CHAPTER XV AFFECTIVE TONE

For Ttoo.

1. Color Préférences — Each of the eighteen colors supplied in the book envelope is to be compared with every other for the purpose of securing systematic expressions of préférence.*

In each note-book cross-rule a page into nineteen spaees in the horizontal direction and nineteen in the vertical. Insert vertical and horizontal headings as in the table below, vt^hich gives numerical order to the six colors and their respective tints and shades.

Lay a white paper in such a position on a board or book that it shall be at right angles to O's Une of vision, in good light and comf ortable position for him. Présent two colors at a time, placing them systematically about an inch apart on the white paper, and require O to décide which of the two is more pleasing or less displeasing. The décision should be immédiate and intuitive, and free from associations.f The table shows

•This experiment is based on Titchener, "Expérimental Psychology. Qualitative," Ch. XXI.

fAvoid theorizing or catering to what ought to be or what would give the best showing as an expression of culture, etc. Let it be a naïve and sincère expression of préférence entirely independent of the use of the colors.

the order in which the comparisons should be made ; thus, 1 and 2, 1 and 3, 2 and 3, 2 and 4, 3 and 4, 3 and 5, etc. Let O call the order of colors to be presented, foUowing the order shown in the table, and keep the record of his préférences in the prepared blank, simply inserting the'

number of the color which he prefers in the square which forms the intersection of the spaces that run to the two numbers he called. Foot up the results in the table so as to show the total number of times that each color was preferred.

To express the results graphically, take a sheet of cross-section paper, or cross-rule one like the above table blank ; transf er the headings of the table to the base-line and number the horizontal Unes from one to eighteen, counting the base-line zéro ; make a dot in each vertical column on the horizontal Une which dénotes the number of times the respective colors were preferred, and connect thèse dots with one bold Une, which will then be the curve of color préférence.

It is customary to speak of agreeableness or disagreeableness of expériences as their affective tone. Our affective responsiveness is a matter of taste. It is well known that we hâve our likes and dislikes for colors, and that our tastes may differ radically.

Hère we hâve worked out a detailed expression of the observer's taste for color under the présent conditions. It would vary for the same observer under other conditions, and some of the doubtful cases might be changed in another trial, but that throws no discrédit upon the experiment which depicts the observer's type.

Individual différences are marked. One type prefers the pure colors, another the tints, another the shades; one type prefers the soft, artistic tints and shades as opposed to the bright hues ; another type has one or more favorite hues, tints, or shades, etc. The curves give good profiles of each type.

Such measures can, of course, be used effectjvely for individual psychology. Science, literature, and art are interested in race comparisons and in knowing the culture history of color préférences from the anthropological point of view. The teacher is interested in

knowing the color scheine of the child's tempérament. Most of us pass through important changes in color préférences as we pass from childhood into mature âge. And, as a mode of teaching the significance of color values, the method could be used effectively.

On the other hand, the psychologist takes only a secondary interest in such directly practical uses. The chief value of expérimental methods of studying affective life lies in the insight they favor and the aid they give in the study of the unfoldment and explanation of the laws of its behavior. This particular experiment reveals nothing in regard to the reasons for color préférences, unless it be that the introspection may give some suggestion. But it is by patient and ingénions employment of methods like this under controUed and variable conditions that we shall evolve the real explanation of color préférences.

We know novt^, in gênerai, that the affective value of color dépends upon the spécifie physiological action of each color, the purpose the color serves, and habits of association. Our experiment, which shows the actual préférences, then naturally suggests three corresponding Unes of research in answer to the question, Why is one color pref erred to another ?

There is a tendency in aesthetics at the présent time to look for physiological explanation of modes of agreeableness ^nd disagreeableness. What are the characteristic physiological actions of each color? In attempting to answer that question, the expérimenter profitably starts from analogies of known effects upon lower forms of animal life and plant life. Fruits and flowers growu.

