Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals

Charles Darwin

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pubOne.info present you this new edition. The three chief principles stated- The first principle- Serviceable actions become habitual in association with certain states of the mind, and are performed whether or not of service in each particular case- The force of habit- Inheritance- Associated habitual movements in man- Reflex actions- Passage of habits into reflex actions- Associated habitual movements in the lower animals- Concluding remarks.

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• Publié par: Pub One Info
• Date de parution: 06 novembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9782819930488
• Langue: English

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CHAPTER I.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF EXPRESSION.
The three chief principles stated— The firstprinciple— Serviceable actions become habitual in association withcertain states of the mind, and are performed whether or not ofservice in each particular case— The force of habit— Inheritance—Associated habitual movements in man— Reflex actions— Passage ofhabits into reflex actions— Associated habitual movements in thelower animals— Concluding remarks.
I WILL begin by giving the three Principles, whichappear to me to account for most of the expressions and gesturesinvoluntarily used by man and the lower animals, under theinfluence of various emotions and sensations. [1] Iarrived, however, at these three Principles only at the close of myobservations. They will be discussed in the present and twofollowing chapters in a general manner. Facts observed both withman and the lower animals will here be made use of; but the latterfacts are preferable, as less likely to deceive us. In the fourthand fifth chapters, I will describe the special expressions of someof the lower animals; and in the succeeding chapters those of man.Everyone will thus be able to judge for himself, how far my threeprinciples throw light on the theory of the subject. It appears tome that so many expressions are thus explained in a fairlysatisfactory manner, that probably all will hereafter be found tocome under the same or closely analogous heads. I need hardlypremise that movements or changes in any part of the body, — as thewagging of a dog's tail, the drawing back of a horse's ears, theshrugging of a man's shoulders, or the dilatation of the capillaryvessels of the skin, — may all equally well serve for expression.The three Principles are as follows.
[1] Mr. Herbert Spencer (`Essays, 'Second Series, 1863, p. 138) has drawn a clear distinction betweenemotions and sensations, the latter being “generated in ourcorporeal framework. ” He classes as Feelings both emotionsand-sensations.
I. The principle of serviceable associatedHabits . — Certain complex actions are of direct or indirectservice under certain states of the mind, in order to relieve orgratify certain sensations, desires, and c. ; and whenever the samestate of mind is induced, however feebly, there is a tendencythrough the force of habit and association for the same movementsto be performed, though they may not then be of the least use. Someactions ordinarily associated through habit with certain states ofthe mind may be partially repressed through the will, and in suchcases the muscles which are least under the separate control of thewill are the most liable still to act, causing movements which werecognize as expressive. In certain other cases the checking of onehabitual movement requires other slight movements; and these arelikewise expressive.
II. The principle of Antithesis . — Certainstates of the mind lead to certain habitual actions, which are ofservice, as under our first principle. Now when a directly oppositestate of mind is induced, there is a strong and involuntarytendency to the performance of movements of a directly oppositenature, though these are of no use; and such movements are in somecases highly expressive.
III. The principle of actions due to theconstitution of the Nervous System, independently from the first ofthe Will, and independently to a certain extent of Habit . — -When the sensorium is strongly excited, nerve-force is generated inexcess, and is transmitted in certain definite directions,depending on the connection of the nerve-cells, and partly onhabit: or the supply of nerve-force may, as it appears, beinterrupted. Effects are thus produced which we recognize asexpressive. This third principle may, for the sake of brevity, becalled that of the direct action of the nervous system.
