Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/264

 250 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

a damaged or diminished personality ; we are, in a word, upset. We may consequently expect to find that whatever brings the individual into conflict with the ordinary standards of life of the society in which he is living is the occasion of a strain on the attention and of an accompanying bodily change.'

A minimum expression of modesty, and one having an organic rather than a social basis, is seen in the coyness of the female among animals. In many species of animals the female does not submit at once to the solicitations of the male, but only after the most arduous wooing. I shall refer to this again in a later paper, and the following instances will be sufficient in the present connection : "The female cuckoo answers the call of her mate with an alluring laugh that excites him to the utmost, but it is long before she gives herself up to him. A mad chase through tree tops ensues, during which she constantly incites him with that mocking call, till the poor fellow is fairly driven crazy. The female kingfisher often torments her devoted lover for half a day, coming and calling him, and then taking to flight. But she never lets him out of her sight the while, look- ing back as she flies, and measuring her speed, and wheeling back whdn he suddenly gives up the pursuit. "" There is here a rapid shifting of attention between organic impulse to pair and organic dread of pairing, until an equilibrium is reached, which is not essentially different from the case, in human society, of that woman who, "whispering, 'I will ne'er consent,' consented." In either case, the minimum that it is necessary to assume is an

' Without making any attempt to classify the emotions, we may notice that they arise out of conditions connected with both the nutritive and reproductive activities of life, but it is possible to say that such emotions as anger, fear, and guilt show a more plain genetic connection with the conflict aspect of the food process, while modesty is connected rather with sexual life and the attendant bodily habits, and for convenience of treatment I am using the term "modesty" in this restricted meaning.

= Groos, The Play of Animals, p. 285. The utility of these antics is well explained by Professor Ziegler in a letter to Professor Groos : " Among all animals a highly excited condition of the nervous system is necessary for the act of pairing, and consequently we find an exciting playful prelude is very generally indulged in " (Groos, loc. cit., p. 242) ; and Professor Groos thinks that the sexual hesitancy of the female is of advantage to the species, as preventing " too early and too frequent yielding to the sexual impulse" (loc. cit., p. 283).