Social Psychology
Chapter 4: Mob Mind
Edward Alsworth Ross
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Mob mind without the crowd
PRESENCE is not essential to mass suggestion. Mental touch is no longer bound up with physical proximity. With the telegraph to collect and transmit the expressions and signs of the ruling mood, and the fast mail to hurry to the eager clutch of waiting thousands the still damp sheets of the morning daily, remote people are brought, as it were, into one another's presence. Through its organs the excited public is able to assail the individual with a mass of suggestion almost as vivid as if he actually stood in the midst of an immense crowd.
The public
Formerly, within a day, a shock might throw into a fever all within a hundred miles. The next day it might agitate the zone beyond, but meanwhile the first body of people would have cooled down and become ready to listen to reason. And so, while a wave of excitement passed slowly over the country, the entire folk was at no moment in a state of agitation. Now, however, our space-annihilating devices make a shock well-nigh simultaneous. A vast public shares the same rage, alarm, enthusiasm, or horror. Then, as each part of the mass becomes acquainted with the sentiment of all the rest, the feeling is generalized and intensified. In the end the public swallows up the individuality of the ordinary man in much the same way the crowd swallows up the individuality of its members.
Differences between crowd and public
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Nevertheless, public and crowd are not identical in their characteristics. If by the aid of a telephonic news service-as in Budapest-people were brought into immediate touch, there would still be lacking certain conditions of the mob state. The hurly-burly, the press and heave of the crowd are avoided when contact is purely mental. As we have seen, in the throng the means of expressing feeling are much more effective than the facilities for expressing thought. But in a dispersed group feeling enjoys no such advantage. Both are confined to the same vehicle - the printed word - and so ideas and opinions run as rapidly through the public as emotions.
The psychology of the public more normal
One is member of but one crowd at a time, but by reading a number of newspapers, one can belong to several publics with, perhaps, different planes of vibration. So far as these various unanimities cross and neutralize one another, the suction of the public will be weakened. The crowd may be stampeded into folly or crime by accidental leaders. The public can receive suggestions only through the columns of its journal, the editor of which is like the chairman of a mass-meeting, for no one can be heard without his recognition. For all these reasons the psychology of the public, though similar to that of the crowd, is more normal.
Ours is the era of publics
Ours is not the era of hereditary rulers, oligarchies,, hierarchies, or close corporations. But neither is it, as some insist, " the era of crowds." It is, in fact, the era of publics. Those who perceive that to-day under the influence of universal discussion the old fixed groupings which held their members so tenaciously - sects, parties, castes, and the like - are liquefying, that allegiances sit lightly, and that men are endlessly passing into new
(65) combinations, seek to stigmatize these loose associations as "crowds." The true crowd is, however, in a declining role. Universal contact by means of print ushers in "the rule of public opinion," which is a totally different thing from "government by the mob."
Craze and fad are symptoms of mob mind
The principal manifestations of mob mind in vast bodies of dispersed individuals are the craze and the fad These may be defined as that irrational unanimity of 0 interest, feeling, opinion, or deed in a body of communicating individuals, which results from suggestion and imitation. In the chorus of execration over a sensational crime, in the clamor for the blood of an assassin, in waves of national feeling, in political " land-slides," in passionate " sympathetic " strikes, in cholera scares, in popular delusions, in religious crazes, in migration manias, in " booms " and panics, in agitations and insurrections, we witness contagion on a gigantic scale, favored in some cases by popular hysteria.
Theory of the craze
As there must be in the typical mob a centre which radiates impulses by fascination till they have subdued enough people to continue their course by sheer intimidation, so for the craze there must be an excitant, overcoming so many people that these can affect the rest by mere volume of suggestion. This first orientation may be produced. by some striking event or incident. The murder of a leader, an insult to an ambassador, the predictions of a crazy fanatic, the words of a " Messiah," a sensational proclamation, the arrest of an agitator, a coup d'état, the advent of a new railroad, the collapse of a prominent bank, a number of deaths by an epidemic, a series of mysterious murders, an inexpiicable occurrence, such as a comet, an eclipse, a star shower, or an earthquake, -
(66) each of these has been the starting-point of some fever, mania, crusade, uprising, boom, panic, delusion, or fright. The more expectant or overwrought the public mind, the easier it is to set up a great perturbation. After a series of public calamities, a train of startling events, a pestilence, an earthquake, or a war, the anchor of reason finds no holding ground, and minds are blown about by every gust of passion or sentiment.
