trade in the same way, nor can the poet boast of
any other method. Perhaps the latter has just read Keats, perhaps he is
just back from a moonlight walk in the garden, perchance his beautiful
fianceé has hinted just a little strongly that he has never sung her charms
in sufficiently impassioned phrases. He goes to his room, the situation is
set for him, the only way he can escape it is to do something and the only
thing he can do is to manipulate words. The touch of the pencil starts the
verbal activity just as the whistle of the referee at the football games re-

-Jeases a group of fighting, struggling men. Naturally words expressive of
the romantic situation he is in soon flow—being in that situation he could
not compose a funeral dirge nor a humorous poem. Again the situation he
is in is slightly different from any other he was ever in before and there-
fore the pattern of his word creation will also be slightly new.*


4 In most artists and in most critics of art there is little of that mastery of technique that
comes from a lifetime of study with daily improvement as the goal. The artist draws
around him an admiring group or a patron and stops improving at the adolescent lev
Fence most artists are children—not intelligent at all. Most of the hokum comes from
atrons who think they understand art. It is their all-admiring attitude toward even a
Pedowe artist that keeps the artists children. If the so-called ‘high-brow’ patrons and
observers of art would only admit that they have no other basis for judg: art than that

Gt stirs up visceral (and at times manual and verbal) reactions, then we cou d not criticise
their pretensions. On this basis, good art for the child of five is one kegiat good art for
the Hottentot is another, good art for the sophisticated few in New York is still another.


200 BEHAVIORISM


Is There No Meaning in Acts


One of the chief criticisms directed against the behaviorist’s position
is that it is absolutely inadequate in its account of meaning. In our
definitions may I point out that the logic of the critic is poor here? _ The
theory must be judged on these premises. The premises of the behaviorist
contain no propositions about meaning. It is an historical word borrowed
from philosophy and introspective psychology. It has no scientific conno-
tation. Go again, please, to your psychologists and philosophers.


Let me paraphrase their words—the meaning of the fragrant, yellow
orange in front of me is an idea, but if at any time there happens to be an
idea in my mind instead of a perception, the meaning of that idea is another
idea, and so on ad infinitum. Mrs. Eddy, even in her most ingenious verbal
moments, could have constructed nothing more fitting to tantalize the
earnest seeker after knowledge than the current explanations of meaning.


Here is the story as I see it, since the behaviorist in order to protect


himself must give some kind of account of it. Let us take a simple case.
Let us take the object “fire.”


(1) Iam burnt by it at three years of age. For some time there-
after I run away from it. By a kindly process of unconditioning, my
family get me over the complete negative response. Then new condition-
ing takes - place.


(2) I learn to approach the fire after coming in from the cold.


_ (3) TI learn to cook my fish and game upon it on my first hunting
trip.


Still more hokum comes from the so-called art and dramatic critics. There really
should be no art or dramatic critics. Our visceral reactions—the final touchstone of
artistic judgments (at least of the so-called critics who are not artists themselves)—are our
own, They are all we have left_in the way of Tesponses that have not been under the
steam-roller Process of society. From an emotional standpoint, my criticism of a ‘picture,
a poem, or the playing of a piece of music is as good as anybody else’s. If I had to pass
a critical judgment upon a work of art, a picture for example, I should do it experi-
£ life wander one at


' v ch as magazines, knick-
knacks of one kind or another, two or three pictures on the wall, POL ee the pre


as reacting positively to it. At the end of the day I should be able to. Site -
called art critics will say your Picture is terrible, the children be mot "coke aoe tie


chuckle with glee over it, It will be


-called appreciation. Assum-
artist or nor deneste lenny Cee
7 ist or not depends

whether you can get an admiring group around you, whether Mr. and Mea x. Teer he


years or more before they do it) and


sn mee


TALKING AND THINKING 201


(4) TI learn that I can melt lead in it and that if I heat my iron red
hot I can fashion it to suit my needs.


During the course of many years I become conditioned in a hundred
ways to fire. In other words, depending upon the situation I am now in
and the series of situations leading up to the present one, I may do one of
a hundred things in the presence of fire. Asa matter of fact J do but one
at a time. Which one? The one which my previous organization and
my present physiological state call forth. I am hungry; the fire makes
me start to cook bacon and fry eggs. On another occasion I go to the brook
and get water to put out the fire after I am through camping. On another,
I run down the street yelling “Fire!’’ I chase to the telephone and send
for the fire department. On still another occasion when a forest fire
hedges me about, I jump into the lake. Ona cold day I stand in front of
the fire and toast my whole body. Again, under the influence of some propa-
gandist of murder, I pick up a burning brand and set fire to a whole
village. If you are willing to agree that ‘meaning’ is just a way of saying
that out of all the ways the individual has of reacting to this object, at any
one time he reacts in only one of these ways, then I find no quarrel with
meaning. While I have chosen my illustrations in the manual field, the
same procedure holds good in the verbal field. In other words, when we
understand the genesis of all forms of an individual’s behavior, know the
varieties of his organization, can arrange or manipulate the various situa-
tions that will call out one or another form of his organization, then
we no longer need such a term as meaning. Meaning is just one way of
telling what the individual is doing,


So the behaviorist can turn the tables upon his critics. They cannot
give any explanation of meaning. He can, but he does not believe the
word is needed or that it is useful except as a literary expression.’


In this preliminary sketch of the function of language in our total
organization, there are doubtless many things not clear to you. I have left
out of the discussion two problems which we must take up in the next
lecture. They are (1) What is the relation between verbal behavior and
mantal and visceral behavior? (2) Do we have to think always in terms of
words! ;


1 Many of the introspectionists’ terms should be similarly turned back upon them. For example,
attention. The behaviorist, if he felt inclined, could “explain’’ attention and define it and
use it, but he doesn’t need the word. The introspectionist, even James, has to define it
in terms of vitalism as an active pence that selects this or that from other happenings.
Such terms, of course, only slowly die out. Until they are dead someone will always
be criticising the behavioristic explanation for inadequacy.


XI
DO WE ALWAYS THINK IN WORDS
Or Does Our Whole Body Do the Thinking?


Introduction :—In the last two lectures we have studied manual and
language habits as though they were organized in separate and distinct
ways—even at different times. My reason for taking them up in this way
was to get a much-needed simplicity in presentation. Now we must put
them together and show the mutual relations existing among language
organization, manual organization and visceral organization. I have sev-
eral times maintained that when an individual reacts to an object or situa-
tion, his whole body reacts. For us this means that manual organization,
language organization (after it begins) and visceral organization all func-
tion together—each and every time the body reacts. There are some ex-
ceptions to this, of course, but let us not trouble with them at the present
time. These three forms of organization could not function together in
mutually supplementary (and often in substitutive) ways unless we put on
Oe SE aan simultaneously as parts of one complete and integral

unction,


If this seems a bit difficult, possibly an illustration will clear it up.
Watch two individuals, as I recently did, walking through the woods. Sud-
denly a snake crawls out into their path, coils and sends forth a faint rattle.
Both spring back, turn pale, the hair on their heads stiffens, their mouths
fly open, respiration is checked. Suddenly one yells, “Snake,” the other
cries, “Rattler.” Both cry, “Kill it.” One runs for a large stick, the other
for a rock. While they are wresting implements from the wayside, the
snake starts for the brush. One calls out, “There he goes to the right under
that little scrub pine.” Let us turn from this interesting bit of natural
history back to the more prosaic discussion of behaviorism. Is there any
doubt in your minds that this coiled rattler produced a profound reaction
in each individual? Is there any doubt that language, manual and visceral
organizations functioned simultaneously ? ©


~%


Simultaneous Acquisition of Manual, Language and Visceral Organizations


It certainly requires little argument to convince those of you interested


in genetic psychology, that our hands, larynx and viscera learn together —


and later function together. Under the influence of social demands, the —


young, developing human who has well entered into his world of speech has
202


,


POD enc


DO WE ALWAYS THINK IN WORDS 203


to put on his verbal and visceral habits simultaneously with his manual
habits. The only exception is the silent soul who grows up in an isolated
community around parents too stern to talk to him. In his case speech
habits lag behind the other two sets. Possibly it is more nearly accurate
to say that verbal, manual and laryngeal activities become organized to-
gether as parts of the total habit system we form around each object and
situation in the world we live in. We may illustrate this by a simple sketch.


‘Extor


Fig 16


Rough sketch showing what goes on in learning to play golf. Our hands (and
arms, trunk, legs and feet), our larynx and our viscera all learn at the same time
how to play golf.


A—shows the curve of manual organization
B—the verbal organization
C—the visceral organization


This rough sketch gives you an indication of the kind of organization
that goes on when we learn to play golf. The three separate but not inde-
pendent habit systems are shown developing together—the arrows indicate
that they are mutually interdependent: (A) represents manual organiza-
tion in playing golf—the use of feet, legs, trunk, arms, hands and fingers ;
(B) represents language—overt, whispering, subvocal, such as the names
of the holes, the clubs, types of shots, the various lies, how the shot should
be played, the types of faults we make in playing, repetition of the admo-
nition of the professional who is teaching us, and the like; (C) represents
the curve of visceral organization—circulation changes occur during,
before and after each shot is made, the stomach glands change their
rhythm, the elimination apparatus is probably slowed down or else speeded


204 BEHAVIORISM


up, all of the viscera must share in the training. I do not have to corivince
you of our right to include visceral organization in our total organization
for playing golf. In Lecture 4 I talked to you about the great mass of
unstriped muscular tissue we have all over the body. It is the main mass
composing the stomach, heart, lungs, diaphragm, blood vessels, glands,
excretory organs, and sex organs. I spoke there of the evidence that is
slowly accumulating to show that the movements of these muscular and
glandular organs soon become conditioned. I need only to enumerate our
facts again. Eliminative functions become conditioned at an early age.
The glands of the mouth and stomach and possibly many others likewise
soon become set in habit moulds. The pupils of the eyes, breathing, and
circulation all show the effects of habit formation. Now these so-called
autonomic processes do not become conditioned for no reason at all. They
actually play a rdle in acts of skill, Who can shoot accurately or drive a
golf ball well if eliminative functions are threatening, with a full bladder,
with gas pressure, if the sweat glands are not functioning, or are function-
ing too intensely, if the mouth is dry, if digestion is upset, if yawning takes
place just as a shot is being made, if internal sex stimuli are insistent? All
of these must fall into line when accurate acts of skill are taking place.
They are just as dangerous to efficiency as instability and trembling in the
striped muscles of our arms and legs, or as are sore and hide-bound mus-
cles of arms and fingers.


I will assume, then, that training of the viscera, even in acts of motor
skill, is just as important as training of hands and fingers. Language is an
equally important element in the total bodily organization that goes on in
acquiring acts of skill.


Oftentimes, indeed, it is more important. The business man must
talk golfing, hunting, fishing and the like even if he cannot exhibit much
proficiency in them. He can always refuse to go golfing, hunting or fishing
when his lack of manual skill is not equal to his verbal performance, but
he cannot refuse to talk about the technical points of these avocations and
stay in the athletic group.


Furthermore, since so many millions of man’s adjustments are verbal,
the verbal organization soon comes to be dominant: This dominating
verbal process soon comes to initiate and control arm, leg and trunk organi-
zation.”


» See K. S. Lashley’s article, Psychol. Rev., 1923,


2 A fact which, if it had been _grasped by the introspectionists, would have saved them from con-
siderable perturbation. For example, when they call themselves Parallelists on the first page
and use interaction all through the rest of their text; when they try to make ‘consciousness’
do something—correct an error in a habit—or fix the happy accidental successful movement
when a new habit is being formed by the trial and error process,


aa.


en


alle es


Caracal


DO WE ALWAYS THINK IN WORDS 205


Watch the golfer as he makes a bad shot; ask him what he did wrong.
If you are a lip reader you can in many cases read his words without asking
him any questions. “I stood too close to the ball. I’ve got to learn to
stand back. I bent my legs; I didn’t follow through.” Watch him address
the ball for his next shot. He says to himself, “Stand back a little.” and
he steps back, etc. The verbal organization, in addition to its usefulness
in getting notice in the club house, is on the field an intimate part of the
total organization called into action when learning to play golf,


___ The behaviorist believes that the verbal process whenever it is present
is always an actual functioning part of every act of skill.


If this view, that we verbalize ou manual acts, is accepted, it
gives us a new way of looking at “memory” which we discussed in the last
lecture. You can see that “memory” is really the functioning of the verbal
part of a total habit. Once we have verbalized a bodily habit we can always
talk about it. If you couldn’t talk about golf, the only way you could
prove or exhibit your organization in it (your “memory” of it) would be
to go to the golf field and play it out hole by hole. But the situation for
touching off your verbal organization on golf occurs a thousand times more
frequently than does the actual situation touching off your organization
for playing golf (simultaneous presence of links, leisure, clubs, golf balls,
companions, clothes, plus bodily and verbal set—“I am going to play golf

now”). What is popularly meant by “memory” is, then, the running
through or exhibition of the verbal part of a total bodily organization. The
manual part of this organization is not being called out—if the manual part
were called out, we’d say “he is doing it” instead of “he is remembering
it” I made it clear to you in lecture 9 that if one other part—the manual
(‘A’ in our diagram)—of the total organization should become operative
under appropriate stimulation (of the golf field), the individual’s organized
manual response with the club would be just as good a demonstration of
“memory” as the verbal talk about golf.


Now let us attempt to make the whole process of bodily integration
involving all these factors clear by a series of diagrams. Let us first dia-
gram hand response to visual stimuli. In these diagrams we are not pictur-
ing the nervous system but units of bodily organization involving receptors,
conductors, effectors, with all their subsidiaries,


Environment, presenting as it does its objects always in a series (be-
cause man is a moving animal), forces a certain 1—2—3 order in our man-
ual organization as Fig. 19 shows.


206 BEHAVIORISM


Series of objacts ( S€imutt)


Series of anaesthetic Responses ( menual Qipe


(Fig. 19)


Sketch to show how manual habits form. S1, S2, $3, etc., are objects (for
example, the separate notes of a musical score). RK1, RK2, etc., are the sepa-
rate manual responses made to each separate note. This shows that when you
see note G (S1) you strike Key G (RK1).


