Our anticipation will look quite different depending on the “intuitive” feelings in “our bones.” Tony, the protagonist in the musical (and movie) West Side Story, sings about a strong feeling associated with his anticipation that “Something great is coming!” (a song written by Leonard Bernstein with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim) Conversely, Queenie, the very wise cook on a showboat, senses that something bad is coming. “Mis’ry’s Comin’ Aroun” is sung by Quennie to a haunting, very dark tune written by Jerome Kern (with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein) for the musical Show Boat.
A famous study was conducted many years ago by Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer (Schachter and Singer, 1962), in which they injected an arousing chemical into their subjects and then noted how they reacted to and interpreted their external environment. As compared with subjects injected with a non-arousing chemical, the “aroused” subjects found themselves feeling very angry when placed in a setting where they were frustrated. Anger or a desire to leave this “hostile” environment soon followed. The “cold feelings” that these subjects initially experienced were soon translated into an anticipation of an emotion-evoking setting—and they soon “found” (or produced) this setting. Appropriate behavior would soon follow in a “natural” world. Emotions (as produced by a specific neurochemical) were influencing anticipations. Schacter proposed a two-factor theory of emotion, indicating that there is both a physiological and cognitive side to any emotion.
Behavior
Conversely, we can take an Exoscopic Perspective by first looking at the behavior. Our external presentation influences our internal sense of self. In theater, a major school of acting (“method acting”) begins from the outside and then moves inward. Actors put on their costumes for a specific play and soon find the internal character that corresponds with this costume. William James once declared that our emotional state arises from our behavior rather than the other way around. We run away from a threatening bear and conclude that we must be afraid of the bear, given that we are running away from this animal.
As in the case of the Intrascopic Perspective, we can push even further regarding our Exoscopic Perspective. Our behavior is influenced by the events occurring the world and, more generally, the setting in which we find ourselves. Many behaviorally oriented psychologists believe that virtually all of our behavior is determined by these external events and settings, rather than by any internal state of mind (personality).
Schacter vs. James
For many years, a debate was waged by theoretical and research psychologists who either took the Jamesian Introscopic perspective that behavior precedes emotions or a Exoscopic perspective, bolstered by Schacter’s two-factor theory, that emotions will precede and play a key role in determining behavior. Polystasis provides an interactive, feedback-based perspective on the relationship between the internal state and external state. The internal state includes not only Schacter’s physiological factor, but also the underlying psychosocial and somatic templates. The external state includes not only Schacter’s cognitive factor, but also the baseline and anticipations associated with the appraisal and adjustment phases of the Polystatic process. The internal and external states are constantly shifting and interacting. Anticipations are strongly influenced by both states. The appraisals, adjustments, and actions being taken require both our feelings and our anticipated setting.
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