New-York tribune., 1908-07-04

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY. An Outline ana source
Book By Edward Alsworth Ross. svo, PIP.
372. The Macmillan Company
The best abused man among the academies
has long beer the sociologst, and he has
earned curses by his own hard labor. TWO
heavy charges have been repeatedly lodged
against him: he deals in vague, useless gen
eralfties and his fiinasy teachings corrupt the
youth of our land Does he not resolve all the
institutions and ideals of civilization into mere
manifestations of the psychological laws OF
suggestion. impulse and habit? And in doing
this does he not breed. in the student mind,
saucv contempt for the Constitution, the Church
and the courts? Those who hold this opinion
will doubtless be greatly strengthened in 1t
after reading Professor Ross's latest volume
Social psychology, the study of the psychic
planes and currents that come into existence
among men in consequence of their assocla'loh'
must sorey vex every thoroughgoing conserva-
tive if only because it renorselessly lays pare
the origins and transient nature of many Things
which men hold dear and cherish as eternal
+r,,+be Pit however much the conservative
may disapprove, he cannot accuse professor
Ross of having committed the sociologist's orig
insl sin-da billing. The present volume marks
off for itself a very definite field Of research
and ecours the circumscribed in the most
scientific manner Specifically inspected 1t
seems TO depart little. If at ALL from the stand
ard set by many popular sociologists who love
TO tell stories about mob hysteria- fashions
,or,,en+ionaltties. etc But Professor Ross has
oocor,nushed more than this easy task. He
has accumulated a mass of facts culled from
personal experiences and the grubbings OF MS
torians anthropologists and psychologists he
bos ordered these facts so to make them
noint toward definite system Of fairly precise
mental laws worthy of comparison with Gabriel
Tarde.s famous laws of imitation. Finally, he
has stated these general principles in precise
sur,r,a ries at the close Of each chapter
While this is the pioneer treatise, IN any
language. processing to deal systematically with
the subject Of social psychology, there are very
few novelties, either of fact or of theory IN IL
This must be charged up to Professor koss
credit: dealing with facts, he has brought To-
eetber a horde of things about which all OF Us
have read from time TO time in the newspapers
and his generalizations usually nave a most
familiar ring. The following taken HUM iA'
bic summaries, are typical:
suggestibility seems quite as pronounoeo 8"io"s
nature men among culture men, ei h,,i,d IN
Experience and reflection IN 10 'tee i'm own up
se1 ~5n 1be normal mental indirect suggestion
gef1ionb 4be n dense throng individuality Wits and
droops 40. s.,,e tho deIIberative assem-
bly, IRON t5e interaction Of innumerable minds re-
suits aqasunit kn9Wp as t5 tne psbe draws its
members is nearer their average than is the pldie
that forms in the crowd ,, o.. &c ,,,ll
The craze takes time to develop 10 naction t.s oi
mower is followed by a corresponding
and frequently leaves minds susceptible TO other
types of craze -. .don,ad
The judgments Of the leisure class are aG0PPSgu PPoT
bv the classes below them as superior ano authof-
itative. 49,. - ,,d
borrow from them standards which mlsiead theih
as their true line of effort 49,
Women, instead Of finding for themselves llie
right adjus tment 10 life. follow male OPINION as
10 what : proper and womanly
Personal ideals circulate more quickly than ce-
liefs For this reason needs the censor more
than science philosophy
The form of institutions lasts Wne:ehs
the spirit and purpose change easily
The undue prestige of a metropolis may oppress
and dwarf local life a..
society may be democratic without repudiat-
,nr TIC leadership of the genuine elite
s rapid and wide departure from the customary
and familiar produces in many distress sense
# elf-aiienation.
The proverblal energy and prosperity os new