The "ethnopsychoanalytic" study of personalities belonging to different cultural areas and the attentive analysis of socially relevant attitudes in the classical psychoanalytic setting in Europe gave way to a renewed approach to ego psychology. Under the impact of social influences, mechanisms if adaptation are established which function automatically and unconsciously and provide a relative stability to the ego structure. The description of three different mechanisms—called group-ego, clan-conscience and identification with the (social) role—is mainly based on genetic and dynamic considerations. The vicissitudes, the functions, and the deteriorations of these mechanisms are discussed. The spread of narcissistic disorders in today's industrial society may be derived from an increment of identifications with the role and a resulting overemphasis of narcissistic needs.