An introduction to social psychology.

Abstract

Ross and McDougall were in alignment in their view of the suggestion process as variable across individuals and groups, with McDougall perhaps going further than Ross.Suggestibility, he stated, varies "not only according to the topic and according to the source from which the proposition is communicated, but also with the condition of the subject's brain from hour to hour."The major factors he identified as modifiers of the suggestive process also became frequently cited and often studied subjects in experimental research over the following years.They included, again, source "prestige" or credibility (an impulse of McDougall's "submissive instinct"), along with "deficiency of knowledge or conviction" and personal character or "native disposition."With respect to imitation, he joined Baldwin and Ross to propose that the term be used to describe the "effect" component in the process of suggestion.On the other hand, he went to some length to explain why both James and Baldwin were badly mistaken in their claims that imitation was a basic instinct.There was too much variety in imitative action and "no common affective state and no common impulse seeking satisfaction" in imitation sufficient to satisfy McDougall's definition of instinct.