In this diagram S1, S2, etc., represent visual stimuli—for example, the
notes of a melody you are playing with one finger on the piano. RKI1,
RK2Z, RK3, etc., represent respectively the responses to the visual stimuli
wl, 52,.99,, etc,


But after the notes have been played a considerable number of times
(habit formed), only the initial note (S1) is necessary to call out the total
organization. The change in the diagrammatic illustration is now as


follows:
EI @) JO ¢*) )
Cs e coe
- Vs oa - ?
x


(x) — o= o= o=
(Fig. 20)
Fig. 20 shows what happens when you have learned to play a simple melody,
S1—the first note (G)—is shown you, then the score is taken away. But you go
on playing. Why? Because as soon as you saw the first note G and struck Key G
on the piano, that movement (RK1) became the stimulus for the next movement


(RK2). In other words, the first response you made became a substitute stimulus
for the second object.


RK1, RK2, RK3, RK4 and RK5, while they are still responses as in
the first case, when the notes could be seen, now become substitutible for


onaed


me
=


TALKING AND THINKING 207


the visual stimulus of the notes in the order in which they were learned ;
that is, the moment they cease being responses (or during the process)
they become kinaesthetic stimuli for the next response. This is the old
standard habit diagram I promised to give you in the last lecture.


This diagram is, of course, a classroom device. What is not often
incorporated in it—and this is the central topic in this lecture— is the fact
that the environment simultaneously organizes the other two sets of pro-
cesses—viz., those connected with words and those connected with the
viscera. Let us change our diagram to show the facts. In the diagram
below S1 and S2 remain the objects; RK1 stands for the kinaesthetic
organization with respect to the object; RV1 the verbal organization; and


(Fig. 21)
This simple diagram shows


the same facts as Fig. 18—that
whenever we react to any object
such as $1, we react not only
with the striped muscles of the
arms (RK1) but also verbally


. (RV1) and viscerally (RG1).


RG1 the visceral organization, respectively. I would like to point out here
that just as RK1 becomes a motor substitute stimulus for the object S2,
just so do RV1 and RG1 become laryngeal and visceral substitutes respect~
ively for S2.


Every complex bodily response then must involve manual, verbal and
visceral organizations. In acquiring skill in language, the segments of the
body undergoing the most active training or organization are the mouth,
neck, throat and chest ; in acquiring muscular skill, the most active segments
are the trunk, legs, arms, hands and fingers ; in acquiring emotional organi-
zation, the visceral segments are most active. In later everyday perform-


208 . BEHAVIORISM


ance we can describe the relative rdle each plays in any act of the whole
body by saying that in chopping wood, for example, manual organization
is most in evidence; in lecturing, the verbal; in grieving, sorrowing, loving,
the visceral,


Some Exceptions to the General Rule


I fear you will tell me that I no sooner make the waters clear for you
than I begin to muddy them again. However, we must stick as closely as
we can to the facts. There are at least two things in the way of accepting
the above generalization as a complete expression of the truth. Some
bodily organization seems to go on without the formation of corresponding
verbal habits, viz.,


(1) All organization put on in infancy;

(2) All organization put on throughout life where visceral segments are
dominant.

Let us look at each of these separately for a moment.


Organization in Infancy


The recent work on infants, with which you are now so familiar,
seems to show that an almost unbelievable amount of organization goes on
in infants too young to talk. This shows itself not only in the overt organi-
zation of arms and legs and trunk, but equally well in the visceral field, as
shown in the conditioned fears, rages, loves (taking the form of strong
attachments to mother or nurses), tantrums, negative reactions to people,
and the like.


Our observation shows that the infant cannot before thirty months of
age parallel each unit manual habit with a corresponding word habit, To-
day in front of me is a child two and one-fourth years of age. He can
speak, under appropriate stimulation of object or situation, possibly five
hundred words, but sentence formation is of the level of “Rose take Billy
bye-bye,” “Put Billy’s coat on,” etc. He is still at the age of incessant
repetition of words and sentences. When the nurse brings him in, the
father says: “What did you see, Billy?” and he says: “What did you see,”
etc. In contrast, this same infant learned to manipulate at two years of age
a rather large, pedalled ‘kiddy car,’ to propel it, guide it, mount it, coast
down hill, drag it up inclines and along the sidewalk, and to fly down.
He reacted against help, would fall off without crying, mount and start
over again. The only verbal parallel is, “Billy ride kiddy car.” There is
no verbal organization which you can call out relating to turning the bar to


|
Y
:
:
f
'


DO WE ALWAYS THINK IN WORDS 209


the left or right when he turns to left or right; about pedalling being
harder uphill than down; pointing out that the greater the incline the more
rapid his speed, and the like. Yet overt, manual responses are perfect,
even after weeks and months of no practice. This example from hundreds
of others shows that the manual habits of two-and-one-half-year-and-under
infants are unverbalized. The only way you can show ‘memory’ or organi-
zation in such cases is to put the child in the situation where he can exhibit
that bodily organization. Contrast this with the three-and-a-half to four-
year-old who goes walking, to a party or to a movie, or who takes a railway
trip, and talks you blind, deaf and dumb about it. This conception helps
us, I believe, in removing a lot of mystery in psychology, for example, it
throws most of Freud’s psychology out of court (but not his facts nor his
therapy).


The Freudians, as you know, claim that the childhood memories are
lost because childhood is an age where free, spontaneous actions bringing
‘pleasure’ come under the ban of the social; society punishes and a painful
repression into the ‘unconscious’ takes place. They claim further that these
childhood memories are lost until the analyst gives the mystical phrase
which opens the cave where the memories are stored. The unsatisfactory
ground for this assumption is now apparent. The child had never verbal-
ized these acts.


I have become totally skeptical of any so-called adult ‘memory’ ante-
dating certainly the two and one-half year childhood period. My skepti-
cism comes too from observation of children and not through any presup-
positions. Today I tested out a hungry two-and-one-fourth-year-old baby
with a nursing bottle filled with milk. The test in detail follows:


Test on Memory for Bottle


Baby B, 2 years, 3 months of age.


At 12:30 noon, the baby’s meal time, his regular nurse picked him up
and said: “Dinner, Billy,” laid him flat on his back in the crib as was her
usual custom when he formerly was fed from the bottle. She handed him
the warmed bottle just as she had one and one-fourth years before.


The baby took the bottle in both hands, then began to manipulate the
nipple with his finger, then began to cry because ‘dinner’ with him at noon,
at this age, consisted of meat and vegetables. When told to “Take his milk,
he put the nipple to his mouth and got a taste of milk and began to chew
the nipple. Nursing could not be called out. He called to his mother and
cried and handed her the bottle and raised himself to a sitting posture. He


210 BEHAVIORISM


pushed the bottle toward the mother, then toward the father, with both
hands. He was then let down to the floor and good humor was restored.


He was told “Jimmie drinks from bottle” (his infant brother). Then
he took the bottle, put it in his mouth and walked off, chewing the nipple
as he went. Nursing had disappeared through disuse. It had been ‘for-
gotten.* (This act when practiced can continue indefinitely. I have
records of children who nursed at the breast until they were over three
years of age.)


Billy nursed at the mother’s breast only during the first month and
was then put wholly on the bottle. At the end of nine months he was
‘ weaned from the bottle and made to drink from a silver mug. Until he
was one year of age he drank his morning orange juice from a nursing
bottle. He never saw a nursing bottle from that day until the day of the
test.


Before the test took place every effort was made to stir up a verbal
memory of some kind, but unavailingly. He was asked, “Didn’t you used
to drink from a bottle when you were little?’ Then he was told that he
used to drink from a bottle. Then he was asked, “Can’t Billy drink from
a bottle?” etc. His behavior throughout was exactly that of reacting to a
strange new object, of being forced to react to it when his whole body
was ready to react to his regular food.


___ The test shows that not only was there around this once all-important
infant act no verbal organization that could be tapped, but that even the
manual organization (including of course sucking, etc.) was gone.


Thus infancy, where the process of ‘repression’ is supposed to bury so


many unconscious treasures which come to light under the prestidigitation


of the analyst, turns out to be a wholly natural kind of state. Bodily habits
form normally, both habits of avoidance and approach, and habits of ma-
nipulation ; but the bodily habits lack verbal correlates because the infant
puts them on at a later age.


I believe the whole of Freud’s ‘unconscious’ can be adequately cared
for along the lines I have indicated. The Freudians have no positive evi-
dence to offer in controversion, at least they have offered none. I find no
actual observation in their literature of the day-by-day life of the infant.
Hug-Hellmuth’s volume on infant psychology might just as well have been


1 On the same date he was similarly given an opportunity to nurse from the breast. H. could
not be made to take the nipple into his mouth and began being t i
the lap in the nursing position, ot istics saan


om a IS A ln Ml


*


ti ——


. |


DO WE ALWAYS THINK IN WORDS 211


written without any infant being present, so inaccurate and non-scientific
are its observations and assumptions.


Unverbalized Organization Where Visceral Segments Dominate
During the Training Process


It has been demonstrated that conditioned visceral or emotional re-
sponses are constantly forming from infancy on; that these conditioned
responses are transferred to a variety of situations; and that they persist
for long periods of time, possibly throughout life. And yet we cannot talk
about visceral organization.


One reason for this is of course social. Society makes no demands
upon us, or few at any rate, to talk about unstriped muscular and glandular
habits. When conditioned salivary reflexes are established in childhood,
the child is never told about them; no demand is made upon man to verbal-
ize elimination habits, habits connected with the slowing or speeding of the
sexual orgasm. Few men and fewer women have paralleled their sex
organization with words.


Again, what child has ever verbally organized its incestuous attach-
ments? Notone. Nor has there been any ‘repression’ because society was
not and is not organized to place youthful incestuous attachments under
the ban (quite the contrary). Only a few days ago one of our most dis-
tinguished pediatricians, in condemning the idea of an experimental
nursery, said, “Infants need a mother’s love; they should be danced at her
knee, petted and made much of.” To tell a mother who is breeding habits
of dependence in her child by letting it always play under her eye, who
always feeds it herself (creating thereby a situation where a violent tan-
trum will occur if any one else ever has to feed it), that she is laying up
trouble for the child when it has to break its nest habits, is to arouse a
violent storm of protest.


Only a slight study of this feld convinces the geneticist that a large
part of our visceral organization goes on from infancy to old age without —
corresponding verbalization. Even an adequate list of names for visceral
objects and situations is absent and there is no social mechanism for the
word-conditioning of the developing subject. A little of it is verbalized.
This comes about when the acts of belching, elimination, releasing of gas,
masturbation, and the like are exhibited in the presence of elders. The
psychological process of verbal conditioning takes the form of, “You must
not let your stomach growl in company.” “Run outside or cough to cover
it up.” “Say ‘excuse me’ when you do that in company.” While many


212 BEHAVIORISM


similar examples of verbalization in the visceral realm occur, verbalization
is the exception, not the rule. To help you hold all this together, let me
give you a kind of general summary:


1.


ee


An enormous number of manual habits are formed, especially during
infancy, without corresponding verbal habits.


A still larger amount of visceral organization (organization in un-
striped muscles and glandular components) is constantly forming with-
out verbal organization, not only during infancy but also throughout
life.


The assumption seems to be reasonably grounded that this unverbal-
ized organization makes up the Freudian’s ‘unconscious.’ (Another
possible source of the so-called ‘unconscious’ in line with natural
science might be found in cases where for one reason or another the
verbal organization is blocked, e. g., where there is simultaneously
present a stimulus to say the girl’s name in a love affair and one to
remain silent. In such cases only the visceral organization appears,
such as incoherent sounds, blushing and the like.) It likewise makes
up possibly the introspectionist’s ‘affective processes,’


The genetic rule, when the proper age is reached, is to put on simul-
taneously word, manual and visceral organizations.


Once the verbalization of the manual begins, word organization soon
becomes dominant because man has to solve his problems verbally. The
word stimulus can thereafter call out any organized response in the
organism, or modify any activity already going on. For example, “I
must start to build that bookcase now,” or “I am shooting too high; I
must aim lower.”


That aspect of ‘memory, which is supposed by the introspectionist to
be difficult for the behaviorist to cope with, is merely the calling out
of the verbal parallel of manual habits earlier put on. Memory in the
behaviorist’s sense is any exhibition of manual, verbal or visceral
organization put on prior to the time of the test.


I believe that when subjective psychologists have given verbalization


its due place in the whole process of bodily organization they will be ready
to admit that being ‘conscious’ is merely a popular or literary phrase de-
scriptive of the act of naming our universe of objects both inside and out-
side, and that ‘introspecting’ is a much narrower popular phrase descriptive
of the more awkward act of naming tissue changes that are taking place,
i. e., movements of muscles, tendons, glandular secretions, respiration, cir-


ee ee
[ates oe ee ~


DO WE ALWAYS THINK IN WORDS 213


culation and the like. They must be looked upon solely as literary forms
of expression.


Can We Think Without Words?


All that we have said so far in this lecture helps us to understand the
more difficult phases of thinking which we could not go into in the last
lecture. One of the stumbling blocks in the way of the complete acceptance
of the behaviorist’s theory of thought is the implied assumption that we
think only in words, that is, in terms of verbal motor contractions. My
own answer has been: Yes, or in conditioned word substitutes, such as the
shrug of the shoulders or other bodily response, found in the eyelids, the
muscles of the eye or even in the retina (I assume of course that ‘images,’
those ghostlike ‘memory’ pictures of objects not present to the senses, have
been given up in psychology!) These conditioned substitutes represent the
abridging and short-circuiting process that goes on in all original learning.


I am inclined now to bring out some points I neglected in my 1920
paper before the International Congress for Psychology and Philosophy. I
should like to say here emphatically that whenever the individual is think-
ing, the whole of his bodily organization is at work (implicitly)—even
though the final solution shall be a spoken, written or subvocally expressed
verbal formulation. In other words, from the moment the thinking prob-
lem is set for the individual (by the situation he is in) activity is aroused
that may lead finally to adjustment. Sometimes the activity goes on in
terms of (1) implicit manual organization; more frequently in terms of
(2) implicit verbal organization; sometimes in terms of (3) implicit (or
even overt) visceral organization. If (1) or (3) dominates, thinking takes
place without words.


The diagram I show here is only an elaboration of Fig. 21. It
makes clear my own present convictions about thinking. In this diagram
I take it for granted that the body has been simultaneously organized to
respond to a series of objects, manually, verbally and viscerally (Fig. 18).
I take it for granted further that one of the objects, the initial one, S1, is
at hand and that it starts the body to work on its problem of thinking. The
object actually present may be a person asking the individual a question
(take the question I asked in my last lecture—“Will X leave his present
job to become Y’s partner?”). By hypothesis the world is shut off and he
has to think his problem out.


