Instead of a Judeo-Christian nested form underlying Menninger’s nested form of crime(sin(symptom)), “free-will” probably belongs to a separate, intersecting nested form.

In Chapter 7, titled “Sin as Collective Responsibility”, Menninger dramatically shifted from the nested form of “crime(sin(symptom))” to another form, something like “collective irresponsibility(sin(the seven deadly “vices” (Chapter 8))”.

For Menninger, individuals express themselves within the confines of the groups within which they have loose membership.  Groups spontaneously organize.  Why? Membership implies self-interest.

Member’s self-interest has all the qualities of the “symptom”, discussed in Chapter 6.  However, with groups, something new enters the picture, especially when it comes to “what groups do all the time”: “group-think”.

Group-think is a kind of self-deception, or maybe, a deception among selves. Just as “crime” puts “sin” into a normal context.  “Group-think” puts “sin” into a normal context.  But “group-think” and “crime” cannot be exchanged for one another.