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Wilfred Batten Lewis Trotter, FRS (3 November 1872 – 25 November 1939) was an English surgeon, a pioneer in
neurosurgery Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty concerned with the surgical treatment of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord and pe ...
. He was also known for his studies on
social psychology Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the ...
, most notably for his concept of the herd instinct, which he first outlined in two published papers in 1908, and later in his famous popular work '' Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War'', an early classic of
crowd psychology Crowd psychology, also known as mob psychology, is a branch of social psychology. Social psychologists have developed several theories for explaining the ways in which the psychology of a crowd differs from and interacts with that of the individ ...
. Trotter argued that gregariousness was an
instinct Instinct is the inherent inclination of a living organism towards a particular complex behaviour, containing both innate (inborn) and learned elements. The simplest example of an instinctive behaviour is a fixed action pattern (FAP), in which a v ...
, and studied
beehive A beehive is an enclosed structure in which some honey bee species of the subgenus '' Apis'' live and raise their young. Though the word ''beehive'' is commonly used to describe the nest of any bee colony, scientific and professional literature ...
s,
flocks Flocking is the behaviour exhibited when a group of birds, called a flock, are foraging or in flight. Computer simulations and mathematical models that have been developed to emulate the flocking behaviours of birds can also generally be applie ...
of sheep and wolf packs.


Life

Born in Coleford, Gloucestershire in 1872, Trotter moved to London to attend college at age 16. An excellent medical student, he decided to specialise in surgery and was appointed Surgical Registrar at
University College Hospital University College Hospital (UCH) is a teaching hospital in the Fitzrovia area of the London Borough of Camden, England. The hospital, which was founded as the North London Hospital in 1834, is closely associated with University College Lon ...
in 1901 and Assistant Surgeon in 1906. He opened his own practice after obtaining his medical degree. He was also a keen writer, with an interest in science and philosophy. In 1908, he published two papers on the subject of
herd mentality Herd mentality, mob mentality or pack mentality describes how people can be influenced by their peers to adopt certain behaviors on a largely emotional, rather than rational, basis. When individuals are affected by mob mentality, they may make dif ...
, which were precursors to his later, more famous, work. Working at
University College Hospital University College Hospital (UCH) is a teaching hospital in the Fitzrovia area of the London Borough of Camden, England. The hospital, which was founded as the North London Hospital in 1834, is closely associated with University College Lon ...
in London as professor of surgery, he held the office of Honorary Surgeon to
King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...
from 1928 to 1932. He was also a member of the Council of the Royal Society that conferred their Honorary Membership on Professor
Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...
, whom he had met earlier at psychoanalytic gatherings, and whom he attended after his move to England. He was consulted about Freud's terminal cancer, in 1938. He was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemati ...
in May 1931 and elected President of the Association of Surgeons in 1932. In the last years of his life, he became professor and director of the surgical unit at UCH and turned to writing on a larger scale. In 1938 he was awarded the Gold Medal of the
Royal Society of Medicine The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) is a medical society in the United Kingdom, headquartered in London. History The Society was established in 1805 as Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, meeting in two rooms in barristers’ chambers ...
. He died in Blackmoor, Hampshire in 1939. ''The Collected Papers of Wilfred Trotter'', an anthology of his final essays, was published by Oxford University Press two years after his death. Trotter was also the surgeon, at
University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...
for whom Wilfred Bion worked as a resident in his own medical training, before he famously studied groups and trained as a psychoanalyst at the
Tavistock Clinic The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust is a specialist mental health trust based in north London. The Trust specialises in talking therapies. The education and training department caters for 2,000 students a year from the United Kin ...
. In her account of Bion's life "The Days of our Years," his wife, Francesca, writes of the great influence Trotter had on the direction of Bion's work on group relations.
Edward Bernays Edward Louis Bernays ( , ; November 22, 1891 − March 9, 1995) was an American theorist, considered a pioneer in the field of public relations and propaganda, and referred to in his obituary as "the father of public relations". His best-known ca ...
, author of ''
Propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...
'' and nephew of Freud's, also refers to Trotter and Gustave Le Bon in his writings. Trotter met
Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...
several times. According to Ernest Jones (Freud's first biographer), "he was one of the first two or three in England to appreciate the significance of Freud's work, which I came to know through him. He was one of the rapidly diminishing group who attended the first International Congress at Salzburg in 1908".


Major works

Trotter's popular book, ''The Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War'' is an analysis of group psychology and the ability of large numbers of people to be swayed through an innate tendency. In it he popularised in English the concept, first developed by French sociologist, Gustave Le Bon, of an instinct over-riding the will of the individual in favour of the group. Trotter's writings about herd mentality, which began as early as 1905 and were published as a paper in two parts in 1908 and 1909 are considered by some to represent a breakthrough in the understanding of group behaviour, long before its study became important in a variety of fields, from workplace relations to marketing.


Bibliography

*Trotter, W. (1908). "Herd instinct and its bearing on the psychology of civilized man – part 1." ''Sociological Review'', July. *Trotter, W. (1909). "Herd instinct and its bearing on the psychology of civilized man – part 2." ''Sociological Review'', January. *Trotter, W. (1919). ''Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War'' – 4th impression, with postscript. New York, MacMillan. *Cooke, D. (1987). "Book review – WILFRED TROTTER, Instincts of the herd in peace and war 1916–1919, London, Keynes Press, 1985." ''Medical History'' 31(1): 113–4. *Holdstock, D. (1985). Introduction. in: ''Instincts of the herd in peace and war 1916-1919.'' W. Trotter. London, Keynes Press: pp xxviii. *


See also


References


External links


Review of ''The Building of Bion''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trotter, Wilfred 1872 births 1939 deaths People from Coleford, Gloucestershire English neurosurgeons Academics of University College London Crowd psychologists Fellows of the Royal Society 20th-century English medical doctors English psychologists 20th-century surgeons