The adaptive capacity of the ego involves not only a synthetic but a discriminatory function. The latter includes selecting and rejecting among various possible courses of action and, especially in our own time of overabundance, the erection of barriers against overabundance of stimuli. The concept of the synthetic function of the ego arose during a period of scarcity when the few objects available had to be incorporated at all costs. The concept of the discriminatory function becomes necessary in a period of supply exceeding demand in such degree as to overwhelm the ego and result, according to the author, in the prevailing pathology of our age.