Please note that RK1 can arouse RK2, RV2, RG2; whereas RV1 can
call out RK2, RV2, RG2; and RG1 can call out RK2, RV2 or RG2; and
that all of them can serve respectively as kinaesthetic, laryngeal or visceral


214 BEHAVIORISM


net ¢
Be tts fhe buctes ts present.


(Fig. 22)


This diagram shows the behaviorist’s theory of thinking. Sometimes we think
by using manual, verbal and visceral organizations simultaneously. Sometimes only
the verbal, sometimes only the visceral and at other times only the manual. In the
diagram the organization taking part in the whole thinking process is enclosed be-
tween the two continuous solid lines.


The diagram shows clearly that thinking involves all three sets of our organized
reaction systems.


substitutes for S2, the next real object in the series of objects originally
producing the organization. Note that, in accordance with the diagram,
thinking activity may go on for a considerable time without words. If at
any step in the process the RV organization does not appear, thinking goes
on without words,


It seems reasonable, does it not, to suppose that thinking activity at
successive moments of time may be kinaesthetic, verbal or emotional.
When kinaesthetic organization becomes blocked or is lacking, then the
verbal processes function; if both are blocked, the emotional organization
becomes dominant. By hypotheses, however, the final response or adjust-
ment, if one is reached, must be verbal (subvocal). It is convenient to call
this final verbal act a judgment,


This line of argument shows how one’s total organization is brought
into the process of thinking. I think it shows clearly that manual and vis-
ceral organizations are operative in thinking even when no verbal processes
are present—it shows that we could still think in some sort of way even if
we had no words!


ee


A th


DO WE ALWAYS THINK IN WORDS 2kS


We thus think and plan with the whole body. But since, as I pointed
out above, word organization is, when present, probably usually dominant
over visceral and manual organization, we can say that ‘thinking’ is largely
subvocal talking—provided we hasten to explain that it can occur without
words.


This lecture has helped us to put various bits of the human being’s
organization, hitherto studied part by part, together again. We had to
dissect man for pedagogical purposes. In the next and final lecture, on
personality, we shall put man completely together and look at him as a com-
plicated, going, organic machine.


XII
PERSONALITY


Presenting the Thesis That Our Personality is But the
Out-growth of the Habits We Form


Introduction :—If a hundred individuals were asked to give a defini-
tion of personality, each of the hundred individuals regardless of his walk
in life would return an answer, and his answer would differ in many par-
ticulars from every other answer. It is a word used by almost everybody
from professors of psychology down to newsboys on the street. The
behaviorist usually likes to discard psychological words that have no pre-
cise meaning and that are so laden down by bad history, but through some
perversity of his nature he is trying to keep the term personality because
it does fit so beautifully into his general psychological system.


What Does the Behaviorist Mean by Personality?


All through our study of behavior so far we have had to dissect the
individual. We have had to talk about what the individual did in this, in
that or in the other situation. My excuse is that it was necessary to look
at the wheels before we could understand what the whole machine is good
for. In this lecture let us try to think of man as an assembled organic
machine ready to run. I mean nothing very difficult by this. Take four
wheels with tires, axles, differentials, gas engine, body; put them together
and we have an automobile of a sort. The automobile is good for certain
kinds of duties. Depending upon its makeup, we use it for one kind of
job or another. If it is a Ford, it is good for going to market, for running
errands and for driving over the roughest roads and in the most difficult
kinds of weather. If it is a Rolls Royce, it is good for pleasure riding,


calling on people who are just a little above us in the social scheme, im- —


pressing upon those poorer than ourselves that we are persons of wealth,
and the like. In a similar way this man, this organic animal, this John Doe,
who so far as parts are concerned is made up of head, arms, hands, trunk,
legs, feet, toes and nervous, muscular and glandular systems, who has no
education and is too old to get it, is good for certain jobs. He is as strong
as a mule, can work at manual labor all day long. He is too stupid to lie,
too bovine to laugh or play. He will work all right as a “white wing,” as a
digger of ditches or as a chopper of wood. Individual William Wilkins,
having the same bodily parts but who is good looking, educated, sophisti-


216


PERSONALITY 217


cated, accustomed to good society, travelled, is good for work in many
situations—as a diplomat, a politician or a real estate salesman. He, how-
ever, was a liar from infancy and could never be trusted in a responsible
place. He is too selfish to be placed over other people. He would leave
his work in the middle of any afternoon for golf or a bridge game.


Whence come these differences in the machine? In the case of man,
all healthy individuals, as we saw in the lectures on Instincts, start out
equal. Quite similar words appear in our far-famed Declaration of Inde-
pendence. The signers of that document were nearer right than one might
expect, considering their dense ignorance of psychology. They would have
been strictly accurate had the clause “at birth” been inserted after the word
equal. It is what happens to individuals after birth that makes one a hewer
of wood and a drawer of water, another a diplomat, a thief, a successful
business man or a far-famed scientist. What our advocates of freedom in
1776 took no account of is the fact that the Deity himself could not equalize
40-year-old individuals who have had such different environmental train-
ings as have the American people.


In studying the personality of an individual—what he is good for,
what he isn’t good for and what isn’t good for him—we must observe him
as he carries out his daily complex activities; not just at this moment or
that, but week in and week out, year in and year out, under stress, under
temptation, under affluence and under poverty. In other words, in order
to write up the personality, the “shop ticket,” for an individual, we must
call him in and put him through all the possible tests in the shop before we
are in a position to know what kind of person—what kind of organic
machine—he is.


What do we mean by putting the individual through his various paces
in the world we live in? Well, I have in mind the answers to such ques-
tions as these: What kind of work habits has John Doe? What kind of
husband does he make? What kind of father? How does he behave to-
ward his subordinates? His superiors? How does he behave toward his
partners or equals in whatever group he works? Is he really a man of
principle or is he a psalm-singing, sanctimonious individual on Sunday and
a grasping, close-fisted, unscrupulous business man on Monday? Is he
pleasantly well bred, or is he over-courteous, with accent and mannerisms
dependent on the college he grew up in, or the last country he visited?
Does he make a faithful friend to friends in need? Will he work hard?
Is he cheerful? Does he keep his troubles to himself?


The behaviorist naturally is not interested in his morals, except as a
scientist ; in fact he doesn’t care what kind of man he is. He must study


218 BEHAVIORISM


any individual, though, whenever society calls for analysis. As a scientific
man the behaviorist would like to be able to give an answer not only to
such questions as we have raised, but to all other questions which could be
asked about John Doe. It is a part of the behaviorist’s scientific job to be
able to state what the human machine is good for and to render serviceable
predictions about its future capacities whenever society needs such in-
formation,


Analysis of Personality


In order that there may be no vagueness about the behaviorist’s use
of “personality,” let me tell you more concretely what I mean by the term.
Do you remember the diagram I gave you in Lecture VI (p. 106)? There
IT talked about the development of the activity stream. I pointed out that
at birth and at different intervals thereafter unlearned beginnings of be-
havior are always present. I pointed out also that most of these unlearned
activities begin to become conditioned a few hours after birth. From that
time on each such unit of unlearned behavior develops into an ever expand-
ing system. In the chart I gave there we could draw in only a few lines to
indicate what happens.


Suppose now that this chart of the activity stream be made complex
enough to show the history of every bit of organization the individual has
had from infancy to the age of 24. Just assume, for purposes of argument,
that the habit curve for everything that you can possibly do had been plot-
ted out by a behaviorist who had studied you under experimental conditions
throughout the whole of your life up to the age of 24. Now it is obvious
that if at the age of 24 he took a cross section of your activity, he would
be able to catalogue everything that you can do. He would find, would he
not, that many of these separate activities are related—and please do not
accuse me of bringing in the philosophers or Mr. Einstein when I speak of _
things being related—I mean merely that many activities grow up around —
the same object such as the family, the church, tennis, shoe making, and
so on. Let us stop and look at any habit system at random, such as shoe
making for example.


Shoe making, in the old days, meant, first the rearing of cattle, then
slaughtering them, then taking the hides to the tan yard. In the tan yard,
oak bark was ground up in a horse-driven mill. Vats were dug in the
ground, the vats were filled with water and the tan bark was thrown into
the vats. Then the hides were dropped into the vats and the tannic acid
coming from the oak bark caused the fur to drop off. This is called tan-
ning the leather. After the hides were taken from the vats, they were


PERSONALITY Ce tgte


washed and put through a process of drying and treating. Lasts had to
be made for the customers’ shoes, leather had to be cut up and shaped over
the lasts. Soles had to be sewed on. It is needless to enumerate every
operation that had to be gone through before a finished pair of shoes could
result. On my grandfather’s place there was a man who knew every detail
of every one of these operations and actually performed them. I would
call all of the acts connected with shoe making (of course the group of acts
differs considerably from one decade to another because of the specializa- _
tion going on in labor) the shoe making habit system. You can easily
understand that if we broke that system up into the separate activities we
should need something like a thousand divisions on a chart just to describe
shoe making organization. And to make our chart complete and service-
able in helping us to predict something about the future behavior of an
individual’s shoe making activities, we should have to show the age at which
each of these habits began to form and their history from that time up to
the present time. This whole study would give us the life history of that
indiyidual’s shoe making habits,


Now let tis turn to another complex system of habits. In talking
about the personality of an individual we often hear the phrase, “He is a
deeply religious man.” What does that mean? It means that the individ-
ual goes to church on Sunday, that he reads the Bible daily, that he says
grace at the table, that he sees to it that his wife and children go with him
to church, that he tries to convert his neighbor into becoming a religious
man and that he engages in many hundreds of other activities all of which
are called parts of a modern Christian’s religion. Let us put all of these
separate activities together and call them the religious habit system of the
individual. Now each of these separate activities making up this system
has a dating back in the individual’s past and a history from that point to
the age of 24 where we are taking the cross section. For example, he
learned the little prayer, “Now I lay me down to sleep,” at 214. This habit
was put away at 6 and the Lord’s Prayer took its place. Later on, if he
entered the Episcopal faith, he read the printed prayers. If a Baptist,
Methodist or Presbyterian, he made up his own prayers. At 18 years of
age, having certain organization in public speaking, he began to “lead” in
prayer meeting. At 4 years of age, he began to look at pictures in the
Bible and to have the Bible stories read to him and told to him. He began
to go to Sunday School at this time and to memorize certain biblical pas-
sages. Soon he was able to read the Bible through and to memorize whole
books of it. Again it is far too complex a task for us to attempt to take
each of the strands of this religious organization and to trace out its begin-
ning and its genetic history.


220 BEHAVIORISM


So far we have discussed in detail only two of these systems, but the
cross section at 24 years of age would show many thousands of such sys-
tems. You are already familiar with many of them, such as the marital
habit system, the parental system, the public speaking system, the thought
systems of the profound thinker, the eating system, the fear system, the
love system, the rage system. All of these are broad general classifica-
tions, of course, and should be split up into very much smaller systems,
but even these divisions will serve to give you a conception of the kinds of
facts we are trying to present. Let us draw a diagram to help us hold all
of these facts together (Fig. 23).


Possibly you are already impatient to know what all this has to do
with personality. I define personality as the sum of activities that can be
discovered by actual observation of behavior over a long enough time to
give reliable information. In other words, personality is but the end prod-
uct of our habit systems. Our procedure in studying personality ts the
making and plotting of a cross section of the activity stream. Among
these activities, however, there are dominant systems in the manual field
(occupational), in the laryngeal field (great talker, raconteur, silent
thinker) and in the visceral field (afraid of people, shy, given to outbursts,
having to be petted, and in general what we call emotional). These domi-
nating systems are obvious, easy to observe, and they serve as the basis for
most of the rapid judgments we make about the personalities of individ-
uals. It is upon the basis of these few dominant systems that we classify
personalities.


This reduction of personality to things which can be seen and observed
objectively possibly will not square very well with the sentimental attach-
ments you have for the word personality. It would fit much more easily
into your present organization if I did not define the word personality
and merely characterized people by saying, “He has a commanding
personality,” “She has an appealing and charming personality,” “He has a
most disagreeable personality.” But just come to earth a minute and think
about this a little. What do you mean by a commanding personality? Isn’t
it generally that the individual speaks in an authoritative kind of way, that
he has a rather large physique and that he is a little taller than you are?


Another factor that does not come out in the activity chart is this—
personality judgments usually are not based purely on the life chart of the
individual whose personality is being studied. If the person studying the
personality of another were free from slants and if accurate allowance
could be made for the effects of his own past habit systems, he would be
able to make an objective study. But none of us has this kind of freedom.

We are all dominated by our past and our judgments of other people are


RaScdrbitiet
RS -


- PERSONALITY 221


Fig. 23. Rough diagram to illustrate what the behaviorist means by “person-
ality” and to show how it develops. In examining this diagram refer also to the
diagram illustrating the stream of activity on page 106. The central thought in the
diagram is that personality is made up of dominant habit systems (only a few of
these are shown in the 24-year-old cross section—there are really many hundreds).
Note that the cross section at 24 years of age reveals shoemaking as one of the domi-
nant vocational habit systems and that the shoemaking habit system is made up of
separate habits, A, B, C, D and E. All of these separate habits are put on at differ-
ent ages.

All the other habit systems—for instance, the religious, the patriotic, ete—
should have similar lines extending backward into the adolescence, youth and in-
fancy of the individual in order to make them complete. For the sake of clearness,
we have omitted them.


always clouded by difficulties in our own personality. For example, I
spoke above of a ‘dominating’ personality and you nodded your head in
agreement. Under the present system of rearing children the father is
usually reacted to as though he were a large, powerful man, a kind of
superhuman brute who must be obeyed instantly or punishment will be
either threatened or applied. Hence you are easily liable, when an individ-
ual possessing these characteristics comes into the room, to fall under his


222 BEHAVIORISM


‘spell.’ This means nothing more to the behaviorist than an expression of
the fact that people who act like your father still have the power to make
you behave like a child. It would not be difficult for me to pick out any
of these cherished convictions you hold about personality and show it up in
its true light.


In presenting personality in this way, I think it should become clearer
to you now how the situation we are in dominates us always and releases
one or another of these all-powerful habit systems. For example, the ring-
ing of the Angelus stops the reapers in the field, breaks in on their manual
systems and throws them for the time being under the dominance of their
religious habit systems. In general, we are what the situation calls for—
a respectable person before our preacher and our parents, a hero in front
of the ladies, a teetotaler in one group, a bibulous good fellow in another.


