and mores, custom and tradition, is by suggestion and imitation as well as by conscious inculcation. Under the conditions of life in primitive groups as well as under the more complex relations of modern society, men communicate with one another by rudimentary or developed methods of intercourse. In either case the same fundamental law of social psychology holds. The possibility of communication depends upon the density of population, and also upon the degree of development of the means of communication and the use made of those means. Where the population is relatively dense and people live in close touch with one another the spread of ideas is rapid. Isolated communities do not receive the new ideas for a long time. Hence it is that in style of dress the country people always tend to be behind the city people. If the means of communication are highly developed, then, even though the population is not dense, ideas and news will spread rapidly. For example, the telegraph spread the news of the battles of the ChineseJapanese War, some years ago, throughout the length and breadth of our country so that every little hamlet knew of the happenings and discussed them, whereas in China, many of the people living at a comparatively short distance from the scene of the conflict did not even know that their country was engaged in war; and yet China was much more thickly populated than the United States. In primitive society, the possession of superior language and the great facility in the use of this language, gave to one group the means of an intercourse which an inferior group lacked. It gave unity and coherence to its organization and furthered its development. The most heightened phase of communication which rests on density of population is known as "The Crowd." In the crowd, the close grouping of people, the shoulder to shoulder contact, furnishes a dense medium for the transmission of ideas and notions. In crowds, men and women are subject to swift contagion of feeling. Ideas spread like lightning. Suggestibility is heightened, for example, when a wave of applause sweeps over an audience. Thus crowds are impulsive, mobile, credulous, and readily influenced by suggestion. The images invoked in the mind of the crowd are accepted as realities. Crowds do not admit of doubt or uncertainty; they always go to extremes. Hence it follows that the morality of crowds, according to the suggestions under which they act, may be much higher or lower than the morality of the individuals composing them. The emotional na20 ture, the rapid contagion of feeling, the close contact, all tend to force upon the individual a sense of invincible power. The individual loses all sense of personal responsibility. He becomes merged with the crowd, and, as men are more alike emotionally than intellectually, the individual loses his identity. The feeling of responsibility which controls individuals when alone, disappears in the wild gusts of passion that sweep over the mob. The individual does things and gives way to impulses. which if alone he would have controlled. Thus in the crowd, all the conditions which determine the degree of communication are intensified, with the result that impulsive and emotional activity goes beyond the bounds that are under normal conditions set by rational control. When the community is densely populated and means of communication have been developed whereby usages are perpetuated and new ideas spread, the further trans 26 Giddings, F. H.-Democracy and Empire, p. 56; and Le Bon, G.-The Crowd. mission of intelligence depends upon suggestion and imitation. Suggestion is a process of communication result ing in the acceptance with conviction of the communicated proposition in the absence of logically adequate grounds for its acceptance.27 Suggestion is an incitement to act that is implanted or aroused, while the individual affected remains unaware of what is happening.28 The suggestion does not have to take the shape of formal language; it may be conveyed by mere gesture or interjection. During the Great Plague in London when in the streets lay heaps of dead bodies and the terrified imagination of the poor people furnished them with all sorts of wild material to work upon, half-crazed persons thought they saw apparitions of flaming swords held in the air above the city. A woman pointed to an angel clothed in white, and brandishing a sword over his head. She described it with such realism that the crowd about her believed, and, "Yes! I see it plainly, says one, there's the sword as plain as can be; another saw the angel; one saw his very face and cried out, What a glorious creature he was! One saw one thing and one another. I looked as earnestly as the rest, but, perhaps, not with so much willingness to be imposed upon; and I said indeed, that I could see nothing, but a white cloud, bright upon one side, by the shining of the sun on the other part. The woman endeavored to show it to me, but could not make me confess that I saw it, which, indeed, if I had, I must have lied. . . she turned to me, called me a profane fellow, and a scoffer, told me that it was a time of God's anger, and dreadful judgments were approaching, and that despisers, such as I, should wonder and perish." 29 27 McDougall, Social Psychology, p. 97. 28 Giddings, Descriptive and Historical Sociology, p. 145. This illustration shows that all people are not equally subject to suggestion. "Suggestibility" varies not only according to the topic and according to the source from which the proposition is communicated, but also with the condition of the subject's brain from hour to hour. "The least degree of suggestibility is that of a wideawake, self-reliant man of settled convictions, possessing a large store of systematically organized knowledge which he habitually brings to bear in criticism of all statements made to him.'' 30 The degree of suggestibility is affected by the following conditions: 31 (1) Abnormal states of the brain, such as hysteria, hypnosis; normal sleep, and fatigue. Under these conditions individuals readily respond to suggestions which in normal waking hours they would ignore. (2) Deficiency of knowledge or convictions relating to the topic in regard to which the suggestion is made, and an imperfect organization of knowledge. The layman gives credence to, and acts upon, the suggestion of the churchman or the scientist because the matters with which the churchman and the scientist deal are beyond the scope of his information. (3) The impressive character of the source from which the suggested proposition is communicated. The child receives as true the stories which a parent tells it. The populace believes the prophecy of a leader. (4) Peculiarities of character and native disposition. of the subject. Emotional people, or those of unstable nervous temperament, are more liable to act with great credulity upon the most extravagant suggestion, than 30 McDougall, op. cit., pp. 97-98. 31 Ibid. are people of a more matter-of-fact turn of mind. The negro's openness to suggestions of a mysteriously religious sort is an illustration. Customs are perpetuated by suggestion in so far as the usages of a group are communicated from one member to another by inciting persons to perform customary acts without being aware that they are following a particular method. But the social heritage of community usages is preserved and learned by imitation also. The copying by one individual of the actions, the gestures, the bodily movements of another, is imitation. The most brilliant study of the effect of imitation upon the activities of men, was made by Gabriel Tarde in his book, "The Laws of Imitation." Tarde, however, does not clearly distinguish between imitation and suggestion. It is true that suggestion blends into imitation, that imitation is a process similar in general to suggestion, the principle difference being one of degree of consciousness. Some imitative acts attain a higher level in consciousness than those which result from suggestion. We are conscious of the act which invites imitation, but not aware of the incitement to act aroused by suggestion. Tarde uses the word imitation to cover a whole range of acts which are a result of both imitation and suggestion. Imitation is a conservative force as well as a progressive force. It is a conservative force in so far as it leads each generation to imitate its ancestors and to preserve with but little change the usages and the customs of its forefathers. Imitation is a progressive force when ideas generated by exceptionally gifted persons within the people spread throughout the whole group. Imitation acts also as a factor in progress when ideas and practices |