Wilfred Batten Lewis Trotter (1872 – 1939) was a British surgeon, a pioneer in neurosurgery. He was also known for his studies on social psychology, most notably for his concept of the herd instinct, which he first outlined in two published papers in 1908, and later in his famous popular work Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War. Trotter argued that gregariousness was an instinct, and studied beehives, flocks of sheep and wolf packs.
Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War is the title of an influential book by English surgeon Wilfred Trotter, published in 1916. Based on the ideas of Gustave Le Bon, it was very influential in the development of group dynamics and crowd psychology, and the propaganda of Edward Bernays.
This book is an elaboration and amplification of the essays on the herd instinct published by the author in the Sociological Review in 1908 and 1909 and which attracted much favorable comment at that time. To this elaboration he has added an application of the principles involved to an interpretation of the German and the English character as exhibited in the war.
In brief Trotter's thesis is that there is a fourth instinct. The three primary instincts, self-preservation, nutrition, sex, have the common characteristics of "attaining their maximal activities only over short periods and in special sets of circumstances, and of being fundamentally pleasant to yield to." The fourth instinct, the herd instinct, "exercises a controlling power upon the individual from without," it introduces duty for the first time with the resulting conflict.
The herd instinct he takes some little pains to analyze and to show that it possesses the same character as other instincts and is therefore properly classified. It has come into existence, like multicellularity, to aid the individual in escaping the rigors of natural selection by creating a larger unit for selection to act upon and thus permitting a wider range of individual variation (specialization) of the individual constituent elements. Trotter believes, therefore, that inasmuch as man is a social animal "all human psychology . . . must be the psychology of associated man, since man as a solitary animal is unknown to us" and that "the only medium in which man's mind can function satisfactorily is the herd."
Totter writes:
"If this war is becoming, as it obviously is, daily more and more completely a contest of moral forces, some really deep understanding of the nature and sources of national morale must be at least as important a source of, strength as the technical knowledge of the military engineer and the maker of cannon. One is apt to suppose that the chief function of a sound morale is the maintenance of a high courage and resolution through the ups and downs of warfare. In a nation whose actual independence and existence are threatened from without such qualities may be taken for granted and may be present when the general moral forces are seriously disordered. A satisfactory morale gives something much more difficult to attain. It gives smoothness of working, energy and enterprise to the whole national machine, while from the individual it ensures the maximal outflow of effort with a minimal interference from such egoistic passions as anxiety, impatience, and discontent. A practical psychology would define these functions and indicate means by which they are to be called into activity."
The book is intensely interesting, full of suggestions and the author sees well the importance of the psychoanalytic movement in its wider reaches. It will well repay a careful reading.
Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War is the title of an influential book by English surgeon Wilfred Trotter, published in 1916. Based on the ideas of Gustave Le Bon, it was very influential in the development of group dynamics and crowd psychology, and the propaganda of Edward Bernays.
This book is an elaboration and amplification of the essays on the herd instinct published by the author in the Sociological Review in 1908 and 1909 and which attracted much favorable comment at that time. To this elaboration he has added an application of the principles involved to an interpretation of the German and the English character as exhibited in the war.
In brief Trotter's thesis is that there is a fourth instinct. The three primary instincts, self-preservation, nutrition, sex, have the common characteristics of "attaining their maximal activities only over short periods and in special sets of circumstances, and of being fundamentally pleasant to yield to." The fourth instinct, the herd instinct, "exercises a controlling power upon the individual from without," it introduces duty for the first time with the resulting conflict.
The herd instinct he takes some little pains to analyze and to show that it possesses the same character as other instincts and is therefore properly classified. It has come into existence, like multicellularity, to aid the individual in escaping the rigors of natural selection by creating a larger unit for selection to act upon and thus permitting a wider range of individual variation (specialization) of the individual constituent elements. Trotter believes, therefore, that inasmuch as man is a social animal "all human psychology . . . must be the psychology of associated man, since man as a solitary animal is unknown to us" and that "the only medium in which man's mind can function satisfactorily is the herd."
Totter writes:
"If this war is becoming, as it obviously is, daily more and more completely a contest of moral forces, some really deep understanding of the nature and sources of national morale must be at least as important a source of, strength as the technical knowledge of the military engineer and the maker of cannon. One is apt to suppose that the chief function of a sound morale is the maintenance of a high courage and resolution through the ups and downs of warfare. In a nation whose actual independence and existence are threatened from without such qualities may be taken for granted and may be present when the general moral forces are seriously disordered. A satisfactory morale gives something much more difficult to attain. It gives smoothness of working, energy and enterprise to the whole national machine, while from the individual it ensures the maximal outflow of effort with a minimal interference from such egoistic passions as anxiety, impatience, and discontent. A practical psychology would define these functions and indicate means by which they are to be called into activity."
The book is intensely interesting, full of suggestions and the author sees well the importance of the psychoanalytic movement in its wider reaches. It will well repay a careful reading.