One other thing the activity chart fails to show—and one which is
of the very greatest importance. In developing so many hundreds and
thousands of habit systems it is almost inevitable that these systems must
conflict at one time or another. Thus it comes about that one stimulus may
call out, or partially call out, two opposed types of action in the same mus-
cular and glandular group. Inaction, fumbling, trembling, etc., may result.
In certain cases there are apparently almost permanent conflicts, conflicts
of such extent and of such magnitude that a psychopathological individual
results, I shall develop this farther on.


In a perfectly integrated (!) individual the following events happen:
As soon as a situation begins to call for the dominance of a certain habit
system, the whole body begins to unlock: the tensions in every set of
striped and unstriped muscles not to be used in the immediately forthcom-
ing action are released so as to free all of the striped and unstriped mus-
cles and glands of the body for the habit system now needed. Only the
one habit system the operation of which is called for can work at the maxi-
mum efficiency. The whole individual thus becomes ‘expressed,’ his whole
personality is ‘engrossed,’ in the act he is doing.


May I diverge here just a moment to say that this way of looking at
the dominance of habit systems removes from the psychology of the behay-
iorist any need of the term attention? Attention is merely then, with us,
synonymous with the complete dominance of any one habit system, be that
a verbal habit system, a manual habit system or a visceral one. “Distrac-
tion of attention,” on the other hand, is merely an expression of the fact
that the situation does not immediately lead to dominance of any one habit
system, but first to one and then to the other. The individual starts to do


PERSONALITY 220


one thing but falls under the partial dominance of another stimulus which
partially frees another habit system. This leads to a conflict in the use of
certain muscle groups. A fumbling of speech may result, a fumbling with
the hands or the body may result, or an insufficient amount of energy may
be released for use of the muscle groups. Some examples are these: Just
as you are taking the high jump your schoolboy friend derides you; when
you are just fixing to take your swing in golf somebody speaks ; when you
are deeply engaged in thinking out a problem the water begins to drip in
the bathroom: action is interfered with or even fails altogether. Illustra-
tions of the attempted double and triple (and sometimes multiple) domi-
nance of habit systems are very numerous. For these reasons the behavior-
ist feels that the term “attention” has no application in psychology and is
just another confession of our inability to think clearly, and to keep mys-
tery out of psychological terms. We like to keep mystery in so we can use
it on a rainy day—when we are ill or low or particularly dissatisfied with
what we are getting out of this existence of ours. Then we begin to think
that since everything is footless here, there must be something somewhere
else.


How to Study Personality


In youth personality changes rapidly :—Naturally if personality is but
a cross section at any given age of the complete organization of an individ-
ual, you can see that this cross section must change at least slightly every
day—but not too rapidly for us to get a fair picture from time to time.
Personality changes most rapidly in youth when habit patterns are form-
ing, maturing and changing. Between 15 and 18a female changes from
a child toa woman. At 15 she is but the playmate of boys and girls of her
ownage. At 18 she becomes a sex object to every man. After 30 person-
ality changes very slowly owing to the fact, as we brought out in our study
of habit formation, that by that time most individuals, unless constantly
stimulated by a new environment, are pretty well settled into a humdrum
way of living. Habit patterns become set. If you have an adequate pic-
ture of the average individual at 30 you will have it with few changes for
the rest of that individual’s life—as most lives are lived. A quacking,
gossiping, neighbor-spying, disaster-enjoying woman of 30 will be, unless
a miracle happens, the same at 40 and still the same at 60.


Different Ways of Studying Personality


Most people pass their judgments on the personalities of their associ-
ates without ever having made a real study of the individual. In our rapidly
shifting life we often have to make these rapid judgments. But we get into


224 BEHAVIORISM


a habit of making superficial estimates and we often do people a serious
injury as a result. Sometimes we pride ourselves on being able to make
rapid diagnoses of personalities. We pride ourselves on knowing at first
sight whether we are going to like a person or not and on never changing
our judgments. This means all too often that the person under this super-
ficial kind of observation does some one or two things which do not square
with our own particular slants and bents, hence our judgments are not real
conclusions about personality at all but are really an exposé of our own
particular pet aversions which must never be run afoul of. The real ob-
server of personality tries to keep himself out of the picture and to observe
the other individual in an objective way.


Assuming that we are all careful observers of personality, that we are
pretty free from sensitive spots ourselves and are really seeking to get a
true estimate of the personality of any given individual, what shall we do
to gain this information? Here are a few ways of going about our quest:


(1) By studying the educational chart of the individual; (2) by
studying the individual’s achievement chart; (3) by using psychological
tests; (4) by studying the spare time and recreation record of the indi-
vidual; (5) by studying the emotional makeup of the individual under
the practical situations of daily living. There is no rapid way of studying
the behavior or psychological makeup of individuals. There are various
psychological fakers in the field who believe there are such shortcuts but
I shall attempt to prove to you farther on that their methods are unpro-
ductive of any satisfactory results.


Let us take up these various ways of studying personality. In no
sense do I claim that the behaviorist has any definite scientific system for
studying personality. He goes about the study in a practical, commonsense,
observational way.


(1) Studying the educational chart of the individual :—Considerable
information can be gathered about the personality of an individual by chart-
ing his educational career. Did he finish his grade school, or did he drop
out at 12 years of age? Why did he drop out? Economic pressure? Was
it to seek adventure? Did he finish high school? Did he continue to the
bitter end of college and graduate? It speaks well for his work habits, if
not for his intelligence, if he did stick it out. Going through college today
is like going through with a foot race—you must finish if you start. I
somehow need to be convinced that a man’s work habits are an asset to him
if when he comes up for a position I find that his chart shows that he start-
ed college and then dropped out. I look upon college as a place to grow up
in—a place for breaking nest habits; as a place for learning how to make


to OY


le


PERSONALITY. 225


oneself friendly; for acquiring a certain savoir faire; as a place for
learning how to keep one’s clothes pressed and one’s person looking neat;
as a place in which to learn how to be polite in a lady’s or a gentleman’s
presence—in a word a place in which to find how to use leisure and to find
culture. Finally it should be a place where the student can learn respect
for thinking and possibly even learn how to think. If it fails in these
respects, college is a failure indeed. The manual and verbal habits put on
there are rarely carried through life. I spent four years in undergraduate
work. During all those years I ‘took’ Greek and Latin. Today I couldn’t
write the Greek alphabet or read Xenophon’s Anabasis to save my life. I
couldn’t read a page of Virgil or even Caesar’s Commentaries if food, sex
and shelter depended upon it. I studied history faithfully and I couldn't
name ten presidents or give ten important dates in history. I couldn’t
summarize the Declaration of Independence or tell what the Mexican War
was about,


And yet with all the fault we have to find with colleges, college bred
men in business (just as they were in war) are uniformly more successful,
receive fewer hard knocks, than the non-college men, and are generally
more likable persons. There are many exceptions to this rule, however, and
the lack of a college education does not always mean that the individual is
a boor, or that he is Jacking in the equipment for a successful life.


(2) Studying the achievement chart of the individual:—In my
Opinion, one of the most important elements in the judging of personality,
character and ability, is the history of the individual’s yearly achievements.
We can measure this objectively by charting the length of time the individ-
ual stayed in his various positions and the yearly increases he received in
his earnings. The boy or man who has changed his job twenty times at
30 without definite improvement at each change, will probably change It
twenty times more before he is 45. If I owned a flourishing commercial
business I should not want to employ a man for a responsible position at
the age of 30 who had not earned or was not earning at least $5000 per
year. I should confidently expect such a man to be earning still less at the
age of 40. No hard and fast rule can be drawn—there are exceptions.
But certainly yearly increase in responsibilities and yearly increase in
salary are important factors in the progress of an individual.


In a similar way, if the individual is a writer, we should want to draw
a curve of the prices he gets for his stories year by year. If from our lead-
ing magazines he receives the same average price per word for his stories
at 30 that he received when he was 24, the chances are he is a hack writer
and will never be anything but that. In the literary and artistic fields, as


226 BEHAVIORISM


well as that of business, we must judge men and women from the point of
view of achievement, measured by whatever standards you will, if you
wish to be able to predict just how good an organic machine each is and
just how well that machine will run in the future.


(3) Psychological tests as a method of studying personality:—
Psychology, since the work of Miinsterberg began in this country, is at the
present time reaping just such a harvest as one might expect. It has made
too many extravagant claims—that it can save industry seventy millions a
year and that it should be the bright and guiding star in the selection of
employees and in the placement and promotion of employees after enter-
ing office or factory. These claims have been made by some of our leading
psychologists. Business organizations of today have become leery of these
claims, partly because the psychologists have been too ambitious and have
tried to walk before they learned to crawl, and partly because business
houses have not been willing to wait until the psychologist could develop
his methods for the particular business he was studying. Business firms
have been at fault, too, not only because of unwillingness to wait for results
which are necessarily slow in coming, but because they have not been will-
ing to expend money on psychological work. They are willing to wait in-
definitely for the results of the work of the chemists and the physicists, but
they expect the psychologist to come in and, by some legerdemain and by
some offhand pronunciamento, to settle the problems of industry which
business men have been unable to settle by other means during the whole
course of the existence of industry. I have in mind here, naturally, selec-
tion of personnel, placement and advancement of personnel after it has
been chosen, efficiency of the worker, and finally happiness and content-
ment of the worker—using these last two terms as they are popularly used.
Certainly, in all these, personality in our sense is the chief factor.


Psychology has made some progress in taking cross sections of voca-
tional organization. We can test, quickly, a man’s arithmetical ability, his
general range of information, whether or not he knows Latin or Greek,
whether or not a woman can take 60 words of shorthand a minute, whether
or not she can write a hundred words a minute for 40 minutes with rela-
tively few errors and typewrite with even impression, whether or not an in-
dividual can drive an automobile over a tortuous course without striking
stakes or other automobiles, and the like. Many other different vocational
tests are in the process of being perfected. I expect to see many advances
made in tests of this kind.


But it must be remembered always that vocational tests show only
sheer ability to accomplish such and such things in a given time and with


PERSONALITY; 227


a given number of errors. But sheer ability to do certain things tells us
little about the systematic work habits of the individual. Suppose he is
efficient when actually hungry or in need of shelter—is he efficient after
feeding and housing? Has he so many personal affairs to attend to that
watching the clock becomes one of his liabilities? This is true of many
individuals. For them, nine o’clock comes too early and five o’clock too
late. Once I had to write a little brief on the chief factors in judging
men for jobs. I wrote that if I had to select an individual on the basis of
any one characteristic, I should choose work habits—actual love of work,
willingness to take an overload of work, to work longer than actual speci-
fied hours and to clean the chips up after the work is done. These things,
I find, have to be drilled into the individual pretty early or he will never
get them. No psychological test so far devised will bring out the strength
or weakness of the individual in these particulars.


(4) Studying the spare time and recreation record of individuals :—
Every individual must have some form of recreation. With some, recrea-
tion is found in reading, with others in games, with others in sports. Still
others find it in sex, in alcohol, in fast driving; others in being with their
families: and then there is the rare group quite often mentioned in the
newspapers, which finds recreation in work—but, like the report of Mark
Twain’s death, these statements are often “grossly exaggerated.”


I believe that sports and recreation are quite revealing. We can look
upon certain sports as distinct assets, others as liabilities. The speed mania
leads to accidents; the sex mania into many and difficult complications ;
alcohol mania into organic disturbance, unfitness for work and finally into
actual disease. )


Outdoor activity leads to physical fitness, to keenness in competition, to
steadiness in coordination. I always feel more favorably disposed in going
over the record of a man, if I find that he has one form of outdoor recrea-
tion in which he excels, be it golf, tennis, canoeing, fishing, hunting, box-
ing or track. ;


I search almost as eagerly for proficiency in indoor activities, such as
cards, chess, dancing, singing and the playing of musical instruments. I
believe that it is difficult for a man or woman to acquire proficiency in a
recreational activity and not at the same time have ability along bread-
earning, vocational lines. Then again, it is difficult for a man to achieve
proficiency in sports who is not friendly and who cannot get along well
with people. So let us admit, tentatively at any rate, that sports and recre-
ations are probably indicative of personality, and that the individual’s record
along sport and recreational lines is worth studying.


228 BEHAVIORISM


(5) Studying the emotional makeup of the individual under practic-
al conditions :—The study of all the factors so far considered, such as the
educational achievements of the individual, his work achievements and what
he does in his spare time, does not give the whole personality story. An
individual might be successful in all his work habits, both manual and
verbal, and still he might be a terrible bore, unwelcome at dinner, unwel-
come at golf or in traveling ; he might be mean, niggardly, unfriendly, over-
bearing in his way of treating other people—in general, a terrible person
to live with or near. I mean by this that certain people are inadequately
developed along emotional lines. They are emotional failures. Observa-
tion helps us to gauge this. If we do not quite have the courage to invite
this person to our home or to visit him in his, and thus get into a position
to observe him for ourselves, we can find out how many friends he has and
how long those friendships have endured. One can almost state positively
that if he has no large circle of friends and no friends of long stand-
ing, he will be a difficult person to be near always—no matter how well
he may do his work. Success on the emotional side is never a safe guide,
however, as to whether a man will succeed in business or in professional
work. How often have we heard the expression “He is God’s worst fool
but even God likes him”? The record of work habits and achievement
always must be read along with the emotional chart.


