CONFLICT
As we have already seen, our life is motived by three great instincts.
A moment’s thought, however, will cause us to realise that, as these
instincts are diverse in their aims, they may sometimes find themselves
in opposition to one another; this condition is known to psychologists
as CONFLICT, wherein one instinct can only be gratified at the expense
of another. For instance, a man may be starving, and be tempted to
steal in order to satisfy his hunger. Here we see a conflict between
the self-preservation and herd instinct, for if he steals, he may lose
his place in the herd, and if he does not steal, he may lose his life,
and it is astonishing how many will choose the latter alternative,
proving the power and fundamental nature of the herd instinct. The man
will be torn two ways, and can only gratify one instinct at the expense
of the other.
Or, again, he may fall in love with a woman who is denied to him by the
marriage laws of his country. Here we see a conflict between the sex
instinct and the herd instinct. Or he may fall in love with one whom it
would be disadvantageous socially or professionally for him to marry,
and here we see a conflict between the sex and self-preservation
instincts.
Now, in each of these cases a large amount of force is locked up
and rendered unavailable for the general purposes of the life, for
a head-on collision between instincts is involved, and each employs
the whole of its energy to neutralise the force of the other, and the
whole life comes to a standstill while the battle is fought out. It is
notorious that an individual in such a dilemma can come to no decision,
take no decisive action, in any department of his life. Some solution
has to be arrived at, and any solution is better than a continuation of
the conflict, the pain of which is intolerable.
First, the man may think the whole matter out, and, acting according
to his nature, give the victory to one or other of the combatants,
leaving the vanquished instinct to seek adjustment as best it may. It
requires great strength, however, to take such a stand, and many are
not able to do it. Some seek a solution of the problem by keeping the
instincts in separate compartments of the mind, and never comparing
their special pleadings, as did a science teacher known to the writer,
who on weekdays taught the doctrines of evolution, and on Sundays the
doctrine of special creation, and when questioned on the matter, burst
into a towering passion and refused to discuss it.
A third solution, however, is very often found by the perplexed mind,
and that is known as dissociation.
Now, REPRESSION and DISSOCIATION are two terms current in modern
psychological parlance, and the writer has often heard them used as if
they were interchangeable terms, but this is not the case. Repression
means that certain ideas are put into the subconscious mind and not
permitted to return to consciousness, but dissociation means that some
of these ideas, instead of lying quiet in the subconscious, split off
from the integration of the personality and function independently.
These two factors of mentation will be studied in detail in the
following chapters.