Social psychology

Preface

Onxy within recent years have the psychologists of this country turned their attention seriously toward the social field. With one or two exceptions, the earlier works upon this subject, as well as a number of recent ones, have been written by sociologists. To these writers psychologists owe a debt of gratitude for revealing new and promising opportunities for applying psychological science. Sociological writers, however, have given their attention mainly to the larger aspects, the laws of behavior and consciousness as operative in social groups. In so doing they have naturally adopted as materials the concepts of human nature provided by the older psychologists of good standing. With the recent expansion of psychology and growth of psychological insight, it has become necessary to modify many of these earlier conceptions and to add not a few new ones. Social science has not yet profited by taking account of this advancement, but has lagged behind in its fundamental assumptions regarding human nature. A need has therefore arisen of bringing to the service of those interested in social relationships the most recent psychological investigation and theory. I have written this book as an attempt in the direction of supplying this need.

More specifically, there are two main lines of scientific achievement which I have tried to bring within the scope of this volume. These are the behavior viewpoint and the experimental method. A considerable number of psychologists are now regarding their science as one fundamentally, though not exclusively, of behavior. This approach has revealed a wealth of principles for the understanding of human beings — understanding, that is, in the truest sense, namely, the explanation of their acts. Like every fundamental viewpoint in a science, behaviorism is simply a convenient way of conceiving the facts. Many of its hypotheses are still unproved. Yet, on the whole, it fits the facts so well, and is so replete with possibilities for gaining further knowledge, that it should | be of basic value to students of social science.

vi PREFACE

While the behavior viewpoint has been developing a richer interpretation of the facts, the method of experimentation has been yielding the facts themselves. Psychologists have recently conducted many investigations either social in their setting or suggestive of important social applications. The bearing of these experiments upon social psychology has in some cases been noted; but, so far as I am aware, no attempt has been made to collect them in a systematic way. My second purpose, therefore, has been to fit these experimental findings into their broader setting in social psychology, and to draw from them certain conclusions of value to that science.

In addition to these two main fields of progress, there is a third which deserves especial recognition. I refer to the Freudian contributions to psychology. Notwithstanding its investment in a dogmatism which is repellent to many, psychoanalysis has unearthed facts which are valuable for the understanding of human nature. The bearing of these facts upon social conflict I have discussed in various places throughout the book, and particularly in Chapter XIV.

There are certain innovations in the treatment of the subject for which it may be well to prepare the reader. To one interested primarily in social relations it may seem that I give an unusual amount of space to purely individual behavior. This is in accordance with my purpose, explained in Chapter I, to adhere to the psychological (that is, the individual) viewpoint. For I believe that only within the individual can we find the behavior mechanisms and the consciousness which are fundamental in the interactions between individuals. I have, therefore, postponed until the last chapter almost all the material treated in books which have been written from the sociological viewpoint. If the reader finds that not until the final chapter has he arrived upon familiar ground, I shall venture to hope that his understanding may have been increased through treading the less familiar pathways.

Another deviation will be found in the treatment of instincts. The instinct theory has fulfilled an important mission in discrediting the earlier, mechanical theories of motivation. The notion,

however, of complex inherited patterns of behavior is in turn suc-

PREFACE Vil cumbing to the process of analysis and closer observation. Some psychologists have, indeed, gone too far in their rejection of instincts, in that they have denied the existence of any definite inborn modes of response. The instinct theory was right in asserting that there is an hereditary basis for behavior; its error lay in its failure to analyze behavior into its elementary components of inheritance and acquisition. The theory of prepotent reactions, developed in Chapter III, aims to combine the virtues and omit the defects of both sides of the controversy.

