![]() There are too many who believe that they see what they expect to see, and very different emotions may express themselves with very similar symptoms. It would hardly be better than those superstitious decisions of early times. There cannot be justice if we base our judgment on the detective's claim that a man blushed or trembled or was breathing heavily. Of course, everyone knows how uncertain and unsafe such crude police methods must be. One-of the most adventurous "gunmen" of the West told me that when he was attacked by mobs he behaved as if he were constantly spitting he went through such motions because it always discourages the crowd when they see that their adversary does not fear them, and they would know that a man who is afraid cannot spit - the emotion of fear dries up the mouth and throat. Evidently primitive life sharpens the observation of such symptoms. They depended on apparently mysterious signs which in reality sometimes belonged to the bodily effects of emotion. It seems that even some of the superstitions of barbaric times which claimed to discover the guilty by all kinds of miracles sometimes contained a certain truth of this kind. Much of that which the police and the delinquents call the third degree consists of these bodily signs of a guilty conscience to make the accused break down from his own inner emotion is the triumph of such maladministration of law. When the conspiracy against Dreyfus sought to manufacture evidence against him, they made much of the fact that he trembled and was thus hardly able to write when they dictated to him a letter in which phrases of the discovered treasonable manuscript occurred. The suspected man who pales before the victim while he pretends not to know him, or who weeps at hearing the story of the crimes which he disavows, is half condemned in the eyes of the prosecutor. The helpless stammering of the excited lover betrays everything which his deliberate words are to deny.īut the signs which made Hamlet sure that his mother had committed murder have not been overlooked by those who are on the track of the criminal in our practical life. And the comedies of all time vary the same motive with regard to the lighter sins of love and social entanglement. There is hardly a tragedy of Shakespeare in which the involuntary signs of secret excitement do not play their rôle. The ghastly memory of a gruesome past seems locked up in the hero's mind and yet when he is brought back to the place of his deed, it comes to light in his paleness and trembling, in the empty glaring of his eyes and the breaking of his voice. Through the dramatic literature of all ages is repeated the motive of the unintentional expression of emotions. But the lips and hands and arms and legs, which are under our control, are never the only witnesses to the drama which goes on inside - if they keep silent, others will speak. It is not necessary to become wild with anger and to collapse in sorrow, we may even inhibit laughter and tears, and a New Englander will never behave like a Southern Italian. ![]() It may be easy to suppress intentionally the conspicuous movements by which we usually accentuate the emotions. Yes, the hidden feeling betrays itself often against the will of the best comedian in life. ![]() And if he does not come, - she may be masterful in simulation and the artificial smile may never leave the lips, yet you will hear her disappointment in the timbre of her voice, you may see it even in the width of the pupil of her eye. ![]() ![]() If she talks with you and every word makes you believe that her entire interest belongs to you and your remarks, it is enough for you to see that her fingers are playing nervously with her fan, and that her breathing has become deep and vehement and her eyes restless since a certain guest has entered the room you know she is hardly listening to you and waits only for him to approach her. If she opens a letter and grows pale while reading it, she may assure us that the event is unimportant we know better. If a girl blushes when a boy's name is mentioned in the family sitting-room, we feel sure, even if she protests, that he is not quite indifferent to her young heart. Classics in the History of Psychology - Munsterberg (1908/1925) "The Traces of Emotions" Classics in the History of PsychologyĮssays on Psychology and Crime Hugo Münsterberg (1908/1925) ![]()
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