Page:The Source and Aim of Human Progress.djvu/28

24 may say that the individual self grows and expands with the increase of variety and intensity of its voluntary activity; and conversely, the life of the individual self sinks, shrinks with the decrease of variety and intensity of voluntary movements.' Here, perhaps, is the reason why individuality is so wilted in a dense throng." .  .  . "A crowd self will not arise unless there is an orientation (fixation) of attention, expectancy, narrowing of the field of consciousness that excludes disturbing impressions."

"With the growing fascination of the mass for the individual, his consciousness contracts to the pin point of the immediate moment, and the volume of suggestion needed to start on its conquering career becomes less and less. He becomes automatic, in a way unconscious. The end is a tranced impressionable condition akin to hypnosis. .  .  . The crowd self is ephemeral.  .  .  . The crowd is unstable.  .  .  . The crowd self is credulous .  .  . Rational analysis and test are out of the question. The faculties we doubt with are asleep .  .  . The crowd self is irrational  .  .  . His (man in the crowd) actions are near to reflexes .  .  . The crowd self shows simplicity .  .  .  Finally, the crowd self is immoral.  .  .  ."

Similarly Professor Giddings of Columbia University refers to these laws and their corollaries in his Sociology: "There are three of these laws" Professor Giddings writes in his work "that may be regarded as demonstrated: "Impulsive, social action is commenced by those social elements that are least self-controlled." .  ..

"The Law of Restraint of impulsive social action is: Impulsive social action varies with the habit of attaining ends by indirect, or complex means." In other words, impulsive social action varies with the attainment of ends by rational means, free from impulsive, emotional excitement, characteristic of the reflex, automatic consciousness or subconsciousness.

"The Law of extent and intensity of social action is: Impulsive social action tends to extend and to intensify in geometrical progression." This is my Law of Logarithmic relation of social mass and it energy.

I may add another important factor in Social Psychology, a factor revealed by my researches in the pathology of the human mind.

The disaggregation of social consciousness predisposes to the arousal of one of the most fundamental of impulses and instincts,—the impulse of self-preservation with its accompanying fear instinct. The subconscious is specially affected by self and fear suggestions,