Psychology Affective Basics| Instincts, Feelings, Emotions, Mimesis

 

AFFECTIVE BASICS 

- Instincts 

- Feelings 

- Emotions 

- Mimesis

INSTINCTS 

Content outline: Instincts – McDougall's list – Modification of instincts (inhibition / hedonic selection / exhibition / 

sublimation) - Educational significance of instincts. 

According to one school of thought instinctive behaviour is the key to understand human behaviour. An instinct is a native,inborn, innate tendency for action. Most of animal behaviour, 

especially that relating to growth and development is found to have certain definite characteristics. Such a behaviour is rigid and uniform. There is no evidence to show that the organism has been taught such a mode of behaviour. The migration of birds, selecting food, sensing danger have all been ascribed to this innate 

propensity (drive or impulse). Extending this hypothesis to human behaviour, Mc Dougall identified a list of instincts responsible for human behaviour. The following are the most prominent ones: 

1. Escape 8. Submission 

2. Pugnacity 9. Self-assertion 

3. Repulsion 10. Gregariousness 

4. Parental 11. Food-seeking 

5. Appeal 12. Acquisition 

6. Sex 13. Construction 

7. Curiosity 14. Laughter 

Modification of Instincts:
Principles of Inhibition 

If any evil tendency is checked for a given period of time, it may disappear. Environment may be controlled so that it does not find its expression and it fades away. Situations which are likely to 

lead children to undesirable behaviour are to be avoided. 

This is a negative training. If an instinct is not used it does

not mean it dies away, it may express itself with more vigour later  

Principle of Hedonic Selection 

Modification of instincts takes place through the agency of 

pleasure and pain. Desirable modes of behaviour are associated 

with pleasure and the undesirable ones with pain. 

Sometimes there may be no connection between the wrong 

done and punishment given. Children do not understand, at times, 

the cause of punishment; the child rebels against people who 

punish and develops a distaste for work. 

Principle of Freedom (Exhibition) 

The child may be allowed full freedom for the display of 

constructive behaviour. He may grow and develop in a natural way. He may be educated well through creative self-expression 

and self-activity. The child may also develop a civic sense. He may realise what type of behaviour is desirable. 

Absolute freedom may not be desirable. Some form of 

restriction may be necessary. Freedom in the expression of instincts may lead to cultivation of undesirable habits which may be difficult to break later on 

Principle of Sublimation: 

The instincts of the child should neither be suppressed nor given a free play. They are to be directed into healthy channels. It is a process of redirecting an instinct from its primitive goal to the 

one that is socially and individually uplifting. It also involves a change of ideas and attitudes of the individual from irrational to rational ones. The instinct of pugnacity may be sublimated by healthy group competitions and games. 

Educational Significance 

Every instinct has a force behind it which impels the 

individual to act in a certain way. The knowledge of instincts will 

enable the teacher to the understand the behaviour of his students better. His work will be to sublimate and purify them towards 

formation of healthy character. Study of instincts enables 

the teacher to bring about better coordination between the learning process and instincts of the individual. It will enable the teacher to the understand some of the problems related to the student population. The problem of indiscipline may be due to self-assertion and stealing due to acquisition. The teacher is able to adjust his methods of teaching to suit the instinctive development of the child. Activity methods, learning by doing, play way and project-oriented method have come out as a result of the study of instincts. It also enables authors to prepare text books according to the age groups. 

Current trend: 

Psychologists of the day observe that characteristics of 

human behaviour do not comply with instinctive behaviour. Man does not seem to have any of these instincts in a rigid and stereotyped form as found in animals. Modern psychology uses 

terms like innate propensities, unlearned motives, biological drives 

and such other terms to explain human behaviour. Instinctive behaviour is not considered to be cultured behaviour. Instinctive behaviour is infrahuman behaviour.

FEELINGS 

Content outline: Feelings – Affectivities – Feelings and 

sensations – Tone of feeling – Rating scale of feeling – Bipolar rating. 

Feelings (technically known as affectivities) accompany 

complexes of sensation which are judged to be more or less pleasant or unpleasant. Sensations differ from feelings in that they 

range along a scale of intensity from 'strong' to weak' whereas feelings range along a scale from pleasantness to unpleasantness through a point of indifference. 

