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IMITATION (Lat. imitatio, from intita...
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See also:IMITATION (See also:Lat. imitatio, from intitari, to imitate) , the See also:reproduction or repetition of an See also:action or thought as observed in another See also:person or in oneself, or the construction of one See also:object in the likeness of another. By some writers (e.g. Preyer and See also:Lloyd See also:Morgan) the See also:term " imitation " is limited to cases in which one person copies the action or thought of another; others have preferred a wider use of the term (i.e. including " self-imitation "), and have attempted to classify imitative action into various groupings, e.g. as cases of "conscious imitation," "imitative See also:suggestion," " plastic imitation" (as when the members of a See also:crowd sub-consciously reproduce one another's modes of thought and action), and the like. The See also:main distinction is that which takes into See also:account the question of See also:attention (q.v.) . In conscious imitation, the attention is fixed on the See also:act and its reproduction: in unconscious imitation the reproduction is entirely See also:mechanical and the See also:agent does not "attend" to the action or thought which he is copying: in subconscious imitation the action is not deliberate, though the necessary See also:train of thought would immediately follow if the attention were turned upon it under normal conditions. Imitation plays an extremely important See also:part in human and See also:animal development, and a clear understanding of its See also:character is important both for the study of See also:primitive peoples, and also in the theories of See also:education, See also:art and See also:sociology. The See also:child's See also:early development is in large measure imitative: thus the first articulate sounds and the first movements are mainly reproductions of the words and actions of parents, and even in the later stages that teacher is likely to achieve the best results who himself gives examples of how a word should be pronounced or an action done. The impulse to imitate is, however, not confined to See also:children: there is among the See also:majority of adults a tendency to assimilate themselves either to their society or to those whom they especially admire or respect: this tendency to shun the See also:eccentric is rooted deeply in human See also:psychology. Moreover, even among highly See also:developed persons the imitative impulse frequently overrides the See also:reason, as when an See also:audience, a crowd, or even practically a whole community is carried away by a panic for which no adequate ground has been given, or when a cough or a yawn is imitated by a See also:company of See also:people. Such cases may be comparedwith those of persons in mesmeric trances who mechanically copy a See also:series of movements made by the mesmerist. The universality of the imitative impulse has led many psychologists to regard it as an See also:instinct (so See also: INSTINCT), and in that large class of imitative actions which have no obvious ulterior purpose the impulse certainly appears to be instinctive in character. On the other See also:hand where the imitator recognizes the particular effect of a See also:process and imitates with the deliberate intention of producing the same effect, his action can scarcely be classed as instinctive. A considerable number of psychologists have distinguished imitative from instinctive actions (e.g. See also:Baldwin, and See also:Sully). According to See also:Darwin the imitative impulse begins in infants at the See also:age of four months. It is to be noted, however, that the child imitates, not every action indiscriminately, but especially those towards which it has a congenital tendency. The same is true of animals: though different kinds of animals may live in See also:close proximity, the See also:young of each See also:kind imitate primarily the actions of their own parents. Among primitive See also:man imitation plays a very important part. The See also:savage believes that he can bring about events by imitating them. He makes, for instance, an See also:image of his enemy and pierces it with darts or See also:burns it, believing that by so doing he will cause his enemy's See also:death: similarly sailors would See also:whistle, or farmers would pour See also:water on the ground, in the See also:hope of producing See also:wind or See also:rain. This See also:form of imitation is known as sympathetic magic (see MAGIC). The sociological importance of imitation is elaborately investigated by See also:Gabriel See also:Tarde (See also:Les Lois de l'inaitation, 2nd ed., 1895), who bases all social See also:evolution on the imitative impulse. He distinguishes " See also:custom imitations," i.e. imitations of See also:ancient or even forgotten actions, and " mode imitations," i.e. imitations of current fashions. New discoveries are, in his See also:scheme, the product of the conflict of imitations. This theory, though of See also:great value, seems to neglect See also:original natural similarities which, by the See also:law of See also:causation, produce similar consequences, where.imitation is geographically or chronologically impossible. The term " imitation " has also the following See also:special uses: I. In Art-theory.—According to See also:Plato all See also:artistic See also:production is a form of imitation (µiµrlcts). That which really exists is the See also:idea or type created by See also:God; of this type all See also:concrete See also:objects are representations, while the painter, the tragedian, the musician are merely imitators, thrice removed from the truth (See also:Rep. x. 596 seq.). Such persons are represented by Plato as a menace to the moral fibre of the community (Rep. iii.), as performing no useful See also:function, See also:drawing men away from reality and pandering to the irrational See also:side of the soul. All art should aim at moral improvement. Plato clearly intends by " imitation " more than is connotated by the See also:modern word: though in See also:general he associates with it all that is See also:bad and second-See also:rate, he in some passages admits the value of the imitation of that which is See also:good, and thus assigns to it a certain symbolic significance. See also:Aristotle, likewise regarding art as imitation, emphasizes its purely artistic value as purging the emotions (K60apats), and producing beautiful things as such (see See also:AESTHETICS and See also:FINE ARTS). 2. In See also:Biology, the term is sometimes applied to the assimilation by one See also:species of certain See also:external characteristics(especially See also:colour) which enable them to See also:escape the See also:notice of other species which would otherwise See also:prey upon them. It is a form of protective resemblance and is generally known as See also:mimicry (q.v.; see also See also:COLOURS OF ANIMALS).
3. In See also:Music, the term " imitation " is applied in contrapuntal See also:composition to the repetition of a passage in one or more of the other voices or parts of a composition. When the repetition is See also:note for note with all the intervals the same, the imitation is called "strict" and becomes a See also:canon (q.v.); if not it is called " See also:free," the latter being much the more See also:common. There are many varieties of imitation, known as imitation " by See also:inversion," " by inversion and reversion," " by See also:augmentation," " by diminution " (see See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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