Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- INTRODUCTION
- CHAP. I GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF EXPRESSION
- CHAP. II GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF EXPRESSION—continued
- CHAP. III GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF EXPRESSION—concluded
- CHAP. IV MEANS OF EXPRESSION IN ANIMALS
- CHAP. V SPECIAL EXPRESSIONS OF ANIMALS
- CHAP. VI SPECIAL EXPRESSIONS OF MAN: SUFFERING AND WEEPING
- CHAP. VII LOW SPIRITS, ANXIETY, GRIEF, DEJECTION, DESPAIR
- CHAP. VIII JOY, HIGH SPIRITS, LOVE, TENDER FEELINGS, DEVOTION
- CHAP. IX REFLECTION—MEDITATION—ILL-TEMPER—SULKINESS—DETERMINATION
- CHAP. X HATRED AND ANGER
- CHAP. XI DISDAIN — CONTEMPT — DISGUST — GUILT — PRIDE, ETC. — HELPLESSNESS — PATIENCE — AFFIRMATION AND NEGATION
- CHAP. XII SURPRISE—ASTONISHMENT—FEAR—HORROR
- CHAP. XIII SELF-ATTENTION—SHAME—SHYNESS—MODESTY: BLUSHING
- CHAP. XIV CONCLUDING REMARKS AND SUMMARY
- INDEX
- Plate section
CHAP. XIII - SELF-ATTENTION—SHAME—SHYNESS—MODESTY: BLUSHING
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 September 2010
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- INTRODUCTION
- CHAP. I GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF EXPRESSION
- CHAP. II GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF EXPRESSION—continued
- CHAP. III GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF EXPRESSION—concluded
- CHAP. IV MEANS OF EXPRESSION IN ANIMALS
- CHAP. V SPECIAL EXPRESSIONS OF ANIMALS
- CHAP. VI SPECIAL EXPRESSIONS OF MAN: SUFFERING AND WEEPING
- CHAP. VII LOW SPIRITS, ANXIETY, GRIEF, DEJECTION, DESPAIR
- CHAP. VIII JOY, HIGH SPIRITS, LOVE, TENDER FEELINGS, DEVOTION
- CHAP. IX REFLECTION—MEDITATION—ILL-TEMPER—SULKINESS—DETERMINATION
- CHAP. X HATRED AND ANGER
- CHAP. XI DISDAIN — CONTEMPT — DISGUST — GUILT — PRIDE, ETC. — HELPLESSNESS — PATIENCE — AFFIRMATION AND NEGATION
- CHAP. XII SURPRISE—ASTONISHMENT—FEAR—HORROR
- CHAP. XIII SELF-ATTENTION—SHAME—SHYNESS—MODESTY: BLUSHING
- CHAP. XIV CONCLUDING REMARKS AND SUMMARY
- INDEX
- Plate section
Summary
Blushing is the most peculiar and the most human of all expressions. Monkeys redden from passion, but it would require an overwhelming amount of evidence to make us believe that any animal could blush. The reddening of the face from a blush is due to the relaxation of the muscular coats of the small arteries, by which the capillaries become filled with blood; and this depends on the proper vaso-motor centre being affected. No doubt if there be at the same time much mental agitation, the general circulation will be affected; but it is not due to the action of the heart that the network of minute vessels covering the face becomes under a sense of shame gorged with blood. We can cause laughing by tickling the skin, weeping or frowning by a blow, trembling from the fear of pain, and so forth; but we cannot cause a blush, as Dr. Burgess remarks, by any physical means,—that is by any action on the body. It is the mind which must be affected. Blushing is not only involuntary; but the wish to restrain it, by leading to self-attention, actually increases the tendency.
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- The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals , pp. 328 - 367Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009