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by this practice the baby is prepared to imitate the particular sounds of any language.

Imitation is seldom an exact replica of the act that is imitated. The imitator's response is that habitual act of his that most nearly resembles the act he observes. As a person grows older, his reaction tendencies becomes less variable and more stereotyped.... The plasticity of children lies in their relative freedom from stereotyped habits. The behavior of an adult falls into ruts from which he extricates himself only with great difficulty.

62. Imitation in Children

[WEEKS, Arland D., Psychology for Child Training, pp. 57-58, 63-64. New York, D. Appleton & Co., 1925.]

Children are especially imitative. They are pretty sure to be found imitating what they have observed. . . . From the fact that imitation is most direct and economical it holds undisputed primacy. The thing imitated is immediate to the senses; it is concrete, possibly moving; and often the living example is at hand. As persons are the most variable element in environment, they exert superior influence through interest. Nothing can compare in sheer interest with the person, especially a stranger, in the child's presence; for purposes of imitation the living human affords more materials than frogs or wheelbarrows. The appeal of the personal and the novel takes precedence; the line of least resistance in the education of the child lies close to personal demonstration and example. Incidental as well as purposive imitation by the child of suitable personal examples, in language, bearing, and skills, is a large element in his early development. . . .

To utilize and exploit suitably the imitative principle, without unduly limiting the adaptability of the child, is an end to be sought. Good and inspiring examples and abundance of admirable examples, should be the rule. The child's sense of values, his estimate of possible achievement, his power to discriminate and weigh alternatives are proportioned to his opportunities for seeing and reading about characters worthy of emulation. At first, the child has small means of learning except through imitation, and at any period in his development the efficacy of this method is unrivaled.

63. Danger in Following Models Slavishly

[THORNDIKE, E. L., Principles of Teaching, p. 221. New York, A. G. Seiler, 1906.]

A. . . danger in teaching form is to exaggerate the importance of some particular way of doing a thing and to spend much of the time and effort that ought to be given to concrete execution in insistence upon rigid adherence to some method. If we knew the one best way to write, the one right way to sing and the like, the devotion of much time to form could well be pardoned. But in fact the way a child takes of his own initiative may be nearly as good a way for him as the method his teacher devotes weeks to enforcing. A moderate skepticism about methods of securing proper form in motor accomplishments is healthy. As in reasoning many differing processes may all reach the same conclusion, so in motor skill many different ways of doing a thing may be equally good, one way being the best for some but another way best for others.

QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS

1. Define instincts. What is their dynamic rôle in human behavior? Of what significance are they in education?

2. Explain psychologically the following instance of child behavior: A young infant cries and the mother goes to it at once to see what is the matter. The babe stops crying. The next time it cries longer and more vigorously before the mother comes, but as before stops as soon as she approaches. Each succeeding time it behaves in the same way, until the mother comes to it. 3. Dishonesty in pupils may be corrected by:

1. Stimulating a sense of duty

2. Developing a sense of honor
3. Creating group approval

4. Removing temptation

5. Treating students fairly and giving them a better understanding of their work

Problem: What instincts will need to be appealed to in carrying out such a program?

4. Suggest an instinctive basis or tendency to act, in the following case: The attempt of a new superintendent of schools to transfer a well-liked teacher to a different school building in another part of the system provoked a storm of resentment on the part of the teachers.

5. Miss Adams, a fifth-grade teacher of reading, arouses interest in her pupils by using (1) conversation, (2) pictures, (3) questions, (4) socialized discussions, (5) dramatization, (6) interesting introduction, (7) correlation with other subjects, (8) group competition, (9) record of scores, and so on. Do you think the teacher is making proper use of the native tendencies? What instincts and emotions are playing the rôle of "drives" or "urges"?

6. Read some short story and give the instinctive motives for the various things said and done.

7. What instincts operate to make the following activities satisfying or annoying: the dance; a male group hike into the country; Christian Endeavor; praise of virtues; factory labor; domestic labor; confinement in prison; wearing war medals; wearing swell clothes; giving a big party; riding in a Ford or a Chandler; appearing in informal clothes at a formal dinner; facial blemishes; being a spendthrift; being "a jolly good fellow"?

8. Think of various friends: What are the chief instinctive drives behind their general or specific behavior?

9. How might the migratory instinct-the tendency to roam and explore-be made a positive help to school work?

10. What instinct may justify certain cases of truancy? Justify the Scout and Campfire Girl Organizations.

11. Give illustrations of the useful and harmful employment of the instinct of rivalry.

12. Give at least one example of: (a) an instinctive action which becomes habitual; (b) an acquired habitual action; (c) an impulsive action; (d) a volitional action.

