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A superficial attempt to find the foundation of group behaviour in the sentiment-formation tendency. Trotter's herd instinct and Freud's libido theory are examined.
Trotter's assumption of a herd instinct is held to be unjustified by the evidence in that the three chief characteristics of this instinct do not stand critical examination.
i.The habits of dogs and lambs show that
the animal does not have to live with the herd nor does an animal brought up away from the herd show a sense of comfort in the presence of its fellows when returned to it. (Animals with no herd instinct should make the best pets, which is not true.)
ii.Herd instinct is not necessary to explain suggestibility to the voice of the herd.
iii.Instinctive obedience to the voice of the herd is explained by Trotter (compare Freud's view of the ego ideal) as due to the individual incorporating the herd opinion, and from this is deduced that the earlier and more strongly discipline and education are enforced on the child the better behaved it should be, and vice versa, which is held to be disproved by observation.
Freud's views are quoted from Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, and the Ego and the Id. They are quoted as giving importance to the functions of the group leader and as attributing the origin of all groups to the banding together of the brother which occurred in the primal horde because the brothers were denied mates. Social feeling is based upon the reversal of what was at first hostile feeling into a positively toned identification, and the higher moral side of human nature is to be found in the ego ideal—the representation of our relation to our parents. These views are criticised (i) as unconvincing and, (ii) because it is not the leader who is the primary cause of group formation, but the common interest, e.g. a wolf pack forms owing to the common interest in hunting food. Once the group is formed the members form sentiments round it, and so maintain it when the primary cau