Pleasure and Displeasure Responses.

This work movement, too, is intimately bound up with the emotional life. A machine used by Titchener, and named the Automatograph, measures the effect of mental pleasure, or displeasure. It has been established elsewhere, and local experiments bear this out, that pleasure gives an involuntary forward and upward movement about 2cms. long, while displeasure shows a contrary movement, flatter and comparatively longer (up to 4cms.).

It will be apparent at once that if the work is arranged pleasurably the result will be attained with considerably less involuntary movement. One foreman, in discussing the matter, mentioned the case of a man who had had a slight accident with his machine. His output declined slightly, prompting enquiries for such falling off. This particular worker could give no reason, but desired to be put on to other work. Consideration of the position, in the light of the laboratory experiment, shows that the man, under the emotional stress of fear of a further accident really did “retire within his shell” every time he made a new movement. Given that it was 4cms. from the correct place it meant a loss of one second on each fresh movement, which at the end of the work unit, totalled a considerable loss of time and, hence, of output. On being transferred to other work the possibility of his fear being inhibited promised success. Physically the employee working under pleasure breathes quicker and weaker, with a consequent slower and stronger pulse than that observed under displeasure. This enables the repair of the cells to proceed more rapidly, so that there is less contamination of the blood stream.