Wilhelm Wundt

Wundt Outlines of Psychology

Heading II section 14 entitled Volitional Processes begins with a recap of what an emotion is comprised of, “a unified series of interrelated affective processes.” (1) In this section Wundt goes into the second way an emotion may be terminated. He describes the emotion coming to a sudden end by a volitional act. Wundt explains the volitional act is only the bridge between the emotion and volition which becomes the volitional process. The volitional process produces and external effect that removes the emotion itself. Wundt goes on to explain that this action does not pertain to all emotions, but only those capable of producing feelings that can remove the emotion. The easiest explanation would be the result of the emotion being terminated by contrasting feelings.

Wundt further defines a volitional act as the contrast between feelings, the origin being an unpleasant feeling, which brings about external movement, and then produce contrasted pleasurable feelings. Examples might be seizing food to remove hunger or picking a fight with an enemy to exact revenge. Wundt explains that love, hate, anger, and revenge all have a common origin, will. The outcome of a volitional act leads to, “a quiet flow of feelings.” (2)

Reaction to the Wundt

In searching for something to read, this section caught my eye. As someone who deals with topics such as free will, Wundt’s idea of volition and its roots were intriguing. From the text I did not detect much in the way of overt Christian ideas (I did not expect to). One statement that he made seems consistent with the ideas most people within this field. Wundt says that both men and animals have within them love, hate, anger, and revenge with a common source being will. I do not agree, if for no other reason than it is empirically impossible to test that theory with animals. But in order to stand on those grounds I would have to jettison my belief system. To attribute those qualities to men and animals alike lowers humanity to a level equal to the animals. Once again the Bible is clear when it states that God first created man, then woman, and then animals. God gave man (and woman) dominion over those animals for a reason, and the Bible only mentions creating humans with the capacity to love. Therefore to group man and animals together is to devalue what God has given value to. It devalues life. This is root of many problems today.

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