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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1919)
THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, PORTIjAD, SUNDAY" MORNING, JUNE 1, 1919: 1lf 1' T , , IT- ' v. : ; V:' 0g ' . Vv' If You Are Eating Ice G d a Bad Smell Greets You: O if t. ' ou Are r Y 71'. '. - Pfef&t I J WJ,r A. - VT i. fKB sl ' 1 It lilt P K "? x v t i n j- tI i ; , ' x , f ' k"t; II tf i , x . - 1-1- r,M.;: Mu sic arid r Enioyin Exquisite. Somebody Experiments Skow Tkat Eitter I Pleasant or Unpteasant Sensations Are Produced Not Tickles Your Ear-Scientific N a certain type of novel jou are very likely to read a statement like this: "Herbert beheld Mabel with mixed feeliugs of joy and partn.w But the same conception Is held much more widely than In the minds of simple story writers. The great majority of per sona are evidently under the Impression that they have "mixed feelings, due to conflicting states of mind and physical conditions. It Is almost a daily occurrence to hear some one speak of his or her "mixed feelings Statesmen and financiers are supposed to have them. Indeed, an old-time psychologist has declared that "mixed feelings" are the usual condition among mature persons. Now modern psychological science has turned its piercing searchlight upon this interesting matter and demonstrated that there are, strictly speaking, no "mixed feelings." You cannot feel pleasure and pain at the same moment. This investigation was conducted by Professor Paul Thomas Young, Ph. D., of the Psychological Laboratory of Qornell University. who reports his observations n the American Journal of Psychology. It brought out many interesting facts. Some intelligent persons thought they had "mixed feelings, but on inquiry it fre quently appeared that they experienced rapid alternations of " different feelings. Thus it was shown in this experiment, as in so many others, that many people kneT rery little about their own machinery for registering sensations. If the conventional novelist referred to' . lad written "Herbert beheld Mabel with rapidly alternating feelings of joy and pain," ne wouia nave been nearer the bounds of scientific accuracy. The experiments were carried on during Sve months at the university. The sub lects tested were nine workers in psychol ogy or in educational lines, including men and women. Each one underwent two lours of experiment in a week. One form of experiment was to ask the subject to' put himself into' a definitely Tan pleasant state of feeling and then to ap ply some pleasant sensation to him. For example they asked the subject to omit breakfast and when a hunger unpleasantness- had been established they superin duced pleasure by the smell and taste of food.: In one situation pleasure was aroused by stroking the forehead gently with velvet, and then unpleasantness was excited by sandpapering the tip of the nose or chin, of by presenting the odor of stale cheese, The answers described as "psychold'gl caV that Is, in the proper form. Invariably showed no "mixed feelings." An unpleas-; ant and a pleasant picture being exhibited, this answer is typical of this class: "The first was unpleasantness; the next was pleasantness, A relaxed feeling re lief, no strain. There was no carrying -over;the transition was quick as. a wink.? This report, which was elicited when velvet was flrsf applied to the face, then sandpaper, is another good example of ther psychological class: "First pleasure, there v is no question about it It was followed by unpleasant ness.. There was surprise and resentment. Then alternating pleasure and unpleasant ness! then unpleasantness; then pleasure; then neutral and Just at the end it was pleasure." J In some experiments different forms of pleasure were administered at the same time. The professor earned a tune like the exquisite; soothing "Barcarole" from OfTen bach's 'JTales of Hoffman" to be played to his subject, while he gently tickled htr. Hefreport 'suggests a very 'complex state of feeling: " "Both experiences . were pleasant, and was a tickling pleaire, while the other was a soothing pleasure. You seem to get the body divided. All down the 'central core and on my left I could feel the smooth, swaying rhythm of the movement, whereas on the right of the head and shoulder there was this pleasant tifkling feeling." In another situation- the professor and his colleagues resorted to a form ol tor ture in which water was made to drip on the subject's forehead and run : down his or her face. When unpleasantness had been established they presented perfumes, chocolate peppermint candies, chords upon tuning forks, etc In another case a , girl subject partook, of a Iuscibus dish of strawberry ice cream, when a bottle of asafoetida was suddenly held to her nose. Another time she was given an