PROBLEMS OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 875 



ology rather than pointing out the particular problems it ought 

 to attack, let me state some of the concrete questions that are 

 puzzling me to-day. 



Which architect is the chief builder of group-units, Resem- 

 blance between the units or Community of Interest? Does aware- 

 ness of resemblance inspire sympathies which dispose men to 

 unite their efforts in the joint assertion of common interests which 

 were there all the time, but for which they would not consent to 

 cooperate? Or, does some grave posture of affairs, which estab- 

 lishes among men a community of interest, compel them to co- 

 operate; and does their gratitude to one another for these services 

 of mutual aid inspire sympathies which perpetuate the union after 

 the occasion for it has passed away? In the one case men cleave 

 to their kind and shun opposites; in the other case they seek 

 helpers and shun competitors. The one emphasizes ideas, the other 

 material interests, as source of the sentiments which unite or di- 

 vide men. It may be that the latter hypothesis holds for political 

 association, while the former holds for cultural association. More- 

 over, it may be that one type prevails in the impulsive stage of 

 human development, while the other type tends to prevail in the 

 rational stage. 



Granting that awareness of resemblances and differences deter- 

 mines the attitudes of persons toward one another, what is the re- 

 lative importance of the various elements in which people may 

 resemble or differ? As regards physique, the thorough mix-up of 

 cephalic races suggests that head-form is insignificant. Color, on 

 the other hand, is an outstanding trait, and color-contrast is almost 

 always a hindrance to social feeling and a bar to intermarriage. 

 In ancient India, as in our South, color seems to have been the 

 foundation of caste. The shock which a human being experiences 

 on beholding a face of an unfamiliar hue is accentuated as soon as 

 color-contrast becomes indelibly associated with mental, moral, 

 and social differences. Each race, moreover, works out its ideal 

 of personal beauty on the basis of its distinctive traits, and the 

 individuals of another race are apt to strike it as ugly and repul- 

 sive. 



Some light on the problem is got by noting what points of dif- 

 ference are emphasized when men are coining insulting epithets 

 to hurl at their enemies. With the ruder man personal appearance 

 and habits count for much. One thinks of his foes as "niggers," 

 "greasers," "roundheads," "fuzzy-wuzzies," "red-necks," "pale- 

 faces," "red-haired devils," "brown monkeys," "redskins," "un- 

 circumcised," "dagoes," "frog-eaters," "rat-eaters," etc. Some- 

 what higher is the type that thinks of his enemy as a "parley- 

 voo," "goddam," "mick," "heathen," "infidel," "heretic," or 



