10 Psychoanalysis

16
Psychoanalysis
W hen psychology became a science, it became first a science of conscious

experience and later a science of behavior. Representatives of psychol-
ogy’s early schools—for example, Wundt, Titchener, and James—were aware
of unconscious processes but focused on conscious experience. How then
could a psychology that emphasized the unconscious mind emerge? The
answer is that it did not come from academic or experimental psychology.
Rather, it came from clinical practice. Those who developed the psychology
of the unconscious were not concerned with experimental design or the phi-
losophy of science; they were concerned with understanding the causes of
mental illness.
By emphasizing the importance of unconscious processes as causes of mental
illness, these early pioneers of psychoanalysis set themselves apart not only from
the psychologists of the time but also from the medical profession of the day. A
medical profession that had been strongly influenced by mechanistic-positivistic
philosophy, according to which physical events caused all illness. If they used the
term mental illness at all, it was as a descriptive term because they believed that all
illnesses have physical origins.
The stressing of psychological causes of mental illness separated this small
group of physicians from both their own profession and academic psychology.
Theirs was not an easy struggle, but they persisted; in the end, they convinced
the medical profession, academic psychology, and the public that unconscious
processes must be taken into consideration in understanding why people act as
they do. Sigmund Freud was the leader of this group of rebels, but before we
examine his work, we consider some of the antecedents of his work.
491
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492 CHAPTER 16
than by reason. Because the instincts determine