The book is intended to be used as a text in courses in social psychology and in courses in the various social sciences which give a part of their time to the psychological foundations. I hope also that it may prove of service, not only to college students, but to all who are interested in the social adjustments of individuals and the broader problems of society. For the benefit of those to whom psychology is a new subject, a chapter upon the physiological basis of behavior has been included. Teachers will find it advisable to assign the chapters in the order in which they occur. The closing chapter is to be regarded merely as an outline. It was written primarily to guide the student in his application of the principles of social psychology to sociological questions. It is suggested that, where the book is used for a full year’s course, a large portion of the second semester be given to expanding this last chapter with the aid of the references appended. ‘Throughout the course the student should be directed in collecting illustrations and incidents from contemporary social life for the purpose of testing or applying the principles discussed.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

For the origin of my interest in social psychology I am indebted to the memory of Hugo Miinsterberg. It was he who suggested the setting for my first experiments and who foresaw many of the possibilities which have been developed in this book. To my former teacher and colleague, Professor H. 8. Langfeld, my sincere thanks are due for a careful reading of the manuscript and for many valuable criticisms and constructive suggestions. I wish to express equal gratitude to my present colleague, Professor J. F. Dashiell,

Vill PREFACE for reading the manuscript and offering effective suggestions concerning the theories advanced. I owe much to my association with Professor W. F. Dearborn and Dr. E. B. Holt, and have used several illustrations derived directly or indirectly from their teaching. In particular, I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to my brother, Dr. G. W. Allport, both for assistance with the manuscript and for stimulating discussions of some of the problems raised. He also kindly furnished me with a number of facts from his own research, of which mention has been made in the text. My thanks are due also to Professor J. F. Steiner for advice regarding the sociological aspects of the last chapter. Valuable comments upon several chapters were given by Miss Ada L. Gould whose kindness I desire gratefully to acknowledge. To our departmental secretary, Mrs. G. Wallace Smith, I am indebted for effective work in preparation of the manuscript, as well as for helpful suggestions in regard to style. The theory of emotion developed in Chapter IV appeared in substantially the same form in the Psychological Review for March, 1922. My thanks are due to the editor of that journal for permission to republish it here. Finally, I wish to thank the various publishers who have given their permission to reproduce certain of the illustrations.

Chapter I

SoctaL. PsycHOLOGY AS A SCIENCE OF INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR AND CONSCIOUSNESS; Bo Grp ae OGL any ce yale: : I Dagy The present standpoint in psychology The province of social psychology Social psychology as a science of the individual. The group fallacy Psychological forms of the group fallacy. » 1. The ‘crowd mind’ 2. The ‘collective, or class, mind’ 3. The ‘group mind’ Conclusions regarding the social mind Biological forms of the group fallacy Social psychology and sociology Behavior and consciousness in social psychology Aa working definition of social psychology. Plan of its treatment in this book.

PART I. THE INDIVIDUAL IN HIS SOCIAL ASPECTS CHAPTER II Tur PHYSIOLOGICAL BAsis oF HUMAN BEHAVIOR . . . . .«

The adaptive function of behavior The neuron

The receptors and effectors Reflex are conduction: properties of the synapse The main subdivisions of the nervous system The spinal cord and spinal nerves The parts of the brain The medulla The cerebellum, pons, and mid-brain The cerebral hemispheres The thalamus and corpus striatum The functions of the cortex Cortical activity in social behavior The autonomic portion of the nervous system The relation of the autonomic to the cerebrospinal system Compound reflexes in behavior The use of the term ‘reflex.’

CHAPTER III FUNDAMENTAL ACTIVITIES — INHERITED AND LEARNED Dad edie

Instinct, MaTuRATION, AND HaBIT The origin of fundamental activities The criteria of instinct Post-natal development of structure Maturation versus learning in the analysis of an activity Conclusions: the need of genetic study in the determination of instinct.

Tue PREPOTENT REFLEXES AND LEARNING in fundamental activities I. Starting and withdrawing The afferent modifications The efferent modifications Learning and thought in the efferent modification of the withdrawing reflex

Reflexes involved x CONTENTS

Conclusions regarding modification II. Rejecting III. Struggling Afferent development: extension of the stimuli of the fighting reactions The social influence upon the struggle reflex The yielding response — habits of activity and passivity IV. Hunger reactions. The approaching responses The learning process in hunger reactions Autonomic interests as drives in learning The human hunger reflexes and their development Prepotency in habit —— Social and affective aspects of stimulus transfer V. Sensitive zone reactions. Response of the infant to tickling —— Relation of the sensitive zones to hunger and sex Pleasurable habits based upon the sensitive zone reflexes VI. Sex reactions. The original sexual reflexes The afferent modification of sexual reflexes. Sex attraction The problem of sex training Sex and sensitive sone reactions in familial behavior —— The sex reactions and learning ‘Sublimation.’

