This study explores the nature of the appeal of mass culture, particularly as it is communicated by the mass media. The striking correspondence between the conventional aspects of mass culture and the psychological characteristics of the latency years is highlighted. It is proposed that mass culture induces temporary regressive large group processes in its recipients, reactivating latency age ego and superego characteristics. Two levels of regression in large group processes are described: the first type is relatively mild, benign, and characterized largely by the conventionality found in the latency phase. This regression is compared with the more sinister regression that takes place in totalitarian societies, where the appeal of mass culture is to more primitive narcissistic and/or paranoid dispositions.