In judging personalities, we find it much more difficult to get any cross
section of habits about lying, and about honesty and other so-called
moral virtues. There is no way of finding these things out except by look-
ing into the history of the individual and checking up rather closely on his
life. This, however, can be done only by carrying out an extensive obser-
vation among his friends and by observing his behavior for a considerable
length of time. If people would write honest letters about other people,
our judgments of the emotional makeup of an individual could be much
more safely formed. But most of us are too cowardly to write honest
letters, hence letters of recommendation are rarely worth the paper they
are written upon. I doubt that we shall ever be able to reach valuable
judgments on the emotional phases of personality—such as the individual’s
ability to get along with others, whether he works well under a heavy load
or under a slight load, whether he works better alone or in a crowd, whether
he is slovenly in his work habits, whether he keeps up with his work or
merely conceals the things he hasn’t done, whether he works better under
encouragement or under the lash—unless we provide a preliminary school
where the individual actually can be kept under close observation for a
definite period of time. Granting that the individual has considerable so-
called intellectual ability (and by that we mean nothing more than con-


i


PERSONALITY yt |


siderable manual and verbal organization), he often falls down in his
various jobs in life largely through lack of visceral organization—that is,
lack of well-balanced emotional training. You probably could understand
this better if I used your terms—such as, the individual is “sensitive,”
“touchy,” “crusty,’ “vindictive,” “overbearing,” “seclusive,’ “exclusive,”
“cocky,” “takes criticism unkindly,” and the like. To bring out these
emotional factors, the individual must be placed under certain situations,
as we saw in our study of the infants. You see, these are really unorgan-
ized, infantile types of reaction—carry-overs from infancy. Such situa-
tions, in the ordinary course of a week’s or a month’s work, may present
themselves infrequently, hence the individual must be watched for a con-
siderable time. I think that business houses are more or less convinced of
this and that they are prepared to give longer preliminary training than
formerly and to accept the relatively large labor turn-over that such a
system involves,


Are There Any Shortcuts in the Study of Personality


Can we learn anything about personality by “interviewing” the sub-
ject?—We can learn something about an individual in a personal interview.
Personal interviews, however, should be rather extended, and more than
one interview should be given. During an interview many little things
are apparent which a close observer may note and profit by. The voice of
the person under observation, his gestures, his gait, his personal appear-
ance—all of these I think are significant. You can tell in a moment
whether the individual is or is not a cultivated individual, whether or not
he has good manners. One individual will come in for an interview and
will keep his hat on his head and his cigar in his mouth; another will be so
scared that he cannot even talk; still another will be so boastful that you
‘want to escape his presence immediately,


Then there are many little things about a person’s clothes that will
show whether or not he has neat and cleanly personal habits. If he wears
a soiled collar, if his hands are soiled above the wrist, we have pretty good
evidence that he is an unpleasant and uncleanly person to deat with. But
personal interviews tell us nothing about work habits and nothing about the
honesty of the individual, nothing about the steadfastness of his principles
and nothing about his ability. Here again, as I brought out before, we
have to fall back upon a study of the life history of the individual.


Why is it, then, that office managers and the public generally believe
that they can read personalities? Probably the main reason is that it flat-
ters them to think that they can. It gives them a certain standing in the


230 BEHAVIORISM


circle in which they move. The reason they get away with it is that they
cannot be checked up. If you wish to pick out an individual from a group
applying for, say, a job as office boy, or for any other kind of job which
does not require ability of a specialized kind, such as that of typewriting
or stenography (where checking is possible), the chances are fifty-fifty or
better that you will pick him out right if you pick him blindfolded. Our
standards of efficiency are not very high and hence every office is crowded
with individuals able just to hold their jobs but who could not hold them
if work were better standardized. If, however, the office manager is really
keen, as many are, and engages the applicants in conversation, puts them
up against certain verbal questions of a searching kind and carefully notes
their answers, there are signs which are helpful to him. But at best the
selection of personnel today is little better than a hit or miss affair, This
is the reason the psychological faker gets along so easily.


The Shortcuts the Psychological Faker Takes in Studying Personality


Extravagant as are the claims made by the legitimate psychologist for
the application of psychology to the study of personality, there is a large
group of parasites in psychology which I have been in the habit of calling
the “faker” element. Today among the fakers must be included those dis-
tinguished gentlemen from across the water who claim to maintain com-
munication with our departed spirits, who claim to be able to demonstrate
the existence of personal ectoplasm, and to have demonstrated that there
are individuals who by some mysterious force can disturb the physical
balance of ordinary objects around us. Mr. Houdini, I think, is probably
our best antidote for the claims of such individuals. But it is the general
standing of men like Sir Oliver Lodge and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who
are well-meaning but ignorant of psychological matters, that unfortunately
lends support to this ever-increasing group of plain parasites in the field of
psychology. I think that with men like Lodge and Conan Doyle, “faker” is.
not the right term to use. Let us call them misguided enthusiasts. Both
of them are growing old and have not yet lost the childish fear of having to
leave this world. Probably the greatest harm they do is to cause the oc-
casional suicide of a poor neurotic individual who gets wrought up about
the happy state he would be in if only his ectoplasm could free itself from
the body and leave this rigid, severe and unkind world.


The faker who distresses the behaviorist most and who is doing most
damage in the universe at the present time is the one who offers his services
to industry. This group is taking hundreds of thousands of dollars for its
so-called services in selecting men for office and factory and for giving
character and personality readings on individuals already employed. I at-


PERSONALITY 231


tended a lecture given by one of this group not long ago. He described the
_ Several hundred points on the face by means of which he could read the
character of each individual and tell for what he was fitted. He claimed
in this lecture practically never to have made a failure in over a quarter of
a million of such readings. At the end of his lecture I asked him the
modest question, whether he would agree to pick out three “feeble-minded”
male individuals and three normal male individuals of 16 years of age, if
I would bring the six to his office. I did not ask him, mind you, to tell me
what they were fitted for, nor to give me the finer points of their characters
and personalities. I just asked him to determine the brute facts as to
whether each individual was “all there” or was feeble-minded. Surely the
ability to do this is the first step in reading character and in selecting per-
sonality. The question ought not to have insulted the “scientist,” but he
became very angry, grew quite red in the face, began to tremble and to
jerk, and intimated that I was there for the purpose of heckling him.


Thad a similar experience with another gentleman. I once quite frank-
ly attempted to expose certain gentlemen for claiming to be able to read
character from photographs. In that article I intimated that a man who
would claim to be able to read character from photographs was—well, to
say the least that could be said about him—mistaken. One of the gentle-
men was quite hurt and went into a long dissertation to explain that not
everyone could do it, but that in his organization there were several men
who were past masters in the art, and he sincerely offered to put up a thou-
sand dollars for the expense of an investigation. The conditions we set for
making the observation were quite simple and straightforward:


_ (1) That we should be allowed to go to a Home for the Friendless
and pick out a group of men who had been bums and ne’er-do-
wells from infancy and whose records were known;


(2) That we should go to the prisons and pick out a group of men
who had been criminals from youth to adulthood ;


(3) That we should select a group of very eminent, scholarly men
whose work had never brought them into such notoriety that
their photographs were continually adorning our morning news-
papers.


Furthermore, we were to shave, bathe and clothe properly in evening clothes
all three groups, including the college professors, and to photograph them
under standard conditions. Certainly these conditions were fair. They
were objected to, however, by the so-called photograph character analysts
who were supposed to be adept in the reading of photographs, and so the
experiment was off.


232 BEHAVIORISM


The third type of faker is the one who uses general physical charac-
teristics as his guide. Notwithstanding the fact that we have worked for
years to correlate color of the skin, shape of the fingers, color of the eyes
and hair, texture of the hair, and the like, with certain general types of
behavior and with the general attainments of individuals, we have never
been able to get any positive evidence that such correlations exist. Yet
these individuals, with no training in scientific psychology and without the
aid of a pyschological laboratory, claim to be able to pick out executives,
to pick out salesmen,.with practically unerring accuracy. One of the inter-


esting things about this gold brick movement is the fact that some of our —


reputable magazines have carried their advertisements for years. ‘Those
same magazines, if they were allowing advertisements of certain grocery
and drug products to adorn their pages, would scrutinize each statement
with the utmost carefulness—indeed they would subject all doubtful claims
to serious tests in their own kitchens and in their own laboratories.


Psychologists have convinced themselves that there is not a single cor- —


relation that can be made at present between any single physical character-
istic or group of physical characteristics and any single type of ability or


types of ability. The most that we should be willing to say, by looking at —


a photograph or by a mere static view of an individual in repose, is that —
he looks physically fit, that he has two arms and two legs, that he is prob- ©


ably not a Cretin and is possibly not an idiot. I certainly should not attempt
to go so far as to say whether or not he is “feeble-minded.” Even an hour’s
conversation sometimes leads us astray on the simplest things. As an


illustration, I shall give this personal experience: There was one individual ©
with whom I talked, not so long ago, for twenty minutes over the telephone, —
and whom I later interviewed for half an hour. He was a well-educated ©


man of no mean ability. He seemed under quite a little pressure, but a —


great many of us are under pressure, especially on first interviews. Two
minutes before he left he pulled out ten checks for a thousand dollars each
and began to tell me that he was making a thousand dollars a day re-
pairing Singer Sewing Machines. Thus, even at the end of 50 minutes,


I had to revise my judgment and conclude that the man was insane, a con-_


clusion which I later confirmed by looking up his record.


Where I think the psychological fakers are doing harm, exclusive of —
the great economic waste in using them, is in the prevention of the estab- —


lishment and spread of scientific methods. The business man is made to


feel that the selection, placing and promotion of personnel ought to be done —
by some kind of prestidigitation or even by the use of miraculous methods. _


Finally, they disturb the worker himself. I cannot tell you how many times _


T have had individuals come to me seriously disturbed about their vocations. _


PERSONALITY 233


They were doing well in their work, but some characterologist had informed
them that their future lay in grand opera, in diplomatic work or in some
field other than the one in which they were working, and they felt that they
ought to give up their present jobs in order to go after this unknown, un-
tried and, therefore, roseate future.


I wish I had time here to develop for you the operating methods of
various other fakers. Just let me enumerate a few of the different types
of fakers. The phrenologist is another rapid personality reader. The
bumps on your head, so he says, reveal everything to him; a bump means
a development of a certain part of the brain in which a certain capacity or
vocation resides. By charting the bumps, therefore, he charts the individ-
ual’s abilities. Unfortunately, the bumps on the skull have nothing to do
with the shape or the size of the brain. Indeed, a bump on the skull may
mean a slight constriction of the cranial or brain cavity, because a bump
sometimes works both ways—pushes both out and in. The brain as a rule,
however, is smooth and is almost floating in a liquid. Besides, we have
given up brain “faculties.” As I pointed out in an earlier lecture, we have
given up even brain localization. Phrenology passed out of the interest of
scientific men many, many decades ago. Neurology is the science which
has taken its place, and neurology does not concern itself with psychological
categories.


Then we have the graphologists, those who would tell us by our hand-
writing what our potentialities and characters are. The way we dot our
i’s, cross our t’s, whether we leave our o’s open or not, the way we slant
our letters, all are definite revealments of personality. Let us not be too
hard upon them. It is an amusing avocation, this reading of character by
signs. Certainly we can get something from the handwriting of an in-
dividual—whether he is so extremely careless (or so emotionally disturbed)
that he doesn’t finish words, whether or not he runs words together,
whether or not he misspells, whether or not he fails to keep his lines
straight, whether or not he writes hurriedly, and so on. In handwriting,
of course, we have a definite product left behind by activity, and hence it
may give us some kind of cue as to the person’s character. Several
psychologists have been studying it carefully and are still studying it, but so
far the correlations they have found to exist between certain kinds of writ-
ing and certain kinds of ability have been very sketchy and very insecurely
grounded. One would expect a graphologist at least to tell the handwriting
of a man from that of a woman, but even this is a far more difficult task
than it is ordinarily considered. In going over a large number of names
not long ago, where only initials were given, I thought that a great many
of the names were written by men, so we wrote letters to find out. About


234 BEHAVIORISM


80% of the names that, from the handwriting, I judged to be men’s names
turned out to be the names of women!


Summary


This study of the so-called normal personality of other people should
convince us that close observation of behavior over a long period of time
is our only way of reaching conclusions about personality. Short observa-
tion and personal interviews reveal some things, to be sure. Vocational
tests and intelligence tests reveal many others. But only long, sustained
observation of individuals at work and at play in the complex situations of
daily life can ever yield data on general work habits (neatness, assiduity,
the taking of temporary overload and the like), on the so-called moral
habits (honesty, loyalty, freedom from excesses, etc.) and on the emotional
habits (temper, sensitiveness, exclusiveness, shyness, exhibition, inferiority,
and the like),


Naturally, anyone not “feeble-minded” can gather information about
the personality of others, but the better trained the psychological observer
and the freer he is from twists in his own character, the more secure are
his observations.


You may argue that all my illustrations have been chosen with refer-
ence to the occupational side of life. While this is true, the fact remains
that these commonsense methods work equally well in the selection of our
friends, our wives and our husbands. One of the terrible tragedies of
modern life is the speed with which young men and young women meet
and mate. Under the dominance of visceral stimuli (sexual) no sane ob-
servation is possible. Mating takes place, personalities clash, and then the
divorce court is left if you have the courage to face it. I have no solution
to offer, but it does seem little short of tragic that in this greatest event of
our lives there is no real way of testing out how two personalities can exist
side by side under the close association of marriage—except by marrying
first and finding out afterwards. In my consulting work, I find that the
greatest trouble comes from colossal failure in sex adjustment. Two indi-
viduals marrying and living under such close and narrow confines as mar-
riage brings, cannot live happily together without a real and genuine sex
adjustment. Other elements of personality have no chance to function
where there is stark hunger (from which about 80% of the wives suffer).
In approximately 25 consultations with young married couples, in the past —
two years, I found only one who had made a real sex adjustment. The
difficulty in nearly every case was a behavior difficulty of one kind or
another. Nothing was physiologically wrong with either the husband or


PERSONALITY 235


wife. Bad training, wrong organization about sex, were the principal
causes of trouble. In nearly every case sane instruction brings adjustment.
The least society can do is to give these prospective young couples proper
instruction before marriage. Getting proper instruction is difficult, how-
ever. The family doctor and the parents unfortunately are usually the
most dangerous of instructors. I have yet to meet the general practitioner
or the parent whom I should like to see instruct a child of mine.


I mention these things because, first, I want to see all phases of
personality have a chance to function in the marital situation. They can-
not if sex hunger is present. Secondly, unless such problems are faced
by the younger generation, the institution of marriage, which really has
never been tried out by society (and I mean by this that men and women
have no organization about being married and they nearly always spoil
marriage in trying to learn how to be married), will receive some severe
assaults in the next few years, especially in our larger cities.


But to return to our summary of personality. What do we do with
personality judgments when once we have them? We hire and fire the
personnel in industry on the basis of them—we promote and demote with
them to guide us. They are at the basis of our friendships, our business
associations, our social gatherings. It is a brave hostess who will bring to-

gether clashing personalities. We choose our mates and leave them on no
other basis.


