moral sentiments acquired from society and developed into the
self-regarding sentiment, it is responsible for most of our ideas of
right, our conception of what is and what is not compatible with our
self-respect.

=Self-Abasement.= Self-assertion is aroused primarily by the presence
of others and especially of those to whom we feel in any way
superior, but when the presence of others makes us feel small, when we
want to hide or keep in the background, we are being moved by the
opposite instinct of self-abasement and negative self-feeling. It may
be either the real or the fancied superiority of the spectators that
arouses this feeling,--their wisdom or strength, beauty or good
clothes. Sometimes, as in stage-fright, it is their numerical
superiority. Bashfulness is the struggle between the two
self-instincts, assertion and abasement. Our impulse for self-display
urges us on to make a good impression, while our feeling of
inferiority impels us to get away unnoticed. Hence the struggle and
the painful emotion.

=Gregariousness.= Man has been called a gregarious animal. That is,
like the animals, he likes to run with his kind, and feels a
pronounced aversion to prolonged isolation. It is this
"herd-instinct," too, which makes man so extremely sensitive to the
opinions of the society in which he lives. Because of this impulse to
go with the crowd, ideas received through education are accepted as
imperative and are backed up by all the force of the instinct of
self-regard. When the teachings of society happen to run counter to
the laws of our being, the possibilities of conflict are indeed
great.[10]