Herd Instinct in Peace and War

Wilfred Trotter 1872–1939 – a talented English surgeon and outstanding sociologist. Developing the ideas of Gustave Le Bon, outlined in his famous book "The Psychology of Peoples and Masses", he made a real breakthrough in the study of human group behavior and methods of crowd control, which are actively used by political technologists and marketers today. Wilfred Trotter's book on herd instinct was published almost immediately after the end of World War I. Observing how the governments of warring countries resorted to various forms of propaganda and persuasion in an attempt to encourage the masses to support military actions, Trotter developed a theory of the inherent herd instinct in humans, the adherence to which often contradicts three basic instincts: survival, nourishment, and procreation. Trotter became interested in the phenomenon and sought to understand the mechanisms of the psyche that compel a person to obey a leader and the opinion of the majority contrary to their own interests.