tions in the forward direction, from A to B, from B to C, etc. The learning material was composed of a large number of items, and it does not seem plausible to believe that many associations were formed with the absolute position of the items. Each response or series of responses seemed to sprout out of those which immediately preceded. Before concluding this discussion, let us suppose that a series 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 represents an incident which occurred in the past. Now let items 3 and 4 or the connection between them suffer "atrophy through disuse" or decline, as the result of some other cause. It may be then that the items 5-6-7-8 cannot be recalled. An appropriate stimulus can evoke I and 2; but since 3 and 4 are in a poor condition, the series 5-6-7-8 is gone. In order to revive 5-6-7-8, we can think "about" and "around" the items 3 and 4, and in this way encourage their revival,-so that the series 5-6-7-8 may unroll itself quite unexpectedly. The lost items may of course remain in oblivion, or, as sometimes happens, they may have to be revived periodically. Many of our responses are not linked together in a single series, but are arranged in a network extending in many directions. For this reason, various stimuli may be adequate to revive a series that has been forgotten. Although there are numerous complications, the adequate stimuli are frequently very specific.24 In the discussion which has preceded, we have frequently referred to the "items" of a series and the associations which are formed between the "individual responses." Of course these elements do not operate in a manner which would indicate that they are completely separated from other processes. Although we are seldom stimulated through just one receptor at a time, it frequently happens that one stimulus or one response occupies the center of the stage at a given moment. The interesting "configuration" also does not exist completely separated from other functions.25 The "configuration" is 24 See E. B. Titchener, A text-book of psychology, 1910, 384-389. 25 The writer spent a good many hours observing the 95 subjects while they were learning the rote material. Practically all of the subjects made regular movements of the mouth, tongue, throat, and frequently even the hands, while they were learning the material. It is difficult to believe that these movements did not form a part of the learning process. similar to our response in being merely a part of a still larger and more complicated situation. Many of the criticisms of "associationism" cannot be justly applied to our experiments, because we employed several types of material, because the procedure was varied frequently, and because serial learningor habit formation-is a very common occurrence in everyday life.26 REFERENCES BENTLEY, M. A critique of 'fusion.' Amer. J. Psychol., 1903, 14, 60–72. BURNHAM, W. H. Memory, historically and experimentally considered. Amer. J. Psychol., 1888-1889, 2, 39–90, 225–270, 568–622. CARR, H. A., & FREEMAN, A. S. Time relationships in the formation of associations. Psychol. Rev., 1919, 26, 465–473. CASON, H. The concept of backward association. Amer. J. Psychol., 1924, 35, 217-221. CASON, H. Specific serial learning; a study of backward association. This JOURNAL, 1926, 9, 195–227. CASON, H. The physical basis of the conditioned response. Amer. J. Psychol., 1925, 36, 371-393. CASON, H. The conditioned reflex or conditioned response as a common activity of living organisms. Psychol. Bull., 1925, 22, 445-472. CLAPARÈDE, E. L'association des idées, 1903. DUNLAP, K. The biological basis of the association of ideas and the development of perception. Psychobiol., 1920, 2, 29–53. EBBINGHAUS, H. Memory, a contribution to experimental psychology, 1885. (Tr. by Ruger and Bussenius.) EBBINGHAUS, H. Grundzüge der Psychologie (2d ed.), 1905. EDGELL, B. Theories of Memory. Univ. of Oxford Press, 1924. FRINGS, G. Ueber den Einfluss der Komplexbildung auf die effektuelle und generative Hemmung. Arch. f. d. ges. Psychol., 1914, 30, 415-479. Gamble, E. A. M. A study in memorising various materials by the reconstruction method. Psychol. Monog., 1909, 10 (no. 43). HÖFFDING, H. Outlines of psychology, 1891. JAMES, W. Principles of psychology, 1890. JENNINGS, H. S. Behavior of the lower organisms, 1906. LADD, G. T., & WOODWORTH, R. S. Elements of physiological psychology, 1911. MCDOUGALL, W. Physiological psychology, 1905. MICHOTTE, A., & FRANSEN, F. Note sur l'analyse des facteurs de la mémorisation et sur l'inhibition associative. Ann. de l'institut sup. de philos. (Université de Louvain), 1914, 3, 503–549. MÜLLER, G. E., & Pilzecker, A. Experimentelle Beiträge zur Lehre vom Gedächtniss. Zsch. f. Psychol. u. Physiol. d. Sinnesorgane, Ergänzungsband I (1900), I-288. * For a practical discussion of