2.2 Theories of Genetic Construction of the Environment 5

2.3 Group Conflict Theory and Psychodynamic Theory 6

3 Alienation and Regression of Herzog 7

3.1 The Alienation of the Ego 7

3.2 The Alienation from the Society 8

3.3 The Alienation Between People 10

3.4 Regression and Disappearance of Herzog’s Dilemma 11

4 Inner Causes of the Problem from Perspective of Social Psychology 12

4.1 Inpidual Factors 12

4.2 Social Influence and Environmental Factors 13

4.3 Racial Prejudice Problem 14

5 Conclusion 17

Bibliography 19

1 Introduction

In the novel Herzog, the protagonist Herzog is always immersed in complex and varied psychological activities. On the surface, the novel seems to be disorderly and unstructured. However, Bellow intends to choose a narrative approach that combines the third person with the first person, which makes the protagonist better demonstrate his inner conflict. The use of more flexible autobiographical forms of letters helps the hero achieve self-pursuit, to find the meaning of life in this non-humane world.

Herzog can be said to be a microcosm of American intellectuals at that time. They no longer have to worry about clothing, food and shelter, and the appearance of their own value makes their social status rapidly increase. In the eyes of the public, they are highly regarded and respected. However, behind all this glory, their hearts are filled with more helplessness and confusion.

Herzog, 47, is a knowledgeable university history professor. The breadth of his knowledge and the success of his career did not make his personal life a smooth journey. He married twice, porced twice, and had a son and a daughter. In the second marriage, his wife, Madeleine, betrayed him and had an affair with his most trusted friend Gersbach and drove him out of the house. As a result, he was forced to leave, and also lost his beloved daughter Joni. The painful experience, the anxious mood and the confused path made Herzog almost collapse under heavy pressure, and the moment of anxiety and despair tortured him.

Herzog’s humanitarian ideals have been crushed by real life. The collapse of the spiritual state and the unbalance of the psychological state caused him to have a so-called “self-essential crisis”. He could not find a foothold on which to survive, neither did he know how to recognize the reality around him. He did not know how to approach and arrange his own life, the foothold on which he has survived has disappeared, which further contributes to his doubts about life.

Social psychology is one of the fundamental branches of Neo-Confucianism, and today the study of psychology in the world can be pided into two areas: one is personality and social psychology, the second is experimental and cognitive psychology. Personality, society,  experiment, and    cognition have thus become the four qualities of psychology, and the other branches of psychology are built on these four foundations. Personality psychology starts from the person itself and discusses what kind of influence the inpidual's intrinsic characteristics have on the inpidual’s behavior and psychology. Besides, considering the inpidual’s own characteristics, the social psychology also considers the various relationships between the inpidual and society, and its purpose is to understand the influence of various social factors on inpidual and group behavior; experimental psychology solves research method problems, for all psychological research is based on the methods it provides; cognitive psychology solves the process and mechanism issues, it allows us to understand the law of the occurrence of psychological phenomena.