SocraL Factors IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF FUNDAMENTAL ACTIVI- TIES Imitation Gregariousness.

CONCLUSIONS REGARDING THE FUNDAMENTAL ACTIVITIES.

CHAPTER IV FEELING AND EMOTION Ai Ero Me DA Rel ee et eee, ee

The nature of emotion The classification of emotions The physiology of feeling and emotion A theory of feeling and emotion Evidence from introspection and latent period How are the emotional reactions further differentiated? dence from genetic development of unpleasant emotions

Evi- Conditions favoring the arousal Complex emotional states in social behavior The social conditioning of emotional response The control and direction of emotion as a social problem. CHAPTER V PERSONALITY — THE SoctaL Man RHR WNP OTS rims Cae et WB PTY) Ck

Personality is largely a social fact The individual basis of personality The selection of traits INTELLIGENCE Mo- TILITY TEMPERAMENT SELF-EXPRESSION Drive Compensation Extrovercion — Introversion Insight —— Ascendance — Submission Expansion — Reclusion So- CIALITY.

CHAPTER VI THe MBASUREMENT|OF PERSONALITY . . . «. » « «| «126

Introductory statement 1. Methods of judgment by associ-

ates A. Systematic questionnaire methods B. Rating methods 2. Testing methods Types of personality. GENERAL SUMMARY — THE INDIVIDUAL AS A UNIT IN SociAt BrE- HAVIOR.

CONTENTS xi

PART II. SOCIAL BEHAVIOR CHAPTER VII THE NATURE AND DEVELOPMENT OF SocIAL BEHAVIOR Le, 1147

Definition and classification Linear and circular social behavior Direct and contributory social stimuli Controlling and self-adapting social behavior.

SoctaAL BEHAVIOR IN ANIMALS The lower forms of life. Adjustments based on difference of structure Insects and allied forms Vertebrates The social behavior of pigeons The social behavior of apes and monkeys Sociological aspects of animal behavior Conclusions.

Chapter VIII

SoclAL STIMULATION — LANGUAGE AND GESTURE . . . . . 169 Forms of social stimulation.

Tue PHYSIOLOGICAL Basis oF VocaL EXPRESSION The organs of speech — General view The larynx Laryngeal tone production Pitch and intensity of laryngeal tones The formation of vowels Articulate speech. Consonants.

THE GENETIC DEVELOPMENT OF VOCAL EXPRESSION Gesture language in infants Pre-linguistic or laryngeal stage of vocal expression The development of language: Stage 1. — Random articulation with fixation of circular responses Stage 2. — Evoking of the articulate elements by the speech of others (so-called ‘Imitation’) Discussion of the theory involved in stages 1 and 2 Stage 3. — Conditioning of the articulate elements (evoked by others) by objects and situations Development of response to language.

GESTURE AND VocAL EXPRESSION IN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT Infantile and primitive language Theories of the origin of language. Gesture Graphic gesture in relation to infantile and primitive language - The interjectional and onomatopoetic theories A social behavior account of the origin of language Written language.

ConcLusion — Tue Soctat Basis AND VALUE OF LANGUAGE.

CHAPTER IX SoctAL STIMULATION — FAcIAL AND BopiLy Expression . .... 200

Introductory statement.

EXPRESSION IN EMOTION AND ALLIED STATES The facial muscles and their expressive function The language of the face I. The pain-grief group II. The surprise-fear group The anger group IV. The disgust group

III

V. The pleasure xil CONTENTS group VI. The attitudinal group —— Dynamic and _ bodily components of expression.

Tue THrory or Factat EXPRESSION Darwin’s three principles A reinterpretation of Darwin’s theory The mimetic responses Theory of mimetic expression Summary.