Sociol-psychic phenomena in the early church
The early years of Christianity were marked by extraordinary signs of exalted suggestibility. Harnack [1] cites the following phenomena -regarded as tokens "of the Spirit and of Power" - in the primitive Christian church.
I. God speaks to the missionaries in visions, dreams, and ecstasy, revealing to them affairs of moment and also trifles, controlling their plans, and pointing out the roads on which they are to travel, the cities where they are to stay, and the persons whom they are to visit. Visions emerge especially after martyrdom, the dead martyr appearing to his friends during the weeks that immediately follow his death, as in the case of Potamiaena, or of Cyprian, or of many others.
2. At the missionary addresses of the apostles or evangelists, or at the services of the churches which they founded, sudden movements of rapture are experienced, many of them being simultaneous seizures; these are either full of terror and dismay, convulsing the whole spiritual life, or exultant outbursts of a joy that sees heaven opened to its eyes. The simple question, 'What must I do to be saved ?' also bursts upon the mind with an elemental force.[2]
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" 3 - Some are inspired, who have power to clothe their experience in words - prophets to explain the past, to interpret and to fathom the present, and to foretell the future. Their prophecies relate to the general course of history, but also to the fortunes of individuals, to what individuals are to do or leave undone.
4. Brethren are inspired with the impulse to improvise prayers and hymns and psalms.
5. Others are so filled with the Spirit that they lose consciousness and break out in stammering speech and cries, in unintelligible utterances which can be interpreted, however, by those who have the gift.
6. Into the hands of others, again, the Spirit slips a pen, either in an ecstasy or in exalted moments of spiritual tension; they not merely speak, but write as they are bidden.
7. Sick persons are brought to be healed by the missionaries, or by brethren who have been but recently awakened; wild paroxysms of terror in God's presence are also soothed, and in the name of Jesus demons are cast out.
8. The Spirit impels men to an immense variety of extraordinary actions - to symbolic actions which are meant to reveal some mystery or to give some directions for life, as well as to deeds of heroism.
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"9. Some perceive the presence of the Spirit with every sense; they see its brilliant light, they hear its voice, they smell the fragrance of immortality and taste its sweetness. Nay, more; they see celestial persons with their own eyes, see them and also hear them; they peer into what is hidden or distant or to come; they are even rapt into the world to come, into heaven itself, where they listen to 'words that cannot be uttered.'
10. But although the Spirit manifests itself through marvels like these, it is no less effective in heightening the religious and the moral powers, which operate with such purity and power in certain individuals that they bear palpably the stamp of their divine origin."
Institutionalizing kills "the Spirit
Evidently there are two main sources of these extraordinary mental phenomena - the subconscious and the social environment. It is only the latter that involves social psychology. Harnack significantly adds: [3] "It was in the primitive days of Christianity during the first sixty years of its course that their effects were most conspicuous, but they continued to exist all through the second century, although in diminished volume. . . . The Montanist movement certainly gave new life to ' the Spirit' which had begun to wane; but after the opening of the third century the phenomena dwindled rapidly and instead of being the hall-mark of the church at large, or of every individual community, they became merely the equipment of a few favored individuals."[4]
The Children's Crusade
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The abnormal suggestibility of mediaeval society revealed itself in the Crusades,[5] especially the crusades of children. About 1212 Stephen, a shepherd boy, preached among the pilgrims at St. Denys a crusade of children to recover the Holy Sepulchre. Presently everywhere there arose children of ten years, and some even so young as eight, who claimed to be prophets also. They went about collecting followers and marching in solemn procession through towns and villages. Some noble youths joined these processions, and many girls. The efforts of parents to hold back their children were futile. "Bolts and bars would not hold the children. If shut up, they broke through doors and windows, and rushed, deaf to appeals of mothers and fathers, to take their places in the processions, which they saw passing by, whose crosses and banners, whose censers, songs, and shouts, and paraphernalia seemed, like the winds of torrid climates, to bear resistless infection. If the children were forcibly held and confined, so that escape was impossible, they wept and mourned, and at last pined, as if the receding sounds carried away their hearts and their strength. It was necessary to release them, and, forgetting to say farewell. . . . they ran to enlist in those deluded throngs that knew not whither they went." [6]
In the neighborhood of Cologne, Nicholas, a boy of ten, gathered together not less than twenty thousand children. "Parents, friends, and pastors sought to restrain them by force or appeal, but they whose hearts were set upon the
(70) enterprise mourned and pined so that we are told their lives were frequently endangered as by disease, and it was necessary to allow them to depart." [7] Ultimately nearly one hundred thousand children were drawn into the maelstrom, of whom at least a third never saw their homes again.