ANTECEDENTS TO THE DEVELOPMENT behavior, humans continually vacillate between
OF PSYCHOANALYSIS being in a state of need and being satisfied.
Schopenhauer anticipated Freud’s concept of subli-
As we saw in the last chapter, both hypnotic phe- mation when he said that we could attain some
nomena and Charcot’s proposed explanation of relief or escape from the irrational forces within us
hysteria strongly influenced the development of by immersing ourselves in music, poetry, or art.
Freud’s theory, but there were other influences as One could also attempt to counteract these
well. In fact, a case can be made that all compo- irrational forces, especially the sex drive, by living
nents of what was to become psychoanalysis existed a life of asceticism. Schopenhauer also spoke of
before Freud began to formulate that doctrine. repressing undesirable thoughts into the uncon-
Some of those components were very much a scious and of the resistance one encounters when
part of the German culture in which Freud grew attempting to recognize repressed ideas. Although
up, and others he learned as a medical student Freud credited Schopenhauer as being the first to
trained in the Helmholtzian tradition. discover the processes of sublimation, repression,
Leibniz (1646–1716), with his monadology, and resistance, Freud also claimed that he had dis-
showed that depending on the number of monads covered the same processes independently.
involved, levels of awareness could range from clear Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)—and later,
perception (apperception) to experiences of which Freud—saw humans as engaged in a perpetual bat-
we are unaware (petites perceptions). Goethe tle between their irrational (Dionysian) and rational
(1749–1832) was one of Freud’s favorite authors, (Apollonian) tendencies. According to Nietzsche, it
and the major thrust of psychoanalysis was certainly is up to each person to create a unique blend of
compatible with Goethe’s description of human these tendencies within his or her own personality,
existence as consisting of a constant struggle even if doing so violates conventional morality.
between conflicting emotions and tendencies. Indeed, concepts akin to the id and superego can
Hegel (1770–1831) also saw the resolution of con- be found in Nietzsche, suggesting that his influence
flicting forces (via the dialectic process) as a near upon Freud may have been greater than is com-
ubiquitous explanation for human nature and monly acknowledged (Greer, 2002; Kaufmann,
achievement. Resonating with this Zeitgeist, Freud 1974).
frequently focused on conflicts to explain his own Like Herbart, Fechner (1801–1887) employed
ideas. Herbart (1776–1841) suggested that there is a the concept of threshold in his work. More impor-
threshold above which an idea is conscious and tant to Freud, however, was that Fechner likened
below which an idea is unconscious. He also postu- the mind to an iceberg, consciousness being the
lated a conflict model of the mind because only ideas smallest part (about 1/10), or the tip, and the
compatible with each other could occur in con- unconscious mind making up the rest. Besides bor-
sciousness. If two incompatible ideas occur in con- rowing the iceberg analogy of the mind from
sciousness, one of them is forced below the Fechner, Freud also followed Fechner in attempt-
threshold into the unconscious. Herbart used the ing to apply the recently discovered principle of the
term repression to denote the inhibiting force that conservation of energy to living organisms. Freud
keeps an incompatible idea in the unconscious. As said, “I was always open to the ideas of G. T.
far as the notion of the unconscious is concerned, Fechner and have followed that thinker upon
Boring said, “Leibniz foreshadowed the entire doc- many important points” (E. Jones, 1953, p. 374).
trine of the unconscious, but Herbart actually began By showing the continuity between humans
it” (1950, p. 257). and other animals, Darwin (1809–1882) strength-
Schopenhauer (1788–1860) believed that ened Freud’s contention that humans, like nonhu-
humans are governed more by irrational desires man animals, are motivated by instincts rather than
PSYCHOANALYSIS 493
by reason. According to Freud, it is our powerful and later when he was developing his theory, the
animal instincts, such as our urges for sexual activity idea of the unconscious was quite common in
and willingness to be aggressive, that are the driving Europe, and no doubt every reasonably educated
forces of personality, and it is these instincts that person was familiar with the concept. Hartmann
must be at least partially inhibited for civilization to was strongly influenced by both Schopenhauer’s
exist. philosophy and Jewish mysticism. For him, there
Representing the positivistic approach to med- were three types of unconsciousness: processes
icine and psychology, Helmholtz (1821–1894) tol- that govern all natural phenomena in the universe;
erated no metaphysical speculation while studying the physiological unconscious, which directs the
living organisms, including humans. His approach, bodily processes; and the psychological uncon-
which permeated most of medicine and physiology scious, which is the source of all behavior.
at the time, initially had a profound effect on Freud. Although Hartmann’s position was primarily mysti-
However, Freud eventually abandoned cal, it had some elements in common with Freud’s
Helmholtz’s materialism and switched from a med- theory, especially the notion of the psychological
ical (biological) to a psychological model in his unconscious (Capps, 1970).
effort to explain human behavior. Also important Clearly then, the notions of an active, dynamic
for Freud was Helmholtz’s concept of the conser- mind with a powerful unconscious component were
vation of energy. Helmholtz demonstrated that an very much part of Freud’s philosophical heritage. As
organism is an energy system that could be we will see, other aspects of Freud’s theory—such as
explained entirely on the basis of physical princi- infantile sexuality, the emphasis on the psychological
ples. Helmholtz demonstrated that the energy that causes of mental illness, psychosexual stages of devel-
comes out of an organism depends on the energy opment, and even dream analysis—were also not orig-
that goes into it; no life force is left over. Taking inal with Freud. Freud’s genius was synthesizing—and
Helmholtz’s idea of the conservation of energy and then promoting—all these elements as a comprehen-
applying it to the mind, Freud assumed that only so sive theory of personality: “Much of what is credited
much psychic energy is available at any given time to Freud was diffuse current lore, and his role was to
and that it could be distributed in various ways. crystallize these ideas and give them an original shape”
How this finite amount of energy is distributed in (Ellenberger, 1970, p. 548).
the mind accounts for all human behavior and
thought.
Brentano (1838–1917) was one of Freud’s tea- SIGMUND FREUD
chers at the University of Vienna when Freud was
in his early twenties. Brentano taught that motiva- Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) was born on either
tional factors are extremely important in determin- March 6 or May 6 in Freiberg, Moravia (now Pribor,
ing the flow of thought and that there are major Czech Republic). His father, Jakob, was a wool
differences between objective reality and subjective merchant who had 10 children. Both his grandfather
reality. This distinction was to play a vital role in and his great-grandfather were rabbis. Freud consid-
Freud’s theory. Under the influence of Brentano, ered himself a Jew all his life but had a negative atti-
Freud almost decided to give up medicine and tude toward all organized religion. Jakob’s first wife
pursue philosophy; but Ernst Brucke (1819–1892), (Sally Kanner), whom he married when he was
the positivistic physiologist, influenced Freud even 17 years old, bore him two children (Emanuel and
more than Brentano, and Freud stayed in medicine. Philipp); his second wife apparently bore him none;
Karl Eduard von Hartmann (1842–1906) wrote and his third wife Amalie Nathansohn bore him
a book titled Philosophy of the Unconscious (1869), eight children, of whom Sigmund was the first.
which went through 11 editions in his lifetime. As for his birth date, Ernest Jones, Freud’s offi-
During the time that Freud was studying medicine cial biographer, believed that the confusion between
494 CHAPTER 16
he was given an oil lamp and a room of his own—

the only one in the large household to have those
things. His mother would often serve him his meals
in his room, and she ordered a piano be taken away
from one of his sisters because the music bothered
him. Sigmund began reading Shakespeare when he
was eight years old, and he deeply admired that
author’s power of expression and understanding of
human nature all his life. Freud also had an amazing
gift for languages. As a boy, he taught himself Latin,
Greek, French, Spanish, Italian, and English, and
later in life he became an acknowledged master of
German prose (indeed, a nominee for the Nobel
Prize in Literature, and winner of the Goethe
Prize). He entered school a year earlier than normal
adoc-photos/Corbis
and was always at the head of his class; at age 17, he

