Wilfred Trotter

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Wilfred Trotter (born November 3, 1872 in Coleford , Gloucestershire , England, † November 25, 1939 in Blackmoor , Hampshire , England) was a British surgeon and pioneer of neurosurgery . He is also known for his studies of social psychology , especially for his concept of herd instinct , which he first 1908 and 1909 in two articles and 1915 in his famous popular work The Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War ( The Herd instincts in war and Times of peace ). He introduced the concept of an instinct that negates the will of the individual in favor of the group.

Life

After completing his medical exam, Trotter first opened his own practice. In 1906 he began to work at the hospital of University College London , from 1935 he was a professor there. He was a nationally recognized neurosurgeon and specialist in cancers of the neck and head.

Trotter became aware of Sigmund Freud's work at an early stage , and he met him personally several times. According to Ernest Jones , Freud's first biographer, “He was one of the first two or three people in England to appreciate the importance of Freud's work, which I also learned through him. He was one of the rapidly decreasing group that attended the first International Congress in Salzburg in 1908. "

From 1928 to 1932 Trotter held the post of honorary surgeon to King George V held. He was a member of the Council of the Royal Society , which Freud made honorary membership. After Freud, who suffered from tongue cancer, moved to London in 1938, Trotter also gave him medical treatment.

Wilfred Bion worked for him as a prison doctor during his medical training before devoting himself to studying groups. In her account of Bion's life, The Days of our Years , his wife Francesca writes about the great influence Trotter had on the direction of Bion's work on group relationships.

In the last few years of his life he turned back to writing on a larger scale. The Collected Papers of Wilfred Trotter , an anthology of his last essays, appeared two years after his death.

Works

The main work

Trotters popular book The Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War ( The instincts of the herd in peace and war ) is a penetrating analysis of Psychology and the possibility of a large number of people because of their innate slope ( innate tendency to affect). Based on his own studies of beehives , flocks of sheep and a pack of wolves , he came to the conclusion that the individual is only fully productive when interacting with his group. He distinguished between the "resistive" group members who resist change and the "sensitive" group members who prepare for it. The group can only develop its potential if both attitudes are reconciled.

Trotter's writings on the herd mentality are viewed by some as a breakthrough in understanding group behavior long before the study of group dynamics became important in all aspects of life, from workplace relations to marketing.

Bibliography for the main work

  • Trotter, W. (1908). "Herd instinct and its bearing on the psychology of civilized man - part 1." Sociological Review , July.
  • Trotter, W. (1909). "Herd instinct and its bearing on the psychology of civilized man - part 2." Sociological Review , January.
  • Trotter, W. (1919). Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War - 4th impression, with postscript. New York, MacMillan.
  • Cooke, D. (1987). “Book review - WILFRED TROTTER, Instincts of the herd in peace and war 1916-1919, London, Keynes Press, 1985.” Medical History 31 (1): 113-4.
  • Holdstock, D. (1985). Introduction. in: Instincts of the herd in peace and war 1916-1919. W. Trotter. London, Keynes Press: pp xxviii.
  • RW Chapman, in: Sociological Review , XXXV, Nos. 1 and 2, April 1943, pp. 44 ff. (Biobibliographical notes and gleanings)

Other works

  • The Collected Papers of Wilfred Trotter, FRS Oxford University Press, London 1942, reprint
  • Chronic Subdural Haemorrhage (Hemorrhage) of Traumatic Origin, and its Relation to Pachymeningitis Haemorrhagica Interna. Bristol: John Wright, 1914 (reprint from the British Journal of Surgery , Vol. II., No. 6, 1914, pp. 271-291)
  • Observation and experiment and their use in the medical sciences. London: British Medical Association, 1930 (Reprint from the British Medical Journal , July 26th, 1930)

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=ijp.021.0114a .
  2. ↑ The Days of our Years ( Memento of the original from December 18, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on psychoanalysis.org.uk (English) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.psychoanalysis.org.uk

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Trotter, Wilfred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British neurosurgeon and social psychologist
DATE OF BIRTH November 3, 1872
PLACE OF BIRTH Coleford , Gloucestershire , England
DATE OF DEATH November 25, 1939
Place of death Blackmoor , Hampshire , England