FOLK-PSYCHOLOGY. A branch of anthro pology devoted to studying the psychology of races and peoples. It must not be confounded with folk-lore, which studies survivals; but it is akin to ethnology. It is the application of the processes and methods of the modern physio logical psychologists to races, peoples, social classes, sexes, professions, sects, as such, aided by the most refined apparatus, with a view of tracing activities in common, ceremonies, and institutions to their origin. Besides the data acquired by these means, it avails itself also of facts gathered through somatic anthropology, ethnology in all its branches, archeology, and folk-lore.
Psychologists, among them Wundt and Bald win, and moralists, as, for example, Felix Adler, hold that the mental development of the indi vidual is best fostered by a knowledge of the mind of the race. Skull form, brain weight, and brain form arc not alone sufficient to determine the action of the individual nor the attitude of society toward him. As a rule, the insane and the geniuses have large brains, while idiots have small brains. But men of ordinary intellience have had as large brains as geniuses, while it has been discovered that the brains of men of great ability have been in many cases hut little larger than those of idiots. So while it is approximately true that power is in proportion to muscular mass, it is not necessarily true that hrain power is in proportion to nerve mass. A different principle of metabolism applies to the nerves from that holds with respect to muscles. As to the significance of brain form, the results of Lombroso's measurements of criminals are the best evidence. cranial measurements of normal people taken by Baer reveal exactly the same characteristics as pre vailed among the criminals measured by Loin broso. The fact is that. cosmie and terrestrial environment. as a whole and in minute details. has in the ereation and development of civilization. Especially in the lower races, who have not learned to artiticialize their sill roundings, the skin and the stomach are joined with the brain in bringing about, guiding, gang ing, and giving tone and tint to all mental proc esses.
Folk-psyehology considers the habitat and food conditions of a people, its somatology, sex, technology, :esthetics, .jurisprudence. :Ind pathol ogy. Nearly all the life processes are reducible to the stimuli for food and sex. Necessity deter mined association and made man social. In ex tremes of heat and cold life is possible at a great disadvantage. Of necessity, the highest civiliza
tions began in warm climates, and with the :mil i ficial means of controlling temperature, they ad vanced to colder climates. The natural races are in bondage to nature, but where the environment is favorable they make themselves less dependent upon it and to develop culture. Where large populations can he supported, eobperative life is necessary, and consequently people are more social than where population is sparse. In the struggle to secure food cunning is developed. Where the conditions are difficult, habits of industry are de veloped. and when a better control over environ ment is secured the energy set free is expended in the satisfaction of higher wants. Production is thus a fundamental process. Southern raves are more hospitable than northern races because the food-supply is more abundant. Climate exercises a great influence on the thinking processes, and in this way affects civilization favorably or un favorably. This influence is again seen in the greater number of eases of insanity in May and July, when the climatic changes are most sudden.
Marriage, the outgrowth of the sexual instMet. is the more or less permanent relation of the male and female. As it is determined by the necessity for the cooperation of the parents in the care of the offspring, marriage is grounded in the family, and not the family in marriage. The family has been a growth from very feeble and uncertain beginnings. The forms of marriage at different periods of race development have been shaped almost entirely by economic conditions. Man represented the militant and woman the in dustrial type of organization. Alan's work was destructive, while woman's preserved the food supply. Alan's work made him radical, while woman's work made her conservative. Man's work fitted him for great bursts of endurance, while woman's work made her capable of steady endurance. From origins such as these, and from their course of development, the folk-psychologist endeavors to explain race and individual psychology, and in this way to account for the factors which operate even in the complexity of modern civilization. Consult : Emin Effendi. Kultur und Rumanitat (Vienna. 1897) Wundt, Pilkerpsychologic ion! Sprachgcschichtc 1900—) and espeeially the Zeitsch•ift fur kerpsychologic vnd Simtchgrschichte, edited by Lazarus and Steintbal (Berlin, 1800-1890). and its continuation. the Zeitsehrif t des rercins fur rolkskunde, edited by Weinhold (ib., 1891 et seq.).