"But if in the most backward state of human society now known to us we find magic thus conspicuously present and religion conspicuously absent, may we not reasonably conjecture that the civilized races of the world have also at some period of their history passed through a similar intellectual phase, that they attempted to force the great powers of nature to do their pleasure before they thought of courting their favor by offerings and prayer—in short that, just as on the material side of human culture there has everywhere been an Age of Stone, so on the intellectual side there has everywhere been an Age of Magic?"
I appreciated this quote quite a lot because it puts the idea that concrete and material items can be more significant that knowledge and belief. What would this world be without a little faith in its players? Would we have gotten to where we are today without the storytellers and the passings-on of tradition? I should think not. The concept that was presented in class yesterday was that 'imitation leads to actualization'. People go through life watching others, listening to others, behaving like others. Entire psychological learning theories are based off these ideas. I'm thinking Social Learning Theory here conceptualized (well, published I guess would be more accurate) by Albert Bandura. He presented the idea that people learned through modeling others. We model parents, peers, celebrities, and yes, even the gods. Bandura conducted a rather famous study about "Bobo" the clown. Bobo was one of those blow-up life-size dolls with sand in its feet so when it was knocked over, it could pop back up to a standing position. (Ill post a photo). Anyways, Bandura sent one group of children into a play room filled with all kinds of building blocks, balls, puzzles, stuffed animals, and of course, Bobo. He observed that the children played with all the toys equally and there was no significant or abnormal behavior occurring. The second group of children were first briefed with a video that displayed children punching and kicking at Bobo. He then sent the kids into the playroom. What he recorded was that the children not only punched and kicked Bobo like the video had displayed, but they even went on to using other toys to attack the clown. This is a very clear example of how people learn from others and that by modeling others behavior can become inherently your own. From here, the behaviors only grow and become more elaborate, eventually getting passed on to others who see and choose to follow your behavior.
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