With respect to our first Principle , it isnotorious how powerful is the force of habit. The most complex anddifficult movements can in time be performed without the leasteffort or consciousness. It is not positively known how it comesthat habit is so efficient in facilitating complex movements; butphysiologists admit [2] “that the conducting power ofthe nervous fibres increases with the frequency of theirexcitement. ” This applies to the nerves of motion and sensation,as well as to those connected with the act of thinking. That somephysical change is produced in the nerve-cells or nerves which arehabitually used can hardly be doubted, for otherwise it isimpossible to understand how the tendency to certain acquiredmovements is inherited. That they are inherited we see with horsesin certain transmitted paces, such as cantering and ambling, whichare not natural to them, — in the pointing of young pointers andthe setting of young setters— in the peculiar manner of flight ofcertain breeds of the pigeon, and c. We have analogous cases withmankind in the inheritance of tricks or unusual gestures, to whichwe shall presently recur. To those who admit the gradual evolutionof species, a most striking instance of the perfection with whichthe most difficult consensual movements can be transmitted, isafforded by the humming-bird Sphinx-moth ( Macroglossa ); forthis moth, shortly after its emergence from the cocoon, as shown bythe bloom on its unruffled scales, may be seen poised stationary inthe air, with its long hair-like proboscis uncurled and insertedinto the minute orifices of flowers; and no one, I believe, hasever seen this moth learning to perform its difficult task, whichrequires such unerring aim.
[2] Muller, `Elements of Physiology,' Eng. translat. vol. ii. p. 939. See also Mr. H. Spencer'sinteresting speculations on the same subject, and on the genesis ofnerves, in his `Principles of Biology, ' vol. ii. p. 346; and inhis `Principles of Psychology, ' 2nd edit. pp. 511-557.
When there exists an inherited or instinctivetendency to the performance of an action, or an inherited taste forcertain kinds of food, some degree of habit in the individual isoften or generally requisite. We find this in the paces of thehorse, and to a certain extent in the pointing of dogs; althoughsome young dogs point excellently the first time they are takenout, yet they often associate the proper inherited attitude with awrong odour, and even with eyesight. I have heard it asserted thatif a calf be allowed to suck its mother only once, it is much moredifficult afterwards to rear it by hand. [3] Caterpillars which have been fed on the leaves of one kind of tree,have been known to perish from hunger rather than to eat the leavesof another tree, although this afforded them their proper food,under a state of nature; [4] and so it is in manyother cases.
[3] A remark to much the same effectwas made long ago by Hippocrates and by the illustrious Harvey; forboth assert that a young animal forgets in the course of a few daysthe art of sucking, and cannot without some difficulty againacquire it. I give these assertions on the authority of Dr. Darwin,`Zoonomia, ' 1794, vol. i. p. 140.
The power of Association is admitted by everyone.Mr. Bain remarks, that “actions, sensations and states of feeling,occurring together or in close succession, tend to grow together,or cohere, in such a way that when any one of them is afterwardspresented to the mind, the others are apt to be brought up in idea.” [5] It is so important for our purpose fully torecognize that actions readily become associated with other actionsand with various states of the mind, that I will give a good manyinstances, in the first place relating to man, and afterwards tothe lower animals. Some of the instances are of a very triflingnature, but they are as good for our purpose as more importanthabits. It is known to everyone how difficult, or even impossibleit is, without repeated trials, to move the limbs in certainopposed directions which have never been practised. Analogous casesoccur with sensations, as in the common experiment of rolling amarble beneath the tips of two crossed fingers, when it feelsexactly like two marbles. Everyone protects himself when falling tothe ground by extending his arms, and as Professor Alison hasremarked, few can resist acting thus, when voluntarily falling on asoft bed. A man when going out of doors puts on his gloves quiteunconsciously; and this may seem an extremely simple operation, buthe who has taught a child to put on gloves, knows that this is byno means the case.
[4] See for my authorities, and forvarious analogous facts, `The Variation of Animals and Plants underDomestication, ' 1868, vol. ii. p. 304.
[5] `The Senses and the Intellect, '2nd edit. 1864, p. 332. Prof. Huxley remarks (`Elementary Lessonsin Physiology, ' 5th edit. 1872, p. 306), “It may be laid down as arule, that, if any two mental states be called up together, or insuccession, with due frequency and vividness, the subsequentproduction of the one of them will suffice to call up the other,and that whether we desire it or not. ”
When our minds are much affected, so are themovements of our bodies; but here another principle besides habit,namely the undirected overflow of nerve-force, partially comes intoplay. Norfolk, in speaking of Cardinal Wolsey, says—
"Some strange commotion
Is in his brain; he bites his lip and starts;
Stops on a sudden, looks upon the ground,
Then, lays his finger on his temple: straight,
Springs out into fast gait; then, stops again,
Strikes his breast hard; and anon, he casts
His eye against the moon: in most strangepostures
We have seen him set himself. "— Hen. VIII ., act 3, sc. 2.
A vulgar man often scratches his head when perplexedin mind; and I believe that he acts thus from habit, as if heexperienced a slightly uncomfortable bodily sensation, namely, theitching of his head, to which he is particularly liable, and whichhe thus relieves. Another man rubs his eyes when perplexed, orgives a little cough when embarrassed, acting in either case as ifhe felt a slightly uncomfortable sensation i