Sensation: Strong neutral Weak 

Feeling:Pleasant indifferent unpleasant 

Sensations are localised (for every sensation there is a 

corresponding sense organ). In most affectivities (feelings) the 

whole organism is involved; they are not restricted to a single sense organ. 

The tone of feeling is often judged along a rating scale. The degree of pleasantness or unpleasantness depends upon the intensity of the stimulus. The general principles of relativity in 

feeling tone can be observed in a variety of social experiences. Thus in a strange city we are pleased to meet some one we know even though ordinarily we are quite indifferent to that person.

According to an experimental study the following are the common annoyances felt by people: offensive behaviour of others; 

interrupting, bragging (boasting), nagging (non-stop fault finding), 

bullying (frightening others by misusing powers), physical characteristics of people (general appearance, deformities, 

gestures, grimaces and other mannerisms which they cannot change are located lowest on the scale of annoyances).

The theory of feeling is that it operates on the tri-

dimensional scale (pleasantness – indifference – unpleasantness). 

Another theory states that the feeling tone not only ranges along this dimension but also moves in two other affective dimensions

between the poles of excitement – relief and the poles of tension – calmness. 

Rating of feelings through bipolar attributes: 

Pleasant unpleasant 

Excited relieved 

Tense calm

EMOTIONS 

Content outline: Emotion – Emotions and Instincts – 

Causes and effects of emotions – Primary emotions – Education of 

emotions – Educational significance. 

Mc Dougall furnished a list of 14 instincts and 14 

corresponding emotions. But most found in the list are in the 

nature of persistent attitudes rather than emotions. 

SI.No Instincts Emotions 

1. Escape- Fear 

2. Pugnacity- Anger 

3. Repulsion- Disgust 

4. Parental- Tender Emotion 

5. Appeal- Distress 

6. Sex- Lust 

7. Curiosity- Wonder 

8. Submission -Feeling of inferiority 

9. Self assertion- Feeling of superiority 

10. Gregariousness- Feeling of loneliness 

11. Food – seeking Gusto 

12. Acquisition- Feeling of ownership 

13. Construction- Creativeness 

 14. Laughter -Amusement

Emotion is defined as a stirred up state of the organism. In 

all emotions there is a strong disturbance of the whole organism. 

There are strong internal changes (pulse rate, heartbeat, butterflies in the stomach) and definite external changes (shivering of the whole body, biting of teeth, high pitch of voice, lack of clarity of speech). It is complex involving all psychological phenomena except thinking and reasoning. 

Emotions mostly occur when any basic need is blocked or challenged or when a such a need is satisfied. Fear is a response associated with expected danger. Anger is a response when some activity is blocked. Joy is felt when a need has been satisfied. 

Even in the most disturbing or challenging situations, if we face the problem through reasoning, emotion does not surge up. The emotional response is always weakened by the application of reasoning. Reasoning blocks emotion and emotion blocks reasoning. Unlike feelings, emotions are strong in intensity. So any emotional experience, even after it ceases, leaves behind a kind of after feeling called mood. After one has had an outburst of anger he will be in an angry mood for quite sometime. He is likely to become angry again even with the slightest provocation when he is in such a mood. After an intense fear of anger, one is likely to be in a frightened mood for quite sometime and any unexpected movement or event will make him afraid again. 

Emotions cause striking bodily changes such as facial 

expressions, muscular adjustments, gestures and movements, 

change of voice (higher pitch when angry, lower sinking pitch, hair standing on ends when frightened). Stimulation of sweat glands,

drying of the tongue, unusual amount of energy (super human energy) at our disposal to meet any emergency, increase in heartbeat, pulse rate, breathing problems, shooting up of blood pressure and the like. If such changes, frequently occur, they will 

affect the health of the individual. People who become emotional frequently will have problems related to health (physical and mental). 

The five primary emotions are fear (as a response to loud 

noise, hurtful stimuli, loss of support), love (initiated by petting and fondling), anger (when activities are interfered with), joy(when a need is satisfied) and grief (when a need remains unsatisfied). 

Education of Emotions: 

Extreme emotionality affects the personality of the 

individual; it disturbs emotional equilibrium. To attain emotional 

balance, it is necessary the individuals should have control over their emotions. A free play of emotions cannot be permitted in a society. Suppression of emotions will lead to mental and emotional 

disorders. Inhibition is not the remedy for training of emotions. 

Expression of pent up emotions will relieve the individual of his emotional load. 

Sublimation is the redirection of emotions into healthy channels. 

