GROUP PSYCHOLOGY AND THE ANALYSIS OF THE EGO

The contrast between Individual Psychology and Social or Group 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 model, as an object, as a helper,

as an opponent, and so from the very first Individual Psychology is at the same

time Social Psychology as well¿in this extended but entirely justifiable sense of

the words.

The relations of an individual to his parents and to his brothers and sisters, to

the object of his love, and to his physician¿in fact all the relations which have

hitherto been the chief subject of psycho-analytic research¿may claim to be

considered as social phenomena; and in this respect they may be contrasted

with certain other processes, described by us as 'narcissistic', in which the

satisfaction of the instincts is partially or totally withdrawn from the influence

of other people. The contrast between social and narcissistic¿Bleuler would

perhaps call them 'autistic'¿mental acts therefore falls wholly within the

domain of Individual Psychology, and is not well calculated to differentiate it

from a Social or Group Psychology.