EXPRESSION THROUGH PosTURE AND PHYSIOGNOMY tonus and posture as social stimuli Physiognomy.

Tue StTimuLus VALUE OF FactAL AND Bopity EXPRESSION Genetic aspects and extremes of sensitivity Experiments in reading facial expression General aspects of expressional stimulation.

Minor Forms oF SociaL STIMULATION.

Muscle

CHAPTER X RESPONSE TO SocIAL STIMULATION: ELEMENTARY ForRMS . . . 233

Types of reaction to social objects.

SYMPATHY The mechanism of sympathy favoring the sympathetic response

Conditions The social significance of sympathy Summary.

Imrration —— An analysis of acts to which the term ‘imitation’ is applied.

SUGGESTION Various definitions of suggestion The potency of spoken language in bodily control as a control of attitude 1. Suggestion in the formation of attitudes 2. Suggestion in the release of attitudes 3. Suggestion in the increase of responses already released Conditioned response in suggestion The conditions of suggestibility Final definition of suggestion.

LAUGHTER Genetic origin of laughter. The incongruous Laughter as a release of inhibited emotion. Freudian wit —— Laughter is a social phenomenon.

Suggestion defined

Chapter XI

RESPONSE To SocIAL STIMULATION IN THE GRouP .. . . . .. 260

The more complex social situations.

INFLUENCE OF THE Co-AcTING GROUP influence of the group upon the individual’s movements The influence of the group upon attention-and mental work The influence of the group upon association The influence of the group upon thought The influence of the group upon judgments of comparison Individual differences in social facilitation Social consciousness in the co-working group - Rivalry —— Auto-rivalry, ‘team-work,’ and esprit de corps The physiological basis of social facilitation and rivalry Summary of the experimental study of the group influence.

INFLUENCE OF THE Facr-To-F ace Group

Social facilitation: the

The nature of face-

. CONTENTS xiii

Social control, participation, and sex as prepotent Conversation and discussion.

' to-face groups drives in primary groups

Chapter XII

RESPONSE TO SOCIAL STIMULATION IN THE CROWD . . . Sse 292

The crowd situation.

Prepotent InpivipuAL REACTIONS AS THE Basis oF CRrowp PHENOMENA Prepotent drives in various crowds Crowds as struggle groups Individual factors are often neglected in crowd theories.

RELEASE AND HEIGHTENING OF INDIVIDUAL REACTIONS IN CROWDS ‘Contagion.’ The induced emotion theory Social facilitation in crowds The origin and spread of social facilitation. Special devices Spatial factors and circularity in crowds. The social behavior of the audience Suggestion and the suggestion consciousness in crowds The conservatism of the crowd man.

ATTITUDINAL AND IMAGINAL FacTORS IN THE CROWD BEHAVIOR OF THE INDIVIDUAL The impression of universality Social projection The crowd attitudes and public opinion.

SprcraL MECHANISMS FOR THE RELEASE OF PREPOTENT REACTIONS

_ IN CROWDS Allied and antagonistic responses. Resolution of individual conflicts in the crowd The moral consciousness of the crowd man Crowd ethics in vocational and fraternal groups

Martin’s principles of crowd behavior Summary.

Chapter XIII

SocraAL ATTITUDES AND SocIAL CONSCIOUSNESS ae) Wate? Oo)

General social attitudes Attitudes toward specific groups Self-expressive social attitudes Attitudes toward specific persons Attitudes based upon the behavior of others toward us: the social self Building up attitudes in others toward us —— Maintaining the attitudes of others toward us Social conscious- © ness The genetic development of social consciousness and the social self Some general aspects of social consciousness, wre

