The effectiveness of praise and blame in determining action
depends also on the explicitness with which they are expressed.
In contemporary life the control of public opinion
is made precarious because there is so rarely complete or
palpable unanimity on any subject among the variety of groups
that constitute a modern society. In a large city there are so
many groups, so many sets of opinion, that an individual may
not feel any great pressure of praise and blame except from the
small circle of people with whom he is associated. In small
communities action is restrained by the fear of ostracism or
contempt of the whole group among whom one is living. But
in large cities, where one may not be known by one's next-door
neighbor, this restraint is much reduced. The temptations
of a metropolis, so often referred to in the lurid literature
of the day, consist not in temptations more numerous than or
different from those in smaller places, but in the marked
absence of social control as compared with small villages where
every one knows everyone else's business.

The influence of the social estimate on individual conduct
depends finally on individual differences in suggestibility.
In normal individuals susceptibility to the praise and blame
of others is very high, especially among the close circle of
friends, professional and business associates among whom one
moves. This susceptibility is heightened when the praise or
blame comes from persons superior in social status, though
here the element of fear of the consequences of displeasing is
perhaps more important than the responsiveness to the praise
and blame itself. To the praise and blame of close associates
most men are also highly suggestible, not less so when there
is equality in social status. "Birds of a feather flock together,"
but humans tend to _become_ similar _because_ they flock together.
There are few men who can withstand the pressure of doing
what their group approves, and refraining from doing what it
disapproves.

In some men susceptibility to the attitudes of others is
extremely low, and of such are both criminals and martyrs
made. In the prisons of this country there are a large number
of men absolutely indifferent to the usual social standards,
completely undeterred by the codes of conduct by which
other people cannot help but be governed. Such absolute
callousness to the feelings which govern the majority of
mankind as we read of every now and then in