habit, see S. H. Rowe, Habit-Formation and the Science of Teaching, 1909, 44-68. MÜLLER, G. E., & SCHUMANN, F. Experimentelle Beiträge zur Untersuchung des Gedächtnisses. Zsch. f. Psychol. u. Physiol. d. Sinnesorgane, 1894, 6, 81-190, 257-339. NAGEL, F. Experimentelle Untersuchungen über Grundfragen der Assoziationslehre. ROWE, S. H. Habit-formation and the science of teaching, 1909. THORNDIKE, E. L. The psychology of learning, 1913. THORNDIKE, E. L., & WOODWORTH, R. S. The influence of improvement in one mental function upon the efficiency of other functions. Psychol. Rev., 1901, 8, 247–261, 384-395, 553-564. TITCHENER, E. B. A text-book of psychology, 1910. WATSON, J. B. Behavior, an introduction to comparative psychology, 1914. WOHLGEMUTH, A. Ueber die Richtung der Assoziationen. Ber. über d. V. Kongress f. exper. Psychol., 1912, 284–287. WOHLGEMUTH, A. On memory and the direction of associations. Brit. J. Psychol., 1913, 5, 447-465. L AN OBSERVATIONAL STUDY OF ANGER BY GEORGINA STICKLAND GATES Barnard College, Columbia University In attempting to describe the emotional reactions of adults the psychologist is occasionally embarrassed by the lack of concrete data upon the frequency, causes, usual conditions, reactions and impulses of the emotional crisis. How often, for example, does the average adult experience anger? What is the most frequent impulse during this state? How may the causes of anger be classified and described? At what time of day is anger most likely to occur? Do the after-effects always give rise to an unfavorable bodily condition? All these are questions for which we have at present no adequate answer, but to which answers may, in spite of their inevitably humorous aspect, add something by way of our knowledge of human nature. A first attempt at answering these questions in quantitative fashion is made by the present study. The method of introspection and report immediately following an experience is used here in contrast to the method of the questionary previously employed by Hall.1 Our data are treated statistically rather than descriptively, as in Hall's investigation and in observations made by twelve subjects of Richardson, and they are considered, in the main, from the point of view of the circumstances and reactions involved, rather than from that of the consciousness present. In our study the data were recorded as soon as possible after the actual occurrence. All the individuals reporting were of approximately equal age and like social status, and subject to similar environmental conditions. Fifty-one women students, members of two introductory 1 G. S. Hall, A study of anger, Amer. J. of Psychol., 1899, 10, 516–591. 2 K. F. Richardson, The psychology and pedagogy of anger, Educ. Psychol. Monog., no. 19. courses in psychology, agreed to record all their experiences of anger or extreme irritation during one week. Each subject graded each anger experience on a scale from 5 to 1, calling 5 the most extreme anger ever felt by the subject, I the least degree of anger ever experienced, 3 intermediate between these extremes, and 4 and 2 in their respective places. She recorded the date, exact time of day (noting also whether the emotion occurred shortly before or after a meal); she graded her condition before the situation causing the anger arose on a like scale, 3 representing her usual state of health, 5 an exceptionally good, I an extremely poor condition, etc., and added a descriptive word (as tired, cold or excited); she described the exact cause as well as she could determine it, the responses made, the impulses experienced but not yielded to, and any after-effects noted. Before the experiment was begun each subject estimated her own "degree of irritability," i.e., she guessed whether or not she was easily angered. This scoring was done also in a scale of 5 to 1, 5 representing the most easily angered person of her acquaintance, I the least easily aroused, with herself ranked accordingly. The reports of the 51 Os yielded 145 cases of anger; 6 of degree 5, 23 of degree 4, 44 of 3, 49 of 2, and 23 of 1. Bearing in mind the caution that this analysis is applicable only to these particular subjects under these conditions, and that it is further limited by the difficulties of introspection under which inexperienced observers labor, certain conclusions to be described briefly may be drawn. I. Frequency. The instances of anger reported for the week are distributed among the Os as follows: Instances reported. Os reporting.. O I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ΤΟ .6 12 4 9 14 2 2 O O O 2 One's own angers may profitably be compared with this presumably normal incidence in young women living in a college community. II. Accuracy of Self-Rating.-In Table I the individuals making the observations have been divided into four groups, |