In a sense, we carry double entry bookkeeping in our heads about
every friend and associate we have. On one page in black ink we tab-
ulate each one’s assets; on the opposite page in red ink we put down
each one’s liabilities. As the association continues, we fill the pages up.
Every now and then we, so to speak, balance the account. When the
figures in red become overpowering, we have to close out the account.


As I have stated before, all too often we fail to keep books on our

own personality. At least we fail to keep a double entry system. We
put down only assets and leave out the liabilities. Hence in keeping books
on our associates we often enter our own liabilities on their liability page.


Some of the Weaknesses of Our Adult Personality


Human nature has so many weaknesses in it, that it is difficult to make
a start in pointing out the chief failures. Indeed, as one observes human
life more and more closely, one comes to the point of view that what often
seems to be strength is but one of the individual’s chief points of weakness.
Let us look at weaknesses in personality under a few such headings as (1)


236 BEHAVIORISM


our inferiorities, (2) our susceptibility to flattery, (3) our constant strife
to become kings and queens, and finally (4) the carrying over of our child-
hood heritages. é


(1) Our inferiorities:—I need to discuss very little today the steps
by which we “organize” our inferiorities into systems. The psychoanal-
ysts have done this for us. We would phrase what happens in scientific
terms, however. Most of us have groups of reactions developed which do
cover up, conceal and hide our inferiorities. Shyness is one form, silence
is another, outbursts of temper are another, advanced stands on moral or
social questions are other very common forms. The most selfish of in-
dividuals has a well-organized verbal scheme which hides his selfishness
from the uninitiated—the most “impure” of individuals often talks loudest
of purity. The person who is often most easily a prey to temptation pro-
claims most loudly the rules and regulations upon which he bases his stan-
dards of ethics and conduct. Poor fellow, he is so weak he needs them to
bolster himself up. Again, one of the outstanding examples is the fellow
who, all but impotent, boasts loudest of his sex prowess.


We likewise organize habit systems that serve the purpose of conceal-
ing our physical inferiorities. The little short man often talks loudly,
dresses “loudly,” wears high-heeled shoes, is “cocky” and forward. In
order to be seen at all he must act in an unusual way. Women try to bal-
ance one thing off against another. Their faces may not be beautiful, but
their forms are exquisite; their arms may be clumsy, but their legs are
objects of admiration by discriminating artists. Nothing in their anatomy
‘may be supreme—then they fall back upon style. When too fat to be
ay they have wonderful cars to ride in, beautiful jewels, well appointed

omes.


Somehow most human beings can’t permanently face inferiority—nor
are the analysts any exception. A great many of my friends are analysts.
They can still be made angry when their theories are attacked or if someone
challenges their superior powers as analysts. Who would have them differ-
ent? All I ask from anybody when he has to boast or to play up the good
side a little is that he display a sense of humor—admit, at least by a sign
that it is as necessary for him to do this once in a while as it is for the baby
to have its milk bottle. Indeed, the origin of these so-called “compensa-
tions” is infantile. We teach the child that he is “smart,” smarter than the
neighbor’s child. We pet him, make much of him. The analysts call this
expression of the “ego.” Not at all—it is merely an organized habit sys-
tem built in at the mother’s knee. The parent’s own inferiorities start it.
No matter how “dumb” her own child is, when. the neighbor comes in she


ee at _ =


Pie »


PERSONALITY 237


must find something in her little Reginald or Heloise that the neighbor’s
child does not possess. If her child’s feet are large, maybe her hands are
small and shapely. All the child hears from her beloved parents are praises
for her good parts and no mention of her poor ones. The individual thus
forms a verbal organization about her assets—can talk about them—but
she never learns to talk about her liabilities.


(2) Our susceptibility to flattery:—Observation of personality in
male and female shows some weak spots in all our armor. If I had to give
you just one weapon for piercing the armor of most individuals, that
weapon would be flattery. Flattery has become an art, however. Only the
well-schooled, and the graduates in the art should attempt to use it. I have
already brought out for you the fact that most individuals have a group
of dominating habit systems. It may be their religious habit systems, their
moral habit systems, their vocational habit systems, their artistic habit
systems, or others. If the individual is constantly flattered on his achieve-
ments in these directions, the chances are good that the person trying to
approach him will have success. Sometimes a five-minute conversation
will give the keynote of this dominating organization. The anti-smoker,
the strict prohibitionist, the efficiency bug, the money king, the speed and
sex mania organizations show up very quickly in conversation. Much
observation has shown me that almost invariably when the skillful stranger
makes the acquaintance of these individuals and approaches them on their
weak side, the verdict is, “He is a remarkable fellow, agreeable, charming,
quite intelligent. I think we ought to have him around again.”


Often the vulnerable point in character is what the Freudians call an
avoidance mechanism. For example, A does not like to hurt anybody’s
feelings. Rather than do it, he yields not only his dollars but his principles.
He will burden himself with the cares of other individuals and carry their
“woes around with him because he is too chicken-hearted to stand up and
tell them what he thinks.


I doubt very seriously that any man or woman is invulnerable on any
commandment, on any code of honesty, on any lifelong settled conviction. I
think the time was when invulnerability was a more nearly possible thing.
Today conventions are so universally overstepped, religious mandates so
often transgressed, business honesty and integrity so often a matter of
legal decision, that all of us are vulnerable if and when approached long
enough and hard enough and subtly enough on our weak side. This does
not mean that you or I would rob a bank today, commit murder or rape,
take undue advantage of our neighbor; yet almost invariably we do many
so-called unethical things, given certain conditions. It often happens in


238 BEHAVIORISM


business and in the professions that as long as a man ahead of you is help-
ful and useful to you, you are meticulous in giving him his due. He can
do no wrong. You back him up, support him on every occasion. But when
you reach him, when you begin to share the throne with him, you, without
ever verbalizing it, somehow find your ear more attuned to faults. A
strong visceral toning appears when you hear things not quite to his credit!
Then again, when you pass him, you begin to wonder if your former rival
cannot be replaced by a less expensive man. You rationalize this on the
grounds of economy, thus killing two birds with one stone, strengthening
your balance sheet and making your own throne more secure against the
possible recrudescence of a former rival.


I have no venom to display here against human nature. I am just
trying to show you that our way of acting in certain situations is almost
automatic. Some of us know these kinds of weaknesses in ourselves and
we are constantly on the watch for them. Others are not quite so well
analyzed. They call it being human and forgive themselves on such
grounds. Here is where I think psychology can be most helpful in every
phase of human relationship. The old biblical saying which I shall para-
phrase: First take out the beam from your own eye that you may see the
mote in your fellow man’s eye, is a far more psychologically convincing
maxim than the Golden Rule, or even Kant’s “Universal.” We know all
too little about “Do unto others as you would that they should do unto
you.” Most of us are pathological in certain directions; the other fellow
is pathological in different directions. If you tried to do unto him
as you would like to be done by, you would very often get into diffi-
culties, sometimes of the most pronounced kinds! Again, take Kant’s uni-
versal, “Act by a maxim fit to become universal.” With this ever-changing
psychological world no maxim is fit to become universal. A maxim which
would have worked in the Garden of Eden, would never have worked in
the time of Caesar, nor would it work any better in 1925. But every man
can watch his own way of acting and he will often be surprised when he
comes to face the real stimuli that touch off his actions. Susceptibility to
flattery, selfishness, avoiding difficult situations, unwillingness to show or
to confess weakness, inadequacy or lack of knowledge, jealousy, fear of
rivals, fear of being made the scapegoat, hurling criticism upon others to
escape it oneself—make up an almost unbelievable part of our natures. The
individual when he really faces himself is often almost (if not quite) over-
come by what is revealed—infantile behavior, unethical standards, smoth-
ered over by the thinnest veneer of rationalization. Nakedness of “soul”
can be faced only by the truly brave.


(3) Our constant strife to become kings and queens:—As the result


PERSONALITY, 239


of our training at the hands of our parents, of the books we read and of
the biographies of those around us, every man deems it his inalienable right
to become a king and every woman a queen. All history breeds this in.
Kings and queens are petted and made much of; kings and queens have
things done for them; they get more food and better food; they get better
shelter, more artistic shelter; they get more sex and greater aesthetic
values in sex. It is in childhood that most of these things come to us. This
is one reason why it is so hard to give up our childhood and, as a matter
of fact, as I shall show you later on, we rarely do completely give it up.
We try to carry over into everyday adult life the dominance we have put
over on our parents in our childhood. The labor leader who says, “Down
with the capitalists and up with labor,” is just as anxious as any of us to
be king. ‘The capitalist who says, “Down with labor,” is just as eager
either to become king or else to stay king. No one can object to this kind
of strife. It is a part of life. There always has been and there always
(until the behaviorists bring up all the children!) will be this kind of
struggle for dominance. Every man ought to be a king and every woman
a queen. They must learn, however, that their domains are restricted. The
objectionable people in the world are those who want to be kings and
queens but who will allow no one else to be regal. We notice this in the
vested clergy, in business, in science. More than one professor has seen his
bright pupil grow up beside him. One day a coolness comes, the professor
finds a certain fault in his bright pupil’s technique or a weakness in his
theory, and the weakness, on analysis, is where it diverges from the pro-
fessor’s own theory. The professor becomes not quite so warm in his re-
commendation to the president and the board of trustees. When it comes
time for the bright pupil to get his professorship, at first no recommenda-
tion is forthcoming. When colleagues insist, active recommendations against
his bright pupil’s promotion are sent. The professor rationalizes his own
course of conduct in the most devious ways. More than once we have seen
a professor, genial, jovial in his relationships with his subordinates. So
long as he stands on a pinnacle apart, so long does his good nature last. He
gets a reputation for pushing the younger men, but let one get too near the
throne and friendliness and geniality are swallowed up by the green-eyed
monster jealousy. Many of our orthodoxies—codes of conduct, our rules
of politeness—are built up for the purpose of letting him who is king and
rule-maker remain king and rule-maker,


(4) Infant Carry-overs the General Cause of Unhealthy Personalities


The weaknesses in our personalities which we have just considered are
but examples of the general fact that we carry over many organized habit


240 BEHAVIORISM


systems from our infancy and early youth into our adult life. Most of
these systems, as I pointed out in Lecture 11, are of the unverbalized type
—verbal correlates and substitutes are lacking. The individual cannot talk
about them, certainly would deny that he has carried over his infantile
behavior, yet the appropriate situation brings out their expression. These
carry-overs are the most serious handicaps to a healthy personality.


One of the systems we carry over is that of strong attachments (posi-
tive conditionings) for one or more individuals in the home—mother,
father, brother, sister—or some adult who played an important rdéle in our
upbringing. Too faithful attachments to objects, places, localities are often
serious. The general name to apply to all such carry-overs is nest habits
The south especially develops them—‘“My family does so and so,” “No
Smith was ever conquered,” “The Joneses never forget an insult.” Fami-
lies belonging to the nobility have bred in them the same kind of systems.
These habits are consolidated into family mottoes and coats of arms. Since
marriage nearly always means the bringing of a stranger into the group,
serious difficulties often arise before the stranger is accepted even by the
wife or husband. This is one reason why there are so many blood feuds.
Thus, owing to the fact that your father and mother bred these habits into
you, and your father and mother had them similarly bred into them, we get
infantilism as a kind of perpetual social inheritance. In a somewhat less
insistent way racial habit systems are also bred into people.


But we are interested in the growth of the individual, mainiy. Let us
return to him. Suppose by the time you are 3 years of age your fond and
doting mother has got you into the following ways of behaving. She waits
on you hand and foot. You are an angel child and anything you do or say
is perfectly wonderful. Your father must not correct you. Your nurse is
always wrong if she scolds you. Three years later you start to school. You
are a problem child all through. Soon you play hookey ; your mother backs
you up. You steal and lie repeatedly, and your teacher sends you home and
closes the school to you. Your mother gets a tutor—but a tutor over whom
she has the control. He educates you. You are ‘finished off’ by travel.
One meets everywhere people of this kind. They cannot break their nest
habits—they can never “make a go of it” when the home quits petting
them. When youth is gone they fall back on chronic invalidism.


We should shed our childish habits yearly as the snake sheds its skin—
not all at once like the snake, but gradually as the new situations caused by
growth demand it. At three years of age the normal child has a well-
organized 3-year-old personality—a system of habits that works well for
that age, But as he progresses towards 4, some of the 3-year-old habits


2 eI


te ee en


PERSONALITY 241


must give way—baby talk has to be given up, personal habits have to
change. At 4 the wetting of the bed, thumb-sucking, shyness at meeting
strangers, failure to talk fluently will not be so lightly overlooked. Exhi-
bitionism has to give way; the child is taught not to burst into a room and
Start a conversation regardless of whether others are talking. He must
begin to dress himself, to take his bath unaided, to get up at night and go
to the toilet if necessary, and to do thousands of other actions not expected
of the 3-year-old.


Ti only our home life were constructed so that 3-year habits could give
way to 4-year habits without the infantile carry-over! But this cannot and
never will happen until parents have fewer carry-overs from their own
infancy—until they learn how to rear children.


At other times in these lectures I have sketched for you what often
results from carry-overs. From among the millions of ways in which they
influence our adult life let me just select two or three from my own con-
sulting experience. Owing to a mother’s too tender love, marriage is diffi-
cult or impossible for the son—the mother objects to every choice made by
the son. He finally marries and a family row occurs. This is temporarily
patched up. Son and daughter-in-law, after a few days, come to live with
the parents. Then the fat is in the fire. Then the son has two wives, his
mother and his bride. This youth has to be remade—forced to lose this
unnatural, but by him unnoted, mother conditioning.


Again, a girl attached from infancy to her father, lives on untii the
age of 24 and does not marry. She finally marries. Because, she has, of
course, never had sexual relations with her father, she will not have them
with her husband. If she is forced to she breaks down. She may commit
suicide or become insane to escape.


