The Province of Social Psychology Author(s): W. I. Thomas Source: American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 10, No. 4 (Jan.

, 1905), pp. 445-455 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2762269 . Accessed: 09/07/2013 12:43
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THE PROVINCE OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY The conception in detailby Lazarus of a socialmindset forth and Steinthalin the firstissue of the Zeitschrift fur Volkerpsychologie forty-four of society yearsago, and theconception as an organism in thesameyearbyHerbert inhis elaborated Spencer essayon The Social Organism, havegivenriseto muchdiscussion as to whether thereis a social mindor a social organism in any otherthana figurative has been sense. Some of this discussion fantastic and futile, and thereis at present apparently a general tendency to agree thatthe social organism is nothing morethan a usefulanalogy,and thatthereis no social mindand no social psychology apartfrom individual mindand individual psychology. At the same time,the development of psychology and sociology thepasttwenty during yearshas madeit plainthattheindividual mindcannotbe understood apart fromthe social environment, and thata society cannotbe understood apartfrom theoperation of individual mind; and there has grownup, or there is growing up, a socialpsychology whosestudy is theindividual mental processesin so faras theyare conditioned by society, and thesocial processes in so faras theyare conditioned by statesof consciousness. From this standpoint social psychology may make either the individualor societythe object of attentionat a given moment. Ethnology, and the phenomena history, of collective lifein generalare its subject-matter whentheyare viewedfrom thepsychological standpoint-the standpoint of attention, interest, habit, cognition,emotion,will, etc.-and the individual becomesits subject-matter when we examinethe effect on his consciousness of conditions of consciousness as foundin other individuals or in society at large. Otherwise stated, theprovince of socialpsychology is theexamination of theinteraction of individualconsciousness and society, and theeffect of the interaction on individual consciousness on theone handand on society on the
1 An address delivered at the International Congress of Arts and Science, Departmentof Sociology, September,1904.
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other. If, insteadof claimingfor social psychology a separate classofphenomena, it as an extenwe acceptthisview,and regard sion of individual psychology to thephenomena of collective life, we have immediately a set of important not included problems in theprograms of other sciences. Prominent amongtheproblems whiclh mustengagetheattentionofthesocialpsychologist is thegenesisof states of consciousness in the social group and theirmodifying influence on the habitsof thegroup. In group-as in individual lifetheobjectof an elaborate structural organization is thecontrol of theenvironment,and this is secured throughthe medium of attention. Through attelntion certainhabits are set up answeringto the needs of individual and group-life.When the habitis running smoothly, is relaxed;but or as longas it is adequate, theattention whennew conditions and emerge-ncies and the arise,theattention emotions are calledintoplay,theold habitis broken up,and a new one is formed forthedisturbing which provides condition. In the reaccommodation thereis a modification and an enlargement of crisisor shockthatthe attenconsciousness.Since it is through tion is arousedand exploresthe situation witha view to reconstructing modesof activity, thecrisishas an important relation to the development or of society. of the individual A studyof societyon the psychological side involves, therean examination in group-life fore, of thecrisesor incidents which interrupt theflowof habitand give riseto changedconditions of consciousness and practice. Prominent amongthe crisesof this nature are famine, defeat in battle, pestilence, and drought, floods, and in general sudden and catastrophic occurrences whichare new or notadequately provided against; and in theprocessof gaining control again afterthe disturbance are seen invention, co-operain largernumbers association tion,sympathy, and on a different who have or claim to have basis, resortto special individuals specialpowerin emergencies either as leadersor as medicine men. Anotherset of incidents, regularlyrecurrent and anticipated indeed, but of a naturecallingforrecurrent attention, are birth, puberty, and death. The custom, ceremonial, and myth growing in group-life, up about theseincidents and the degreeto which