CHAPTER XIV Clues to inhibited The major conflicts and their social ad

Conflict and adjustment in social behavior unsocialized reactions justment,

1. SrruaaLE ConruicT: ADJUSTMENTS IN ANGER version of the struggle response Rationalized anger.

- 2. Sex ConFLIcT AND ADJUSTMENTS IN Famity LIFE

The intro- Types of struggle inhibition

Sex

XIV ~ CONTENTS differences. Attitudes toward women Adjustments between husband and wife Causes of marital disharmony Adjustments between parents and children. Introductory statement The Freudian conception Restatement of the Freudian theory: 1. The love of the child for the parent 2. The love of the parent for the child Personal and social significance of the child-parent fixation Further problems in the parent-child relation. The evil of neglect Brothers and sisters, and other adjustments of consanguinity The selection of friends and associates.

3. INFERIORITY CONFLICT: ADJUSTMENTS OF PERSONALITY TRAITS The nature of inferiority conflict Types of inferiority cona. The intellectual sphere b. The economic sphere: radicalism and conservatism c. The moral sphere: reformism.

SocroLoagicaAL ASPECTS OF CONFLICT ADJUSTMENT Conflicts between egoistic drives and social standards: group aspects Conflicts between egoistic drives and group traditions Covert conflicts in hostility between groups Is conflict a symptom of socialization or degeneracy?

flict

- CHAPTER XV

SocrAL BEHAVIOR IN RELATION TO SOCIETY Ast) web U4 Ga oa Nig lee tenes

The place of social behavior in the social sciences.

Socta, AaareGates: Unrry —— Social behavior in relation to population —— Primary group and community Caste and social class Race and racial adjustments Nationality.

Tue THrory or Society The origin of human aggregation The nature of society: theories of the ‘ego-alter’ type Imitation and sympathy theories.

SocraL ORDER: ORGANIZATION AND CONTROL cial control Unorganized controls: fashion Fad and craze Convention Custom Rumor Public opinion Mob rule Control through institutions: a. Government Education c. Religion.

SoctaL BEHAVIOR AND CONTROL IN THE Economic SPHERE —— Social behavior in commercial attitudes. Credit and panic Social control and exploitation in business Industrial phases: behavior in co-working groups Industrial conflict.

SocraL CONTINUITY AND CHANGE The concept of social heredity The social character of the individual’s thinking Social behavior in discovery and invention Leadership The personality of the leader Popular movements.

Lines or Future DEVELOPMENT Social progress as the well-being of the individual Summary: Social behavior in relation to progress.

The nature of so-

Chapter I

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY AS A SCIENCE OF INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR AND CONSCIOUSNESS |

The Present Standpoint in Psychology. Psychology is the science wnich studies behavior and consciousness. Of these two terms behavior is placed first because it is an explanatory principle, and therefore more fundamental. The essential formula for behavior is as follows: (1) Some need is present in the organism, such as the necessity of withdrawing from weapons injuring the body, or the need to obtain food or to secure a mate. The need may also be of a derived and gomplex order; for example, the necessity of solving some problem upon which the satisfaction of the more elementary wants depends. (2) The organism acts: it behaves in such a/— manner as to satisfy the need.

Need, in the sense here employed, signifies a biological maladjustment. ‘The relation existing between the organism and its surroundings is injurious rather than beneficial to life, and must be changed if the individual is to survive. More specifically, a need arises when certain objects excite the external sense organs, as in an injury to the skin; or when muscular changes in the internal organs, as in hunger, excite sense organs inside the body. These excitations, or stimulations, set up a current of nervous energy which is propagated inward to the central nervous system and outward again to the muscles controlling bodily movement, causing them to act in such a way as to fulfill the need through which the chain of events originated; that is, in the examples used, to withdraw from harm and to obtain food. The making of these adaptive movements is called the reaction.

But the word ‘need’ may be used in another sense beside that of biological requirement. It may denote a felt, or conscious, lack, as when we say we feel hunger or feel the need of companionship. Need in this sense is a part of the immediate and private experience of each individual. We can never be directly aware of the felt needs of others; they can only be inferred by observing their behavior when they are biologically maladjusted to their surroundings (need in the former sense). This personal awareness which accompanies behavior extends to other facts beside need or desire. We are aware of the stimulating object, aware of fear or anger when these emotions are a part of our adjustment to it, aware of our purpose in making the reaction, and of our thinking and acting toward that end. These conscious states likewise are known in others only by inference from appropriate reactions.