Mental epidemics in America
The child pilgrimages, the flagellant epidemic, the dancing mania, tarantism, the witchcraft delusion, and the anti-Jewish outbreaks down to the Russian pogroms of to-day all show the spirit of the hive. Of religious and moral epidemics America has had its full share. The Great Awakening in colonial days, the great revivals of 1800, 1830, and 1858, however fruitful in their results, Its, were certainly extended by social suggestion. How else can we explain the wild-fire sweep of the movement after it had slowly won a certain headway and momentum?
Millerism
In 1840 William Miller went about predicting the coming of the Lord and the end of all things somewhere between the equinoxes of 1843-1844. By upwards of three thousand addresses he was able to win about fifty thousand followers, and these by interstimulation wrought one another up to a high pitch of fanaticism. As the great day approached, they forsook their callings, gave away their goods, prepared their ascension robes, and repaired to the fields. When the appointed time rolled by, instead of losing confidence in their leader, as an individual would have done, the Millerites, as if to illustrate the abeyance of reason in all collectivities, clung to their delusion and accepted the new date of October 22, 1844. During the interval converts multiplied, and the fanaticism was, if anything, more intense than before. When proph-
(71) -ecy a second time failed, the growth of the sect was checked, although it survives to the present day.
The Women's Crusade
The Women's Crusade [8] began in Hillsborough, Ohio, on Christmas morning, 1873. After a lecture by Dr. Dio Lewis on the Potency of Woman's Prayer in the Grogshop, a meeting for prayer and organization was held, and thereupon the ladies, led by the wife of a distinguished general, sallied forth to the drug stores, hotels, and saloons. "The movement spread into adjacent towns, the women visiting saloons, singing, praying, and pleading with those engaged in the traffic to desist. In many places the ladies suffered severe privations, were oftentimes kept standing in the cold and rain, and were sometimes the subjects of severe remarks and direct persecution. The churches were crowded day and night, and touching incidents of recovery from ruin interested immense audiences." In spite of seeming success, the crusade soon died out and has never been repeated. Too much at variance with feminine nature to last, its sudden wide vogue can be explained only by mental contagion.
Mrs. Nation's Crusade
In 1901 Mrs. Nation of Wichita, Kansas, went about Kansas towns destroying saloon furnishings with an axe. At once there was great agitation, and tens of thousands of women held prayer-meetings and meditated following her example. A number of imitators sprang up, but law and public opinion quickly intervened to check the spread of the movement.
In modern times financial crazes are a close second to religious crazes. The tulip mania is perhaps the strangest."About the Year 1634 the Dutch became suddenly possessed with a mania for tulips. The ordinary industry
(72) of the country was neglected, and the population, even to its lowest dregs, embarked in the tulip trade. The tulip rose rapidly in value, and when the mania was in full swing some daring speculators invested as much as one hundred thousand florins in the purchase of forty roots. The bulbs were as precious as diamonds; they were sold by their weight in perits, a weight less than a grain." " Regular marts for the sale of roots were established in all the large towns of Holland - in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Haarlem, Leyden, Alkmaar. The stock jobbers dealt largely in tulips, and their profits were enormous. Many speculators grew suddenly rich. The epidemic of tulipomania raged with intense fury, the enthusiasm of speculation filled every heart, and confidence was at its height. A golden bait hung temptingly out before the people, and one after the other they rushed to the tulip marts like flies around a honey-pot. Every one imagined that the passion for tulips would last forever, and that the wealthy from every part of the world would send to Holland and pay whatever prices were asked for them. The riches of Europe would be concentrated on the shores of the Zuyder Zee. Nobles, citizens, farmers, mechanics, seamen, footmen, maid-servants, chimney-sweeps, and old-clothes women dabbled in tulips. Houses and lands were offered for sale at ruinously low prices, or assigned in payment of bargains made at the tulip market. So contagious was the epidemic that foreigners became smitten with the same frenzy, and money poured into Holland from all directions.
" This speculative mania did not last long; social suggestion began to work in the opposite direction, and a universal panic suddenly seized on the minds of the Dutch.
