Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-09-13
THE SUGGESTIBLE
BY L. Addingt0n Bruce
Dy II. NUuHIgIJH BTUCE
VIZ HILE it is true that everybody is sug-
w gestible, as psychologists have long
' insisted it BY no means follows that

w gestible, as psychologists have long
insisted, it by no means follows that
the suggestibility of everybody is the same.
On the contrary, people vary most extraordi-
narily in their responsiveness to ideas sug-
gested to them by what they read see, or
hear.
They vary according to race, sex, age, bod
lily condition, and, more especially, mental
development.
The weaker the native mental capacity the
greater the suggestibility. A feebe-minded
person is invariably more suggestible than
one of strong mentality.
This has the practical consequence that
the feeble-minded should as much as possible
be guarded from evil suggestions. If the
feeble-minded often commit offenses against
society, the fault is not theirs so much as it
is that of a society which tOlerates in its
environment and their conditions of harmful
suggeStiVeneSs.
Suggestibilty, again, varies not only ac-
cording to the degree Of Unborn intelligence,
but also according to the degree Of educa-
ton.
The rule is that uneducated or semi-edu-
Gated persons are more suggestible than per-
sons who have received really good edu-
cation.
That this should be the rule Is not sur
prising, in view of the nature Of suggestion
Psychologically suggestion may be defined as
the presenting to the mind of ideas which,
being uncrtiCally accepted, realize them
selves in action.
Manifestly, the better educated a person
is the less likely will he be, other things be-
ing equal, to accept ideas uncritically. For
his education will have qualified and stimu-
lated him to reflect and to criticize, and he
will tend to raise objections as an unedu
Gated person would not.
Likewise for a similar reason, persons Of
a wide range of experiences are usually less
c11p WI o.
range is narrow. In large part, at any rate,
these Two facts Of the influence of education
and the influence of experience account for
the greater suggestibility of women as com
pared with the suggestibility Of men.
AS one psychologist has noted in this con-
nection:
ct is not a question of the comparative
mental ability Of men and women, but of the
comparative range Of their experience and
interests; and from the origin Of society
women have been confined with much mar
rover and more monotOnous circle Of life.
Always and everywhere persons so situated
are readily influenced by means Of sug
gestion."
This observation is less likely to hold true
in the future, with increasing education
Of women and their increasing participation
in activities formerly monoDoized by men.
AS a result a Iessening Of their suggestibility
may be expected.
SO, too, because their critical faculty still
is undeveloped, children always are more
suggestible than adults. This truth, still in
sufficiently appreciated by many parents, is
potent for veal or woe according to the kind
Of environment given children.
Finally, the influence Of bodily conditions
has to be reckOned with.
Anything that interferes with vigorous
functiOning Of the mind means heightening
Of the suggestibility. Hence the fatigued
tend to be more suggestibe than the phys
ically fresh and the sick to be more sug
gestibe than the we'll
Failure to take this into account has again
and again brought dire trouble especially in
the case Of sick persons given Unfavorable
suggestions by relatives and friends even by
nurses and physicians.
Copyright, 1920