the deflections can, in general, be magnified to any extent desired and Still more important is the fact that the magnitude of the galvano- 1 Kiss 72.8 21 Worry 33-0 41 Book 51 Street 24.9 71 Blue 24.6 72 Ship 53 Carry 20.4 93 Hunger 17.9 54 Wait 55 Speak 17 War 34.1 37 Horse 27.1 57 Nasty 23-6 77 Plum 58 Jump 23-5 78 Village 19 Happy 33-4 39 Doctor 26-9 59 Paper time ceases to be proportionally significant. No one would suggest, for example, that a time of one minute, say, in a series whose Probable Mean is two seconds, is likely to be the result of an affective state 15 times as intense as that responsible for a time of four seconds. But such considerations cannot be extended to the galvanometer deflections. Table VI shows the 100 words of my list arranged in the order of magnitude of their mean reaction times, calculated for the whole of the 50 subjects examined; Table VII shows the words similarly arranged on a basis of their mean galvanometer deflections. There can be no doubt that the order of words given by the galvanometer represents their relative affective value far more accurately than that given by the reaction time. The following points may be noted: (i) The highest value in the galvanometer series is 5-12 times as great as the lowest; in the time series it is only 1.98 times as great. The 'resolving power' of the galvanometer is, therefore, rather more than 2 times that of the reaction time. (ii) In accordance with this we find in the reaction time series seven pairs of words whose mean time is the same, seven such groups of three words each, five of four words each, and two of seven words each. In the galvanometer series there are only eight such pairs and one group of three. The galvanometer therefore differentiates gradations of affective tone with much greater delicacy than does the reaction time. (iii) The first six words on the galvanometer list are Kiss, Love, Marry, Divorce, Name, Woman. Of these, five are obviously closely connected with sex-life and the other, Name, is probably constellated by the same ideas. These six words stand out head and shoulders above the remainder of the series, as I pointed out in my paper on memory. (N.B. The effect is very noticeable if the series is represented graphically.) Their mean value is 145% of that of the seventh word and 220 % of that of the Probable Mean of the series. Compare with these the first six words of the time series, Name1, Friend, Despise, Make, Sad, Proud. This is not nearly so homogeneous a group; its mean value is only 110% of the seventh word and only 141 % of the Probable Mean of the series. 1 For the probable reason of the very long time for this word, compare page 254. The first name to occur is likely to be that of a wife, fiancée, lover or other person of sexual significance to the subject. This marked difference must be due to some quality, common to all members of the homogeneous group, which the galvanometer picks out better than the reaction time. This can only be a common high affective value. A further indication of the comparative untrustworthiness of the reaction time as a quantitative indicator is afforded by the fact that the coefficient of correlation between the mean galvanometer deflection and mean reaction time for the series of words is increased if we reduce the excessively long times. The coefficient of correlation for the two series as they stand is + 470. If we eliminate all reaction times more than 100 % greater than the arithmetic mean time of the subject concerned, and substitute for each a value equal to the arithmetic mean plus 100 %, the coefficient of correlation rises to +488. (Example: The arithmetic mean of the reaction time for subject No. 8 is 10-5, his reaction time for reaction 84 is 24; I substitute 21, that is to say 100% more than the arithmetic mean, for this value when computing the mean time for reaction 84stimulus word 'Afraid' for the purposes of the new correlation.) This proves that 'much-too-long' times are not significant in proportion to their length; for these two series only correlate in so far as the magnitudes of both are due to a common cause, intensity of affective tone, to wit; it follows that any systematic alteration to one series which increases the coefficient of correlation does so by making it conform more closely to the variations in the working of the common cause. It would be possible on these lines to determine at what point, in general, continued prolongation of reaction time ceases to be significant; but this would take us very far and is not a point of sufficient interest to be worth investigating. SUMMARY. (i) There are two quite definite, distinct and opposite varieties of affective tone, which may conveniently be called 'positive' and 'negative'; of these the former tends to promote the accession to consciousness of the ideas to which it is concomitant, or the incidence of attention upon them, while the latter produces the opposite effect. (ii) Prolongation of reaction time alone is not a reliable complexindicator. In a large number of cases (the whole of class TG mentioned above and part of class T) it is due to positive affective tone. (iii) Disturbance in reproduction is by far the best complex-indicator or, at least, the most reliable indication of negative tone; I personally regard these two expressions as synonymous. (iv) The galvanometer detects positive tone as well as negative and in many cases (the whole of class G) does so when the reaction time does not. (v) Intensity of affective tone, whether positive or negative, increases both reaction time and galvanometer deflection. In general the most positively toned words are those with too-long times and too-large deflections; next come those with too-large deflections only. Words with no complex-indicators, or with too-long times only, are mostly indifferent. Words with disturbance in the reproduction are almost invariably negatively toned. Words having too-long times and too-large deflections are, on the whole, more intensely toned, whether positively or negatively, than those having too-long times or too-large deflections only. (vi) For quantitative work the galvanometer-deflection of the psychogalvanic reflex is markedly superior to the reaction time. (vii) The 'resolving' power and consequently the scope and utility of the word association method is greatly increased if the galvanometer is used in addition to the reaction time. The experimenter can divide his reactions into eight classes, all possessed of quantitatively and qualitatively distinct attributes, instead of into four only. (viii) The memory test enables us to determine the more important relative properties of these classes. It is a very laborious method and somewhat crude, but the results it yields show a remarkable concordance and it is probable that the conclusions arrived at are reliable. THE RELATION BETWEEN COMPLEX INDICATORS AND THE FORM OF THE ASSOCIATION. BY W. WHATELY SMITH. In the preceding paper I investigated the relations which exist between the affective tone aroused by a stimulus word and the 'complex indicators' which accompany the reaction. I did this with regard to three indicators, namely, (i) 'too-long' reaction time, (ii) 'too-large' psycho-galvanic reflex, (iii) disturbance of reproduction in Jung's reproduction test. I showed that, if we indicate the presence of a 'too-long' time by T, of a 'too-large' reflex by G, of disturbance in reproduction by R, and the absence of any indicator by O, the relation between the affective tone of words and the various classes into which they can be divided according to their indicators is as follows: Classes G and TG consist in general of positively toned words. The question now arises as to whether there is any relation between the affective tone of a word and the form of the association, i.e. by co-ordination, co-existence, predicate, etc. Sundry attempts have been made by various workers to investigate this point by determining the mean reaction time of the different classes of association, but without leading to any very uniform or satisfactory results. This is not surprising for, as I have shown, prolongation of reaction time alone is likely to be a very unsatisfactory and misleading guide; it may be prolonged on account of negative tone, of comparatively intense positive tone, or of purely intellectual factors which have nothing to do with affective tone at all. It is necessary to discriminate between positively, neutrally and negatively toned words before we can hope to throw any helpful light on the question. I have attempted to do so in this paper. I wholly agree with Jung's statement that "Everyone who does. |