SOCIAL HEREDITY 197 



thought in a more logical manner, but because the tradi- 

 tional material which is handed down to each individual 

 has been thought out and worked out more thoroughly 

 and more carefully. While in primitive civilization the 

 traditional material is doubted and examined by only a 

 very few individuals, the number of thinkers who try to 

 free themselves from the fetters of tradition increases as 

 civilization advances. ' ' 48 



It is evident that custom imitation is the conservative 

 aspect of imitation, and is a much more powerful force 

 than fashion imitation. The former insures the preser- 

 vation of usages, the inheritance of social practices. Im- 

 itation is a conservative force in so far as it cooperates 

 with habit. For habit sets narrow limits to innovations 

 which imitation would introduce. There is a tendency 

 for all mental processes to become easier by repetition, 

 a tendency to the formation of habits of thought which 

 become more and more fixed in the individual as he grows 

 older, a tendency of each generation to imitate chiefly its 

 predecessor rather than any foreign model. 49 The fa- 

 miliar, the local, the popular ways of thought and action 

 are the first presented to the child. Under the influence 

 of these usages, a strong bias is determined, earliest 

 habits are formed, so that the individual is already 

 molded to the pattern of his class, his locality, when he 

 comes under the influence of foreign models of imitation. 

 He is capable of but little change, and, save in a small 

 degree, is refractory to their influence. 



This tendency to the formation of habits and social 

 usages becomes a tendency to convert means into ends. 

 With many persons not given to reflection on and analy- 

 sis of their motives, the ends of their actions seldom come 



48 Ibid., p. 206. 49 McDougall, op. cit., p. 347. 