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specialfunctionaries have becomeassociatedwiththem,indicate thatthey influence on theattentive have had a powerful processes and the mentallifeof the group. Shadows,dreams, swooning, intoxication, and epilepsy represent anotherclass of phenomena arresting the attention and causingreflection and readjustment, together with the development of ideas of causationand of a specialclass of functionaries of the phewho act as interpreters nomena. Still another withthe set of crisesarisesin connection of interest conflict and between theindividual between individuals, and group-habits.Theft, and any and assault,magicalpractice, all invasion of others are theoccasionof theformuof therights lationof legal and moralpractice, and of theemergence of a class of persons skilled in administering thepractice. specially The mediation of crisesof thisnature leads,on theone hanid, to thedevelopment of morality, religion, custom, myth, invention, art, and, on the otherhand,to medicine man, priest, lawgiver, judge, physician, artist,philosopher, teacher,and investigator. It leads also to the formation of specialclassesand castes,to the concentration of knowledge, in the wealth, power,and technique handsof particular classesand persons, and to the use of special on thepartof the fewto manipulate opportunity and exploitthe maniy.Viewedmerely as incidents, boththecrisesand thepracticesgrowing up aboutthemare a partof thehistory of institubutwhenviewedfrom tions, thestandpoint of attention and habit, they are subject-matter of socialpsychology. It is in relation also to crisis, or thedisturbance of habit, that and suggestion invention, imitation, -factors of the greatest in social evolutionn-maybe studied to the best importance advantage. The crisisdisclosesthe inadequacy of the habit,the invention is themental side of the readjustment, imitation is the modeof reaction to thenew condition or copyprovided through invention, and suggestion is the meansby whichthe copies are disseminated.Language is so rich a mine for the social psyand so important in thestudyof suggestion chologist, and imitation,becauseit is not onlya register of the consciousness of the race, but is, morethan any othermedium, the meansby which is operative, and by whichtherace-copies suggestion are handed

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and to generation.For thisreasonall culture generation on from in language. maybe said to be implicit of culture all thehistory to the stateof conimportance of profound incident Another of a greatpersonality. o,fthegroup is the emergence sciousness cannot whoseappearance The manof geniusis a biologicalfreak, All thatwe can say is thata ceror predetermined. be anticipated or by unusual artistic characterized of individuals tain number fororganizagreatcourage,will,and capacity faculty, inventive in respect to religiousand philotion,o,runusualsuggestibility and that group, appearin every do occasionally questions, sophical and the consciousthe life-direction influence theypowerfully ness of theirgroups. Moses, Mohammed,Confucius,Christ, have Peterthe Great,Newton,Darwin, Shakespeare, Aristotle, and on themental life, on thenational impressions left ineffaceable at of individuals as well. The factthata schoolof thinkers states or thata religious day growsup abouta philosopher, thepresent faithful teachermay gatherabout him a group of fanatically apparof a principle of imitation which, is a repetition adherents, in life, and associated since the of beginning has been force ently, to direct of all groupshas tended thethought in thehistory which channels. On theprinciple intofixed ofthemultittude and activity of Columbus'egg, one leads offand the othersfollow. The in his smaller group is as influential Australian oknirabata central of the the white man advent as Aristotlein a larger,until are todaycarrying outprinbreaks up hisinfluence.The Chinese and Mencius,no crisis inculcated by Confucius ciplesof conduct to break up the old having intervened of sufficient importance The manner in whichcopies for new ones. habitsand establish are set by the medicine the man, the priest, beliefand practice theartist, theagitator, thethinker, and,in general, leader, political as well as the more spontaneous personality, by the uncommon in publicopinion and and of suggestion hypnotism manifestations bothof indimob action,are to be studiedfromthe standpoint vidualand of group-consciousness. to the consciousness incident of importance o,f a Still another The a are mostinstructwithoutsiders. Japanese groupis contact of foreign copieson a peoplesufficiently ive exampleof theeffect

