Instincts of the Herd in Peace and WarTrotter, W. (Wilfred)
Science
Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War
Trotter, W. (Wilfred)
Collective behavior; Crowds; Social psychology; World War, 1914-1918 -- Psychological aspects
The doctrines of Freud seem to be regarded by his school as covering
all the activities of the mind and making a complete, though of course
not necessarily exhaustive, survey of the whole field. I have already
pointed out directions in which it appears to me that inquiries by
other methods than those of the psycho-analytic school can be pursued
with success. Regarded in a broad way, the Freudian body of doctrine
which I have already ventured to describe as essentially an embryology
of the mind gives one the impression of being mainly descriptive and
systematic rather than dynamic, if one may with due caution use such
words. It is able to tell us how such and such a state of affairs
has arisen, what is its true significance, and to describe in minute
detail the factors into which it can be analysed. When the question
of acting upon the mind is raised its resources seem less striking.
In this direction its chief activities have been in the treatment of
abnormal mental states, and these are dealt with by a laborious process
of analysis {90} in which the subject’s whole mental development is
retraced, and the numerous significant experiences which have become
excluded from the conscious field are brought back into it.
When the unconscious processes which underlie the symptoms have
been assimilated to the conscious life of the patient, the symptoms
necessarily disappear, and the patient’s mind gains or regains the
“normal” condition. However precious such a cure may be to the patient,
and however interesting to the physician, its value to the species has
to be judged in relation to the value of the “normal” to which the
patient has been restored—that is, in relation to the question as to
whether any move, however small, in the direction of an enlargement
of the human mind has been made. Until some clearer evidence has been
furnished of a capacity for development in this direction the Freudian
system should, perhaps, be regarded as more notably a psychology of
knowledge than a psychology of power.
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