Problems in the bio-psychology of social organization.

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Abstract
The "superorganism" concept involves merely a preliminary and descriptive approach to the study of animal societies, in which similarities are emphasized. A most significant similarity which greatly deepens the study is the phenomenon of "trophallaxis" (Wheeler), involving the varieties of stimulative interchanges among individuals which insure social turning-toward responses. Although basic to group structure from insects to man, this cannot be regarded as the same factor on different levels. Although initially physiological, its eventual role in group cohesion on the "psycho-social" (human) level depends upon factors influencing selective learning, as through culture and social heritage, in contrast to the genetically presented factors which canalize and restrict the entire course of social patterning on the "bio-social" levels (e.g., insects). Thus very different biological and psychological factors influence the rise of a group pattern from the trophallactic basis on different social levels. Far-reaching differences exist in the psychological nature of communication, social function, and the role of learning in insects and man, which militate fundamentally against the validity of "superorganism" doctrine and make doubtful its thesis that natural selection operates in the same way on different levels of organization. The "dominance" concept, particularly when it refers to aggression dominance, is not fundamental for the understanding of group organization. Actually it has much more to do with factors promoting separation and schism, emphasizing social distance, than with conditions underlying group unity and social approach.

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