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GROUP PSYCHOLOGY AND
THE ANALYSIS OF THE EGO
I
INTRODUCTION
The contrast between Individual Psychology and Social or Group[1] Psychology, which at a first glance may seem to be full of significance, loses a great deal of its sharpness when it is examined more closely. It is true that Individual Psychology is concerned with the individual man and explores the paths by which he seeks to find satisfaction for his instincts; but only rarely and under certain exceptional conditions is Individual Psychology in a position to disregard the relations of this individual to others. In the individual's mental life someone else is invariably involved, as a
- ↑ ['Group' is used throughout this translation as equivalent to the rather more comprehensive German ‘Masse’. The author uses this latter word to render both McDougall's 'group', and also Le Bon's ‘foule’, which would more naturally be translated 'crowd' in English. For the sake of uniformity, however, 'group' has been preferred in this case as well, and has been substituted for 'crowd' even in the extracts from the English translation of Le Bon.—Translator.]