în expérimental greenhouses each covered by a différent color of glass show great différences in growth and development. The red light acts like a fertilizer on the soil, while blue and violet light check growth and produce a sort of dormant condition in the plants. Finsen's discovery of the curative value of the ultraviolet rays rests upon the principle that thèse rays kill certain disease-germs in the human tissue. The same rays, however, favor the development of varions larvœ, tadpoles, etc. Color rays strike the most sensitive form of living tissue, the nervous System, through the eye. Ordinarily we become conscious of thèse affective différences in effect only in attitudes, gênerai awareness of ill-being or well-being. One color is exciting, another is soothing, one is fatiguing, another is restful, etc. Shall the explanation of such a physiological action be given in large part in terms of chemistry ?

The second question would search into the significance of the uses of colors. Take red, for example. Ked is the symbol of joyous émotion. It is the symbol of sacred rights, of royal power, of victory, of pledged sincerity, and of love. It is the first color to interest primitive man. Words for red are the first color terms to develop in nearly ail primitive communities ; a tribe may hâve half a dozen synonyms for red before it has any name for blue or green. Children seem to repeat the tendencies of the race. Red is the primitive color for décoration; men and women smear themselves with red ochre and paint their utensils and implements in brilliant reds. Red is the dominating tone of color in

religious rites, at the wedding, and at the conclave. It îs conspicuously absent in mouming. Children, if uninfluenced, tend to use red more than any other color. In abnormal sensitiveness it is red that jars most. The hystérie is conscious, at times, of nothing but red. Likes and dislikes for it are strong. The red flagis the rallying-point for the anarchi&t. It is the symbol of excitement in épidémies. In brief, red is the color of ripe fruit, it is the color of the flame, and of blood.

Aside from the physiological conditions and the uses of colors there is a third type of problems which pertain more specifically to the explanation of the habits of association. To what extent can color préférences be cultivated ? What is the biological explanation for the survival of certain types of color préférences ? What is the reason for the order of development of color préférence in the race? In the child? The présent tendency is toward the so-called artistic colors ; is that a permanent characteristic of developed mental lif e ?

Let us notice some instances of the use of the method of this experiment in the study of other affective values.

The matching of color is an important item in dress, in the finishing and fumishing of a room, in art, and in many industries. The psychologist must lay a foundation for canons of color harmony by working out the fundamental laws of affective value of color combinations independently of their use. It has never been done thoroughly. The thing to do is to sélect a suitable séries of colors and grays and treat a match of any two of thèse as the unit of the experiment ; thus, the agreeableness of a red matched with a green may be compared

wîth a match of red with a dark orange shade. Each color (or gray) must be matched with every other color, and each match must be compared with every other match. From a well-established curve of such results the laws of color harmony might be stated. But when thèse laws are to be applied in art and industries, the individual variation, accessory influences, etc., must be taken into account, and the problem grows more complicated.

The curve Fig. 34 (from Wundt) expresses the results of some experiments by a cruder method, show-

D€UMtUB

Qreen

Rett

îng the affective curves of matches with red. Height above the base-line represents degree of agreeableness of the match of red with a given color, whereas depth below shows degree of disagreeableness of a combination. Thus, red makes pleasing combinations with other colors in the order dark blue, green, bright red, dark red, and displeasing combinations with violet and orange. The greatest agreeableness is approximately at the greatest opposition ( complément ary color), and there is a gênerai dépression into disagreeableness on each side of this crest

In selecting our stationery, in designing a table-top, in platting our flower-garden — in short, wherever a rectangular surface is designed to be pleasing in proportions, we may look to empirical psyehological laws for guidance. The relative agreeableness or disagreeableness of différent proportions of a parallelogram is expressed in Fig. 35 (from Wundt, based on Witmer). A séries of white cards of equal height but varying length hâve been compared by a method allied to the one we hâve used. The length of cards in proportion to their

Fig. 35.

