The vast majority of people in our world live in societies in which the interest of the group prevails over the interest of the individual. I will call these societies collectivist, using a word which to some readers may have political connotations, but it is not meant here in any political sense. It does not refer to the power of the state over the individual but to the power of the group. The first group in our lives is always the family into which we are born. Family structures, however, differ between societies. In most collectivist societies the “family” within which the child grows up consists of a number of people living closely together; not just the parents and other children, but, for example, grandparents, uncles, aunts, servants, or other housemates. This is known in cultural anthropology as the extended family. When children grow up they learn to think of themselves as part of a “we” group, a relationship which is not voluntary but given by nature. The “we” group is distinct from other people in society who belong to “they” groups, of which there are many. The “we”group (or in-group) is the major source of one’s identity, and the only secure protection one has against the hardships of life. Therefore one owes lifelong loyalty to one’s in-group, and breaking this loyalty is one of the worst things a person can do. Between the person and the in-group a dependence relationship develops which is both practical and psychological. A minority of people in our world live in societies in which the interests of the individual prevail over the interests of the group, societies which I will call individualist. In these, most children are born into families consisting of two parents and, possibly, other children; in some societies there is an increasing share of one-parent families. Other relatives live elsewhere and are rarely seen. This type is the nuclear family (from the Latin “nucleus” meaning core). Children from such families, as they grow up, soon learn to think of themselves as “I”. This “I”, their personal identity, is distinct from other people’s “I”s, and these others are not classified according to their group membership but to individual characteristics. Playmates, for example, are chosen on the basis of personal preferences. The purpose of education is to enable the child to stand on its own feet. The child is expected to leave the parental home as soon as this has been achieved. Not infrequently, children, after having left home, reduce relationships with their parents to a minimum or break them off altogether. Neither practically nor psychologically is the healthy person in this type of society supposed to be dependent on a group.