Freud on Group Psychology: Libido, Identification and Crowd Behavior
Libido and Identification in Society
Social groups hold together through concepts of libido and identification. The great majority of people remain in love with one another in their own ways, either sexualized or sublimated, and this affectionate bond is the basis of identification. Each member identifies with the same leader, and through this shared identification every individual adopts a collective soul, setting aside individual differences and feeling as a group rather than as an isolated individual.
Contagion, Suggestibility and the Crowd
The first common characteristic discovered in crowds is an emotional and intellectual equality among all members. Le Bon attempted to explain this phenomenon through three factors: instinctive behavior, mental contagion, and suggestibility. In the crowd, the individual can shed his conscious personality and yield to instinctive impulses, losing a sense of anonymity and responsibility.
In a crowd, feeling is both contagious and easily amplified, which explains the homogeneity of the crowd. Contagion, however, is not the primary consequence of the third factor: suggestibility. The individual falls into a state similar to hypnotic fascination, where his capacity for critical judgment is abolished and he becomes subject to the will of the hypnotist.
Five Conditions for an Organized Group
Five conditions must be considered for a crowd to become an organized social group:
- It must not be a passing gathering but a lasting one.
- Each individual must form part of the crowd and share its natural purpose, which determines its affective attitude.
- It must relate to other groups in a like manner (whether through alliance or rivalry) while maintaining its own peculiarity.
- It must hold to its own tradition and customs.
- It must have a specialized organization, including members with defined roles.
These five conditions aim to eliminate the psychical defect of collective training.
Libido, Love and the Forces That Bind Groups
The quantity of libidinal energy related to instinctive love, or affection, is primarily sexual in nature, although it may be redirected toward other aims. Two important points stand out: first, the force that maintains unity in the group is Eros; second, individual renunciation and the difficulty of maintaining individuality make a person more susceptible to suggestion by others. This is why the crowd, according to Comte, is guarded by the love that holds its members together.
Introjection and Identification
Identification is the earliest form of emotional bond with an object. Following the first directional impulse, it becomes a libidinal link that substitutes for the object: the introjected object. Identification may arise when there is some trait in common with another person who is an object of the sexual instincts, and it occurs within the same emotional ties that bind the members of a group.
Two examples show how introjection can even be pathological: homosexuality and melancholia. In homosexuality, the subject introjects the mother and identifies with her. In melancholia, the identification is with the lost object. The self-reproaches of melancholics are directed toward the lost object, and the revenge they express is aimed against themselves. The ego splits into two parts, one of which attacks the other relentlessly. The critical part of the ego holds the moral conscience and analyzes, and it is normally harsher than the melancholic attack, though it is not as cruel.
The Ego Ideal and Idealization
The ego ideal, the instance Freud called primitive narcissism, performs functions of self-observation, moral conscience and censorship. The distance between the ego and the ego ideal is highly variable among individuals. The subject sexually overestimates the beloved object and is excited by it. This is the origin of idealization: the object receives a considerable amount of narcissistic libido, so that it comes to serve as a substitute for the unattained self. In this way the subject becomes more humble, while the object devours the self, or, more synthetically, the object takes the place of the ego ideal.
Infatuation and Hypnosis
Identification with the object is enriched by the qualities introjected from it, whereas in infatuation the ego is impoverished and enslaved. The object is placed in the position of the ego ideal. Notable similarities exist between hypnosis and infatuation: both subjects are submissive and humble toward the other, renouncing any personal initiative, and the hypnotist occupies the place of the ego ideal. The difference is that infatuation leaves open the possibility of a sexual aim in the future, which hypnosis does not.
Collective phenomena occupy an intermediate position between hypnosis and infatuation. They are collective rather than two-person relationships, as in hypnosis, and they do not include sexual aims as infatuation does.