Sick Souls Healthy Minds - Chapter 3

Hailey Patel
12/10/2023
Section 11

Chapter 3 of Sick Souls Healthy Minds discussed how William James wrote the Principles of Psychology to answer a question in Philosophy, "How does life give rise to human consciousness? Deeper into the chapter, James talks a lot about habits. There was a lot of emphasis on the many different habits we take on and/or create ourselves. It covers much of our lives even if we may not realize it ourselves. James refers to habit as an enormous flywheel of society since it keeps things the same for as long as possible. Referring to that as well, it is difficult to break one's habit since it may feel like a routine to us. James also said, "Could the young but realize how soon they will become mere walking bundles of habits they would give more heed to their conduct while in the plastic state." What I took from this is that since the young are still growing and learning they tend to learn from watching others, such as our parents, teachers, and those who surround us, and in doing so, can pick up someone else’s habit. It is during the “plastic” and “priming” stage which is the most important stages of habit since it is when young bodies are more flexible and are open to habit formation. With that, they become a walking bundle of habits whether they may be good or bad ones. In the early 1880s, James had begun to shift his analysis and he talked about how understanding is to be free. He talked about how the point in life is for us to recognize the power of habit and then overcome it. I agree with this analysis since there are bad habits in one's life that may take over their day-to-day routine and it is important that we try to get over it.

This YouTube video gives a more in-depth teaching on William James's habit formation:

James had studied physiology and learned about biofeedback. Biofeedback is the way our emotions are expressed and it’s subjective feeling. From this James concluded how certain actions and responses gave rise to “the courser emotions”. A phrase was given in the book, “We don’t laugh because we are happy, we are happy because we laugh.” Laughing, the action itself, is “enough to bring a particular effective state.” This was all the core of the James Lang Theory of Emotion. His theory suggests that emotions are the result of physical changes in the body. Your emotional reaction depends on your interpretation of the physical response. Towards the end of the chapter, James thought that everybody should do at least two things that they hate to do just for practice. I personally think that this is important because this can help and be beneficial in breaking a habit.

Discussion Questions:

1. Do you have certain habits that may interfere with your day-to-day life?

2. Do you think there are scenarios where you may react differently compared to everyone else?