Mass Psychology and Ego Analysis

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Mass Psychology and Ego Analysis is a work by Sigmund Freud from 1921.

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Freud's drawing of a primary mass of individuals ( egos and ego ideals ) who are influenced by a leader ( external object ).

In the essay Freud shows which psychological mechanisms are at work within mass movements . According to Freud, a mass is a “provisional being that consists of heterogeneous elements that have connected with one another for a moment.” In his text, he refers heavily to the writings of the sociologist and psychologist Gustave Le Bon (1841–1931) and gives a lecture at the beginning also in the chapter Le Bon's description of the mass soul, largely his work. Like the latter, Freud describes how in the masses the individual attains a feeling of infinite power, which allows him to act out instincts that he should have curbed as an individual. These feelings of power and security enable the individual not only to act as part of a crowd, but also to get security in the crowd. However, this is accompanied by a loss of conscious personality and there is a tendency to be infected by every affect within the crowd and to reinforce the affect through "mutual induction". Overall, the crowd is “impulsive, changeable and irritable. It is almost exclusively guided by the unconscious. "

Freud distinguishes two types of masses. On the one hand there are those of the short-lived kind, which are characterized by a rapidly passing interest (e.g. trends), as well as those permanent masses, which are highly organized, e.g. B. the church or the military . “The masses of the former are as it were imposed on the latter like the short but high waves of the long swells of the sea.” Basically, however, the same psychic processes take place in both types.

Freud goes back to his results of the instinct theory and is of the opinion that masses are held together by libidinal ties . In each individual , love instincts operate in the crowd , which are distracted from their original goals. They do not pursue a direct sexual goal, but "without appearing less energetic".

Freud first names the (largely unconscious ) identification with the other individuals of the mass, who all feel equally drawn to the leader, as the binding element. The ego perceives a significant analogy in the other and identifies with him. Added to this is an admiration and idealization of the leader of a crowd through the process of idealization . The narcissistic libido overflows onto the object and one “loves it because of the perfection that one has striven for for one's own self.” The process of identification with the aggressor can also take place, e.g. B. on the path of regression .

This is how Freud arrives at the formula: "A primary mass is a number of individuals who have put one and the same object in the place of their ego-ideal and as a result have identified with one another."

See also

literature

  • Sigmund Freud: mass psychology and analysis of the ego in: Sigmund Freud. Collected Works . Volume XIII. S. Fischer Verlag. Frankfurt am Main 1972, pp. 71-161.
  • Sigmund Freud: mass psychology and ego analysis . Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag Vienna 1921 (first edition). Digitized at archive.org .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sigmund Freud: mass psychology and ego analysis. The future of an illusion . Frankfurt am Main 2005, p. 66
  2. ^ Sigmund Freud: mass psychology and ego analysis. The future of an illusion . Frankfurt am Main 2005, p. 74
  3. ^ Sigmund Freud: mass psychology and ego analysis. The future of an illusion . Frankfurt am Main 2005, p. 78

Web links