The Group Mind: A Sketch of the Principles of Collective Psychology

McDougall, William, 1871-1938Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.8
Word count
802K words
Chapters
81

Tags

English Originals Social Psychology Social ObservationTeam CollaborationCollective BehaviorComplex HumanityPsychological InsightIntellectual EnlightenmentGroup PsychologyBehavioral InsightAcademic Monograph

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Group Mind: A Sketch of the Principles of Collective Psychology by McDougallAuthor: McDougall, William, 1871-1938,Language: English, Class: GN: Geography, Anthropology, Recreation: Anthropology, Release Date: Sep 22, 2012

Editor's review

This book is McDougall's systematic sketch of the field of collective psychology, an attempt to establish a discussable framework of principles for "the group mind." Its value lies not in offering a how-to manual but in bringing questions of how groups form and how they influence individual judgment and behavior onto a theoretical plane, making it a useful entry point for understanding the early contours of social psychology. Reading it, one senses that the author stood at the discipline's formative stage, and that his conceptual definitions and argumentative methods bear the marks of their time; yet precisely for this reason, readers can observe how the problems of collective psychology first came to be posed. As a public-domain e-book, it is easy to search and collate against the original text, and suits use as a primary source in course reading, paper topic selection, or the mapping of intellectual history. One caveat: the discussions carry the context of their era, and some formulations should not be taken directly as contemporary conclusions; readers who come prepared for critical reading will find the value of theoretical evolution all the more legible.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Begin with the table of contents and introduction to grasp how the author defines the basic problems of "the group mind" and "collective psychology."
  2. After each chapter, summarize its core claims in a few sentences, then annotate them against common knowledge in contemporary social psychology.
  3. Mark era-bound formulations separately, and reflect on their limitations and influence after finishing the book.
  4. If using it for a course or paper, consult comparable public-domain sources and compare how different authors frame the problems.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
  74. 74
  75. 75
  76. 76
  77. 77
  78. 78
  79. 79
  80. 80
  81. 81

FAQ

Is this book suitable for readers with no background in psychology? It can be read, but requires some English reading ability and patience. This is an early theoretical work with dense concepts and a speculative mode of argument; readers without a foundation may struggle with terminology and long sentences. It is advisable to first acquire some general knowledge of social psychology, or read it alongside a Chinese textbook, before tackling the original.
Are the views in this book still applicable today? They should not be taken directly as contemporary conclusions. The book reflects theoretical speculations from the formative period of collective psychology, and some formulations carry the limitations of their time. A more appropriate approach is to treat its claims as material for disciplinary history, understand how the problems were posed, and then compare them with contemporary research and evidence to form a critical judgment.
Is this a Chinese book or an English book? According to the source materials, this is a public-domain English e-book published by Project Gutenberg, in English. The title is The Group Mind: A Sketch of the Principles of Collective Psychology, and readers need English reading ability or should pair it with Chinese reference materials.
What preparation is needed before reading? It is advisable to first learn about the author McDougall's basic academic background and the general problem domain of collective psychology, and to prepare paper or an e-annotation tool. While reading, focus on conceptual definitions and argumentative structure rather than getting stuck on every word; mark era-specific formulations first and judge their significance and limitations after finishing each chapter.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

McDougall, William, 1871-1938 Author · British · 1871–1938

William McDougall (1871–1938) was a British psychologist and one of the pioneers of social psychology. He is known for instinct psychology and "hormic psychology," which held that behavior is driven by inner purposes and impulses rather than solely by external stimuli. The Group Mind: A Sketch of the Principles of Collective Psychology reflects his effort to apply psychological principles to group behavior and social phenomena; it is theoretical in style, aiming to propose a framework rather than compile experimental data. The Pagan Tribes of Borneo turns to ethnographic subject matter, documenting the lives and customs of local tribes and showing that his interests extended beyond laboratory psychology. Two of his works are held in this collection. Public information is limited, but these works show his concern with connections among psychological mechanisms, collective social life, and cross-cultural observation, and his views contributed to early discussions in social psychology.