(73) Instead of buying, every one was trying to sell. Tulips fell below their normal value. Thousands of merchants were utterly ruined, and a cry of lamentation rose in the land." [9]
Stampedes
In the same class may be placed the Mississippi Bubble, the South Sea Bubble, and the railway manias, real estate booms, and financial panics so frequent in the last century. Often movements to fields of opportunity show something of the stampede. The " Ho for Texas! " movement, the California gold fever, the negro exodus of 1879, the Klondike Rush, and the frequent mass migrations at the rumor of a rich "strike" in the mining country, rational as they are at bottom, owe something to the contagion of example. When, in the spring, the first boat down the Yukon brings news of so many millions of gold dust washed out, a certain number resolve for the Klondike. When, now, the sceptic learns in quick succession that his partner, his brother, his grocer, his dentist, and his neighbor are off to seek their fortunes, he becomes restless. The "fever" is in his blood. Something is pulling him, and the pull becomes stronger with every new recruit he hears of. When at length he joins the army of gold seekers, his example helps break down the resistance of some one else; and so there is a rush.
The "Great Fear"
The "Great Fear" in France in 1789 illustrates the craze. Says Stephens: [10] "The months of July and August may be called the months of the 'great fear.' Men were afraid, both in town and country, of they knew not what. How this universal feeling of terror arose cannot be proved, but it was actually deemed necessary in some districts for a distinct denial to be published to the report
(74) that the king had paid brigands to rob the people." "This 'great fear' was generally expressed in the words 'The brigands are coming.' Who the brigands were, whence they came, or whither they were going, nobody knew; but that the brigands were coming, nobody doubted." "It was in the towns that this strange terror was most keenly felt. In the town of Gueret, July 2 9, 1789, was known for years after as the day of the 'great fear.' Suddenly, at about five in the afternoon of that day, a rumor arose that the brigands were coming. The women rushed out of the town and hid themselves in the thickets and ditches; while the men assembled at the Hôtel de Ville, and hastily formed themselves into an armed force to assist the town militia. Several notables of the town took their seats with the municipal officers and formed a committee, which sent despatches to all the neighboring towns and villages for aid. . . . These allies, to the number of 8000 to 10,000, flocked into the town, and were regaled at its expense; and when it was found that the brigands did not come, they all went home again. At Chateau-Thierry news arrived, on July 28, that 2500 'carabots,' or brigands, were marching along the Soissons road; the tocsin rang, and the bourgeois marched out to meet them. On their way a miller told them that the brigands had just sacked Bouresches, which was in flames; but when the partisans of order arrived there, the flames were found to be only the reflection of the sun upon the roofs of the houses. Then the brigands were descried in the act of crossing the Marne at Essommes; but when the tired pursuers came up, they found that these new brigands were the women of Essommes, who had been scared at their appearance and who believed them to be the real brigands."
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In the present agitated, overwrought state of the Russian people there are occurring, no doubt, among the ignorant, superstitious masses mob-mind phenomena that will stupefy us with amazement once the veil is withdrawn and the facts become known.
The war spirit of '61
The tendency of the plane to extend and complete itself as the emotional temperature rises is seen in the sweeping of the war spirit over North and South after the firing on Fort Sumter. In the two sections psychic vortexes had gradually formed, rotating in opposite directions. With the sudden access of emotion after the shock of the first clash of arms, these vortexes rotated at a much higher speed and sucked into themselves many who hitherto had been indifferent or hostile. All but a vanishing remnant were affected with the emotion of their section. Say Nicolay and Hay:[11] "The guns of the Sumter bombardment woke the country from the political nightmare which had so long tormented and paralyzed it. The lion of the North was fully roused. Betrayed, insulted, outraged, the free States arose as with a cry of pain and vengeance. War sermons from pulpits; war speeches in every assemblage; tenders of troops; offers of money; military proclamations and orders in every newspaper; every city radiant with bunting; every village green a mustering ground; war appropriations in every legislature and in every city or town council; war preparations in every public or private workshop; gun casting in the great foundries; cartridge making in the principal towns; camps and drills in the fields; parades, drums, flags, and bayonets in the streets; knitting, bandage rolling, and lint scraping in nearly every household. Before the lapse of
(76) forty-eight hours a Massachusetts regiment, armed and equipped, was on its way to Washington; within the space of a month the energy and intelligence of the country were almost completely turned from the industries of peace to the activities of war. The very children abandoned their old-time school games, and played only at soldiering." "' Ten days ago we had two parties in this State; to-day we have but one, and that one is for the Constitution and the Union unconditionally,' said Iowa. The war spirit rose above all anticipation, and the offer of volunteers went far beyond the call."