Once again may I reiterate a thought often expressed before in these
lectures? If from morning till night the average adult could chart in
detail his verbal, manual and visceral behavior which is released by in-
fantile carry-overs, he would be not only astonished but even fearful of his
future. Our ‘feelings are hurt,’ we ‘grow angry,’ we ‘become exasperated,’
we ‘handed someone a good one,’ we ‘got in a good lick at someone’; the
man over you is ‘stupid,’ ‘ignorant,’ you quarreled, you ‘blew up,’ you got
sick, you had a headache, you had to show off before your subordinate, you
were sulky, moody, abstracted all day. Your work did not go well, you
fumbled your work, spoiled your material. You were cruel to those below
you, you were ‘conceited’—one of the almost inevitable forms of display.
‘Conceit,’ which all too often mars personality, is but a confession of the
grossest kind of ignorance, A person who is wise always has such a vista


242 BEHAVIORISM


of things he knows nothing about in front of him that he grows more and
more humble as his wisdom increases. Conceit comes from infant spoiling.
Humility and inadequacies are similarly carry-overs and are bred in usually
by an ‘inferior’ or inadequate father or mother. Slants of the parents in
these directions account so well for the so-called ‘dispositional’ factors in


families (I mean the slants that can be seen through several generations) —


that I cannot see why we have to fall back upon inheritance to account for
them,


I need not enlarge further upon infant carry-overs. In a way the


whole of behaviorism is but an expression of the fact that infancy and .


childhood slant our adult personalities. This is a part of the field the
Freudians call the ‘unconscious.’ The unscientific nature of Freud’s con-
ception is surely apparent to you ere this. If it is not I'll have to give
you up.


What is a ‘Sick’ Personality?


Introduction :~~There is no more confusing field today, so far as use
of terms goes, than that of Psychopathology. Physicians know little of
behaviorism. Hence you find in psychopathology the terms of the old in-
trospective psychology or the demonological terminology of the Freudians.
I once hoped to live long enough to train a man thoroughly in behaviorism
before he went into medicine and later into psychopathology, but so far I
haven’t succeeded. The behaviorist who is a layman from a medical stand-
point cannot drain this swamp and the physician who is not a behaviorist
cannot do it. Hence the concepts of ‘mental disease’ and of the ‘unconscious’
with all of their confusions still flourish. The main difficulty with the phy-
sician working in these fields is that he is unversed in the history of philos-
ophy and even in physics. To the majority of psychopathologists and
analysts consciousness is a real ‘force’—something that can do something,
something that can start up a physiological process, or check, inhibit or down
one already going on. No one unless he ignores physics and the history of
philosophy could hold this view. No psychologist today would like to be
classed as believing in interaction (I think some of them do!) of which this
is an expression. Until you can get the physician who deals with behavior
to face the physical fact that the only way you can get a billiard ball on the
table in front of you to start moving—to go from a state of rest to a state
of motion—is to strike it with a cue or to get another ball already in motion
to strike it (or else have some other moving body hit it)—until you can get
him to face the fact that if the ball is already in motion you cannot make
it change its rate of motion or its direction unless you do one of these same


cs —


PERSONALITY. 243


things—you will never get a scientific viewpoint about psychopatholog-
ical behavior. The psychopathologists—most of them—believe today that
‘conscious’ processes can start the physiological ball rolling and then change
its direction. Much as I have maligned the introspectionists, they are not
quite so naive in their concepts. Even James long ago expressed the view
(although he did not stick to it in ‘will’ and in ‘attention’) that the only
way you could “down” or change a bodily process was to start some other
bodily process going. If ‘mind’ acts on body, then all physical laws are in-
valid. This physical and metaphysical naiveté of the psychopathologist and
analyst comes out in such expressions as “This conscious process inhibited
this or that form of behavior”; “the unconscious desire keeps him from do-
ing so and so.” Much of the confusion we have today dates back to Freud.
His adherents cannot see this. Most of them through having to undergo
analysis at his hands (either first, second, or third hand) have formed a
strong positive ‘father’ organization. They have been unwilling to have
their ‘father’ spoken of in criticism. This unwillingness to accept criticism
and to find progress through it has brought the crumbling at the top of
what started out to be the most significant movement in modern times. I
venture to predict that 20 years from now an analyst using Freudian con-
cepts and Freudian terminology will be placed upon the same plane as a
phrenologist. And yet analysis based upon behavioristic principles is here
to stay and is a necessary profession in society—to be placed upon a par
with internal medicine and surgery. By analyis I mean studying the cross
section of personality in some such way as I have outlined it. This will
be the equivalent of diagnosis. Combined with this will go unconditioning
and then conditioning. These will constitute the curative side. Analysis
as such has no virtue—no curative value. New habits, verbal, manual and
visceral, of such and such kinds, will be the prescriptions the psychopath-
ologist will write,


Are There Such Things as Mental Diseases?


I know that all of this more or less vague discussion about the analyst
and the physician raises some definite questions which you phrase as fol-
lows: Isn’t there such a thing as a mental disease? If so, what is it like
and how do you cure it?


As long as there is the misconception going the rounds that there is
such a thing as the mental, I suppose there will be mental diseases, mental
symptoms and mental cures. I view the whole matter otherwise. I can
only roughly outline my own viewpoint. Sickness of personality, or be-
havior illnesses, behavior disturbances, habit conflicts, are terms which I


244 BEHAVIORISM


should like to use in place of mental disturbances, mental diseases and the
like. In many of the so-called psychopathological disorders (“functional
psychoses,’ ‘functional neuroses,’ etc.) there are no organic disturbances of
sufficient gravity to account for personality disturbance. There may be no
infections, no lesions anywhere, no absence of physiological reflexes (as
there often is when there are organic diseases). And yet the individual
has a sick personality. His behavior may be so badly disturbed or so in-
volved that we call him insane (a purely social classification) and have to
commit him temporarily or permanently.


No one has yet given us a sensible classification of the various types
of behavior disturbance that are present in a social structure such as ours.
We hear of dementia praecox, manic depressive insanity, anxiety neuroses,
paranoia, schizophrenia and many others. To me as a layman these divi-
sions mean nothing. I know in general what is meant by appendicitis,
cancer of the breast, gall stones, typhoid fever, tonsilitis, tuberculosis,
paresis, brain tumor and even cardiac insufficiency. I know in general
something about the organisms present when any are present, the kind of
tissue attacked and the general course of the disease, and I can understand
the physician when he tells me more about them. Yet when the psycho-
pathologist tries to tell me about a ‘schiz’ or a ‘homicidal mania’ or an
‘hysterical’ attack, I have the feeling, which has grown stronger with the
years, that he doesn’t know what he is talking about. And I think the
reason he doesn’t know what he is talking about is that he has always
approached his patients from the point of view of the mind (the now
passing concept) rather than from that of the way the whole body behaves
and the genetic reasons for that behavior. The past few years have un-
questionably seen considerable progress in this direction.


To show the needlessness of introducing the ‘concept of mind’ in so-
called mental diseases, I offer you a fanciful picture of a psychopatholog-
ical dog (I use the dog because I am not a physician and have no right to
use a human illustration—I hope the veterinarians will pardon me!) With-
out taking anyone into my counsel suppose I once trained a dog so that he
would walk away from nicely-ground, fresh hamburg steak and would eat
only decayed fish (true examples of this are now at hand). I trained him
(by use of the electric shock) to avoid smelling the female dog in the
usual canine way—he would circle around her but would come no closer
than ten feet (J. J. B. Morgan has done something very close to this on
the rat). Again, by letting him play only with male puppies and dogs and
punishing him when he tried to mount a female, I made a homosexual
of him (F. A. Moss has done something closely akin to this in rats).
Instead of licking my hands and becoming lively and playful when I go to


we


aaa eaas


we


PERSONALITY » 245


him in the morning, he hides or cowers, whines and shows his teeth. In-
stead of going after rats and other small animals in the way of hunting, he
runs away from them and shows the most pronounced fears. He sleeps in
the ash can—he fouls his own bed, he urinates every half hour and any-
where. Instead of smelling every tree trunk, he growls and fights and
paws the earth but will not come within two feet of the tree. He sleeps
only two hours per day and sleeps these two hours leaning up against a
wail rather than lying down with head and rump touching. He is thin and
emaciated because he will eat no fats. He salivates constantly (because I
have conditioned him to salivate to hundreds of objects). This interferes
with his digestion. Then I take him to the dog psychopathologist. His
physiological reflexes are normal. No organic lesions are to be found any-
where. The dog, so the psychopathologist claims, is mentally sick, actually
insane; his mental condition has led to the various organic: difficulties
such as lack of digestion; it has ‘caused’ his poor physical condition.
Everything that a dog should do—as compared with what dogs of his type
usually do—he does not do. And everything that seems foreign for a dog
to do he does. The psychopathologist says I must commit the dog to an
institution for the care of insane dogs; that if he is not restrained he will
jump from a ten-story building, or walk into a fire without hesitation.


I tell the dog psychopathologist that he doesn’t know anything about
my dog; that, from the standpoint of the environment in which the dog has
been brought up (the way I have trained him) he is the most normal dog
in the world; that the reason he calls the dog ‘insane’ or mentally sick is
because of his own absurd system of classification.


I then take the psychopathologist into my confidence. By this time he
is disgusted and says, “Since you've brought this on, go cure him.” I
attempt then to correct my dog’s behavior difficulties, at least up to the point
where he can begin to associate with the nice dogs in the neighborhood. If
he is very old or if things have gone too far, I just keep him confined ; but
if he is fairly young and he learns easily, I undertake to retrain him. I
use all the methods you now know so well, in unconditioning him and then
conditioning him. Soon I get him to eating fresh meat by getting him
hungry, closing up his nose and feeding him in the dark. This gives me a
good start. I have something basal to use in my further work. I keep him
hungry and feed him only when I open his cage in the morning; the whip
is thrown away; soon he jumps for joy when he hears my step. Ina few
months’ time I not only have cleared out the old but also have built in the
new. The next time there is a dog show I proudly exhibit him, and his
general behavior is such an asset to his sleek, perfect body that he walks


off with the blue ribbon.


246 BEHAVIORISM


All this is an exaggeration—almost sacrilege, you say! Surely there
is no connection between this and the poor sick souls we see in the psycho-
pathic wards in every hospital! Yes, I admit the exaggeration, but I am
after elementals here. I am pleading for simplicity and ruggedness in the
building stones of our science of behavior. I am trying to show by this
homely illustration that you can by conditioning not only build up the be-
havior complications, patterns and conflicts in diseased personalities, but
also by the same process lay the foundations for the onset of actual organic
changes which result finally in infections and lesions—all without intro-
ducing the concept of the mind-body relation (‘influence of mind over the
body’). or even without leaving the realm of natural science. In other
words, as behaviorists, even in ‘mental diseases’ we deal with the same ma-
terial and the same laws that the neurologists and physiologists deal with.


How to Change Personality

Changing the personality of the sick individual—the psychopath—is
the work of the physician. However badly he handles his job at present,
we have to go to him when a habit breakdown occurs. If I got to the point
where I could not pick up my knife or fork, if one arm became paralyzed
or if I couldn’t visually react to my wife and children, and a physical ex-
amination showed no organic lesion of any kind, I should hasten to my
psychoanalytic friends and say: “Please, in spite of all the mean things I’ve
said about you, help me out of this mess.”


Even we ‘normal ones,’ after having looked ourselves over and decided
that we'd like to slough off a few of our worst carry-overs, find that mak-
ing these changes in our personalities is no easy task. Can you learn chem-
istry over night? To be a finished musician or artist in a year’s time? It
would be difficult if you only had to learn these things, but it is doubly
difficult when you have to unlearn a vast organized system of old habits
before you can begin to put on the new. And yet this is what the individual
faces who wants a new personality. No quack can do it for you, no cor-
respondence school can safely guide you. Almost any event or happening
might start a change; a flood might do it, a death in the family, an earth.
quake, a conversion to the church, a breakdown in health, a fist fight—any-
thing that would break up your present habit patterns, throw you out of
your routine and put you in such a position that you would have to learn
to react to objects and situations different from those to which you have
had to react in the past—such happenings might start the process of build-
ing a new personality for you. During the formation of new habit systems,
the old begin to die through disuse—that is, there is loss in retention and
hence the individual will be less and less dominated by the old habit
systems.


PERSONALITY 247


What do we have to do to change the personality? There mtist be
both unlearning the things we have already learned (and the unlearning
may be an active unconditioning process or just disuse) and learning the
new things, which is always an active process. Thus the only way thor-
oughly to change personality is to remake the individual by changing his
_ environment in such a way that new habits have to form. The more

completely they change, the more personality changes. Few individuals
can do all this unaided. That is why we go on year in and year out with
the same old personality. Some day we shall have hospitals devoted to
helping us change our personality because we can change the personality
as easily as we can change the shape of the nose, only it takes more time.


Language One Difficulty in the Way of Changing Personality


There is one difficulty in changing personality by changing environ-
ment, hitherto all too little thought of. It lies in the fact that when we
attempt to change personality by changing the individual’s external envi-
ronment, we cannot prevent the individual from taking his old. internal
environment with him in the shape of words and word substitutes. You
can take a man who has never worked in his life, who has always been the
spoiled darling of his mother, who has been a constant attendant upon the
ladies of the stage, a patron of the best restaurants of the city, of the fine
haberdashery shops, send him to the Congo Free States and put him ina
situation for making a frontier individual out of himself. But he takes
with him his own language and other substitutes for the world he has left,
and we saw in studying language that language, when fully developed,
really gives us a manipulable replica of the world we live in. Hence, if his
present world does not begin to take hold of him, as it may not, he may
withdraw from his frontier world and live the rest of his life in the old
substitute world of words. Such an individual may become a “shut-in”—
a day dreamer.


But in spite of all the difficulties in the way, individuals can and do
change their personalities. Friends, teachers, the theatres, the movies
all help to make, to remake and to unmake our personalities. The man
who never exposes himself to such stimuli will never change his person-
ality for a better one,


Behaviorism a Foundation for All Future Experimental Ethics


All the way through this course I have attempted to show that while
there is a science of psychology independent, interesting, worth while in
itself, nevertheless to have a right to existence it must serve in some meas-


248 BEHAVIORISM


ure as a foundation for reaching out into human life. I think behaviorism
does lay a foundation for saner living. It ought to be a science that
prepares men and women for understanding the first principles of their
own behavior. It ought to make men and women eager to rearrange their
own lives, and especially eager to prepare themselves to bring up their own
children in a healthy way. I wish I had time more fully to describe this, to
picture to you the kind of rich and wonderful individual we should make of
every healthy child if only we could let it shape itself properly and then
provide for it a universe in which it could exercise that organization—a
universe unshackled by legendary folk lore of happenings thousands of
years ago; unhampered by disgraceful political history; free of fool-
ish customs and conventions which have no significance in themselves, yet
which hem the individual in like taut steel bands. I am not asking here for
revolution; I am not asking people to go out to some God-forsaken place,
form a colony, go naked and live a communal life, nor am I asking for a
change to a diet of roots and herbs. I am not asking for ‘free love.” I
am trying to dangle a stimulus in front of you, a verbal stimulus which,
if acted upon, will gradually change this universe. For the universe will
change if you bring up your children, not in the freedom of the libertine,
but in behavioristic freedom—a freedom which we cannot even picture in
words, so little do we know of it. Will not these children in turn, with
their better ways of living and thinking, replace us as society and in turn
bring up their children in a still more scientific way, until the world finally
becomes a place fit for human habitation?


