Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War

Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War

Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War is the title of a famous book by Wilfred Trotter. Based on the ideas of Gustave LeBon it was very influential in the development of Group dynamics and Crowd psychology and the Propaganda of Edward Bernays.

Quotes

From ‘Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War’ (1942 ed. pg. 90):

"‘It has already been pointed out how dangerous it would be to breed man for reason - that is, against suggestibility. The idea is a fit companion for the device of breeding against “degeneracy”. The degenerate – that is, the mentally unstable – have demonstrated by the mere fact of instability that they possess the quality of sensitiveness to feeling and to experience, for it is this which has prevented them from applying the remedy of rationalization or exclusion when they have met with experience conflicting with the herd suggestion.‘"

"‘It is interesting to notice that in discussing the mechanism of psychoanalysis in liberating the ‘abnormal’ patient from his symptoms, Freud repeatedly lays stress on the fact that the efficient factor in the process is not the actual introduction of the suppressed experiences into the conscious field, but the overcoming of the resistances to such an endeavour. I have attempted to show that these resistances or counter-impulses are of environmental origin, and owe their strength to the specific sensitiveness of the gregarious mind. Resistances of similar type and identical origin are responsible for the formation of the so-called normal type of mind. It is a principal thesis of an earlier essay in this book that this normal type is far from being psychologically healthy, is far from rendering available the full capacity of the mind for foresight and progress, and being in exclusive command of directing power in the world, is a danger to civilization.’" -


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Herd behavior — Herd behaviour describes how individuals in a group can act together without planned direction. The term pertains to the behaviour of animals in herds, flocks, and schools, and to human conduct during activities such as stock market bubbles and… …   Wikipedia

  • Herd mentality — describes how people are influenced by their peers to adopt certain behaviors, follow trends, and/or purchase items. Examples of the herd mentality include the early adopters of high technology products such as cell phones and iPods, as well as… …   Wikipedia

  • The Antichrist (book) — The Antichrist   Cover of the 2005 Cosimo edition …   Wikipedia

  • Wilfred Trotter — Infobox Scientist name = PAGENAME box width = image size =150px caption = PAGENAME birth date = 3 November, 1872 birth place = death date = 25 November, 1939 death place = residence = citizenship = nationality = British ethnicity = field =… …   Wikipedia

  • Wilfred Trotter — (* 3. November 1872 in Coleford, Gloucestershire, England; † 25. November 1939 in Blackmoor, Hampshire, England) war ein britischer Chirurg und Pionier der Neurochirurgie. Er ist auch bekannt für seine Studien über Sozialpsychologie, vor allem… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Group intelligence — refers to a process by which large numbers of people simultaneously converge upon the same point(s) of knowledge. Social psychologists study group intelligence and related topics such as decentralized decision making and group wisdom, using… …   Wikipedia

  • Wilfred Trotter — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Trotter. Wilfred Trotter (né le 3 novembre 1872 à Coleford (Gloucestershire) mort le 25 novembre 1939 (à 67 ans)) était un des pionniers de la neurochirurgie, également connu pour ces travaux… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Edward Bernays — Infobox Celebrity name = Edward Louis Bernays caption = in the early 1920s birth date = birth date|1891|11|22 birth place = Vienna, Austria death date = death date|1995|3|9 (age 103) death place = Cambridge (MA), United States nationality =… …   Wikipedia

  • List of the animals in the Bible — See main article Animals in the Bible. The following is a list of animals whose name appears in the Bible. Whenever required for the identification, the Hebrew name will be indicated, as well as the specific term used by Zoologists. This list… …   Wikipedia

  • Animals in the Bible — • The sacred books were composed by and for a people almost exclusively given to husbandry and pastoral life, hence in constant communication with nature Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Animals in the Bible     Anima …   Catholic encyclopedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”