Wilfred Trotter
Wilfred Trotter | |
|---|---|
| Born | 3 November 1872 Coleford, Gloucestershire, England |
| Died | 25 November 1939 (aged 67) Blackmoor, Hampshire, England |
| Known for | Neurosurgery herd instinct |
| Awards | Fellow of the Royal Society |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Surgery social psychology |
Wilfred Batten Lewis Trotter, FRS (3 November 1872 – 25 November 1939) was an English surgeon, a pioneer of neurosurgery. He was also known for his studies concerning social psychology, most notably for his concept of the herd instinct, which he outlined first in two published papers in 1908, and later in his famous popular work Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War (1916), an early classic of crowd psychology. Trotter argued that gregariousness was an instinct, and studied beehives, flocks of sheep and wolf packs.