g moved by the
opposite instinct of self-abasement and negative self-feeling. It may
be either the real or the fancied superiority of the spectators that
arouses this feeling,--their wisdom or strength, beauty or good
clothes. Sometimes, as in stage-fright, it is their numerical
superiority. Bashfulness is the struggle between the two
self-instincts, assertion and abasement. Our impulse for self-display
urges us on to make a good impression, while our feeling of
inferiority impels us to get away unnoticed. Hence the struggle and
the painful emotion.

=Gregariousness.= Man has been called a gregarious animal. That is,
like the animals, he likes to run with his kind, and feels a
pronounced aversion to prolonged isolation. It is this
"herd-instinct," too, which makes man so extremely sensitive to the
opinions of the society in which he lives. Because of this impulse to
go with the crowd, ideas received through education are accepted as
imperative and are backed up by all the force of the instinct of
self-regard. When the teachings of society happen to run counter to
the laws of our being, the possibilities of conflict are indeed
great.[10]

[Footnote 10: For a thorough discussion of the importance of this
instinct, see Trotter's _Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War_.]

=Acquisition.= Another fundamental disposition in both animals and
men is the instinct for possession, the instinct whose function it is
to provide for future needs. Squirrels and birds lay up nuts for the
winter; the dog hides his bone where only he can find it. Children
love to have things for their "very own," and almost invariably go
through the hoarding stage in which stamps or samples or bits of
string are hoarded for the sake of possession, quite apart from their
usefulness or value. Much of the training of children consists in
learning what is "mine" and what is "thine," and respect for the
property of others can develop only out of a sense of one's own
property rights.

=Construction.= There is an innate satisfaction in making
something,--from a doll-dress to a poem,--and this satisfaction rests
on the impulse to construct, to fashion something with our own hands
or our own brain. The emotion accompanying this instinct is too
indefinite to have a name but it is nevertheless a real one and plays
a large part in the sense of power which results from the satisfaction
of good work well done. Later it will be seen how closely related is
this im