How Sentiments Develop.—Sentiments have their beginning in concrete
experiences in which feeling is a predominant element, and grow through the
multiplication of these experiences much as the concept is developed through
many percepts. There is a residual element left behind each separate experience
in both cases. In the case of the concept the residual element is intellectual, and
in the case of the sentiment it is a complex in which the feeling element is
predominant.
How this comes about is easily seen by means of an illustration or two. The
mother feeds her child when he is hungry, and an agreeable feeling is produced;
she puts him into the bath and snuggles him in her arms, and the experiences are
pleasant. The child comes to look upon the mother as one whose especial
function is to make things pleasant for him, so he comes to be happy in her
presence, and long for her in her absence. He finally grows to love his mother
not alone for the countless times she has given him pleasure, but for what she
herself is. The feelings connected at first wholly with pleasant experiences
coming through the ministrations of the mother, strengthened no doubt by
instinctive tendencies toward affection, and later enhanced by a fuller realization
of what a mother's care and sacrifice mean, grow at last into a deep, forceful,
abiding sentiment of love for the mother.
The Effect of Experience.—Likewise with the sentiment of patriotism. In so far
as our patriotism is a true patriotism and not a noisy clamor, it had its rise in
feelings of gratitude and love when we contemplated the deeds of heroism and
sacrifice for the flag, and the blessings which come to us from our relations as
citizens to our country. If we have had concrete cases brought to our experience,
as, for example, our property saved from destruction at the hands of a mob or
our lives saved from a hostile foreign foe, the patriotic sentiment will be all the
stronger.
So we may carry the illustration into all the sentiments. Our religious sentiments
of adoration, love, and faith have their origin in our belief in the care, love, and
support from a higher Being typified to us as children by the care, love, and
support of our parents. Pride arises from the appreciation or over-appreciation of
oneself, his attainments, or his belongings. Selfishness has its genesis in the
many instances in which pleasure results from ministering to self. In all these
cases it is seen that our sentiments develop out of our experiences: they are the
permanent but ever-growing results which we have to show for experiences
which are somewhat long continued, and in which a certain feeling quality is a
strong accompaniment of the cognitive part of the experience.