"In the Gulf States the revolutionary excitement rose to a similar height, but with contrary sentiment. All Union feeling and utterance vanished; and, overawed by a terrorism which now found its culmination, no one dared breathe a thought or scarcely entertain a hope for the old flag."
The laws of crazes
The laws of crazes may be formulated as follows:
I. The Craze takes Time to develop to its Height. The panic of 1893 began in April and reached its height in August, but socio-psychic phenomena began to manifest themselves only in 1894 in the form of the great sympathetic railway strike, labor riots, and the departure for the national capital of ten bodies of penniless unemployed "commonwealers" to petition Congress for work. The susceptibility of the public continued through 1896, and was responsible for the strong emotional currents in the presidential campaign of that year.
2. The More Extensive its Ravages, the Stronger the Type of Intellect that falls a Prey to It. - In the acute stages of a boom or a revival, even the educated, experienced, and hard-headed succumb. Perhaps no better
(77) instance can be cited than the progress of a Messianic craze among the Jews. In 1666 a Jew named Sabbathai Zevi declared himself publicly as the long-expected Messiah. A maniacal ecstasy took possession of the Jewish mind. Men, women, and children fell into fits of hysterics. Business men left their occupations, workmen their trades, and devoted themselves to prayer and penitence. The synagogues resounded with sighs, cries, and sobs for days and nights together. All the rabbis who opposed the mania had to flee for their lives. The fame of Sabbathai spread throughout the world. In Poland, in Germany, in Holland, and in England, the course of business was interrupted on the Exchange by the gravest Jews breaking off to discuss this wonderful event. In Amsterdam the Jews marched through the streets, carrying with them rolls of the Torah, singing, leaping, and dancing, as if possessed. Scenes still more turbulent and wild occurred in Hamburg, Venice, Leghorn, Avignon, and many other cities. Learned men began to give in their adhesion. Everywhere prophets and prophetesses appeared, thus realizing the Jewish belief in the inspired nature of Messianic times. Men and women, boys and girls, in hysterical convulsions screamed praises to the new Messiah. At last, from all sides rich men came to Sabbathai, putting their wealth at his disposal. Many sold all they possessed and set out for Palestine. Traffic in the greatest commercial centres came to a complete standstill; most of the Jewish merchants and bankers liquidated their affairs. The belief in the divine mission of Sabbathai was made into a religious dogma of equal rank with that of the unity of God.[12]
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3. The Greater its Height, the More Absurd the Propositions that will be believed or the Actions that will be done. - At the zenith of the South Sea craze companies formed "to make deal boards out of sawdust," "for extracting silver from lead," " for a wheel of perpetual motion," " for furnishing funerals to any part of Great Britain," could sell stock. Finally one bold speculator started "a company for carrying on an undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to know what it is!"
4. The Higher the Craze, the Sharper the Reaction from It. - The prostration of a "busted boom" town is so extreme that its unboomed rivals forge ahead of it. The reaction from a purely emotional religious revival often leaves the cause of real religion worse off than it was at first. This perhaps is why experienced churches like the Roman Catholic have no use for revivals.
5. One Craze is frequently succeeded by Another exciting Emotions of a Different Character. -Says Jones: [13] "It is interesting to note that the emotions which have been generated by speculative excitement and intensified by panic depressions have been frequently transferred to religious subjects and have, in the United States at certain times, given rise to remarkable revivals of religion following close upon the heels of panics." " A contemporary account of the extraordinary revival movement of 1857 says: ' It was in October of this year (1857) that Mr. Lamphier, a missionary of the Dutch Reformed Church, thought, in his own heart, that an hour of daily prayer would bring consolation to afflicted business men.' In a few weeks those holding the meetings were astonished to find the crowds growing too large for the buildings. The Method-
(79)-ist Church on John Street and the Dutch Reformed Church on Fulton Street were opened daily. Next, Burton's Theatre was hired, and throughout the winter noonday prayer-meetings were held at numerous places in the city." " Even the firemen and policemen held their prayer-meetings, so that we may feel perfectly assured of the truth of what the writer says when he adds, 'It is doubtful whether under heaven was seen such a sight as went on in the city of New York in the winter and spring of the year 1857-1858.' ' From New York as a centre, the mysterious influence spread abroad till it penetrated all New England in the East, southward as far as Virginia, and even beyond, westward to Buffalo, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis."'
