An Experimental Study of the Role of the Ego in Work. I. the Role of the Ego in Cooperative Work» by Helen Block Lewis

For many people in our society, responsibility for personal welfare, for success and failure, rests solely upon the individual. The result is a tendency for many individuals to develop a characteristic pattern of activity in which the ego is focal and the objective situation, background. So many aspects of the objective world, on the other hand, by their intrinsic properties demand and absorb the individual's attention, that for a good portion of his life's activities man's ego recedes into the background of behavior. One may think of these two fundamentally different approaches to reality as 'indirect' via ego wishes and needs, and 'direct,' with the objective situation reacted to, manipulated 'for its own sake.' The contrast, for example, between a child constructing a toy house with a glance every alternate minute at his teacher or parent, and a child completely and selflessly involved in the same task, illustrates the basic difference in approach to the world which forms the subject of this paper. It is necessary first to clarify the sense in which we are using the term 'ego.' 'Ego' needs mean, in this discussion, 'selfish' needs, that is, needs restricted in scope to the enhancement of the self. The goal of a person whose 'ego' needs are focal is the achievement of some pleasure, reward or improved status for his self. The person pursues activity with this self-enhancement or self-reward as his goal, to the exclusion of all other demands either from the objective environment or from other people. 'Ego' needs mean, then, in our discussion, 'self or 'egotistical' needs. This very narrow conception of the ego is introduced here mainly for purposes of clarity. It is essential that a distinction be drawn between ego or selfish needs, and the needs of the person. If the ego and the person are made synonymous, as is often done, then any