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use of them. advanced in its own thought to make intelligent Africain conFrom timeimmemorial theArabshave penetrated nection withtradeand slavery, and if it couldbe written, thehison the nativepopulation would be most toryof theirinfluence of blackand whitein America interesting. Similarly thecontact out from themental and is a subjectnotat all worked standpoint, is a condition of the Philippines which the American occupation thata maybe watched withequal interest.It is apparent already is notprepared to accept thestandlow stateof society very bodily of a very pointand practice high; theshockis too great,and the in thisconneclowerrace cannotadjust. An important question from tionis therateat whicha lowerracemayreceive suggestion the negro in a higherwithout being disorganized. Apparently to whitestandards, Americahas not beenable to adjust himself in contact withArab influence. whilein Africahe has improved on theother able to reaccomThe Filipinos, hand,are apparently modateaftercontactwith the whites,and changetheirmental an interesting butit renmains whether theJapanese habits, question thanwe to putthemin thle are notmorefit of way advancemenit. of social organization, takenfrom The psychology the standis one of themostimportant pointof origin, questions withwhich has to do, and is also bestapproached thesocialpsychologist from the standpoint of crisis. The advantageand necessity of living in largenumbers are apparent. But association together in large calls for inhibitions and habitsnot demandedin the numbers thestress individualistic state;and through and strain of readjustof habits suitableto social life steps mentand the formation as well, are takenin thedevelopment of consciousness as of instiof control, and thestepsby which tutions. The maternal system filiation throughdescentas a basis of associationgives way to associationbased on commonactivitiesand interests and the occupationof a commonterritory; the psychology of the its weaknessas an agent of control, blood-feud, the stepsin its of control and the substitution based on law; bloodbreakdown, and tribalmarksas signsof community brotherhood of interest; as an agent of control; initiatory totemism ceremonies as an to educatetheyoungin thetraditions of thetribe; tabu attempt

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and theirinfluas policeagencies; secretsocieties and fetichism on and its influence ence in bringing about solidarity;property races assemblies association and habit; popular amongthenatural and punishin promoting and their influence association;offense and of whyan act is offensive ment, particularly theconsideration fit the is selected to offensetheprocess by whicha punishment a concrete theseare materials furnishing approachto a psychoaboutthese logicalstudy of association. In theplay of attention of theconpractices we are able to tracestepsin thedevelopment sciousness of therace. scienceshave alreadyestablished and the kindred Ethnology the factthathumannature, the external world,and the fundamuchalike,and thatthereis, mental needsof lifeare everywhere in all groups, of development or a roughly speaking, a parallelism in everygroupwhichadvancesat all to take the same tendency steps as those taken by other groups. Such phenomenaas ecclesiastical spirit-belief and accompanying institutions, blooda maternalsystem vengeanceprecedingjuridical institutions, preceding patriarchal control, ecclesiastical and political despotism preceding democracy, and artistic, inventive, and mythical productsof the same generalground-pattern, show a generallaw of in progress: and it is one of the tasksof social psyuniformity thestandpoint to workout from chology of habit,attention, and stimulation whatconditions have contributed to makedifferences in theprogress of different groups; whether stepsin progress, if takenat all, are invariably takenin thesameorderby all groups; or opportunity and whystimulation is so lackingin somegroups thatold habitsare notbroken in up at all, and thegroupsremain consequence non-progressive.The study of parallelism in notonlythrows development lighton social development, butthe factof a common of language, possession myth, religion, number, time,and space conceptions, political and legal organization, underconditions of borrowing wherethepossibility is precluded, indicates thatthesamegeneral typeof mindis a possession of all races,bothlow and high,and has an important bearing on educationaltheory and theracequestions. Another extension of individual psychology to the regionof

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The degreeto whichthepowerof abstraction is developed in different line of interest. The pregroups is anotherfruitful vailingopinionis thatthe lowerraces are weak in the powero,f and certainly theirlanguages are poor in abstract abstraction, terms. But a people whose activities are simplecannothave a complexmentallife. Abstraction is muchused in a grouponly when deliberative as over against perceptual activitiesengage the attention, and wherethe manipulation of complexactivities involvesnumerous stepsbetween the stimulus and the response, and a distinction between thegeneral and theparticular.The life of the savage and of the lowerclasses is of an immediate kind, withlittlementalplay between the stimulation and the act, and consequently littleoccasionto employ abstraction.All races do possesslanguage, whichinvolves however, theuse of abstraction; all have systems of number, time, and space; manyof themhave a richrepertory of proverbs;and all show logical power. The has to work out is to what questionwhich social psychology degreeapparent lack of power of abstraction is due to lack of activities and stimulations whichforcethe attention to employ abstract and give it practice processes in handlingseries. Defiin logicalpoweramonig ciency groupsin lowerstagesof culture is also obviously on thefactthatthegeneral largely dependent body of knowledge and tradition, on whichlogicaldiscussion depends, is deficient.So far as thisview holds,it meansthatwhat have

psychological.