If individuals are kept preoccupied with some useful 

activity such a mental occupation will prevent them from meeting emotional situations. 

Individuals are to be provided with adequate opportunities for their emotional release (catharsis) (festivals, fairs, social functions, get-togethers and such other cultural activities).

Educational Significance: 

The teacher should appeal to the higher emotions of the 

student, make life worth living. The finer emotions of the child may lead him to some creative work. Strong emotions may injure the personality of the child. Growth and development of finer 

emotions leads to formation of good character. 

To maintain emotional balance, unpleasant situations are to be avoided. Counterattack intensifies emotion; opportunities for 

emotional release are to be provided; good habits, good hobbies and impersonal interests are to be cultivated.

MIMESIS 

Content outline: Mimesis – Imitation – Sympathy – Suggestion. 

Sir Percy Nunn used the term mimesis to refer to the 

general tendency of an individual who takes over from others their mode of actions, feelings and thoughts. 

Imitation: 

It is doing as others do. It is not blindly following what 

others do. It is emulating their desirable behaviour. It may be unconscious (spontaneous) or conscious (deliberate), it is a powerful source of acquiring habits, manners or patterns of behaviour (socially approved) and acquiring ideals and standards of life. It is a great socialising agent. The individual gets into social 

heredity and helps in conserving customs, cultural standards, the entire culture of the community. The teacher has a great responsibility. He should set a worthy model for himself and 

inspire his students to emulate desirable modes of behaviour. The student population must be exposed to rich challenging experiences of high achievers. Biographies of great men, scholars, scientists, 

striking anecdotes are to be read by the teachers and shared with the students. The student population is in need of good role models 

(for emulation) in every area of human experience / field of human enterprise. 

Sympathy: 

It means the process of feeling for others – the willingness 

to share the feelings of others, it is a social tendency. 

Gregariousness brings individuals together to form a social group and thus makes social evolution possible. Sympathy is unquestionably a consolidating source of social solidarity in an organized community. Sympathy is a great human powerful value.It is first learnt by the child at home and later consolidated in the school, peer group and later in a social setting. It is learnt not 

directly (consciously) but indirectly (unconsciously) in the form of 

concomitant learning. Home climate, peer group climate, the 

classroom climate and campus climate must be conducive to 

cultivating sympathy as a basic human value. 

Suggestion: 

Thinking as others think is known as suggestion. It is 

cognitive aspect of gregarious drive. One way of classifying suggestion will be as incidental (unconditional) or intentional

(deliberate). An example of unconditional suggestion will be: we suggest fear in children by telling them stories of ghosts, demons and evil spirits. In intentional suggestion we deliberately try to put certain ideas and thoughts in the minds of others for the sake of realising certain purposes. 

Another way of classifying suggestion will be as follows: 

Prestige Suggestion: 

Persons superior to us in knowledge, experience, 

scholarship, status, power, age excite our suggestion and we readily accept what they say. This is prestige suggestion. 

Mass Suggestion: 

It is the suggestion made by a group of people as a whole. 

When the same thing is told by every one with whom we come in contact, we are likely to accept what is said. 

Prestige suggestion and mass suggestion are being largely used in advertisements through newspapers, magazines, journals,

TV and through mass media in general. 

Teachers of high calibre (through prestige suggestion) and all teachers collectively (through mass suggestion) incidentally and intentionally can suggest socially useful thoughts, ideas and opinions to the student population and the student community, as a result, is likely to develop a sense of social commitment. 

AutoSuggestion: 

This is suggesting to oneself. Unwholesome 

autosuggestions are to be avoided and replaced by wholesome autosuggestions. Positive autosuggestions are likely to develop self confidence and positive self concept in people. Negative autosuggestions, on the other hand, are likely to develop all negative traits in people. Teachers, indirectly, may be instrumental to positive autosuggestions auto of the student population. 

Contra Suggestion: 

This is doing or thinking the exact opposite of what is 

suggested. A persistent attitude of this kind is known as 

negativism. Contra suggestion may be an unconscious revolt against a dominating, unsympathetic adult code or may be an 

imitating activity of somebody (at home) who gets things done in his favour by openly revolting against elders in the family (a negative role model). What is required is a diagnostic study of such cases followed by suitable remediation.

ALSO READ: Psychology Education Attention, perception, imagination, Thinking and Reasoning 

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