ice cream soda and a horrifying picture was thrusfbef ore her. Other situations in volved pleasant and. unpleasant memo ries, dizziness, tickle in nose and ear with a broom straw, warmth and cold, , honey, noise and nu merous other stimuli. The following stimuli or "sensa tion rousers" were used: 1. For the nose: Vanilla, chocolate, orange, lemon, helio trope, rose perfume, crab-apple blossom ptrfume, white oil of juniper, oil of bergarUot. oil of mace, cloves, bitter almond, nitrobenzo!, nutmeg, coffee, asa foetida, stale cheese, i onions, sulphuretted hydrogen and' castor oil. 2. For the taste: Sugar solution, salt solution,- quinine so lution, vinegar, cho colate, peppermint candy, sarsaprWa, alum solution, cas tor oil, solution of vinegar ind quinine, apple, banana and honey. 3. For the touch: Cotton (for pressure and tickle., broom straw (for tickling the nose and ear), sharp nail (for pok ing the forehead), heated and cold brass, sandpaper for sandpapering t h chin, nose, forehead, teeth and arm; Mixed Feelings n. v x - 1 1. t j.-. c .-.-..-......-.. mv.v.i .-.v.-1 yxu v -7 , At v ' - - " - - - v U X, K X- A v S X -, "5 " ' ' - t x. " " " Xs; " - i X s- t , clothes pin for, pinching the nose; rubber band, to snap against neck; piano hammer, to rap fore head; cow-itch, to produce Itch, etc.. etc 4. For the ear: A set of Konlg forks, single tones, chords and discords, blown bottles, mouth organ, armonium, organ pipe, metal fife (shrill, Jto pro'duce ear piercing noise), metronome (worked at various rhythms), tomtom, rattle, sizzle (soda In cup), crumpling paper, crash with wooden box dropped on floor, squeak (cork turned In bottle), filing saw and glass. In order to excite feelings of pleasure and unpleasantness through the eyes they displayed pictures, of horrible and teQify ing character, colored plates oJt skin dis eases and pictures of charming subjects. All these sensation rousers were applied in various combinations, and the subject was asked to report what he felt promptly at a given signal. Out" of 2,212 reports only 71, or 3.21, described mixed -feelings. Of these 71 reports, 37, or 52 per cent, are by a single subject, a you$g woman, which Is strong evidence of some personal peculiarity In her way of reporting. Then 28 of the 71 reports were doubtful about the mixed feelings. ' 5 Five subjects out of nine reported 110 mixed feelings. Those who gave their an swers ill correct psychological form al ways reported no mixed feelings. The overwhelming weight of evidence was therefore against them." -v , Professor Young, commenting on tese experiments, remarks "how far1 from the truth, then, is the statement of Ladd that almost all neutral states which are marked by strong feelings in the case of developed minds are mixed feelings The authority referred to is Professor G. T. Ladd, of Yale University, one of the best known Tvfh- logists In the country, whose work was urn- ( ,Vrx t4 - ?x V ' 'v f? 1 , v.' t i r, 4. i , s y r Tina Startling Picture Shows the Old Russian Nobility Taking a Dreadful Revenge on Their Captured Polish Enemies. Such a Picture, in Combination with a Pleasant One. Failed to Arouse "Mixed Feelings." In This Experiment si Young Woman Was Given an Ice-Cream Soda- and Suddenly Shown a Very Unpleasant j Picture. The Pleasurable; Sensation of the Soda at Once Was Re placed by Consciousness of Unpleasant f Shock at the Picture. There Was No Mingling of Pleasant and Unpleasant Sensations. ESSrUEBAN DT 13SLAIH SB IT AM iur i V I ) u FbCAL. chologlcar la boratory meth ods. In many cases the an swers, though speak ing of mixed feelings, showed clearly to the psychol ogist tlrat they did not co-exist P.or Instance, when a girl's forehead was stroked with velvet, while a clotbespta was fixed to her nose, she reported: "A mixed feeling toward that clothespin on my nose. I believe they alternated." A subject was told to think of the most uncomfortable day of her life and then a chocolate peppermint was popped into her mouth. She reported:' " - "The mood is a pleasant and unpleasant mixture, if I take the intermingling of the two .as a mixture. I am never able , to ' catch pleasant and unpleasant alongside of each other."