It is clear that consciousness stands in some intimate relation to the biological need and the behavior which satisfies it. Just what this relation is still constitutes an unsolved and perplexing problem. One negative conclusion, however, seems both justified and necessary as a working principle: namely, that. consciousness is in no way a cause of the bodily reactions through which the needs are fulfilled. Explanation is not derived from desire, feeling, will, or purpose, however compelling these may seem to our immediate awareness, but from the sequence of stimulation — neural transmission — and reaction. Consciousness often accompanies this chain of events; but it never forms a link in the chain itself.1

To present detailed evidence for the stand we have just taken would lead us too far afield. If the reader is inclined to challenge this hypothesis, this book should be weighed as an argument for its validity. Any hypothesis must rest its case upon its capacity for explaining the phenomena with which it deals, in this case the phenomena of human action. If it fails in this, it must be rejected.

1 To illustrate, let us consider the act of satisfying hunger. When a man goes to dinner the combined stimulation from the sound of the bell and his restless stomach enters his nervous system and goes out to the muscles of walking to the diningroom, sitting, and eating. The man himself experiences hunger pangs, and considers these sufficient reason for his eating. Actually, however, ‘‘ hunger sensations” are only a description of the consciousness accompanying the behavior. The cause of going to the table lies in the sequence stomach-stimulation — nerve transmission — reaction. The act could be equally well explained if the subject had no consciousness whatsoever.

While there remain many problems yet to be solved, a material advance has been made in psychology since the adoption of the mechanistic and behavior viewpoint. Much of the confusion resulting from including conscious or ‘mental’ entities in the sequence of cause and effect has been dispelled; and there is promise of wide future development under the guidance of the behavior hypothesis.

There are a few psychologists who maintain that, since consciousness does not explain events, it has no place in the science which studies behavior. ‘This is a serious mistake. No scientist can afford to ignore the circumstances attendant upon the events he is observing. Introspection on conscious states is both interesting in itself and necessary for a complete account. The consciousness accompanying reactions which are not readily observable also furnishes us with valuable evidence and information of these reactions, and thus aids us in our selection of explanatory principles within the mechanistic field. ‘The phenomena we shall study in this book comprise both behavior and consciousness, with emphasis upon the former because it holds the key to explanation. The introspective account will aid in our interpretations and will supplement them upon the descriptive side. Having outlined the position of present-day psychology as a whole, we may now approach the special branch which is our present interest.

The Province of Social Psychology. Behavior in general may be ,- regarded as the interplay of stimulation and reaction between the individual and his environment. (Social behavior comprises the stimulations and reactions arising between an individual and the

social portion of his environment; that is, between the indiyidual and his fellows. ) Examples of wish behavior would be the reactions to language, gestures, and other movements of our fellow men, in contrast with our: reactions toward non-social objects, such as plants, minerals, tools, and inclement weather. The significance of social behavior is exactly the same as that of non-social, namely, the correction of the individual’s biological maladjustment to his environment. In and through others many of our most urgent wants are fulfilled; and our behavior toward them is based on the same fundamental needs as our reactions toward all objects, social

A SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY or non-social.! It is the satisfaction of these needs and the adaptation of the individual to his whole environment which constitute the guiding principles of his interactions with his fellow men.