social phenomena lies in the comparison of the states of consciousnessof different races, classes,and social epochs,with a view to determining what mentaldifferences exist,and to what extenttheyare due to biologicalas over against social causes. This involves, of course,a comparative studyof mental traits. The study of memory, and powerof attensense-perceptions, tion amongdifferent races and classes will assist in determining the degreeto whichdifferences of this character are innate,on theone hand,or due to thehabitual and of theattention direction on the other. The studyof mentaltraits consequent practice, mustalwaysbe madewithreference oifactivities to thecondition prevailinig, and the studyis consequently both sociologicaland

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sometimesbeen regarded as biological differences separating social groupsare notreally expressions so, and thatcharacteristic of mindare dependent on social environment. in The degreeto whichthe powerof inhibition is developed the lower races as compared withthe higherleads again to the employment of psychological methods and ethnological materials. The controlof the individual over himself and of societyover him dependslargelyon this faculty, and it is oftenalleged by psychologists and students of society thatthe inferior of position the lowerracesis due in partto feeble and powersof inhibition, lack of abilityto sacrifice an immediate consequent satisfaction fora greater future one. An examination of the facts, however, shows thatthe savage exercisesdefinite and powerful restraints over his impulses, but that these restraints do not correspond to our own. In connection with tabu, totemism, and fetich, ceremonial amongthelowerraces,in thehunger subvoluntarily mitted to in thepresence of food,as well as stoicism underphysical hardships and torture, we have inhibitions as quiteas striking in modern any exhibited or in history. The occasionsof society inhibition on thepointof view,thetraditions, depend thepeculiar of the society. In the lower races the conditions life-conditions do not correspond withour own, but it is doubtful whether the civilizedmake more use of inhibition in the rmanipulation of societythan the savage, or whether the white race possesses superiorpower in this respect. The point,at any rate, is to the effect in a givengroupoff determine inhibition on activities, of thesociallifeon theinhibitive and thereaction processes of the individual. The influence of temperament amongdifferent racesin deterthedirections of attention milling atnd interest is also an important social-psychological field. There is much reason to thinkthat as determining temperament, wrhat classes of stimulations are is quite as important effective, as brain-capacity in fixingthe linesof development characteristic followed by a group,and that thereis moreunlikeness on thetempermental thanon the mental side between bothindividuals and races. From this standpoint thesocialpsychologist studies themoodsand organicappetites of

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the lowerraces- the attitude towardpain and pleasure, vanity, fear,anger,ornamentation, endurance, curiosity, apathy,sexual forexample, thatthearrested appetence, etc. It is notimpossible, is due to the development of the negroat the periodof puberty obsession of themindby sexual feeling at thistime,rather than of thecranium. to theclosingof thesutures Similarto the questionof temperament in the individuals of a groupis thatof thedegreeto whichthe affective as processes, compared withthecognitive, are themedium of thestimulations promoting social change. Cognition than is of less importance in some activities, emotion thoseconnected withart and notably and cognition and it is eventruethatemotion reproduction, are in certainconditions incompatible. In this general region lie of rhythm suchquestions as theeffect on social life,particularly in bringing in hunting, about co-operation war, and work; the of workand play; the bearingon social activity of psychology ornament, dancing, painting, sculpture, and intoxipoetry, music, an organicattitude cants; and to whatextent of sensitiveness to theopinion of others(an attitude of mindessential to thecontrol of the individual and to by society) had its originin courtship whatextent in the food-activities. A comparison of the educationalsystems of the lower and higherstages of culturewill assist the social psychologist in to wvhat extent theconsciousness determining of a groupand the group-peculiarities on the mentalside are organic,and to what extent theyare boundup withthe natureof the knowledge and tradition transmitted fromone generation to another. There cannotbe a high stateof mindin a societywherethe state of is low, and if a grouphas not accumulated a bodyof knowledge scientific through specialized attention and specialized knowledge, it cannotpass knowledge occupation, on. And doubtless thelow mental condition of somegroupsis notdue to lackof nativeintelligence,but to lack of the propercopies for imitation. The forexample, are a race of greatmental Chinese, power,butthey have no logic,no mathematics to speakof,no science, no history in thescientific sense,no knowledge worth thename-only preand rule,and precept. It is therefore cedent, unthinkable thatthe

