第 14 节
作者:暖暖      更新:2021-02-24 22:59      字数:9322
  to special habits: alcohol; tobacco; drugs; sex perversions。 5。 Relating to study and advancement: love of books; attendance at lectures。 Especially in the study of children is some such scheme essential; for then one gets a definite idea of their defects and takes definite efforts to make habitual the desired practice; or else one sees the special trend; and; if it is good; fosters it。 This; of course; is the long and short of character development。
  CHAPTER IV。 STIMULATION; INHIBITION; ORGANIZING ENERGY; CHOICE AND CONSCIOUSNESS There are three fundamental factors in the relation of any organism to the environment and in the relation of the various parts of an organism to each other which we must now consider。 To consider a living thing of any kind as something separate from the stimuli the world streams in on it; or to consider it as a real unit; is a mistake that falsifies most of the thinking of the world。 On us; as living things; the universe pours in stimuli of a few kinds。 Or rather there are few kinds of stimuli we are specialized to receive and react to; there may be innumerable other kinds to which we cannot react because they do not reach us。 The world for us is a collection of things that we see; hear; smell; taste and feel; but there may be vast reaches of things for which we have no avenues of approach;completely unimaginable things because our images are built upon our senses。 To some of the stimuli the world pours in on us we must react properly or die。 Certain 〃mechanisms〃 with which we are equipped must respond to these stimuli or the forces of the world destroy us。 A lion on the horizon must awaken flight; or concealment; or the modified fight reaction of using weapons; extreme cold or heat must start up impulses and reflexes leading away from their disintegrating effects。 Food must; when smelled or seen; lead us to conduct whereby we supply ourselves or we die from hunger。 Dangers and needs awaken reactions; both through instinctive responses and through intelligence。 The main activities of life are to be classed as 〃averting〃 and 〃acquiring;〃 for if life showers us with the things we would or need to have; it also pelts us with the things we fear; hate or despise。 It would be interesting to know which activities are the most numerous; presumably the lucky or successful man is busy acquiring while the unlucky or unsuccessful finds himself busiest averting。 The averting activities are directed largely against the disagreeable; disgusting; dangerous and the undesired; the acquiring activities are directed toward the pleasant; the necessary; the desired。 The problems of life are to know what is really good or bad for us and how to acquire the one and avert the other。 While there are certain things that 〃naturally〃'1' are deemed good or bad; there are more that are so regarded through training and education。 Morality and Taste are alike concerned with bringing about attitudes that will determine the 〃right〃 response to the stimuli of the world。 '1' I place in quotations NATURALLY because it is difficult to know what is 〃natural〃 and what is cultural。 In the widest sense everything is natural; in the narrowest very few things are natural。 Cooked food; clothing; houses; marriages; education; etc。; are not found in a state of nature; any more than clocks and plays by Ibsen are。 Our judgment as to what is good and bad is mainly instinctive leaning directed or smothered by education。
  The stimuli that thus pour in upon the individual; and to which he must react; must find an organism ready to respond in some way or other。 A sleeping man naturally does not adjust himself to danger; nor does a paralyzed man fly。 The most attractive female in the world causes no response in the very young male child and perhaps stirs only reminiscences in the aged。 Food; which causes the saliva to flow in the mouth of the hungry; may disgust the full。 Throughout life there are factors in the internal life of the organism instantly changing one's reaction to things of physical; mental and moral significance。 He talks loudest of restraint and control who has no desire; and in satiation even the sinner sees the beauty of asceticism。 There must be a coincidence of stimulus; readiness and opportunity for the full; successful response to take place。'1' '1' A slang epigram puts it better: The time; the place; and the girl。
  The simplest response to any stimulus from the outer world is the reflex act。 Theoretically a reflex act is dependent upon the interaction of a sensory surface; a sensory nerve cell; a motor nerve cell and a muscle; i。 e。; a receptive apparatus and a motor apparatus in such close union that the will and intelligence play no part。 Thus if one puts his finger on a hot stove he withdraws it immediately; and such responses are present even in the decapitated frog and human for a short time。 So if light streams in on the wide…open pupil of the eye; it contracts; grows smaller; without any effort of the will; and in fact entirely without the consciousness of the individual。 Swallowing is a series of reflexes in a row; so that food in the back part of the mouth sets a reflex going that carries it beyond the epiglottis; another reflex carries it to the esophagus and then one reflex after the other transports the food the rest of the way。 Except for the first effort of swallowing; the rest is entirely involuntary and even unconscious。 Those readers who are interested would do well to read the work of Pavlow on the conditioned reflex; in which the great Russian physiologist builds up all action on a basis of a modification of the primitive reflex which he calls the 〃conditioned reflex。〃'1' '1' Pavlow is one of the scientists who regard all mental life as built up out of reflexes。 The immediate reflex is only one variety; thought; emotion; etc。; are merely reflexes placed end to end。 Pavlow divides action into two trends; one due to an unconditioned reflex; of innate structure; and the other a modified or conditioned reflex which arises because some stimulus has become associated with the reflex act。 Thus saliva dripping from a dog's mouth at the smell of food is an unconditioned reflex; if a bell is heard at the same time the food is smelled then in the course of time the saliva flows at the sound of the bell alone;a conditioned reflex。 A very complex system has been built up of this kind of facts; which I have criticized elsewhere。
  The simple reflex; immediate response to a stimulus; has only a limited field in human life or adult life。 Sherrington points out in his notable book; 〃The Integrative Action of the Nervous System;〃 that there is a play of the entire organism on each responding element; and there is also a competition throughout each pathway to action。 Let us examine this a little closer。 A man is hungry; let us say; i。 e。; there arise from his gastro…intestinal tract and from the tissues stimuli which arouse motor mechanisms to action and the man seeks food。 The need of the body arouses desire in the form of an organic sensation and this arouses mechanisms whose function is to satisfy that desire。 Let us assume that he finds something that looks good and he is about to seize it when an odor; called disagreeable; assails his nostrils from the food; which stops him。 Then there arises a competition for action between the desire for food and the visual stimulus; associated memories; etc。; on the one hand; and the odor; the awakened fear; memories; disgust; etc。; on the other hand。 This struggle for action; for use of the mechanisms of action; is the struggling of choosing; one of the fundamental phenomena of life。 In order for a choice to become manifest; what is known as inhibition must come into play; an impulse to action must be checked in order that an opposing action can be effective。 The movement of rejection uses muscles that oppose the movement of acquirement; e。 g。; one uses the triceps and the other the biceps; muscles situated in opposite sides of the upper arm and having antagonistic action。 In order for triceps to act; biceps must be inhibited from action; and in that inhibition is a fundamental function of the organism。 In every function of the body there are opposing groups of forces; for every dilator there is a contractor; for every accelerator of action there is inhibition。 Nature drives by two reins; and one is a checkrein。 This function of inhibition; then; delays; retards or prevents an action and is in one sense a higher function than the response to stimulation。 Its main seat is the cerebrum; the 〃highest〃 nervous tissue; whereas reflex and instinctive actions usually are in the vegetative nervous system; the spinal cord; the bulbar regions and the mid…brain; all of which are lower centers。 Choice; which is intimately associated with inhibition; is par excellence a cerebral function and in general is associated with intense consciousness。 The act of choosing brings to the circumstances the whole past history of the individual; it marshals his resources of judgment; intelligence; will; purposes and desires。 In choice lies the fate of the personality; for it is basically related to habit formation。 Further; in the dynamics of life a right; proper choice; an appropriate choice; opens wide the door of oppor