An Introduction to Social Psychology
Chapter 33: Collective Responses and Leadership
Luther Lee Bernard
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THE ENVIRONMENTS CONDITION COLLECTIVE RESPONSES— The stimuli which condition responses collectively and thus produce collective behavior must of course, like all other stimuli, have their source. This source is not infrequently some natural object or process. Geography and climate have been historically two of the main natural factors which have conditioned collective responses of a large degree of uniformity and have therefore created groups as defined above. Peoples living in a river valley, on a seacoast, or at a break in transportation, tend to be welded into a unified group economically, politically, and culturally. Areas of uniform rainfall as contrasted with other areas, dry, wet, cold, warm and temperate climatic regions, severally condition characteristic uniform responses in practically all of the inhabitants. The same is true of a distinctive type of fauna or flora, which will determine characteristic and fairly uniform methods of food getting and food consumption, property regulations, housing, clothing, leisure, recreation, religion, and even magic. Outstanding inventions, or physico-social environment, domesticated animals and plants in large numbers, or bio-social environment, may exercise an even greater influence over the collective responses of men through determining their occupations and habits of consumption, and even the occurrence and extent of their periods of leisure. The industrial revolution, which has been dependent primarily upon physico-social environment or physical inventions, is a good illustration of this type of influence.
THE PSYCHO-SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT AND COLLECTIVE RESPONSES — But the best example of the way in which some environmental fact or process conditions collective responses is to be found in the psycho-social environment. Man creates ideas,
(518) customs, traditions, conventions, mores, folkways, beliefs, codes, institutions— all sorts of psycho-social projected entities — which, in so far as they achieve objective integration, function as stimuli sources to both the individuals of the generation which have created them and to succeeding generations who will be molded by them and will in turn transform and transmit them. Every student of society knows that the personalities of the members of society are molded and fixed, in so far as they are fixed, by these psycho-social processes or uniformities of behavior. Institutions and customs, beliefs and traditions, the mores and the folkways, are reaching out with their objectively integrated stimuli on every hand to take hold of all persons who come within their reach or shadow to mold them into conformity, and no one escapes domination by some sort of psycho-social process and organization. The psycho-social environment is everywhere and all-compelling. This environment is not apart from us or external to men, except as it has been objectified and stored in symbols and structures which in turn serve as stimuli to the reproduction of the types of behavior which they symbolize and embody. But the environment is carried within us in the form of our daily behavior and thinking. Our conduct, when viewed objectively and collectively, is custom and tradition, institution, mores, beliefs. We cannot escape them, first, because they are rooted in our behavior, and second, because they are rooted in the behavior of other persons with whom we come in contact and to whom we adjust ourselves in collective behavior.
TOTAL SUMMATION of STIMULI IN SYMBOLS AND IN PERSONALITIES — But of course we must not suppose that we always respond to the institutions, customs, traditions, conventions, beliefs, and other elements of the psycho-social environments as collective entities or integrations. Such a response is possible only when these processes of the psycho-social environment have become integrated and objectified from the behavior of the individuals whose symbolic behavior constitutes only a portion of these psycho-social processes into some symbolic or concrete representative system. We can, for instance, imitate or respond by suggestion to the psycho-social content of the institution of the church, or of the state, or of any other deriva-
( 519) -tive institution, only when the essential beliefs, practices, teachings, etc., of these institutions have been embodied in print or other language symbols, or in the symbolic behavior or speech of some representative individual, which is less likely to occur. There are therefore two great channels through which the integrated and objectified content of a complex psycho-social process or institution may be brought to bear upon an individual: the printed treatise or some other non-personal system of objective symbols, and individual personalities who embody or represent the institution as a whole. `'here the individual performs this mediating function and conditions the whole or a part of the content of the institution to others he may be called a leader.
The instances in which the complex psycho-social processes, such as institutions, operate as wholes upon the individual are of course exceptional. Not many of us take the trouble or have the capacity to master the significance and content of institutions and other psycho-social processes as wholes. Nor do many of us read books about institutions. The more common method of being influenced by psycho-social processes is by coming in contact in our daily behavior with persons whose behavior embodies some portion of the totality of the psychosocial processes, or institutions. These daily informal contacts do more in the aggregate than the relatively formal ones first mentioned to shape our responses to the psycho-social stimuli and to produce conformity to the psycho-social behavior patterns, although we are not ordinarily aware of the social function which such contacts serve. Thus we integrate our behavior in response to institutional and other psycho-social stimuli through our adjustments to a great many individual members of institutions and participants in other psycho-social processes. This piece-meal adjustment to the collective behavior forms accounts for the variety and the individual differences, as well as for the conformity, of our adjustments. Whether the persons we copy are leaders or not depends primarily on what relations they have with us.