* Note: I am not arguing here for free anything—least of all free speech. I have always been
very much amused by the advocates of free speech. In this harum-scarum world of ours,
brought up as we are, the only person who ought to be allowed free speech is the parrot,
because the parrot’s words are not tied up with his bodily acts and do not stand as sub-
stitutes for his bodily acts, All true speech does stand substitutable for bodily acts, hence
organized society has just as little right to allow free speech as it has to allow free action,
which nobody advocates. When the agitator raises the roof because he hasn’t free 3
he does it because he knows that he will be restrained if he attempts free action. He
wants by his free speech to get someone else to do free acting—to do something he him-
self is afraid to do. The behaviorist, on the other hand, would like to develop his world
of people from birth on, so that their speech and their bodily behavior could equally well
be exhibited freely everywhere without running afoul of group standards,


INDEX!’


Activity, stream of.


ros ff.
Adjustment, mature Of. seccccnesnnenmne 161
Age, effect on habit formation.......... we ITE
Es GST IVEY GC E50 (0 Ceasar en saraee 63, 65
LOGIE TINT 1 REE SS OEE SS RG et ee per OR
RUIN Obie pner eee to eee Sg
Ne a Eee en ee ee 26, 179
Arm, foetal movements Of-ccccacmosnenene 94
PVEQME De ee ee 49
Axis-cylinder ee RO


Behaviorism, 17; definition of, rr;
goal of, 16; starting point of.............. 10
Behavior, emotional, 148; intra-uter-
ine, 88; unlearned, 74; early verbal 97
Behaviorist, approach of, 10; advent
of, 16; method of, 115; problems


Oia plattorm, Of. es 6
PRISED OG ee cna een 154
Birth equipment of human young... 9
PERE ACINOL CIN eS sree leer GO) TSE
SSUES 0 pe ea ac 28; 498
Body, constitution of, 42 ff.; organs

epee ieee | BO
RGIS: CE st aA ed Oe = 84
BRIDGMAN, AR Ag 2 oe 94
BURTT Se cee cariien SGA
NINO Nii ceases cermin 605) L4Z
OOP INE ite a 38


Cells, connective tissue, 45; epithelial,


44; hair, 51; nerve, 48; types of,
43; striped muscle, 46; unstriped
Tiiky (a wwe 46
Central nervous Syste nn ccscccenesnencsnse 43
Children, negative responses of ........... 142
Conditioned emotional reactions, 33;
Teflex Methods ccccmemreccn———enennennnene 26
Conditioning, of emotional life, 136;
process of .... pees es ee OE
COTTER apg eta tu: Uiessteaend esas nee eee et
Consciousness, EXAMINALION OF crcccennn 5
Continence ee eee ea
Crawling a wt Fi yi ae acer
[ELIT pti 2 0 ea eer is Soren ee 64.


Crying, go; situations calling out re-
action -
Curves, of learning


BAW TIN ao reese m’78, 109, 12%
Defaecation x


ees |


Wend Pits hein casccosnnc samen ijeebieisresecs USO
Dog, the psychopathological ae Bee AGA)
Dominance of language habits —. 204


DOYLE, SIR ARTHUR CONAN ....... 230
Drugs, effect of on habit .W.nsncnnmeone 175
Dvalisin sce er ee


Ductless glands, conditioning of ....... 68


Emotions, 108; conditioned, origin of,


117 ff.; general survey of, 108;

SUMMALY Of ercsntenee lates 129
Emotional life, complications ‘Ofoae 125
Elements, “affective... ee
EnCocrime Oras .cscesemmeensceecseeneeeneemnence 63
Environment) 222 .<-mnncien ectnen ees = 59
Epinephrin cance ieee ee 65
Stic xlesees eee 17, 37
Exercise, ©fFect Of neeccccc.ain-scncereesmerrnicia 56
Experimentation, social ---cccccnsssenen 35
Eye, early movements of 93
Fakers, in psychology ccnnnnmmnnmen230 ff.
Faticue, of muscles! 56
Pear oe eae 8, 33, 120 ff.
»Wlattery) qe tenn ee ONS Meee eaT
Foot, early movements of —._....-__ 94)
Brequency™ teste ere 65
FREUD 22255. eee 209, 210
FREUDIANS #2. 108 525,237
Functional psychology crane bas 17


Gland, adrenal, 63; conditioning of,
30; ‘duct, 61; ductless, 31, 63; en-
docrine, 633 parathyroid, 63; pine-
al, 63, 67; pituitary, 63; puberty,
63; salivary, conditioning “Of 303
tear, possibility of conditioning Le 46
COST) VEY eee meen oe een Berens 8"


Habits, manual, 159; as basis of per-
sonality, 218 f.: ; effect of age upon,
171; effect of drugs upon, 1753; ex-
amples of, 164; factors affecting
formation of, 171 ff.; formation of,
steps in, 25, 162, 164; final stages
in, 176; problems of, 168; relation


to conditioned reflexes Sureosusetlccsenas we 166
Hand, early movements Of crmcmemin - 94
Handedness tod in ree 99
Head, early Movements Of cecum 94
Hiccoughing Hence Meare me cetera GO.


250


HOWE, S. Gy con: 193
HOWLAND, TOBIN fscpeeeeedeeetancsal Oe
HUG-HELLIMUTE secceceeeneectace . 210
Human young, birth equipment of ....90 ff.
PR OE So ccnnnnsne ener eciesieknouniarsenrsioereny ned OL
FIG DER recone 111
TARR cscicesciecotaaitiw nines eae 5
Imitation, of vocal sounds cca LOE


Infant, study of, 188; carry-overs —. 239


IPTIStIIGE 20 scersacmacte annie 74. £.
1 OCT gene cae Nenana aye Oe eae eee oe
DF epeyoa G19 Ce} 1 gee ec nO UT EE ae
Introspection ........ 6
IVES oceans 3, 33, 86, 104, 105,
108, 110, III, 112, 127, 136, 140, 172
Neal OUB Yeo ae ree ane 4 8 fF
TIC EUINS ONG lg Miers uae
JONES MARY: COVER =
onsen 93, 98, 116, 132, 133, 135, 141
JUDD RA! eA
SAIN Ds oa eee ee eed ASE
KUL RE oe 2 ee Sh ag
IC AINIGES  cerorarc soepulditenenentenranatciacnanaa! LOS
Ranguages eo 181, 247
RAS IN ethan tnssactoncvas vtcctroiocrerotes toate RBA,
ASHLEY 2222... 972, 19S) 208
Laughing, situations calling out ......... 141
hearing, by observation, 38; curves
Basak anita paisa ene emrenectapeesares SOG
LODGE, SIR OLIVER) -ooencecaenann 290
Love .. eae morons. 39) X20 i
MANTEGAZZAy acces 110
WBE HIa p60) re een Ty 98
MARSTON 2 3oee so KSA:
Masturbation, early appearance of... 92
McDOUGALE —=2 3 9, 3is
Meaning rie 2S seer AO SO Rh A . 200
Memory, 177; as verbal habit .......... 188
Methods, experimental a nneenee ra YS
“Mental” tests, 34; disease WWW. 244
IMBeER VAs Se oe Oe . 26
MINKOWSKI 2222 2 Se
MORGAN, J. .......
INE OSS iirecrestn crc dee iene RA AO
Movements, hampering Of oecceccccscssnnnnne 122
MUNSTERBERG. occecsncesnemetirenninnne 226
Muscles, conditioning of, 31; as work-
ing machines, 55; food gh af igs


INDEX, Continued


Negative responses, in children 142
Nerve, impulses of cecnens Sn teeae
Nervous system, central, 43; how
made up ks 79
Nucleus, of nerve cell ..... 44.
Neurology .... oo 233
NeUTODG, cnsscesmicicenaetennaoasem a nen
Objects, word substitutes for ee
Organization, forms of early word,
182; verbal, 182; without words
(adults) 22. 209
Organs, hollow, 57; sense, 51; viscer-
al 57
Parathyroids ..... 63, 65
PAVLOV 26


Penis, erection. of...

Personality, 216 ff.; analysis of, 216;
disturbance of, 242; “experts,” 229;
how to study, 223; how to change,
246; rough chart of, 221; weak-


nesses of ..... cesses tice opal
PETER ON, J. comes RB
Phrenology. ....2 ee 233


Pineal body’ +5
Pituitary body


Practice, effect of inversion
Problems, psychological analysis of,
19; of behaviorists ae
Prohibition, effects of 36 £.
Protoplasm, 20 e<nestees 44
Puberty gland <2. 2


Punishment, corporeal, 1445 legal _. 146
Psychology, functional, 17; introspec-
tive, 3, 17; old and new contrasted,


3; religious background of, 3;

S0Cial | nol
Psychoanal ysis cemsseniennenrneceeeen 18
RA BO sceccisacnnsasnsncen aniealcscantntrcieanbatenaen ty Sena es


Reactions, of unstriped muscles, 32;

human salivary ..... a a
RECENCY, ssc ciasacaceweanea ieee ieee
Reflex. Babinski 220 eee Bers fo
Reflexes, conditioned, 4, 8; embryo-

logical, 88; long, 71; short 0. 71
Religion pages Ad ie eee 18, 37
Response, conditioned, 23; differential,

28; emotional, beginnings of, 120;

emotional, conditioned, 8; emotion-

al, variations in, 116; feeding, 953

general classification of, 15, 163


Set Nel


OB


ne el mag


ae


oP hat


INDEX, Continued


eee nature of, 13; glandular,

; learned, 15; new, 24; organs
a 543 prediction of, 16; substitu-
tion in, 23; secretion, 62; uncondi-
tioned


cots eens ee ee A eS eee eer 1]
PROCS Ol BEEING 5s oe Sinicctecineninarnan  §Y
RUSSELL, BERTRAND ........ ea 166
BeOS ARON ho eee Fe es 5
Sense organs, general plan of Wm. 5%
RG MUR ee, 148
De ge NY rss siernacsecsstersinnensomiciniset 25,078
Smooth muscle 47
MIMROZIN GE 96
Social factors, im Emotions .ncecceccemeenn 135
SOTO S iano ES sete TT
SSCA TRL Fe ea aa 248
RCETNG ribo = oe ee eee ee ee eee
Steadiness of head in infants ............ 94
LS Sse: G8 6 Re Pa ae ae a es iG8
Stimulus, conditioned, 22; and re-
sponse, formula of, 21; general
nature of, 12; substitution, summary
of, 133; unconditioned .................—-_ 22
Stimuli, widening range of not
Strain, muscular ccm Bee en eG
“Stream of consciousness,” 105; of
DIETS | Sh aS ae eee 105
Striped: muscle... FO
Substitution, of stimulus ............. eee ay
Suicide ee as eee ly |
SUMNER ot a Ree ne IIs
Swin ming, lack of response in infants 97
Talking ...... 180 ff.
BAG es) eee ee nary 7.4
Tears, early appearance of ..... 91
“EES SCE) oe ee ooh a4
Thinking, 6, 180 ff, 190, diagram of,
214; forms of, 195; in infants, 208;
new forms of, 198; when called
out, 194; with and without words
et 201, 213


251
TET CHEND Rt .2 sesso cine ng
Tissue, retard 45; ee 443

MHUSCUlAE ae acca tah cen Ae
THOMAS, W.L Romane NOP
THORSON rm acsnascanpi asa: a anne Pes 192
Thyroid gland, 63; secretion,~effect

OR RCO WON, fees ero emoetin ai 64
PER TORIN tenet eta ht hee Se Oe
Tract, alimentary . pasb er eertot ate Sebi we! autsenit af). 5
Training, effect of early ........-.. noone OO
Traits, lack of mental 222 us “7
SOT ranslertseiad, (koe ee eS
Trunk movements, in infant Susy .G6
Turning head, in infants .cocemmm 93
Unconditioning, of emotional life _.. 137
Unconscious, the, behavioristic ex-

planation, Of “20.20 eee 210
Unlearned equipment, summary of .... 103
ERICH We cece. ue eee eee 172
Urine, voidance of, in infants 92
Verbalization, importance of ..........— 212
Viscera, 57; importance of in think--

2 eben er eR eee eed (07,
Vocal sounds, Carly ccccecnnrncmmamon 19E
VORONO FRM a seeteeteencienmeanso Os
Walking ...._.. 97
Witten, a ote ee 37
WATSON, ROSALIE RAYNER 172, 174
61d Uap nner ace ine ARE paar ete al lh
WILLIAMS, WHITRIDGE ....88, 89
Word, reaction method, 156; organi-

zation, occurring with manual and

visceral Organization cmc 203
Words, list of infant, 183; as substi-

tutes for objects 2.2 BOA)
WOUND Tose Sse


Young, human, birth equipment of 90 ff.


Write for : Price, $3.00


PSYCHOLOGY


What It Has to Teach You About Yourself and Your World


BY


EVERETT DEAN MARTIN
Director, The People’s Institute


A complete outline of Psychology which ‘“‘relates the new science of
the mind to common problems of the hour.”,—-The New York Times.


Lecture
FE
II.


3 CONTENTS —

What Psychology really is—Its Uses and Abuses.
Psychology and Physiology—A Study of Reactions.
Psychology and Philosophy — The Place of

William James.
What Psychologists think about Consciousness.
The Fatality of Habits.
Human Nature and the Problems of Instinct.
Man and his Emotions.
A Lecture on How We Think.
The Value of the Fictions We invent about


Ourselves.

The Unconscious and its Influence upon Human
Behavior.

The Significance of the Intelligence Tests.


Is there a Group Mind? What governs the Behavior
of People in Society.


The Psychology of Propaganda and Public Opinion.


The Psychology of Religion.


. Are there Psychological differences of Race.


The Psychology of Politics.
Ethics in the Light of Psychology.


Psycho-analysis—What Freud and his Followers
have done to Psychology.

Behaviorism. — The Latest and Most Debated
Development.


How much Progress can Human Nature Stand?


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