Editing Wilfred Bion (section)

==Group experiments==
Bion performed a lot of group experiments when he was put in charge of the training wing of a military hospital.<ref>W.R. Bion. Experiences in Groups - and other papers. (2001). Bruner-Routledge, New York. Page 11.</ref> Besides observing the basic assumptions recurring in these groups, he also has observed some very interesting phenomena  which he believed may well apply to society.<ref>W.R. Bion. Experiences in Groups - and other papers. (2001). Bruner-Routledge, New York. Page 22.</ref>

About his experiences in groups, Bion wrote: "Judged by ordinary standards of social intercourse, the performance of the group is almost devoid of intellectual content. Furthermore, if we note how assumptions pass unchallenged as statements of fact, and are accepted as such, it seems clear that critical judgment is almost entirely absent."<ref>W.R. Bion. Experiences in Groups - and other papers. (2001). Bruner-Routledge, New York. Page 39.</ref> He explained this observation by calling attention to the presence of unconscious motivations underlying group behavior. This observation agrees with Gustave Le Bon's findings about groups to which he mentioned in his book ''The Crowd''.

Bion also claimed that "...what the individual says or does in a group illumines both his own personality and his view of the group; sometimes his contribution illumines one more than the other."<ref name=":0">W.R. Bion. Experiences in Groups - and other papers. (2001). Bruner-Routledge, New York. Page 50.</ref> This observation is related to the psychological phenomenon of [[Psychological projection|projection]].

Bion posited the presence of "anonymous" contributions to a group as the foundations for "a successful system of evasion and denial".<ref name=":0" /> A related phenomenon is that of ''[[deindividuation]]''.

In ''Experiences in Groups'', Bion asserted that whenever a group is formed, it seeks a leader to follow. Moreover, he claimed that in the absence of a formal leader who satisfies the group, the most mentally ill member of the group will be treated as an informal leader: "In its search for a leader the group finds a paranoid schizophrenic or malignant hysteric if possible; failing either of these, a psychopathic personality with delinquent trends will do; failing a psychopathic personality it will pick on the verbally facile high-grade defective."<ref>W.R. Bion. Experiences in Groups - and other papers. (2001). Bruner-Routledge, New York. Page 123.</ref>