height is laid off on the base-line. Elévation above that line indicates relative agreeableness of such proportions, and dépression means corresponding disagreeableness, Thus, the most pleasing ratio centers around 1 :1.6, which is known as the golden section or golden eut.*

*The golden section for the rectangle îs that în which the short side is to the long side as the long sido is to the sum of the long and the short sides. This proportion may be applied to varions forms such as crosses and complex designs. A study of jewelry, stationery, monuments, etc., reveals a most remarkable adhérence to thèse proportions. The commonest cross is in that proportion; the upper section of the upright is to the lower section as the lower section is to the whole upright. Tt has been pointed out that many of the forms of nature are shaped in this proportion. Tables, lapboards, and mountings for apparatus made according to the golden section, in the writer's laboratoiy, give a pleasing effect.

The square is decidedly disagreeable, but the apparent square * is agreeable, although not so agreeable as the golden section. A parallelogram that is a little longer than the apparent square is disagreeable.

The method may be used with equally good effect in hearing. Music dépends upon the agreeableness of certain tone-intervals. Différent nations hâve différent scales, and there is a process of graduai évolution of musical scales. Some of the intervais are "natural", other intervais are more or less arbitrary. There is an instrument called a tone-variator with which we can produce any desired interval. Suppose that v^e dîvide one octave into one hundred equal steps and always use the fundamental as one of the two tones. By comparing each of the hundred intervais in such a séries with every interval in the séries, we may establish a curve of the relative agreeableness of thèse intervais. Such a curve will contain a large number of waves of différent amplitude, the crests indicating consonant tones and the troughs dissonant. What light would such a curve throw upon our conventional musical scale ? It would, of course, reveal the natural intervais and show the order of their préférence, and then it would show other désirable intervais in the order that they are agreeable. It would show how arbitrary certain parts of our scale are.

Thèse stimuli are not of any rousing emotional tone. If we should take smell and taste stimuli, we should realize more fully the fact that we are dealing with emotional factors.

* Due to the illusion of the vertical.

At this point we must impress the warning that there is danger of making thèse measurements seem too simple and too immediately serviceable. Emotional life is more individualized than eognitive lif e. We cannot set up the curve of one individual as the norm for ail others, nor can we take the average of a large nmnber of curves and expeet one individual to fit that. The conclusions must also be rigorously limited to the conditions under which they are taken. Thus, the agreeableness of a tone-interval dépends upon its séquence, the harmony of the colors dépends upon the background, the agreeableness of taste dépends upon its relation to other tastes, etc.

But thèse are matters which may in turn be made the object of study. It is possible to détermine statistically the degree of variability among individuals in affective responses. Instead of covering them over, measurement reveals individual différences. Before a curve is used we must know its coefficient of variability.

There are two gênerai types of method that may be employed in studying f eeling : the method of impression and the method of expression. The above is a method of impression. That is, the experiment simply favors accurate formation and recording of impressions. Impression methods may, of course, be used in a great variety of ways. In the expression methods some objective bodily expression of f eeling is measured, Among thèse are effects upon the bodily strength, involuntary movements, volume of certain parts of the body, circulation, breathing, sécrétions, etc. Exp. 2

will illustrate, in a crude way, the characteristic expressions in involuntary movements.

2. Affective Expressions in Involuntary Movements.— The object of the experiment is to détermine what direction the involuntary movements of the balanced hand shall take in smelling an agreeable or a disagreeable odor.

Invite some one who knows nothing about this kind of experiments to act as observer, as the response is influeneed by a knowledge of the condition of the experiment.*

Select some substances that hâve decidedly agreeable or disagreeable odor such as perfumes, flowers, ammonia, and vinegar.f Keep thèse in an adjoining room.

Blindfold the observer and ask him to stand erect and firm and hold his hand about a foot in front of his face. Direct him to say whether an odor is agreeable or disagreeable to him v^hen he smells it.