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in the Chineseindividual shouldbe well educatedor intelligent western he attendshis school,since sense,howeverassiduously is no organized of whichhe can getposthere bodyof knowledge sessionl.At thesametime, themember of thissociety maybe able in thepossession to master anyknowledge of any group,if given access to it. In a studyof this character an we have therefore to distinguish between the mentalstateof the indiopportunity vidual and the state of knowledgein the group. Neitherthe eastern nor the negroquestion, of crime question, nor questions and social reform, nor of pedagogy,can be safelyapproached unlesswe makethisdistinction between themindof theindividual and thestateof culture in his group. Perhapsthemosturgent of all demands on social psychology at thepresent moment comesfrom and pedagogy, and psychology is fora moredefinite and scientific statement on the questionof epochsin social development, and the relation between stagesof in theconsciousness of theindividual and epochsof development culture. Thereis an anthropological theory thattherehave been moreor less clearlymarkedstages of social development, characterizedby equally markedactivities, and mental conditions corresponding withthetypes of activity in thedifferent prevalent epochs. Psychology assumesfurther thatthereis a parallelism thementalgrowth betwveen of the childand theseculture-epochs -that the childpasses in a recapitulatory way through phases corresponding withthe epochsin race-development. Pedagogy is actually operating on theassumption of sucha parallelism. It may well be, however, thatthe wholeassumption is a misapprehension. There is another view thatthe brainlike the body of man was made up in the earliest timeson a successful principle, and thatit has not changedmaterially a since,showingmerely to managenew problems as theyhave arisenin the outcapacity side world,usingmotor, and co-ordinative perceptual, processes more in the earlier,and abstractprocessesmore in the later, stagesof development.If thisview is correct, the brainof the childrecapitulates thebrainof the race onlyin the sensethatthe accumulated knowledgeand standpoint of the race are so preto him,and withsuchurgency sented and system thathabitsare

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in no broken up and reformed rapidly, and themindtransformed, in biologicalsense,but only the sensethatthe attention and the content of themindare made correspondent withtheworldas it is at present. Social psychology mustco-operate withpsychology in determining and anthropology the principles menunderlying tal growth in therace and in theindividual befo,re thescienceof education can make any sure progress. The view of theprovince of social psychology herepresented has at leastthemerit of suggesting notoccua field of operations pied by othersciences. It is not claimedthatthe materials used are entirely new,northattheproblems heremaynotarise arising in connection withothersciences is but also. But,after all, there one reality, and a new scienceneverrepresented more anything thana newdirection of theattention.The legitinmacy of viewing thesamematerials from different can hardly be quesstandpoints tionedwhenwe consider thatthehumanbrainis studiedby psychology, anthropology, physiology, anatomy,pathology,and and thatexperience has shownthisdifferentiation embryology, of in the studyof the brain to be precisely attention the method yieldingthe best results. It is, indeed,the scientific procedure in the of with division labor the industrial corresponding pursuits and in the professions;and the differentiation of a social psyof psychology, from thesciences chology sociology, anthropology, and history, witha class of specialists ethnology, folk-lore, giving to' the extension of psychology theirattention to the regionof socialphenomena, will yield,we mayhope,results supplementary and of importance to thosesecured to thestudy by thesesciences., of lifeand society.
W. I. THOMAS.
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO.

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