A great
many diverse mental elements have at one time or other taken the role
of, or formed an ingredient in, the function we label "conscience."
We will enumerate the more important:
(1) Experience quickly teaches her pupils that certain acts to which
they feel a strong impulse will lead to an aftermath of pain or
weariness, or will stand in the way of other goods which they more
lastingly desire or more deeply need. The memory of these consequences
of acts remains as a guide for future conduct, not so often in the
form of a clearly recognized memory as in a dim realization that the
dangerous act must be avoided, a vague pressure against the pull of
momentary inclination, or an uncomprehended feeling of impulsion toward
the less inviting path. This residuum of the moral experience of the
individual is one ingredient in what we call his conscience.
(2) But there is much more than this. The individual is a member of
a group. The customs and expectations of this group not only bear upon
him from without but find a reflection in his own motor mechanism.
He hears the voice of the community in his heart, an echo of the general
condemnation and approval. This acquired response, the reverberation
of the group judgment, may easily supplant his personal inclinations.
Primitive man is sensitive to the judgments and emotional reactions
of his fellows; the tribal point of view is unquestioned and
authoritative over him.
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