The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1908-03-27
THESPE|L B|NDERANALYZED
THE MIND OF THE MOB PROBES.
SloNALLY TREATED.
INFLUENCE OVER HIS AUDIENCE
Or. Vincent Of the Chicago University
Advises People to Hold TO the Truth
as They See II, and Not Yield to the
Influence OF the Speaker.

influence OF the speaker.
Visiting statesmen who come to Nor.
folk this summer and fall on various
campaigns Of education will be greet.
ed with more critical and more sus-
picious audiences than waxed into en-
thusiasm in 1896 and 1900 and 1904.
Norfolk people who were at the Audi.
forum Monday evening were educated
in the arts and devices of the spell
binder" by DR.. George L. Vincent,
whose lecture on "The Mind of the
Mob" was given as the last number
of the high school lecture course.
DR.. Vincent closed his lecture with
plea for men and women who hold
to the truth as they see it, who are
loyal to their conscience, who are not
drawn into irrational movement"
who do not borrow all their ideas from
the few people who do the thinking
for their community. He said that
civilization was not swept on by
waves Of sentiment but that it was
advanced by slower and more sub
| stantial methods.
Sociological psychologists, Dr. Vim
cent said, had found a close analogy
between the mind of the mob and the
crowd and the individual mind under
certain conditions; also that The lead
er or spellbinder gains ascendancy
over the mob or crowd by exactly the
same methods used in hypnotising the
individual through the various stages
of concentration of attention, loss of
the sense of personality, loss of the
critical or hard-headed attitude, and
the final or suggestionable stage.
THE spellbinder and the brass band
are inseparable," said DR.. Vincent,
and crowds must be turned away If
only in the morning papers. In the
hall there must be just enough air to
keep the audience awake but not
enough to make it reflective. There
must be the pictures to point to and
'old glory" calling up visions of Wash
ington crossing the Delaware and 9th
er exploits dear to the school books
emotional fireworks.
THE spellbinder must know his au-
dience. Before he steps upon this
Auditorium stage he has inquired of
the local chairman the local church
coloring, the various elements of the
population, the local industries, the
jokes on the local opposition. Then
Of hoc
edge for a number of minutes he
steps upon the stage with the chair
man.
HE first puts out feelers, the witty
feeler and the humorous feeler. He
tries the witty feeler and if the audi
ence is responsive he realizes that he
has sharp-minded folks to deal with
and is careful. But if the people, as
Aid says, come in by freight .on the
witty feeler he knows that they will
take on the feeler and that he has ar
| audience of good sound American cit
. liens after his own heart.
His illusions and jokes are al
. familiar, made by wholesale for PEG
. pie who consume by wholesale. HI
\ is never dry but is always the word
f painter He flatters the audience anC
. gets them to think that they are reall!
;, doing the thinking that he is doing TO
2 them. You can see that it follows
: from the premises that the spell
\ binder says, and though the Grove
! may see it you may be quite sure tina
it does not follow from the premise
|. even if there are any premises to fol
e low from.
n There are three ways to dispose o
o the man with the pointed question
e Get the laugh on him. Pass mis- ques
Il ton on till later and then dodge ii
n Or have the fellow 'chucked out
t THE spellbinder fuses his audienc
n together by the rapidity of his utter
4 ance. He first wins their favor. H
s makes his points early. Then ham
mers them down with flight after fiigh
e of oratory. His conference all the tim
I is verbal, not logical. His voice i
r resonant but monotonous. He turn
more and more to emotionalism as h
= feels his control over the audience"
q DR. Vincent himself had thoroug
~ control over the arts of the lectur
o. platform and the lecture was yer
q much appreciated. Being a lectur
c the attendance was of course onl
n fair DR.. Vincent is a University O
n Chicago professor and the lecture
# while presented in a popular way, wa
n at the same time of a higher orde
% than the usual public lecture.
DR.. Vincent remained in Norfol
\. Tuesday and in the afternoon az
dressed the high school students.
c A Deficit in Finances.
A deficit of $115 faces the cOmmitte
q in charge of the high school lectur
N course. The course closed with d
n. Vincent's lecture of Monday evening
The deficit will fall on about fit
" Norfolk men who guaranteed the
nancial success of the course by agree
II ing 10 make up any shortage. Las
year the deficit amounted to only
-, few dollars The future of the cOurs