a bad direction, but it is a step in organizing the
individual's reaction-tendencies into what we call his
_character_--the more or less organized sum total of his native and
acquired tendencies to reaction, with emphasis on those reactions that
affect his life and social relations in a broad way.

The lowest animals, having few reaction tendencies, and being
responsive to only a narrow environment, show little sign of internal
conflict, and when it does occur it is resolved very simply by the
advantage going to one of the opposing tendencies, with perhaps a
shift later to the other, in the way described in our earlier
consideration of attention. [Footnote: See p. 251.] This type of
decision is fundamental. In the behavior of higher animals, we
sometimes detect signs of a longer-persisting conflict, as between
curiosity and fear, when a wild creature seems poised between his
inclination to approach and examine a strange object and his
inclination to run away, veering now towards the one and now towards
the other alternative, and unable, as it seems, to reach a decision.

Conflict between the enterprising tendency to explore, manipulate or
somehow launch forth into the new, and the negative tendencies of
fear, inertia, shyness, etc., is {530} something that recurs again and
again in human experience, as illustrated by making up your mind to
get up in the morning, or to plunge into the cold water, or to speak
up and have your say in a general conversation. There is a _hesitancy_
in such cases, due to a positive and a negative tendency. The conflict
may be resolved in favor of the negative tendency by simple
prolongation of the hesitation till the occasion for action has
passed, or it may be resolved in favor of the positive tendency when
this is strong enough for an instant to enable the individual to
commit himself to the enterprise, after which he usually stays
committed. The positive motive must for an instant be stronger than
the negative, in order to get action.

A somewhat different type of conflict, which may be called
_vacillation_, occurs when two positive tendencies are aroused that
are inconsistent with each other, so that gratification of the one
entails renunciation of the other. Old Buridan's celebrated problem of
the ass, placed equally distant from two equally attractive bundles of
hay, and whether he would starve to death from the exact balance of
the two opposing tendencies, is a sort of parable to fi