PARTIAL SUMMATION OF STIMULI IN INDIVIDUALS— Whether we acquire the psycho-social processes or collective behavior patterns formally and largely consciously, or informally
(520) and incidentally and mainly unconsciously, this acquisition is for the most part accomplished through the direct imitation of persons. Only the more literate and abstractly thinking persons get any very considerable share of their behavior patterns through literature. But even these imitate or otherwise respond to persons indirectly, to those persons who produced the literature and who may not be very much hidden behind the printed page. This is particularly true in the case of the newspaper and the journal of opinion. The lighter kinds of literature which deal with concrete processes rather than abstractions— especially fiction, which is the most read, and drama— also pictorial art and sculpture, condition personality in individuals in much the same way as personal contacts with other persons condition it. The chief difference in habit formation under the dominance of representative art from habit formation as the result of direct personal contacts is that the personalities in the one case are ideal or fictitious and the sensory processes involved in conditioning responses are mainly visual, while in the other case the personalities which serve as models or as stimuli sources are actual and we apprehend them largely through auditory as well as visual channels. Also, in the former case we are dependent for the most part upon our imaginations for any stimuli which we may receive from the overt behavior of the fictional personalities, while we can actually see the real persons acting, observe their gestures, postures, and facial expression.
LEADERS AND LEADERSHIP— Thus direct stimulation by persons in face-to-face contacts with us is much more concrete and powerful. It embodies a multitude of reënforcing factors, such as tone of voice, the perception of facial and bodily expression and attitudes, gesture, etc., in addition to the more abstract word symbols which serve to direct us. The direct exercise of such concrete stimuli, verbal or otherwise, in influencing the behavior of others we call personal leadership. Where such influence is exerted through art, literature, or other persons or groups it is impersonal leadership.
Any person who is more than ordinarily efficient in carrying psycho-social stimuli to others and is thus effective in conditioning collective responses may be called a leader. It is not
(521) necessary that he should serve in this capacity of presenting stimuli for collective response on purpose. He may be an involuntary and unconscious leader perhaps even more frequently than a conscious and intentional leader. In fact, it is very probable that most leaders first learn to assume the rôle of leadership through discovering themselves operating unintentionally in that capacity. But of course the most effective type of leader is almost always the one who is conscious of his leadership, has a purpose in view, and studies the technique of leading successfully. Leadership is most conspicuous and most direct in the direct contact group and it is here that most leaders are trained. But leadership may also be indirect and may accordingly be carried on through printed symbols, through radio, moving pictures, or any other indirect contact stimuli. Such leadership may make the leader conspicuous, if he reveals his personality in connection with his leadership technique, or he may remain in the background, even to the point of being generally unknown.
PERSONAL AND IMPERSONAL LEADERSHIP— In some causes anonymous leadership is the more effective, especially if the leader is unpopular or if the disclosure of his identity would lead to questions as to his motives. Also, it is sometimes true that a cause succeeds best if it is made to rely for its popular appeal upon its intrinsic merits and is not confused with the claims of personalities.
Ordinarily, however, the proper revealing of a personality behind the principle or the stimulus renders the cause the more effective. The warmth of personality makes a powerful appeal to most people and they judge causes or behavior primarily by the personalities to whom they are attached. Abstract causes and principles, which are oftenest communicated through literature or art, can dispense with the aid of the personality of the leader more effectively than can concrete and immediate ends. For the best control of the ordinary everyday responses to psycho-social stimuli, which do most to condition our collective behavior, the personality of the leader or stimulus source is essential. In such contacts we are very little sensible of the meaning of either the stimuli or of our responses. Our attention is centered primarily on the personality contacts through
( 522) which the stimuli and responses are organized. The personality is merely the cue.
