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Alfred Adler postulated a 'social feeling' as a 'primal energy' which binds human beings more closely to one another.1 Freud however did not attribute to a social feeling or to a 'herd instinct'2 the position of a primary instinct. While in a young sheep, for instance, closeness to the herd would relieve the anxiety aroused by separation, this is not true of a young human being. After an infant has learned to recognize its mother, the approach of a person who is similar to the mother, but not the mother herself, arouses anxiety.3 In 1911 Freud assumed that, 'after the stage of heterosexual object choice has been reached, the homosexual tendencies are not, as might be supposed, done away with or brought to a stop; they are merely deflected from their sexual aim and applied to fresh uses. They now combine with portions of the ego instincts and, as "anaclitic" components, help to constitute the social instincts, thus contributing an erotic factor to friendship and comradeship, to esprit de corps and to the love of mankind in general.'4
In 1921 Freud described another mechanism in the formation of social feelings: primary rivalry between the members of the