You are on page 1of 1

15

travels from youth to middle-age, or the reverse, by the sound


of the various melodies.
But there are many other forms of suggestion by association.
We are apt to associate a well-dressed man, of commanding
carriage, traveling in an expensive automobile, as a man of
wealth and influence. And, accordingly when some adventurer
of the J. Rufus Wallingford type travels our way, clad in
sumptuous apparel, with the air of an Astorbilt, and a $10,000
(hired) automobile, we hasten to place our money and valuables
in his keeping, and esteem ourselves honored by having been
accorded the privilege. The actor, orator, preacher and politician
use the suggestion of association upon us by the employment of
tones vibrant with feeling and emotion, which are associated in
our minds with the actual feeling and emotion and lo! we are
weeping or laughing; smiling or frowning; filled with approval
or condemnation, as the case may be. The speaker pulls the
associative strings of suggestion, and we dance accordingly.
We find that many of our prejudices, favorable or unfavorable,
are the result of associations of past experiences. If we have had
an unpleasant business experience with a man with a peculiar
expression or color of hair, we find it hard to overcome a
prejudice against others of similar personal appearance, in after
years. Sometimes a name will carry associations with it. We
once knew a man who would absolutely refuse to have business
dealings with anyone named M , because he had once
been badly worsted and cheated in a real estate deal by a man
of that name. Many names are associated with persons who
had borne them in the past, and, as ridiculous as it may seem,
we find it difficult to overcome the prejudice. The majority of
people have experiences of this kind.
How many of our readers do not feel an antipathy for
some particular article of food, because of some unpleasant
experience with that article in the past? Personally, when the
writer was a boy, his father wishing to break him of the habit
of eating too heartily of cream-puffs, once offered to pay
Suggestion and Auto-Suggestion

You might also like