IMITATION. Imitation is the process of reproducing by one's own act the observed ac tions of others. Its beginnings lie therefore in perception. It is the result of a desire to change from the role of spectator. to that of actor. Imitation may be of two kinds (1), a primitive and (2) a developed form. The primitive form is an unconscious copying of some object of perception; and is simply a re action in response to the outer stimulus w,hich excites it. The best example of this kind of imitation is to be found in the sounds which a baby is wont to repeat when it has once heard them. It is a peculiar characteristic of the primitive imitation that the sound, for instance, when once imitated becomes in turn a new stimulus to start the process over again, the re sult being that the imitated sound is repeated rapidly again and again until the organs are wearied. or the attention is diverted. The ex ercise is evidently found to be pleasurable, and is therefore continued indefinitely. Mr. Bald win has given the name reaction)) to this kind of self-perpetuating process. The name also of asuggestive imitation)) has been given to this class of acts which appear imita tive to an observer, but are not consciously felt to be so by the imitator. .
The second form of imitation is more com plex, and marks a more developed stage of -con sciousness. The imitation has now become a conscious act. The object perceived has aroused some degree of interest, and there is• conse quently a conscious effort to reproduce it with the original set before one as a model. In imitation which is of this form, we find the process intimately connected with the attention. In attention there is always a conscious striving for a more accurate knowledge of the object of perception, and imitation serves to gratify this desire, inasmuch as one comes to closer quarters as it were with any act when one tries to reproduce it. Knowledge of it comes then from the inside. This means a concen tration of attention, and a consequent result of more definite and satisfying knowledge. More over, attention will vary as the interest, for that which one attempts to do himself is always far more interesting than merely that which is observed.
In the development of consciousness imita tion as a social factor plays a most conspicuous part. Through it a child acquires all of its social tendencies, and becomes a part of the social organism in which it is to live and move and have its being. Its education starts with the first rudimentary efforts at imitation; and is carried on from this initial stage to the very highest and most advanced forms in constant dependence upon the imitative tendencies. Through imitation the knowledge of one gen eration is acqtzired by the succeeding and a continuity in development is assured which makes for the progress of the race.
In this connection it is to be noted, how ever, that with the imitative impulse there are two other tendencies which have free play and a wide scope. These tendencies must be reck oned with also. They are the tendency to social opposition, and the tendency to inventive ness. The tendency to social opposition is a desire for self-assertion, an impulse primarily to do something different from that which others are merely from a feeling of native opposition. This impulse is seen in very
young children, and remains throughout life. It is often recognized as unreasonable, but nevertheless irresistible. It is a fertile source of the differences of opinion which so early develop in childhood. It prevents a slavish imitation and the loss of initiative in action. However in order to act in a manner which differs radically from one's social environment, there is implied a preliminary training of an imitative sort; for there must be a basis of common activity in order that a departure from the accepted mode may have any significance, and there must be also a body of common beliefs, in order that there may be any such thing as real difference of opinion. The other tendency is a more pronounced and a more definite form of opposition to imitation; it is the tendency to inventiveness, not for the sake of opposition, nor as the result of an in evitable clash of opinion in one's social setting, but for the sake of producing that which is suggested from within, and not from without. It is the working out of one's own individual ity without waiting for a copy or model. It is a shifting of the centre of interest from some object which is perceived, to some object of the inner sense, a fancy born within the brain, an idea which has its origin in the depths of one's own consciousness. This tendency is seen even in early acts of imitation, a tendency to depart from the copy, to introduce variations of design, to improve upon the model.
Here again in order that there may be in creased power of independent production, there must be a previous schooling in the art of exact imitation. The original artist is not one who has never copied' from a model nor studied the works of the masters. It is the interplay of the imitative impulse with the tendencies to so cial opposition and to inventiveness which make progress possible. Progress is not repetition nor is it on the other hand activity which swings clear of any past. Where there is prog ress there is imitation, but the kind of imitation which allows full range for inventive, play and independent opinion.
There is a special form of imitation which appears on a large scale in the so-called mob impulse, where individuality seems merged in the tendencies of the mass, and imitation is in the nature of a reaction. The individual is swept along with the crowd, not because he wills it necessarily, but because the action of the crowd carries him away as with a flood. This kind of imitation has been given the name of "plastic imitation." Much study has been devoted of recent years to the relation of imi tative impulses in animals to congenital ten dencies. The instinctive furnishes a strong pre disposition to imitation, and in many of the early activities of animals it is most difficult to draw a line of distinction between instinct and imitation. See IMITATION IN ANIMALS; MIMICRY IN NATURE.
Consult Bagehot, 'Physics and Politics> (New York 1873) • Bain, A. 'Senses and In tellect) (London 1488); Baldwin, 'Mental De velopment in the Child and in the Race> (New York 1906) ; Bosanquet, B., 'History of Anesthetic) (New York 1892) ; Frazer, 'The Golden Bough> (London 1911) • McDougall, 'Social Psychology> (London 1408) Wundt, W., (Leipzig 1900).