s. It is, however, true that human beings are of
such a nature that, particularly in early life, they _like_ to do and
_want_ to do what they see others doing. This is one of the most
important aspects of human nature, as we shall see.

=Function and Importance of Imitation in Life.= Natural selection has
developed few aspects of human nature so important for survival as the
tendency to imitate, for this tendency quickly leads to a successful
adjustment of the child to the world in which he lives. Adult men and
women are successfully adjusted to their environment. Their adjustment
might be better, but it is good enough to keep them alive for a time.
Now, if children do as they see their parents doing, they will reach a
satisfactory adjustment. We may, therefore, say that the tendency to
imitate serves to adjust the child to his environment. It is for this
reason that imitation has been called an _adaptive instinct_. It would
perhaps be better to say merely that the _tendency_ to imitate is part
of the _original equipment of man_.

Imitation is distinctively a human trait. While it occurs in lower
animals it is probably not an important factor in adjusting them to
their environment. But in the human race it is one of the chief factors
in adjustment to environment. Imitation is one of the main factors in
education. Usually the quickest way to teach a child to do a thing is to
show him how.

Through imitation we acquire our language, manners, and customs. Ideals,
beliefs, prejudices, attitudes, we take on through imitation. The
tendency to imitate others coupled with the desire to be thought well of
by others is one of the most powerful factors in producing conformity.
They are the whips which keep us within the bounds of custom and
conventionality. The tendency to imitate is so strong that its results
are almost as certain as are those of inherited tendencies. It is almost
as certain that a child will be like his parents in speech, manners,
customs, superstitions, etc., as it is that he will be like them in form
of body. He not only walks and talks and acts like his parents, but he
thinks as they do. We, therefore, have the term _social heredity_,
meaning the taking on of all sorts of social habits and ideals through
imitation.

The part that imitation plays in the education of a child may be learned
by going to a country home and noting how the boy learns to do all the
many things about the farm by imitating his fath