870 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 



of people reared in different civilizations, social formations, or 

 family types, molded by unlike environments, occupations, and 

 civil conditions. It should inquire, not only how one person is 

 affected by another, but also how he is affected by variations in 

 work, reward, mode of life, or tradition. If these national and class 

 types are ignored 'by social psychology, I should like to know what 

 branch of science will attend to them. 



Inter-individual psychology has to deal with two sets of pro- 

 blems those connected with personal relationships and those 

 connected with social groupings. The former call for a descrip- 

 tion of all the types of influence that one person can exert upon 

 another, and an exposition of the content of each of the chief rela- 

 tions in which two human beings can stand to one another. What 

 precisely takes place when one person impresses or imitates, domin- 

 ates or obeys, teaches or believes, fascinates or antagonizes another? 

 In view of the importance the suggestion theory attaches to the 

 hero, the apostle, and the prophet as initiators of historic move- 

 ments, these inquiries may mean much for social science. Again, 

 what is implied in such relations as friendship, dependence, dis- 

 cipleship, clientage, pupilage, vassalage, agency, etc.? 



The field of personal interactions and relations has been ex- 

 plored, and it cannot be said to offer us at the moment any serious 

 problems. It would, in fact, not be difficult to glean from the great 

 imaginative writings, diaries, and autobiographies of the world 

 an anthology of selections that would set forth with all the elo- 

 quence of genius the possible spiritual attitudes that persons may 

 assume with respect to one another. 



What we lack, however, is a clear notion of how such simple 

 inter-individual processes give rise to such massive and diffused 

 products as languages, myths, customs, proverbs, and folk-lore. 

 These were certainly not conceived and imposed by some super- 

 man, nor are they the outcome of organized, associated effort. 

 To wave them aside as "collective products" is to dodge the ques- 

 tion. The building, diffusion, and transmission of languages, myths, 

 and the like appear to depend, not on mass-action of any kind, 

 but on innumerable molecular occurrences too petty to challenge 

 general attention. Tarde's resolution of these processes into the 

 repetition and in-and-in weaving of two elementary phenomena, 

 the novel combination of ideas in the individual mind inven- 

 tion and the action of mind on mind suggestion-imitation 

 is the only plausible explanation that has ever been offered, 

 and it doubtless leads a long way toward the solution of the pro- 

 blem. 



No chapters in sociology will be so attractive as those which treat 

 of human groupings. It took men a long time to discover the 



