Editing Kibbutz (section)

== Psychological aspects ==
=== Emotional involvement ===
Three researchers who wrote about psychological life on kibbutzim were [[Melford E. Spiro]] (1958), [[Bruno Bettelheim]] (1969) and Michael Baizerman (1963). All concluded that a kibbutz upbringing led to individuals' having greater difficulty in making strong emotional commitments thereafter, such as [[falling in love]] or forming a lasting friendship. On the other hand, they appear to find it easier to have a large number of less-involved friendships, and a more active [[Interpersonal relationship|social life]].

Some researchers came to the conclusion that children growing up in these tightly knit communities tended to see the other children around them as [[ersatz]] siblings and preferred to [[exogamy|seek mates outside the community]] when they reached maturity. Some theorize that living amongst one another on a daily basis virtually from birth on produced an extreme version of the [[Westermarck effect#Westermarck effect|Westermarck effect]], which diminished teenage kibbutzniks' sexual attraction to one another. Partly as a result of not finding a mate from within the kibbutz, youth often abandon kibbutz life as adults.

=== Private property ===
The era of independent Israel kibbutzim attracted interest from [[sociologist]]s and [[psychologist]]s who attempted to study the effects of life without [[private property]] and the effects of life being brought up apart from one's parents.

Bettelheim suggested that the lack of private property was the cause of the lack of emotions in kibbutzniks. He wrote, "nowhere more than in the kibbutz did I realize the degree to which private property, in the deep layers of the mind, relates to private [[emotion]]s. If one is absent, the other tends to be absent as well". (See [[primitivism]] and [[primitive communism]] for a general discussion of these concepts).

=== Group pressure to conform ===
In Kibbutz life, group pressure to conform is particularly strong.<ref>Tom Douglas (1983) [https://books.google.com/books?id=ghkOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA88&lpg=PA88 ''Groups: Understanding People Gathered Together''] pp. 87–8</ref><ref>Noam Chomsky (2003) [https://books.google.com/books?id=IUGomzBPBi4C&pg=PA197 ''Understanding Power''] ch. 6 p. 197</ref> It is a subject of debate within the kibbutz movement as to how successful kibbutz education was in developing the talents of gifted children. Several kibbutz-raised children look back and say that the communal system stifled ambition; others{{who|date=September 2012}} say that bright children were nonetheless encouraged.{{citation needed|date=September 2012}} Bruno Bettelheim, in his ''Children of the Dream'' (1969), had predicted that kibbutz education would yield mediocrity: "[kibbutz children] will not be leaders or philosophers, will not achieve anything in science or art." However, it has been noted that although kibbutzim comprise only 5% of the Israeli population, surprisingly large numbers of kibbutzniks become teachers, lawyers, doctors, and political leaders.{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}}

In the 1990s, a [[journalist]] tracked down the specific class of children Bettelheim had interviewed back in the 1960s at "Kibbutz Atid" (now called [[Ramat Yohanan|Kibbutz Ramat Yohanan]]). The journalist found that the children were highly accomplished in [[academia]], [[business]], [[music]], and the [[military]]. "Bettelheim got it totally wrong."{{sfn|Gavron|2000|p=166}}