Psychology, therefore, is the science of the activity of man,
as a living organism, in the [33] environment in which he finds himself - the science of
the interplay between man and that environment. It is the science of human conduct, but
not in the ethical sense of right or wrong conduct. It is the science of human behavior,
of personality. But what is there behind this behavior? Hocking says:
"The
self is indeed a system of behavior. But it is a system of purposive behavior emerging
from a persistent hope. The kernel of the self is its hope."
- Hocking, Wm. E., Self, Its Body and Freedom, p. 46.
This hope
that life may be made something that is greater than it has ever hitherto been, is indeed
a persistent hope - we know, however, that if it is to be realized, we ourselves must help
to bring about that realization. Hence the purposive behavior of which Hocking speaks.
In this field of human behavior and personality, there are three main factors. There
is, first, the environment. This is much more than a mere present fact, or set of facts,
or a mere passive stage upon which the drama is played. It has been defined as
"all that is not the organism, whether cultural, social, physical, or what-not,
present in fact or in record."
- Leary, Daniel B., Modern Psychology: Normal and Abnormal, p.45.
There is, secondly, the human apparatus, especially the response apparatus which we
shall presently discuss in greater detail. There is, finally, conduct, or the result of
the interrelation between the environment and the response apparatus, and, given a certain
environment and [34] a certain response apparatus, certain lines of conduct, it is
claimed, are inevitable - the interplay of these three results in human behavior.
Our concern
here is naturally with the second main factor, the response apparatus. In that apparatus,
certain aspects of the mechanism warrant closer attention than others, namely the nervous
system, and the system of ductless glands, which two systems are found functioning in
close coordination in the human frame.
It is
through the nervous system, perhaps the most intricate and wonderful part of the human
structure, that we contact our environment, the external world, and are adapted to
function in it. Through this system we become aware of the tangible, and through the
network of nerves, plus the spinal cord and brain, we become aware of information
ceaselessly conveyed to us. Messages are carried along the millions of telegraph lines of
our nerves to the central power house of our brain, and are then transformed in some
mysterious way into information. To that information we respond: a reverse activity is
instituted and we are galvanized into action.
Along with this display of incoming and outgoing nervous energy there are parallel
activities in the system of ductless glands (and the muscular system) and the interlocking
of activity is so great that, unless the ductless glands are functioning normally, there
will be no adequate response [35] to the information telegraphed and no transformation of
one type of energy into another.
The whole
response apparatus, and the mechanics of the case, have been summed up in the following
terms:
"An organism is a transforming device which changes the incoming energy of the
environment, received through the receptors, into outgoing energy in the form of the work
of the muscles and glands and, at the same time, as transforming device, also transforms
itself in terms of these and other, inwardly originating stimuli, both sets of stimuli and
both outputs of energy cooperating in the complete act or behavior of the organism."
- Leary, Daniel B., Modern Psychology: Normal and Abnormal, p. 33.
The nervous system and muscles may be loosely described as the physical response
apparatus, and the means by which physical response to the environment is made, but the
nervous system and the ductless glands as the intelligent and emotional response
apparatus, and the means by which actual response is made.
It is claimed that this latter interaction between the apparatus and the environment
produces conduct and behavior, that feeling and thought activity have their seat in the
endocrine system, and that even the nature of man is thus accounted for!
"It is probably true," continues Dr. Leary, "that, in the long run, when
present speculation has been replaced by more adequate and better [36] grounded knowledge,
we will find the seat of temperament in, or in connection with, the ductless glands."
(Ibid., p. 189)
Dr. Rubin says "we are now rapidly coming to believe that all we are and all we
may ever hope to be, depends very largely upon whether or not we have been born with
normal ductless glands."
- Rubin, H. H., Your Mysterious Glands, p. 10.
And Dr. Leary says, "The emotions are more nearly concerned with interceptors and
unstriped muscles and ductless glands" than instincts are."
- Leary, Daniel B., Modern Psychology: Normal and Abnormal, p. 61.
Dr. Cobb tells us: "...only three and a half grains of the thyroid secretion
stands between intelligence and idiocy. It is a gruesome thought to realize that the
absence of one chemical can result in a failure of development of the mind and body of an
individual."
- Cobb, I. G., M.D., The Glands of Destiny, p. 5.
Dr. Cobb also tells us in his Introduction that: "The action of the glands in
determining the bodily build is indisputable; and the mental outlook - the 'behavior
complexes' - of the individual appears to depend on the physical well-being; and the
physical well-being undoubtedly depends upon the successful action and interaction of the
various glandular secretions...
"Although we are as yet only on the fringe of the subject, we have advanced
sufficiently to realize that, just as certain patterns are formed in the body by a [37]
particular arrangement of the ductless glands, so does the mind receive its quota from the
same source."
- Cobb, I. G., M.D., The Glands of Destiny, pp. 3,6.
Professor J. S. Huxley in a recent lecture says, "It seems clear that temperament
even more important than pure intellect in achieving success, is largely an affair of the
balance of the various glands of internal secretion - thyroid, pituitary, and the rest. It
may well be that the applied physiology of the future will discover how to modify
temperament."
- Ibid., pp. 11, 12.
In regard to this matter of temperament, Dr. Hocking remarks: "There is not the
slightest reason to doubt the broad fact of the profound effect on temperament exercised
by the glands of internal secretion, such as the thyroid or the interstitial glands or the
adrenals. The stimulation of certain of these glands, or the injection of their products,
or feeding therewith, may produce changes which would once have been thought miraculous.
By administering thyroxin a cretin may be brought to something resembling normality; if
the dosage is stopped he returns to his original condition. If the dosage is increased,
unfortunately, neither he nor anyone is raised from normality to genius; we only produce
another form of abnormality. And so far, no chemical discoveries justify any bright hopes
of improving the human normal. There are, indeed, certain drugs which make an individual
feel like a genius, but unless the results are judged under the same influence they are
strangely disappointing. We must, therefore, not build at once too high hopes for [38] the
future of mankind on these discoveries. But there is a genuine sense in which the soul has
its chemistry, and 'a deficiency of iodine will turn a clever man into an idiot.' "
- Hocking, W. E., Self, Its Body and Freedom, pp. 58, 59.
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