13. Should a boy be forbidden to fight? Name two other ways of controlling this instinct.

14. Just how would you get rid of the tendency in the child to torment animals?

15. What are the methods used to modify instincts?

16. Of what educational value are play and imitation? 17. What view regarding instincts is held by each of the following: James, Koffka, McDougall, Watson, Thorndike, and Dewey? 18. Explain the following statement: "Instinctive processes are normally blended into habitual, conscious and voluntary processes. The pure instinct, being essentially a theoretical matter, our main interests lie in the instinctive blends or fusions in which instinct may be more or less a dominant factor." (Seashore.)

19. What experimental evidence have we that instincts do or do not exist?

20. Which of the original tendencies are most useful to the teacher in school?

21. Which are of little use or even undesirable?

22. Show how, by a specific example, you, as a teacher, could make use of various instinctive tendencies.

23. Suppose curiosity were a desirable tendency, how would you encourage it? Could it be eradicated?

24. Bullying and teasing are generally conceded to be undesirable. What would you do to eliminate them?

25. From 22 and 23 develop the following principles: See to it that desirable impulses give satisfaction and that undesirable impulses are annoying. Give the child an opportunity to exercise desirable impulses and don't let him fail often enough to produce discouragements. In case of undesirable impulses, three methods of inhibition may be used-disuse, substitution, or punishment.

26. What effect would each produce? Which is the best? Why? 27. Will a knowledge of instinct or a knowledge of the psychology of language and civilization (social psychology) be of more value to the teacher of school subjects? Why?

REFERENCES

ALLPORT, Floyd, Social Psychology (Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1924).

ANGELL, J. R., Introduction to Psychology (New York, Henry Holt & Co., 1918), Chap. xiii.

BOLTON, F. E., Everyday Psychology for Teachers (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1923), Chap. vi.

BURT, Cyril, The Young Delinquent (New York, D. Appleton & Co., 1925), Chaps. ix, x.

CAMERON, E. H., Psychology and the School (New York, Century Co., 1921), Chap. iii.

COLVIN, S. S., The Learning Process (New York, Macmillan Co., 1921), Chaps. iii, iv.

and BAGLEY, W. C., Human Behavior (New York, Macmillan Co., 1913), Chaps. viii-x.

DEWEY, John, Human Nature and Conduct (New York, Henry Holt & Co., 1922).

GATES, A. T., Psychology for Students of Education (New York, Macmillan Co., 1924), Chaps. vi, vii, ix.

JAMES, William, Talks to Teachers (New York, Henry Holt & Co., 1899), Chaps. vi, vii.

-, Principles of Psychology (New York, Henry Holt & Co., 1890), Vol. II, pp. 383-441.

KIRKPATRICK, E. A., Fundamentals of Child Study (New York, Macmillan Co., 1903), Chaps. iv, viii, ix, x, xii, xiii.

KOFFKA, Kurt, Growth of the Mind (New York, Harcourt Brace & Co., 1924), Chap. iii.

NORSWORTHY, Naomi and WHITLEY, Mary T., Psychology of Child hood (New York, Macmillan Co., 1923), Chaps. ii-iv.

STARCH, DANIEL, Educational Psychology (New York, Macmillan Co., 1919), Chap. ii.

THORNDIKE, E. L., Educational Psychology (New York, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1921), Vol. I.

Education (New York, Macmillan Co., 1923), Chap. v.

Principles of Teaching (New York, A. G. Seiler Co., 1916), Chap. iii.

WATSON, J. B., Behaviorism (New York, People's Institute, 1925), Chaps. v, vi.

Articles

BERNARD, L. L., "The Misuse of Instinct in Social Sciences," Psychological Review (March, 1921).

DUNLAP, Knight, "Are There Any Instincts?" Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Vol. 14 (December, 1919), pp. 309-311. FARIS, E., "Are Instincts Data or Hypotheses?" American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 27 (September, 1921), pp. 184-196. KANTOR, J. R., "A Functional View of Human Instincts," Psychological Review (January, 1921).

Kuo, Z. Y., "Giving Up Instincts in Psychology," Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 18 (November, 1921), pp. 645-664.

MCDOUGALL, William, "The Use and Abuse of Instinct in Social Psychology," Journal of Abnormal Psychology and Social Psychology, Vol. 16 (December, 1921; March, 1922), pp. 285–333. MORGAN, Lloyd, "Instinctive Behavior and Enjoyment," British Journal of Psychology, Vol. 12, Part I.

TOLMAN, E. C., "Instinet and Purpose," Psychological Review, Vol. 27 (1920), pp. 217-233.

"The Nature of Instinct," Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 20 (1923), pp. 200-210.

WATSON, J. B., "What the Nursery Has to Say About Instincts," Pedagogical Seminary and Journal of Genetic Psychology (June, 1925).

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