6. A Dynamic Society is more Craze-ridden than One moving along the Ruts of Custom. - In a dynamic society so many readjustments are necessary, such far-reaching transformations are experienced in half a lifetime, that the past is discredited. One forms a habit of breaking habits. Ancestral wisdom, the teachings of social experience are refuted and discarded at so many points that they lose their steadying power. The result is that instead of aping their forefathers, people ape the multitude.
It is a delusion to suppose that one who has broken the yoke of custom is emancipated. The lanes of custom are narrow, the hedge-rows are high, and view to right or left there is none. But there is as much freedom and self-direction in him who trudges along this lane as in the "emancipated" person, who finds himself in the open country free to pick a course of his own, but who, nevertheless, stampedes aimlessly with the herd. A dynamic society may, therefore, foster individuality no more than
(80) a static society. But it does progress, and that, perhaps, ought to reconcile us to the mental epidemics that afflict us.
7.Ethnic or Mental Homogeneity is Favorable to the Craze. - The remarks of Giddings regarding like-minded ness and the crowd apply equally well here. Caste lines break the sweep of the craze. The English are proof against mob mind chiefly because they stand on such different levels. Americans are on a prairie. The English are on terraces. The gentleman, the shopkeeper, or the clerk looks with disdain upon an agitation spreading among workingmen, and instead of feeling drawn by the rush of numbers, is, in fact, repelled. Caste makes a society immune to craze, even if the remedy is worse than the disease.
Theory of the fad
7.Ethnic or Mental Homogeneity is Favorable to the Craze. - The remarks of Giddings regarding like-minded ness and the crowd apply equally well here. Caste lines break the sweep of the craze. The English are proof against mob mind chiefly because they stand on such different levels. Americans are on a prairie. The English are on terraces. The gentleman, the shopkeeper, or the clerk looks with disdain upon an agitation spreading among workingmen, and instead of feeling drawn by the rush of numbers, is, in fact, repelled. Caste makes a society immune to craze, even if the remedy is worse than the disease.
In many cases we can explain vogue entirely in terms
Faddism or progress
(81) of novelty fascination, and mass suggestion. But, even when the new thing can make its way by sheer merit, it does not escape becoming a fad. It still will have its penumbral ring of rapt imitators. So there is something of the fad even in bicycling, motoring, massage, antisepsis, and physical culture. Indeed, it is sometimes hard to distinguish faddism from the enthusiastic welcome and prompt acceptance accorded to a real improvement. For the undiscerning the only touchstone is time. Here, as elsewhere, " Persistence in consciousness" is the test of reality. The mere novelty, soon ceasing to be novel, bores people, and must yield to a fresh sensation; a genuine improvement, on the other hand, meets a real need and therefore lasts.
Why fads flourish nowadays
Unlike the craze, the fad does not spread in a medium especially prepared for it by excitement. It cannot rely on the heightened suggestibility of people. Its conquests, therefore, imply something above mere volume of suggestion. They imply prestige. The fad owes half its power over minds to the prestige that in this age attaches to the new.
SUMMARY
With the new facilities for intercommunication the pressure of suggestion upon the mind of the individual may be greatly intensified.
From the interaction of innumerable minds results a quasi-unit known as " the public." The psychic plane into which the public draws its members is nearer their average than is the plane that forms in the crowd.
In the public the manifestations which most resemble those of the mob are the craze and the fad.
The craze takes time to develop its full power, is followed by a corresponding reaction, and frequently leaves minds susceptible to other types of craze.
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Custom and caste are unfavorable to the craze.
The fad is the sudden brief focussing of general attention and interest upon the new. It occurs only in times or societies in which the new enjoys prestige.
EXERCISES
I. Trace the psychological history of a real estate " boom " in an infant but promising town.
2. Discriminate between open-mindedness and suggestibility.
3. May not a craze bring about a sympathy which may last after the craze has been forgotten? If so, is not the craze a socializing agent?
4. Which presents the greater obstacle to the social sweep of an idea or emotion - cultural difference (religion, education, etc.) or class difference? Why?
5. Why is it that a financial craze may bring in its train a religious craze, whereas the reverse is not true?
6. Compare in susceptibility to craze a hopeful, prosperous people with a hopeless, miserable people.
7. Show that the proverbial individualism of the farmer is not necessarily the same as individuality.
