Page:American Journal of Psychology Volume 21.djvu/12

2 and certainly a more academic response to such a query as the above would be to ask in turn "what kind of imitation do you want to know about?" With such a way of acting, or of getting things done, as that of imitative functioning which is felt to occupy such a large place in both animal and human mental development there are very probably different stages or levels. Indeed, these stages may be so well marked as almost to demand the assertion that there is imitation of different kinds. Without, however, maintaining that the results which we have obtained in our study of birds require us to go quite so far, it is hoped that the present and later papers will afford ample proof of the fact that in learning an action through imitation many species of birds do not imitate in the same way as human adult.

No student at all in touch with recent tendencies and problems in Psychology or in the study of Animal Behavior can question for a moment the possible practical value of a study of imitation in animals. The work of the student of animals will certainly be found to be valuable for the Experimental Pedagogy of which we hear so much at present. Not so much that direct application of conclusions will be possible as that methods and conditions of experimentation which one must perforce use with animals in order to determine accurately just the factors involved will be found at least of suggestive value to the student of Child Psychology, Experimental Pedagogy, and, most of all, Social Psychology. For some years the writer has found the principle of "trial and success" or "trial and error," as it is most commonly called, one of the most fruitful with classes in Social Psychology. It is the critical use of this and the results obtained by students of Animal Behavior, particularly on Instincts and Imitation, which constitutes one of the excellent points of that recent book by Davis on Psychological Interpretations of Society.

The following may serve to indicate further the writer's feelings as to the probable bearings of the present studies of imitation in animals: Professor Royce, in "The Imitative Functions and their Place in Human Nature," Century Magazine, 1894, says, "As regards the uses and the results of the imitative functions in human life, the foregoing general indication of their breadth and depth is only the merest beginning of a comprehension of the part they play in our education and