Questions and Exercises
(1) In the passage which heads this chapter, Descartes expresses the opinion that joy, sorrow, love and hate are the primary emotions. Do you agree with him? Why? How would you set to work to discover the primary emotions?
(2) Do you think that there is an instinct of imitation? Give reasons for your answer; then consult the books.
(3) Write a paragraph, as if for insertion in this chapter, on the psychology of surprise.
(4) Give instances of emotive expression, from your own observation, that seem to illustrate Darwin’s three principles.
(5) Define, without looking at the book, instinct, emotion, determining tendency, suggestion.
(6) The figure below shows the facial expression of two opposite emotions, as suggested by the natural philosopher and artist Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; see A Treatise on Painting, 1877, 65). What are the emotions? Can you offer any explanation of their expressions?
(7) Suppose that an actor is to play an emotional part on the stage. Will he do better if he himself feels the part, or if he remains cold and merely simulates the expression of emotion?
(8) Can you give instances, from your own experience, of the modification or suppression of movements which naturally express emotion? Does this inhibition of movement affect the emotion itself? Do not generalise hastily; gather a number of cases.
(9) Recall some specific emotion that you have experienced. What processes are imaginal or ‘reproduced,’ and what are set up anew or ‘produced,’ in the recall? Write fully and carefully.
(10) You have already been asked to discuss the possibility of ‘mixed feelings’ (p. 88). Are there ‘mixed’ or ‘mingled emotions’? If so, in what sense?
(11) It is said in the text that no sharp line of division can be drawn between emotion, passion and mood. Illustrate this statement from your own experience.
(12) Give instances, from poetry or fiction, of the delineation of practically pure temperaments.