was the first serious account of the nature of the role of
imitation in social life. Gabriel Tarde, a French magistrate, becoming
interested in imitation as an explanation of the behavior of criminals,
undertook an extensive observation of its effects in the entire field of
human activities. In his book _Laws of Imitation_, published in 1890, he
made imitation synonymous with all intermental activity. "I have always
given it (imitation) a very precise and characteristic meaning, that of
the action at a distance of one mind upon another.... By imitation I
mean every impression of interpsychical photography, so to speak, willed
or not willed, passive or active."[155] "The unvarying characteristic of
every social fact whatsoever is that it is imitative, and this
characteristic belongs exclusively to social facts."[156]

In this unwarranted extension of the concept of imitation Tarde
undeniably had committed the unpardonable sin of science, i.e., he
substituted for the careful study and patient observation of imitative
behavior, easy and glittering generalizations upon uniformities in
society. Contributions to an understanding of the actual process of
imitation came from psychologists. Baldwin brought forward the concept
of circular reaction to explain the interrelation of stimulus and
response in imitation. He also indicated the place of imitation in
personal development in his description of the dialectic of personal
growth where the self develops in a process of give-and-take with other
selves. Dewey, Stout, Mead, Henderson, and others, emphasizing the
futility of the mystical explanation of imitation by imitation, have
pointed out the influence of interest and attention upon imitation as a
learning process. Mead, with keen analysis of the social situation,
interprets imitation as the process by which the person practices roles
in social life. The studies of Thorndike may be mentioned as
representative of the important experimental research upon this subject.

4. Suggestion

The reflective study of imitation originated in attempts at the
explanation of uniformities in the behavior of individuals. Research in
suggestion began in the narrow but mysterious field of the occult. In
1765 Mesmer secured widespread attention by advancing the theory that
heavenly bodies influence human beings by means of a subtle fluid which
he called "animal magnetism." Abbe Faria, who came to Paris from India
in 1814-15, demonstrated by exp