rse
of development every variational tendency in mothers to dote on
their children was rewarded by the survival of these children, and
the consequent survival of the stock, owing to better nutrition,
protection, and training. Of course, this inherited interest in
children is shared by the males of the group also, though not in the
same degree, and there is reason to believe also that the interest of
the male parent in children is acquired in a great degree indirectly
and socially through his more potent desire to associate with the
mother.

This interest and providence on the score of offspring has also a
characteristic expression on the mental side. All sense-perceptions
are colored and all judgments biased where the child is in question,
and affection for it extends to the particular marks which distinguish
it. Not only its physical features, but its dress and little shoes,
its toys and everything it has touched take on a peculiar aspect.

On the organic side, therefore, there is developed a tendency, both in
connection with reactions to stimulations in general and in connection
with reproductive life in particular, to seize on particular aspects
and to be obsessed by them to the exclusion or disparagement of other
aspects. The feelings of love and hate, and the broader feelings of
race-prejudice and patriotism are consequently based first of all in
the instincts.

Perhaps the most particular and interesting expression of the general
fact of susceptibility is seen in the sensitiveness of man to the
opinion in which he is held by others. Social life in every stage of
society is characterized by an eagerness to make a striking effect.
A bare reference to the ethnological facts in this connection will
suffice: The Kite Indians have a society of young men so brave and so
ostentatious of their bravery that they will not fight from cover nor
turn aside to avoid running into an ambuscade or a hole in the ice.
The African has the privilege of cutting a gash six inches long in
his thigh for every man he has killed. The Melanesian who is planning
revenge sets up a stick or stone where it can be seen; he refuses to
eat, and stays away from the dance; he sits silent in the council and
answers questions by whistling and by other signs draws attention to
himself and has it understood that he is a brave and dangerous man,
and that he is biding his time.[162]

This bidding for the good opinion of others has plainly a connection