PROFESSIONAL AND AMATEUR LEADERSHIP— Leadership may furthermore be professional or amateur. Most leadership as it actually occurs in the unconscious direct contact situations is actually of the latter type. All of us practically are leaders with relation to some matters and on certain occasions. We play the rôle through the force of circumstances which have made us focal in the situation, without any choice or intention on our part. But there are also large numbers of semiprofessional and professional leaders, some of whom perform the function for hire and others who do it for the pleasure or profit which it brings them. Being the focus of attention of many followers is an experience which makes a powerful appeal to most persons who have had it. The knowledge that others are taking our behavior as a cue or model after which they mold their own offers a thrill of excitement and pleasure which to most persons is irresistible.
Not infrequently, for both the amateur and the professional leader, there is another motive involved in leadership than merely that of the pleasure of the sense of power. Self-interest is a frequent incentive to the undertaking of leadership. One may hire out his talents as leader in the service of others or he may seek a following from the people as a method of promoting some cause of his own. The greatest rewards within the gifts of his fellows go to the successful leader. Whether he seeks wealth, power, or reputation of any sort it may be had by the successful leader who knows how to shape the behavior of others according to the stimuli which he offers them.
THE SUCCESSFUL LEADER MUST POSSESS PRESTIGE— The elements of prestige have already been discussed in the chapter on suggestion. The leader must be both a model to be imitated and a source from which suggestion radiates, each according to the type of leader he is and the function which he seeks to perform. The moral leader especially, the uric who seeks to produce a desirable change in collective behavior, should be a model as well as a source of suggestion. He should, in so far as possible, serve as a model to illustrate the behavior which he
( 523) is seeking to establish. Moral leaders are expected by their followers to exemplify the principles and beliefs which they expound, because the strongest appeal of the leader is directly to imitative behavior. He may offer principles and concepts for imitation, as the more valuable and stable and farther reaching. But the followers find it easier to understand and imitate a personality, and since he is the center of their attention they insist that he serve as their model. This is true both in reform and in war. The leader who is always at the front of the battle and who does what he preaches will, other things being equal, win most victories.
But the leader who is merely seeking some advantage for himself or for some faction which he represents— selfish leadership it may be termed as distinguished from social or positively idealistic leadership— may rely on indirect suggestion, innuendo, and similar methods of touching off the unconscious complexes and prejudices of his followers. Here success is more often attained negatively than in the former case. Here the imitation of a model is less important, while the use of suggestion takes the lead. This method may even consist of setting off responses of which the follower is not aware. A great deal of wit and sarcasm, of ridicule and malice, will be employed in such leadership. The opposition is painted darkly and as dangerous. Fear rather than love is appealed to. The motives are competitive rather than constructive. Of course both imitation and suggestion may be used in both the social or positively idealistic and self-seeking types of leadership, but ordinarily there is some sort of segregation or preponderance of methods such as that here indicated. In both types of leadership prestige is essential to the success of the leader.
METHODS OF APPEAL IN LEADERSHIP— Whether the leader makes use of direct or indirect contact methods, whether he visits people in person, speaks to them in groups, addresses them through the fictitious characters of novels and plays, paints idealistic scenes, presents his arguments in essays and treatises, or acts through organizations and administrative machinery which he has created, will depend mainly upon the circumstances, such as the size of the group he wishes to reach, the nature of the proposition or behavior for which he seeks
( 524) a following, the time at his disposal, the kind of people with whom he must deal, the financial means and personal assistance at his disposal, and his own previous experience and training. For a relatively simple proposal, such as the success of a candidate, or of a fund to be collected, where personality counts a great deal and where there is only a limited number of people to be seen and sufficient time for the number of workers employed to see all persons concerned, the personal canvass is best. But where the cause is more or less abstract but can obtain a hearing through print, where there are many people widely scattered to be reached and there are not sufficient workers or leaders to reach them individually, and funds are scarce, a direct appeal through print, cartoon, picture, or mass meetings may be effective. Ordinarily the larger the amounts of well adapted literature and speakers which can be used the more successful will be the result. But care must always be taken not to tire those who are to be reached, for a surfeit of appeal may cause a temporary revulsion as pronounced as it is irrational. The minds of the masses are not capable of indefinite and continuous employment in the analysis of an abstract proposition. Intellectual indigestion is as certain to produce nausea and regurgitation as is physiological indigestion. Where there is an abundance of time and the people to be reached are widespread or in more or less segregated groups, and when the propaganda has to be handled with considerable care because on first impression it is unacceptable to those who are to receive it, the method of suggestion through art in the wider sense is probably the best one to follow. Fiction, drama, poetry, songs, pictures and paintings, cartoons, and even Chautauqua lectures, radio, and moving pictures, may accomplish in time, through indirect suggestion, a complete reversal of public opinion on any question, where direct methods might only antagonize.
