CHAPTER XXIII PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS IN HISTORY SOMETHING has already been said as to the influence of the mental atmosphere upon authors in writing history at given periods. The middle ages were cited to show the effect of philosophical ideals and popular conceptions upon the capacity for exactitude. Modern times might be quoted to indicate an opposite tendency, for scientific truth is so much in demand that one does not dare to be carer less. But there is another side to the psychological element in history. This is the use of the scientific knowledge of mental processes in explanation of the historical movements themselves. An understanding of the usual operations of the mind under given conditions will help to show the causes of both individual actions and popular movements. This information must be sought at the hands of the experts, with the warning that no so-called law can be applied to a particular historical case until all circumstances are found identical. Logic, as has been seen in other places, may be a trap for the unwary, yet when looking for the motives of a complex situation the scientific psychological rule may suggest the explanation. The Individual and the Mass. L This is not the place to insert a treatise on social psychology, however brief, yet two phases of the matter call for a moment of attention. On the one hand appear the mental processes of the individual, The mob is the extreme example of social excitability, where the mass, held together by mutual suggestion, will commit acts from which the same individuals when alone would shrink with horror. It is the imitative impulse seen in the flock of sheep which follow the first leader through the fence, or in a panic of fear will even hurl themselves over a precipice. In less degree the well-mannered crowd will be moved to concerted action in religion or politics through the contagion of example. These laws of imitation help to account for crusades, speculative crazes like the South Sea bubble, religious revivals, financial panics, movements for political reform, and similar phenomena, good or evil, in every age of the world. In saying this one does not have to deny the influence of ideas. It is simply the explanation of the method by which 3 Social Conditions. ideas take hold and spread among masses of mankind. The leaders of men, the propagators of ideas, take advantage of these laws instinctively. Less striking but fully as powerful are the effects of custom and conventionality upon the mass of mankind. The desire to appear well in the eyes of their fellows is a fundamental motive in all classes of the human race. In fashions this approval is obtained by imitating superiors in wealth or position. The ideal person or rank to be imitated changes with the period, but the motive is active in all ages. In morals the approval of our fellow-beings is sought through obedience to the conventionalities which prevail in that particular social group. When the ideals are good the influence of conventionality is excellent, for the support of example is almost indispensable to the preservation of good habits. Social opinion on the other hand may have upheld manners and moral precepts which cannot now be defended. For instance, the practice of exposing deformed children was an accepted custom in Greek life at a time when the fine arts were showing their highest development. Stoicism under all conditions of life was as much a fashion as it was a philosophical doctrine in its day. Duelling persisted as a code of honor more by the power of social opinion than through inherent principle. As a means of settling questions of right or veracity the personal encounter has no sense whatever, yet a century has hardly elapsed since it was impossible for a gentleman to avoid the consequences of the fashion. The belief in witchcraft persisted into the eighteenth century ion. with such power that even the judiciary were clearly controlled by it in their estimates of evidence. Testimony showing in itself that the accused was sane and harmless was made to prove the contrary, because the judges could not rid themselves of the belief that witchcraft itself was a real thing. They were only a part of the public opinion of the time. Instances might be multiplied indefinitely to Public Opinshow the influence of social opinion, not only upon manners and institutions, but upon political history as well. Prejudices of nationality and language affect international relations and aggravate real causes of irritation. These are largely matters of ignorance and misinformation, but their persistence and evil influences are due to the contagion of public opinion. The spread of quiet beliefs as well as of the wild rumors of invasion or panic are both subject to the laws of psychology. These must share the investigator's attention in every period he enters. At the same time the question as to what public opinion was at a given date is not an easy matter to decide. In modern political affairs the chief guide is the record of votes on party questions, but if one searches for statistical information as to how many persons actually believed in the tenets of a platform it is impossible to come anywhere near exactitude. The newspapers which urge one side or another may be counted, but no one knows how many subscribers or readers are in sympathy with the policy. Pamphlets may be abundant, but no one can count the proselytes to their doctrines, except through the small portion of the public which goes to the polls. Imitation. of Culture. Yet the student of history has before him the established psychological fact that a large portion of the mass accepts its opinions from others. The voice of a small but energetic minority of any group may be the only opinion heard on that side, but there is always a great body looking for leaders. If the small body moves the rest, whether by force or by contagion, the results are the action of the whole. Changes come slowly at best, and the older the group the more difficult is the task of reform. Pioneer societies have a tendency to make innovations because in the process of colonizing they cut themselves off in part from the traditions of their former social environment. In fitting themselves to a new situation they abandon old customs which have outlived their usefulness. There will be no wholesale destruction of old usages, for so persistent are old habits that through the home customs carried into new country the origin of the colony can be traced. Leaving out of consideration the temporary mining camp, where all moral laws are likely to give way, the ordinary colony will abolish only the customs which have become useless, because in the new surroundings their anachronism is manifest. The Heritage In the environment of a people there must be taken into account the culture of the past. This includes the social institutions which have grown up and the intellectual acquirements already attained. This is sometimes spoken of as inherited civilization, but strictly speaking there is no such thing as heredity in culture. A child is born with the capacities |