Social Psychology as a Science of the Individual. The Group Fallacy. Impressed by the closely knit and reciprocal nature of sucial behavior, some writers have been led to postulate a kind of ‘collective mind’ or ‘group consciousness’ as separate fromthe minds of the individuals of whom the group is composed. No fallacy is more subtle and misleading than this. It has appeared in the literature under numerous guises; but has everywhere left the reader in a state of mystical confusion. Several forms of this theory will be examined presently. The standpoint of this book may be concisely stated as follows. ¢ There is no psychology of groups which is not essentially and entirely a psychology of individuals. Social psychology must not be placed in contradistinction to the psychology of the individual; ié 7s a part of the psychology of the individual, whose behavior it studies in relation to that sector of his environment comprised by his fellows. ) His biological needs are the ends toward which his social behavior is a developed means. Within his organism are provided all the mechanisms by which. social behavior is explained. There is likewise no consciousness except that belonging to individuals. Psychology in all its branches is a science of the individual. To extend its principles to larger units is to destroy their meaning.

Psychological Forms of the Group Fallacy. 1. The ‘Crowd Mind.’ The most flagrant form of the group fallacy is the notion of ‘crowd consciousness.’ It has long been observed that persons in an excited mob seem to lose control of themselves, and to be swept along by tempestuous emotions and impelling ideas. It is therefore alleged that there is a lapse of personal consciousness and a rise of a common or ‘crowd’ consciousness. The objections to this view are fairly obvious. Psychologists agree in regarding

1 An interesting point of difference, however, exists in the social as distinguished from other environmental relations. In the social sphere the environment not only stimulates the individual, but is stimulated by him. Other persons not only cause us to react; they also react in turn to stimulations produced by us. A circular character is thus present in social behavior which is wanting in the simpler non-social adjustments.

consciousness as dependent upon the functioning of neural structure. / Nervous systems are possessed by individuals; but there is no nervous system of the crowd.4j-Secondly, the passing emotion or impulse common to the members of a crowd is not to be isolated introspectively from the sensations and feelings peculiar to the individual himself.

Another argument for crowd mind proceeds as follows. The turbulent and riotous deeds of a mob point to the existence of a ‘mob consciousness,’ for such behavior would be quite unthinkable for men in their right minds taken separately and in isolation. There is an element of absurdity in this argument: we are asked to explain the nature of crowd action by considering the individuals in isolation; that is, when there is no crowd at all. The mere adding up of the reactions of isolated individuals has no meaning whatsoever beyond mere enumeration. But given the situation of the crowd — that is, of a number of persons within stimulating distance of one another — we shall find that the actions of all are nothing more than the sum of the actions of each taken separately. When we say that the crowd is excited, impulsive, and irrational, we mean that the individuals in it are excited, impulsive, and irrational. It is true that they would probably not be in this state if they were in isolation from one another; but that means that only in the close group each is so stimulated by the emotional behavior of others that he becomes excited to an unusual degree. The failure to take note of these interstimulations and reactions between individuals has given rise to the illusion that a ‘crowd mind’ suddenly descends upon the individuals and takes possession of them. The crowd as a whole has been attended to rather than the individual members. Spectacular mob action has thus combined with loose terminology to draw attention away from the true source of crowd explanation, namely, the individual.

N 2. The ‘Collective, or Class, Mind.’ Another sense in which the group is sometimes said to possess a consciousness and behavior of its own is in the sameness of thought and action among the members of such a body as an army, a political party, ora trade union. In these groupings the uniformities of mind are considered as elevated to the position of a separate entity participated in by all. One

Mo hears, for instance, such phrases as “the spirit of the meeting,” oe “the community of opinion,” “the army personality,” and “esprit de corps.” If these terms are used in a literal, rather than a metaphoric, sense, they partake of the group fallacy. A particular segment of the individual’s life is picked out because of its similarity ‘with the corresponding segments in other individuals, and is set up as a separate psychological entity. The question, of course, arises as to what becomes of the spirit of the meeting when it is broken up and the minds of its members are concerned with other matters; or what becomes of the army personality when the soldier is off on furlough. The answer to the latter question is that the so-called ‘army personality’ is merely a set of military habits belonging to the individual. \He retains these as neurological patterns when off on leave, and employs them in action when under military duty. He does not suddenly acquire the ‘mind of the army’ upon coming into the presence of his fellow soldiers, any more than a man attains skill upon the violin by coming into an assembly of accomplished violinists. Un both cases we are dealing with individually acquired habits.|