INTELLECTUAL LEADERS AND LEADERS OF ACTION— Leaders may also be distinguished as intellectual leaders and leaders of action. Either type may function iii either direct or indirect contact groups. But ordinarily the leader of action will be found operating primarily in face-to-face groups, while the intellectual leader will work most effectively, other things being
( 525) equal, in indirect contact groups or in intelligent publics. The best type of leader for general purposes is unquestionably one which embodies both the capacity for intellectual leadership and the attributes which make for successful appeals to action. In direct contact groups, especially in the deliberative assembly, discussion group, class, and audience, the intellectual appeal may be quite efficacious. But in those face-to-face groups where the intellectual factor is less in evidence, the emotional appeals are stronger and the personality which can stimulate action is most in demand. Appeals to action are also important in indirect contact groups, especially for certain purposes. Such appeals are most effectively made through pictures, movie films, radio, and emotional or semi-emotional writing.
PROPAGANDA is a term which may be applied to professional leadership in the support of some cause, particularly when the methods employed to secure a following are those of indirect suggestion. The term has come among us to have somewhat of a sinister meaning, because it is so often a paid and a more or less concealed service in the interest of a selfish or partisan cause. There is no reason other than this why the term should not be applied also to the promotion of useful and unselfish or public causes. But considered in the less reputable sense there is now a vast amount of propaganda, especially through the indirect contact media of communication. Advertising, both in periodicals and on billboards, may properly be included under this category, in spite of the fact that some advertising serves most useful social purposes. With a largely partisan press the opportunity for propaganda may easily pervert both the editorial and the news columns of our daily papers, although some newspapers attempt to prevent this. There have been signs even of a tendency for propaganda to get a foothold in the magazines of fiction, in plays, in novels, in art, and in the movies. How far this tendency will go unchecked will depend upon the machinery which can be made available for a scientific control of communication in the indirect contact groups as suggested in the preceding chapter.
LEADERSHIP AS A FORM OF CONTROL— Environmental pressures operate for the most part along more or less conventional lines or in certain fairly specific forms of behavior. This is
( 526) true partly because as our habits become fixed we are susceptible only to certain types of stimuli or to stimuli which have already conditioned our responses. Also, the psycho-social environmental pressures, which constitute most of the stimuli complexes which control or direct us, are themselves organized out of the collective behavior, and this behavior which constitutes psycho-social environmental pressures and serves as stimuli to our own imitative or suggested behavior is cast in definite, often stereotyped, forms. Leaders who seek to control or influence the behavior of others succeed best if they pay adequate attention to these facts. They are not able readily to control responses if they attempt to use behavior patterns or symbols as stimuli which have not become readily associated with the desired responses.
The leader must know what stimuli will condition adequate responses for his purposes and develop a technique for presenting these stimuli. These stimuli are his controls and they are to be found primarily as typical behavior patterns which may be spoken of collectively as certain uniformities of behavior or as verbal or other more or less abstract symbols of such behavior. The leader manipulates these behavior and symbolic controls in such ways as to produce like responses in others through the mechanism of concrete imitation by copying or of abstract imitation by interpretation of the symbols. Or the leader may use certain symbolic stimuli to release desired behavior without imitation, that is, through suggestion, where the desired response has become sufficiently conditioned by or associated with a particular cue or stimulus.
Leadership in such cases becomes largely a matter of the knowledge of conditioned responses and of the power to condition desired responses to the stimuli available, and finally of the manipulation of stereotyped conditioned stimuli, which is the method of suggestion. This is a relatively easy form of leadership which directs behavior along comparatively conventional paths. Leadership which produces more marked changes and breaks out new paths of policy or performance makes a larger use of the mechanism of imitation. Hence, it manipulates stimuli to the types of behavior which are desired in the collective responses of those who follow. The leader in a com-
( 527) -plex and abstractly organized society of derivative groups, in which the members respond to abstract verbal communication symbols, does not usually present the behavior pattern in concrete form, such as in gesture, mimicry, or pantomime. He uses instead the shorter cut method of verbal symbols or descriptions, to which the followers have already learned to condition the responses desired or to which he must teach them to condition their responses. This is, in its more conscious form, abstract imitation; in its less conscious and unelaborated forms, suggestion.
MATERIALS FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING
(See end of Chapter XXXIV)
