POPULAR PSYCHOLOGY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18380, 21 April 1923, Page 1 (Supplement)

POPULAR PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR. * . \

:,■ .■ s „.' ss;'".;' .-:'•'■.''.•; BT A. ERNEST " WANDER.

It is impossible to understand mind except by reference to body. Our ' feelings and thoughts depend very largely, if not entirely, upon the structure of our bodies and the ways in which they work. A fat man is different mentally as well as physically from the lean man; a short and wiry man is of different character from one of tall and heavy build. We all know how a disordered liver may alter one's whole outlook on life; how consumption of the lungs will, at , certain stages, produce a cheerful and optimistic mood how the whole current of one's thoughts will be affected by an empty stomach; how, certain drugs can destroy our sense of grace and beauty. All the changes of the body seem to produce corresponding changes in the mind; or more correctly, all , our physical changes and •stresses; appear to have their mental counterparts. • Sometimes we feel certain things happening in our bodies. Sometimes we experience certain internal stresses and strains. When our bodies aro preparing and straining to act in some natural, instinctive manner—and when we feel them doing so— call that feeling an emotion. Ah emotion is the mental aspect of certain changes that' are taking place in the body. -If we take the '.case of fear as an example, (we can make this plain. *" Two Ways of Escape. Our bodies have a natural, inborn tendency to behave in certain different ways in different circumstances. We- call these tendencies instincts. There is, for instance, 'an instinctive tendency to avoid -danger. This does not depend upon intelligence. It is part of our inheritance from our 'primordial "ancestors of the dim and distant past. ; » ■'■:.''■[■' . Now, there': were -two chief ways in which primordial man "in a state of nature " Hcpijld escape from danger; , and when (We find "ourselves in physical.' danger to-day our bodies ■ still < tend to behave, in -one. or other ; . of those primitive ways. When we feel Our holies '/ doing that, We • call the feeling fear. >■*' '■>-:. The first kind (of fear may be called paralysis-fear. . In a state of nature, man may often avoid .injury by becoming rigid and motionless 'at .the first sign of > danger, > Many other animals, as well «s ftien, react to danger in .that way, " shamming dead " as we say, Or " playing 'possum." The other kind ,;. of fear corresponds with the other common way of escape f" in nature;" and - we may call it flight-fear. '■''■>TJ--; '-V .',.*■. : If/-a man is in serious physical danger, under fire ;in the trenches, confronting ■ a tiger in the jungle, or just in front of a motor-car which <he cannot, avoid, he is likely to . experience fear.' What happens? His heart almost stops beating; his breathing Suddenly ,;' checked; he feels a, sensation ofe," giving " ;at the knees; his .whole body becomes in an instand rigid, ' motionless the man is, :as we aptly Say, frozeny t( petrified, 7 paralysed with fear. If he is Under fire his fear is not likely to save him. . If he is in the way of a recklessly-driven Car, it may even prevent him from escaping. But the instinct "does not relate ; to the days of artillery and motor-cars. ( The man's body is behaving just as it would behave "in a state of nature;'' arid" that is exactly the way in. which not only primitive men, but many other creatures, do escape many of the perils that -beset themby "suddenly becoming ■ -laralysed with., fear. ::■%■; ■■';':'; ■;.-. ;

The other kind of fear is experienced when we tremble violently, '. when ■".;■ we breathe hard and (quickly,.: When all our muscles are braced, when our heart is thumping (fast>and « furiously, ' when, * in short, every part of our body is suddenly keyed up "—"■ .keyed • up" for running away. ; : ■— .:;-:■. ■?.. ('(.(' "•; ■•;-.• Auger. ''$ '■' (.-".'.';••' -.-(.;^» Anger is similar to fear. When a man is furiously, : passionately ( angry with another, what ; is happening? His whole body is , preparing, straining, to make an onslaught ' upon his (enemy his fists ' are' tightly clenched; ; Ms .breathing is deep and rapid; his hear beats" fast his jaws are firmly set; every muscle in the man's body is braced battle. He feels all these physical changes .arid stresses he feels these things happening in his body; and that feeling "'. is called anger. It would be ' absurd to ' say that these physical stresses cause anger, and still more absurd to say that they are caused by it. These physical changes and stresses actually constitute anger; anger is simply the mental aspect of them. / — ' V There are really three ways, then, and not only two, in which the body may instinctively react to danger. lucre are the two distinct kinds of fear, and there ':< is '.- anger (which"_' we might almost call attack-fear). In all these, besides the obvious bodily changes that have been mentioned, there are other things happening in the body which; though less apparent, are certainly no less important. One of them \is the checking of the process of digestion: the flow of gastric juices is stopped, so - that all the body's energy ;• may be available for concentration upon the one supreme purpose, of the moment, that of escaping danger. The chemical ; ' constitution ■■•'. of the blood is altered by the introduction of adrenalin, a chemical which, r. among other things, will tend to check bleeding if the man is wounded. These are only a few of the many changes that occur when the body: is " preparing ; for action; but they show how purposive' and thorough the preparations are. . ,; Where. Intelligence Comes In.; These ; primitive ways of escaping danger may, however, be modified by experience 'and intelligence. The motive is still the same escape. But an intelligent man reacts, not only to his immediate perceptions, but also to his ideas. Thus a civilised man in a sinking ship may react to danger by donning a lifebelt: or a man who is being charged by some wild beast may raise his rifle, aim carefully and fire. In the case of an intelligent being, to quote Professor Drever, "instinct still prescribes the end to be attained, but intelligence finds the best means of attaining that end. ~, In the second -caße mentioned, . instinct - impels the man to endeavour to save himself, but experience and intelligence show him that the best way to do so is by shooting the beast before it can reach him. Worry is a kind of fear, produced not by an immediate danger, but by the idea of some evil which is likely to befall us in the future. Yet it is essentially? a sort of fear. Now, we have seen that whenever 'we experience fear we feel our bodies doing, though perhaps only in a modified way, ■' those things which they would be doing if, in a state of nature, they were trying to escape from some immediate peril., When we are no longer living under primitive conditions, and when the danger is more remote and of a different kind, our bodies still tend to behave in the old primitive although actually,, m the changed circumstances, that • will' not help us to escape. If our dread ~is of unemployment, or of business failure, the same thing is true. Our anxiety mav 'take the - form of a slight but abiding" kind .of paralysis-fear. . When we are suffering that, however v slightly, it follows that we cannot be so keen, so active, so energetic as we should otherwise be. Or if it is not par-alysis-fear but flight-fear, we shall be, too much " keyed up," too tense, for really effective work. Or, again, in. the dread of unemployment or business failure, our bodies may. tend .towards the attack-reaction, anger; and then we shall be irritable and ill-tempered. It is fairly easy to observe in our friends , these effects of a sense of insecurity 3 and; sometimes—alas.!— < may observe them in ourselves* ■( '"'■'.;('"': ':(:■.'.;.■'h