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The authors extend the James-Lange theory of emotions to include the concept that emotion is the feeling of the motor attitude, a consciousness of preparation or readiness for action. Disgust, fear, anger, depression, triumph, and joy were studied in hypnotized subjects to whom these emotions were suggested. Objective and subjective observations were collected. Specific action patterns were obtained to the stimulus words. In disgust the authors find two incompatible reactions, one visceral and the other skeletal. In fear the alternate reactions were wanting to get away and being rooted to the spot. In anger there was a forward-moving tendency to attack which brought on a second reaction of strong restraint. In depression a sequence of patterns was touched off by interference with the act of striving. In triumph and joy there was a reversal of the various factors in the depression complex.
This paper is a thought-stimulating one, but it suffers from conceptual and methodological errors. First, it seems evident that the orientation of the authors is essentially a biological one. In attempting to study the emotions they fail to establish and work from a coherent set of axioms. The result is that words like 'conflict' are misused. The authors see within the structure of the alternate motor reactions available to the individual a conflict of two incompatible reactions. It appears to this reviewer that the reactions to the stimulus words are multi-determined; that the choice which the organism makes will be dependent on many factors—not only that which will be most efficient for the particular stimulus; that the reactions observed are alternatives rather than incompatible, conflicting reactions; that within the structure of each of the reactions one might understand from the psychological point of view the alternatives of 'fight or flight' and from the biological point of view either incorporation into the organism or elimination from the organism. This would