! In another case the candy was ust sopped into the subject's mouth and some vinegar was dropped in her mouthi " She .reported:'" ' . ;. - I detected In the tastrffgof the candy both pleasant . and unpleasant, and 1 1 should say that pleasant predominates. A charming melody was played to the subject and then a large onion was hejd to her nose. ' Her comment was: . I tried my best to see what happened when the music was playing and I got the " odor. I know the music was pleasant and I know the odor was nnnleasant. but T V "i - S In This Experiment the Patient's Skin Was Stroked with Velvet and Then Suddenly a Clothes-Pin Was Snapped on to Her Nose. V The Sensations Immediately Changed from Pleasant to Unpleasant with No Mixed Sensation. The professor played some discordant sounds on the mouth-organ and' then slapped her face. ' The answer, which is said to show "multiple feelings." not "mixed feelings," was: " "That is apparently two-fold.. There is a deep seated resentment and the unpleas antness of the sting. The two unpleas antnesses seemed to be there together." , A beautiful picture was exhibited to a girl, and while she . was ' thoroughly ab sorbed in its beauty a piece of stale cheese was thrust under her nose. She stid: " "There were touches of esthetic pleas ure and there was the unpleasantness from the odor. . The odor was strong, and I was still looking at the picture. When the distraction erased, I had both simul- -taneously. The cheese was unpleasant .-and the picture was esthetically pleasant. I had both simultaneously for a moment. ISATION TAXES ' cat rcX,L"Y KaRGINAI- eft Sub -Coktsciou'S TttCESHOLO X Intba Ccstscious OKSCIOU6NJCS6 X oji.tXTRA - 4- 6CALt Of iNTFMSrrv Chart Showing How the Predominating ' Sensation Prevails Over the Subordinate One. The answers showed that an established mood may be interrupted by an affection of opposite signi ficance. The mood may be conceived as permanent, but the reports show, that there is no coexistence. of pleasant and unpleasant. - When a place of cho colate peppermint was fed to the subject and after that 'an unpleasant; picture, shown, a report was: t ; "Pleasant, of course to start with. Then a hole in that pleasant until my a in tention rwent from the candy to the un pleasant Picture." ;:v. The answer that there waa a rapid Talter natlon of feelings was given many times. For instance: 1 "The odor was a mixed feeling. I cant say that the effects were simultaneous; they may have been oscillatory." "I seemed to get a rabid alternation be tween the pleasant and the unpleasant." "I should say It was a very, very rapid fluctuation, between pleasant and unpleas ant. You get the succession, P U P--U, I can't, say Mow .many titpes." If would, of course, nojt be easy for the untrained reader to draw conclusions from the 2,212 reports of the persons experi mented upon, even If the whole number The professor sandpapered a girl's nose were laid before 'him. chiefly done before the introduction of psy. once." : w idot f- Copyright. 1919. by Star, Company. ana also held rose perfume to it. She re ported: - ' ' ""Both pleasant and unpleasant were there together. , Occasionally each one would be there alone and the other disap peared, but in the Intervals between, they were there together." Great Britain Rights Reserved. Young arrives at these Conclusions based on tne reports: 1. Pleasantness and uipleasantness 'are not reit at the same time. 2. "Mixed feelings" Involve a confusion of meaning. The meaninr-erroi- la favnrnd by: (a) Intellectuallzation; (b) unpleasant' The learrited Dr. mood, as fatigue, illness, sleepiness, worry, etc.; (c) lack of practice and training in psychological report; (d) suggestion. 3. "Mixed feelings" -are reported, rarely and in sporadic groups throughout the course of the experiment and the single experimental hour. The subjects show marked individual differences in the tend ency to report 'mixed feelings." Five of the nine subjects report no unequivocal "mixed feelings"; one does not even report a doubtful case; another reports more than .half of the total number. Of the report of "mixed feelings" more than a third con tain some expression of doubt and uncei- . talnty. . .. 4. There are four types or normal expe rience resembling "mixed feelings": (a) rapid alternations of pleasantness and un pleasantness, (b) doubt, (c) the brief inter ruption of an established mood which is conceived as permanent, and (d) ths awareness' of a pleasant object while one feels displeased, or the awareness of an unpleasant object-while .one feels pleased. Other psychologists have tackled this in teresting problem before, tout- never, reached results as fully developed and sua-' taine as these. ' Professor Hayes, of Cornell, made an in vestigation based on 134 answers from a single subject' Pairs of simultaneous stimuli were used a stimulus to pleasant and a stimulus to unpleasant. The stimuli were (1) taste solutions containing sugar and quinine in' various percentages, (2) taste solutions (sugar and quinine), and sounds (cords and discords) from forks, (3) sounds (chords and discords), and odors (valerianic acid, carbon bisulphate, essence of peppermint, cinnamon). The. conclusion was ethat pleasant anT unpleasant did not coexist. Professor AlechsiefT, of Germany, after examination - of twenty-nine answers, decided that ."pleasant and unpleasant do not coexist in our consciousness, but only one after the other." '