The herd instinct in peacetime and in war. Trotter U.

Wilfred Trotter (1872–1939) is a talented English surgeon and an outstanding sociologist. Developing the ideas of Gustav Lebon, set out in his famous book “The Psychology of Peoples and Masses”, he made a real breakthrough in the study of the group behavior of a person and methods of managing the crowd, which are actively used by political technologists and marketers.

The book of Wilfreda Trotter about the "herd instinct" was published almost immediately after the end of the First World War. Observing how the governments of the warring countries resorted to various forms of propaganda and beliefs in an attempt to encourage the “mass person” to support military operations, Trotter deduced the theory about the herd instinct inherent in a person, following which is often contrary to three basic instincts: survival, nutrition and continuation of the genus. Trotter became interested in the phenomenon and tried to figure out the mechanisms of the psyche that forcing a person to obey the leader and the opinion of the majority contrary to his own interests.