fact that "our emotional dispositions tend to become organized into systems about the various objects and classes of objects that excite them." 3 Complex is often used to mean a hobby or pet interest. We learn to love and hate certain objects, persons, or activities. Love and hate, belonging to the world of appreciation, are typical sentiments. An object is loaded with value so that certain emotions are aroused in connection with its welfare. Habitual direction of our emotional tendencies upon a particular object leads to the formation of a complex, with the result that when we think of the object, we experience the appropriate emotion. Thus one may have a "money complex," so that dollars and cents become the chief concern of daily life, arousing fear when one apprehends possible loss, anger when another threatens to swindle one, and pride when one sees one's capital accumulate. The intensity of the emotional life, as we shall observe, is dependent upon how precious certain persons or interests have become in our experience. THE FUNCTION OF SENTIMENT T immediate pro sible Wh their central No power is effective unless it is organized. The function of systematization in the emotional life is discharged by the sentiments. Emotions come and go. Sentiment, on the other hand, is not a transient experience but a more enduring affair through which consistency and continuity are achieved. It is "through the systematic organization of the emotional dispositions in sentiments that the volitional control of the Ibid., p. 126. A. G. Tansley: The New Psychology. 1922. are studying significance passion, as i and one o in propon strong sen W. McD by McDoug Tid, P James I mediate promptings of the emotions is rendered posole." 5 Whereas a child's desires are diffused, an lult is influenced by a few specific preferences that nstitute his guiding principles. "Only where emoons are organized in sentiments, and subordinated to eir central control, are the higher powers of the intelet developed." Character is the outgrowth of the ganization of the sentiments in an harmonious sysn or hierarchy. Sentiment is a dynamic conception. Inasmuch as we e studying the sources of power by which superiority y be attained, it is essential that we comprehend the -nificance of sentiment in its relation to our resources. a strong character one sentiment usually dominates, which all other ends are subordinated, a ruling ssion, as it were, which insures the control of the emons. The self-regarding sentiment constitutes such a tral force in the person who suffers from inferiority. is within this sentiment that we shall find the condias which set off the emotional forces that furnish the ge for compensation. Sentiments elicit desires that 1 for satisfaction. "Desire is from the first one of chief agents in the development of sentiments I one of their most important constituents afterds." The activity of a sentiment always involves otional excitement. An idea will have motive force proportion to the emotions which it evokes.8 A ng sentiment means a strong will, for the emotional V. McDougall: op. cit., p. 165. Alexander F. Shand: The Foundations of Character, p. 67. 1920. d uses the term "sentiment" in the same sense as that employed McDougall. bid., pp. 562, 563. ames Drever: Instinct in Man, pp. 212, 244. 1921. drives are well mobilized and well directed toward a definite goal. "Sentiments working to their appointed ends will assimilate or exclude any given emotion according as it can or cannot be utilized by them." " This is the fundamental law of the organization of all sentiments. Adler states the same principle when he says that, "the guiding fiction only collects and unites into a group those psychic elements of which it can make use." 10 The guiding fiction, or personal ideal, is the master sentiment that concentrates all the available energy upon some chosen goal. "Every sentiment tends to form a type of character of its own." 11 The man who is striving to compensate for defects is often recognized as the aggressive, ambitious, efficient, industrious "go-getter" type. He is out to win the esteem of others, which he covets as a token of his success. The life plan sets superiority as its goal and intense efforts are bent upon its realization. THE SENTIMENT OF SELF-REGARD In analyzing the motives behind compensation our attention is focused at once upon the sentiment of selfregard. Were I to analyze your feelings in regard to yourself, I would ask you: What do you think of yourself? What estimate do you place upon your worth? Are you courageous, confident, conscious of your strength? Do you respect yourself? Are you proud of yourself? Or are you ashamed of yourself? Do you feel clumsy and stupid? Do you seem aware t others are watching you to uncover your weakses? Are you bashful, timid, self-distrustful? Do 1 fear failure? Everyone, of course, has been disraged at times, and confident at other times. When an is "down in the mouth," he has little use for him; when he is "up in the clouds," he deems himself 1ost worthy gentleman. Which of these attitudes is become dominant will depend in a large measure on v others react to his behavior. The attachment of value to objects is a social process. › want what others prize. The joy of possession lies the pleasure of seeing its effect upon others. The ue a man attaches to himself is largely derived from at he believes is the judgment others have made of 1. His self-regard is a reflection of the opinion of associates. He aims, therefore, to become the kind person whom people will admire, especially the people ose estimate he prizes. Charles Lamb put it aptly en he said, "Damn it, I like to be liked." If a persucceeds in winning approbation, he delights in the firmation of his self-respect. Recognition and ad-ation encourage that high self-regard which is the ition of the arrival at superiority. The growing child "gets his idea of his self in larger t by accepting the ideas of himself that he finds pressed by those about him." 12 The self-regarding timent, as I have just indicated, is a social product, conception of one's self in relation to other selves. e child is at first characteristically submissive. He dually learns that sometimes he can assert himself h marked success. Every time he succeeds in agssive tactics, the power of superiors to evoke his W. McDougall: op. cit., p. 191. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN LIBRARIES negative self-feeling (abasement) is diminished. As he matures, he discovers his own powers and the limitations of others, until those whom he once regarded as superior are no longer looked up to as such. Thus there comes about a transition from negative to positive selffeeling, from submission to self-assertion. As he progresses, he meets some people whom he can dominate and others to whom he must submit. The extension of positive self-feeling is carried as far as his capacities permit. How successful he will prove in self-assertion depends, consequently, largely on the types of people with whom he associates. He may even prefer humble friends whom he can "lord it over." There are limitations which society imposes upon aggressiveness so that the individual must learn to cultivate an offense that is socially acceptable. Direct methods of aggression must often be sublimated into more subtle paths. Where a man fails to dominate one way, he tries another. The experiences of success and failure have a profound influence on the development of the master sentiment, for success fosters aggressiveness and confidence, while failure breeds submissiveness and a feeling of insecurity.13 Since subjection is not wholly satisfactory to the average man, he finds under adversity new and more ingenious ways to assert himself. These novel means of domination are the paths of compensation. THE EGO IN SOCIAL RELATIONS in human lot and to how a None of us ha Man is sensitive to the opinions which his fellows hold of him. Schopenhauer attributes the differences 13 William H. Burnham: The Normal Mind, chap. XV, "Success and Failure as Conditions of Mental Health." 1924. No erfully sustain support from relation to t The pleas tion on the I feel we pos "The humb lot while liv superior a |