PROVINCE OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 863 



ently has been in force since the beginning of associated life, and 

 which in the history of all groups has tended to direct the thought 

 and activity of the multitude into fixed channels. On the principle 

 of Columbus's egg, one leads off and the others follow. The Cen- 

 tral Australian oknirabata is as influential in his smaller group as 

 Aristotle in a larger until the advent of the white man breaks 

 up his influence. The Chinese are to-day carrying out principles 

 of conduct inculcated by Confucius and Mencius, no crisis of suffi- 

 cient importance having intervened to break up the old habits 

 and establish new ones. The manner in which copies for belief and 

 practice are set by the medicine-man, the priest, the political leader, 

 the thinker, the agitator, the artist, and, in general, by the uncom- 

 mon personality, as well as the more spontaneous manifestations 

 of suggestion and hypnotism in public opinion and mob action, 

 are to be studied from the standpoint both of individual- and of 

 group-consciousness. 



Still another incident of importance to the consciousness of a 

 group is contact with outsiders. The Japanese are a most instruct- 

 ive example of the effect of foreign copies on a people sufficiently 

 advanced in its own thought to make intelligent use of them. 

 From time immemorial the Arabs have penetrated Africa in con- 

 nection with trade and slavery, and if it could be written, the his- 

 tory of their influence on the native population would be most 

 interesting. Similarly the contact of black and white in America 

 is a subject not at all worked out from the mental standpoint, and 

 the American occupation of the Philippines is a condition which 

 may be watched with equal interest. It is apparent already that a 

 very low state of society is not prepared to accept bodily the stand- 

 point and practice of a very high; the shock is too great, and the 

 lower race cannot adjust. An important question in this connec- 

 tion is the rate at which a lower race may receive suggestion from 

 a higher without being disorganized. Apparently the negro in 

 America has not beeij able to adjust himself to white standards, 

 while in Africa he has improved in contact with Arab influence. 

 The Filipinos, on the other hand, are apparently able to reaccom- 

 modate after contact with the whites, and change their mental 

 habits, but it remains an interesting question whether the Japanese 

 are not more fit than we to put them in the way of advancement. 



The psychology of social organization, taken from the stand- 

 point of origin, is one of the most important questions with which 

 the social psychologist has to do, and is also best approached from 

 the standpoint of crisis. The advantage and necessity of living 

 together in large numbers are apparent. But association in large 

 numbers calls for inhibitions and habits not demanded in the in- 

 dividualistic state; and through the stsess and strain of readjust- 