I^ow let one of the experimenters hold one of the odoriferous substances under the observeras nostrils three seconds, so that he gets a good whiff of the odor. Let the other expérimenter take an advantageous position for observation of the movements of the hand and

* When everythîng is ready, it should not take more than five minutes to perform the experiment. Proceed with the alertness of a photographer and take the invited observer unawares. TeU him that you wish to test his feelings of agreeableness and disagreeableness for odors, and give no intimation by word or sign about your interest in his movements. You must keep his attention away from his hand.

t One of each kind wiU do if decided, but it is very advantageous to hâve a good assortment. Care mu9t be taken that the agreeable odor is not too strong.

trace on paper the approximate direction and magnitude of the movement which is made the moment the observer perceives the odor. Eecord with this the odor used and the observer's statement about it Make about five trials with agreeable and five with disagreeable odors.

Agreeable odors bave a tendency to cause the hand to reach out away from the body, while disagreeable odors bave a tendency to cause a flexion of the arm moving the hand toward the body.

Thèse movements are unconscious rudimentary reactions which do not serve any purpose. They are réflexes which repeat in miniature the gênerai tendencies of action which bave as a rule been bénéficiai. The principle might be stated more f reely as f oUows : When the stimulus is felt as agreeable the hand makes the inceptive movement to get more of it; while, if the stimulus is felt as disagreeable, the hand makes the inceptive fending movement for the purpose of getting it away. This tendency shows itself not only in the hand but in the whole attitude. One is the attitude of attraction; the other is the attitude of aversion or rejection. The direction of the movement may be changed by a slight change in the mode of stimulation.

To make this test accurately, one should use an automatograph, which may be made very simply. It consists of a small board suspended from the ceiling as a suitable free support for the hand. A small weighted pencil is placed inside a tube through the board so that it traces the movements of the board upon a sheet of paper laid upon a pane of glass. This is exactly the

same principle as that used in so-called spirit-writing by Planchette or Ouijaboard. Thèse latter instruments convey messages whieh may be entirely unconscious and involuntary on the part of the writer and still possess cohérence and relevancy. The odor experiment above is just as truly spirit-writing as thèse messages, only it is very much simpler than the mediumistic performances.

The expression of affective tone in strength tests may be demonstrated very simply. The person experimented upon is required to pull against a spring which has a mechanism for graphie tracing of the force of the pull. He is required to pull as hard as he can for fif teen seconds ; five seconds af ter he has started to pull, he is given a whiff of odor (or stimulus through any other sensé) and, if the odor is agreeable, the tracingpoint will rise, showing an increase in the strength of pull, whereas, if the odor is disagreeable, the tracingpoint will fall, indicating a certain amount of falling off in the strength of pull.

We are stronger when we are under the influence of agreeable stimuli than when under disagreeable stimuli. The modem manufacturer takes advantage of this principle. He gives his workmen encouragement and agreeable surroundings, and finds that they are stronger for it.

We can tell by the attitude and expression of the face of a man whether he is happy or sad, proud or humble, courageous or cowardly, etc. Thèse différences may be stated in terms of muscular tension, circulation, breathing, relative changes in the volume of the periphery and

the braîn, etc. But very little work of permanent value has been done în this field of investigation.

There are several reasons for the présent dearth of expérimental studies in feeling. The processes are extremely elusive : when we tum in upon our anger to study it, the anger disappears. The feelings are not correlated directly with tr accable objective conditions as sensations are. The feelings are so diffused and complex that it is diflScult to obtain and control simple conditions. The term feeling is used in more than a score of sanctioned meanings. Théories of feeling are notoriously numerous.

The order of experiment must always be from the simple to the complex. It would be interesting to experiment on love, hatred, fright, ecstasy, etc., but hardly convenient, or discreet at the présent stage. Yet we may answer many of the fundamental questions of complex and strong émotion by systematic study of the simpler forma.