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AUTOMATISM . In philosophical terminology this word is used in two See also:main senses: (1) in See also:ethics, for the view that See also:man is not responsible for his actions, which have, therefore, no moral value; (2) in See also:psychology, for all actions which are not the result of See also:conation or conscious endeavour. Certain actions being admittedly automatic, See also:Descartes maintained that, in regard of the See also:lower animals, all See also:action is purely See also:mechanical. The same theory has since been applied to man, with this difference that, accompanying the mechanical phenomena of action, and entirely disconnected with it, are the phenomena of consciousness. Thus certain See also:physical changes in the See also:brain result in a given action; the concomitant See also:mental See also:desire or volition is in no sense causally connected with, or See also:prior to, the physical See also:change. This theory, which has been maintained by T. See also:Huxley (See also:Science and Culture) and Shadworth See also:Hodgson (Metaphysic of Experience and Theory of Practice), must be distinguished from that of the psychophysical See also:parallelism, or the " See also:double aspect theory " according to which both the mental See also:state and the physical phenomena result from a so-called " mind stuff," or single substance, the material or cause of both.
Automatic acts are of two main kinds. Where the action goes on while the See also:attention is focused on entirely different subjects (e.g. in See also:cycling), it is purely automatic. On the other See also:hand, if the attention is fixed on the end or on any particular See also:part of a given action, and the other component parts of the action are performed unconsciously, the automatism may be called relative.
See G. F. Stout, Anal. Psych. i. 258 See also:foil. ; Wm. See also:- JAMES
- JAMES (Gr. 'IlrKw,l3or, the Heb. Ya`akob or Jacob)
- JAMES (JAMES FRANCIS EDWARD STUART) (1688-1766)
- JAMES, 2ND EARL OF DOUGLAS AND MAR(c. 1358–1388)
- JAMES, DAVID (1839-1893)
- JAMES, EPISTLE OF
- JAMES, GEORGE PAYNE RAINSFOP
- JAMES, HENRY (1843— )
- JAMES, JOHN ANGELL (1785-1859)
- JAMES, THOMAS (c. 1573–1629)
- JAMES, WILLIAM (1842–1910)
- JAMES, WILLIAM (d. 1827)
James, Princ. of Psych. i. See also:chap. 5; also the articles PSYCHOLOGY, See also:SUGGESTION, &c.
Sensory Automatism is the See also:term given by students of psychical See also:research to a centrally initiated See also:hallucination. Such hallucinations are commonly provoked by crystal-gazing (q.v.), but auditory hallucinations may be caused by the use of a See also:- SHELL
- SHELL (O. Eng. scell, scyll, cf. Du. sceel, shell, Goth. skalja, tile; the word means originally a thin flake,. cf. Swed. skalja, to peel off; it is allied to " scale " and " skill," from a root meaning to cleave, divide, separate)
shell (shell-See also:hearing), and the other senses are occasionally affected.
Motor Automatism, on the other hand, is a non-reflex See also:movement of a voluntary muscle, executed in the waking state but not controlled by the See also:ordinary waking consciousness. Phenomena of this See also:kind See also:play a large part in See also:primitive ceremonies of See also:divination (q.v.) and in our own See also:day furnish much of the material of Psychical Research. At the lowest level we have vague movements of large See also:groups of muscles, as in " bier-divination," where the murderer or his See also:residence is inferred from the actions of the bearers; of a similar See also:character but combined with more specialized action are many kinds of See also:witch seeking. These more specialized actions are most typically seen in the See also:Divining See also:Rod (q.v.; see also TABLE-TURNING), which indicates the presence of See also:water and is used among the uncivilized to trace criminals. At a higher See also:stage still we have the delicate movements necessary for Automatic See also:Writing (q.v.) or See also:Drawing. A parallel See also:case to Automatic Writing is the action of the speech centres, resulting in the See also:production of all kinds of utterances from See also:trance speeches in the ordinary See also:language of the See also:speaker to See also:mere unintelligible babblings. An interesting See also:form of speech automatism is known as Glossolalia; in the typical case of Helene See also:- SMITH
- SMITH, ADAM (1723–1790)
- SMITH, ALEXANDER (183o-1867)
- SMITH, ANDREW JACKSON (1815-1897)
- SMITH, CHARLES EMORY (1842–1908)
- SMITH, CHARLES FERGUSON (1807–1862)
- SMITH, CHARLOTTE (1749-1806)
- SMITH, COLVIN (1795—1875)
- SMITH, EDMUND KIRBY (1824-1893)
- SMITH, G
- SMITH, GEORGE (1789-1846)
- SMITH, GEORGE (184o-1876)
- SMITH, GEORGE ADAM (1856- )
- SMITH, GERRIT (1797–1874)
- SMITH, GOLDWIN (1823-191o)
- SMITH, HENRY BOYNTON (1815-1877)
- SMITH, HENRY JOHN STEPHEN (1826-1883)
- SMITH, HENRY PRESERVED (1847– )
- SMITH, JAMES (1775–1839)
- SMITH, JOHN (1579-1631)
- SMITH, JOHN RAPHAEL (1752–1812)
- SMITH, JOSEPH, JR
- SMITH, MORGAN LEWIS (1822–1874)
- SMITH, RICHARD BAIRD (1818-1861)
- SMITH, ROBERT (1689-1768)
- SMITH, SIR HENRY GEORGE WAKELYN
- SMITH, SIR THOMAS (1513-1577)
- SMITH, SIR WILLIAM (1813-1893)
- SMITH, SIR WILLIAM SIDNEY (1764-1840)
- SMITH, SYDNEY (1771-1845)
- SMITH, THOMAS SOUTHWOOD (1788-1861)
- SMITH, WILLIAM (1769-1839)
- SMITH, WILLIAM (c. 1730-1819)
- SMITH, WILLIAM (fl. 1596)
- SMITH, WILLIAM FARRAR (1824—1903)
- SMITH, WILLIAM HENRY (1808—1872)
- SMITH, WILLIAM HENRY (1825—1891)
- SMITH, WILLIAM ROBERTSON (1846-'894)
Smith, Th. Flournoy has shown that these utterances may reach a higher See also:plane andform a real Ianguage, which is, however, based on one already known to the speaker.
See Man (1904), No. 68 ; See also:Folklore, xiii. 134; See also:Myers in Proc. S.P.R. ix. 26, xii. 277, xv. 403; Flournoy, See also:Des lades d la planete See also:Mars and in See also:Arch. de Psychologie; Myers, Human See also:Personality.
(N. W.
End of Article: AUTOMATISM
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