Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego

In this monograph, Freud describes at work within . A mass , according to Freud, is a "temporary entity, consisting of heterogeneous elements that have joined together for a moment."He refers heavily to the writings of sociologist and psychologist (1841-1931), summarizing his work at the beginning of the book in the chapter Like Le Bon, Freud says that as part of the mass, the individual acquires a sense of infinite allowing him to act on that he would otherwise have to curb as an isolated individual. These feelings of power and security allow the individual not only to act as part of the mass, but also to feel . This is accompanied, however, by a loss of personality and a tendency of the individual to be infected by any emotion within the mass, and to amplify the emotion, in turn, by "mutual induction". Overall, the mass is "impulsive, changeable, and irritable. It is controlled almost exclusively by the ."