4. The substitution of another and better example for the one
imitated.
The first and second of these four methods are two degrees and modes of
the general means of opposition. They are sometimes effective, and they
are sometimes necessary and wise. If a very great evil is going on, for
instance, it is fully justifiable to use any means to stop it, before
its harmful effects cause too great suffering and injustice. If a
teacher finds a bully imposing on a small child, even although he may
know that a good example to the bully is the means for his ultimate
conversion to kindness and justice, he should stop the bullying first by
the best means at hand, and afterward set about the character conversion
of the bully.
Moreover, with very young children, in whom habitforming is largely a
matter of pleasure and pain in the reactions of their deeds, punishment
that is swift, sure and wise should follow the imitation of a bad act
after its evil nature has been made clear. With older children, however,
who have passed this early stage, the third and fourth means are usually
more effective. Common sense, supplemented by a fair knowledge of child
nature and the rudiments of psychology, will dictate where one set of
methods ends and the higher set, which trusts more to the child’s
developing judgment, begins.
Imitation begins, as has been said, in infancy. Its forms will be found
to belong to one or another of the following types:
[Sidenote: Types of Imitation]
1. Imitation of commonly observed acts, such as shaking hands, eating
with a spoon, making faces.
2. Imitation of a strong personality, or of strong mannerisms in any
personality, which catch attention and command admiration or
disapproval.
3. Imitation of an imaged ideal, brought to the imitator through
fiction, vivid history instruction, seeing a play, etc.
4. Imitation which is unconscious, usually under stress of high
emotion—mob action.
Of course the most common of these types of imitation is that of the
common customs of the people who surround the young child. Otherwise it
would mean little to a child to be born into a family in which gentle
manners and kind deeds set a daily example fit to be followed closely.
The manners of most children are those of their homes; only with a
certain degree of maturity will they see the manners of other homes and
elect to imitate them instead. Next in importance to this imitation of
the social example, is that of some strong personality.
This imitation usually comes through admiration, although most people
will also recall the disgust with which they have realized that they
have unconsciously imitated some mannerism of an acquaintance, of which
they heartily disapproved. This shows that it is not necessary to admire
an act in order to repeat it. It is necessary only that the act make a
vivid impression on one, an impression which may be received by some
persons just as readily through strong repugnance as through strong
liking. Twists in pronunciation are thus imitated in spite of one’s
dislike of them, as an involuntary tribute to the strength of the
impression made upon the hearer.
Another strong stimulus to imitation is the desire for the praise of
others. John wins father’s enthusiastic praise for the thorough way in
which he cleaned the motor-car, and his brother Carl cleans it the next
time it is muddy, not because he likes the work but because he wants to
be praised also. Winnie makes a face at the teacher and wins the praise
of her schoolmates in the shape of an approving laugh, and Jennie
imitates her at the first opportunity in the hope of winning a laugh
also. That is one reason why successful people are so much imitated; in
addition to what comes to them through the admiration of the crowd,
there are many who hope to win similar rewards through similar efforts.
And then there are those who imitate others because they want to surpass
them at their own game. This is emulation, usually classed as a distinct
instinct by psychologists, and yet so closely related to imitation that
the same general principles of treatment apply to both.
Faults which have been learned by imitation can rarely if ever be cured
by didactic instruction. They have been learned in a far more vivid way,
and their unlearning is best accomplished through the substitution of
other habits, imitated from some attractive and vivid model. If the
process of substitution can be made a pleasant one, the work goes
faster. In general, the dramatizing of the proposed new order of things
is the surest and quickest way of teaching it, with children who are
young enough for this method. Merely to condemn old habits, without
suggesting a new and better way, is usually pure waste of time.
(1) _Mimicry._ “The young child imitates mainly the simpler bodily
attitudes and vocal and facial expressions of those with whom he is in
vital contact. As he develops he imitates ever more complex activities
of a social, political, ethical, æsthetic and industrial character. In
the beginning it is the doing of an act, not the results thereof, that
interests the individual; the reverse is usually true in maturity.”[2]
Not infrequently, however, does the child fail to distinguish between
the act that is suitable to imitate and that which is not. Like every
other instinct, although of great value to the individual when properly
directed, yet if not guided into legitimate channels, it becomes often a
source of great annoyance.
Footnote 2:
O’Shea, Social Development and Education, p. 422. Houghton, Mifflin.