graduated summa cum laude.
Until his final year of high school, Freud was
attracted to a career in law or politics, or even in
Sigmund Freud the military; but hearing a lecture on Goethe’s
essay on nature and reading Darwin’s theory of evo-
town records and family tradition reflected only a lution aroused his interest in science, and he decided
clerical error. Balmary (1979) contends that it was to enroll in the medical school at the University of
to conceal that Freud’s mother was pregnant with Vienna in the fall of 1873. He also made this deci-
Sigmund when she married Jakob. In any case, sion partly because, in anti-Semitic Vienna, medicine
when Sigmund was born, his father was 40 years and law were among the only academic professions
old and already a grandfather, and his mother was a open to Jews. Although Freud enrolled in medical
youthful 20. Among the paradoxes that young Freud school in 1873, it took him eight years to complete
had to grapple with were the facts that he had half- the program; because he had such wide interests, he
brothers as old as his mother and a nephew older was often diverted from his medical studies. For
than he was. Sigmund was the oldest child in the example, Brentano caused him to become interested
immediate family, however, and clearly Amalie’s in philosophy, and Freud even translated one of John
favorite. Freud and his mother had a close, strong, Stuart Mill’s books into German.
and positive relationship, and he always felt that According to Freud’s own account, the person
being the indisputable favorite child of his young who influenced him most during his medical studies
mother had much to do with his success. Because was Ernst Brucke, who had, along with Helmholtz
his mother believed that he was special, he came to and Du Bois-Reymond, founded the materialistic-
believe it too; therefore, much of what he accom- positivistic movement in physiology (see Chapter 8).
plished later was due, he thought, to a type of self- In Brucke’s laboratory, Freud studied the reproductive
fulfilling prophecy. Freud’s father lived 81 years, and system of male eels and wrote a number of influential
his mother lived until 1930, when she died at the age articles on anatomy and neurology. Freud obtained
of 95. his medical degree in 1881 and continued to work
When Jakob’s business failed, the Freuds in Brucke’s laboratory. Even though doing physiolog-
moved first to Leipzig and then, when Sigmund ical research was Freud’s main interest, he realized that
was age 4, to Vienna. From early on, Sigmund jobs in that area were scarce, low-paying, and gener-
showed great intellectual ability; to aid his studies, ally not available to Jews. Freud’s financial concerns
PSYCHOANALYSIS 495
became acute in 1882, when he became engaged to Carl Koller (1857–1944), one of Freud’s youn-
Martha Bernays. Circumstances and advice from ger colleagues, learned from Freud that cocaine
Brucke caused Freud to change his career plans and could also be used as an anesthetic. Koller was
seek a career in medical practice. To help prepare interested in ophthalmology and pursued Freud’s
himself, Freud went to the Vienna General Hospital observation as it related to eye operations. Within
to study with Theodor Meynert (1833–1893), one of a few months, Koller delivered a paper describing
the best-known brain anatomists at the time, and how eye operations previously impossible could
Freud soon became a recognized expert at diagnosing now, using cocaine as an anesthetic, be done with
various types of brain damage. Freud considered ease. The paper caused a sensation and brought
Meynert the most brilliant person he had ever Koller worldwide fame almost overnight. Freud
known. deeply regretted having just missed gaining this
Many important events happened in Freud’s life professional recognition himself.
about this time. In addition to making the decision to With the exception of the anesthetizing effects
practice medicine, Freud was making a name for of cocaine, most all of Freud’s other beliefs about
himself as a neuroanatomist; he had just befriended the substance eventually proved to be false. In
Joseph Breuer (who, as we will see, introduced Freud 1884 he administered cocaine to his colleague
to many of the phenomena that would occupy and friend Ernst von Fleischl-Marxow (1846–
Freud’s attention for the next 50 years), and he 1891), who was addicted to morphine. Freud’s
obtained the opportunity to study with Charcot in intention was to switch Fleischl-Marxow, who
Paris. All these events were to have a significant influ- was a prominent physicist and physiologist, from
ence on the development of Freud’s career. morphine to cocaine, believing the latter was
harmless. Instead, he died a cocaine addict. Soon
reports of cocaine addiction began coming in from
The Cocaine Episode
throughout the world, and the drug came under
In the spring of 1884, Freud became interested in heavy attack from the medical community.
the study of cocaine after learning that it had been Although cocaine still has limited medical use
used successfully in the military to increase the today, it certainly didn’t prove to be a viable career
energy and endurance of soldiers. Freud almost path.
decided not to pursue his interest when he learned
from the pharmaceutical company, Merck, that the Freud’s Addiction to Nicotine. Although Freud
price of 1 gram of cocaine was $1.27 instead of avoided addiction to cocaine, he was addicted to
13 cents as he had believed (E. Jones, 1953). nicotine most of his adult life, smoking an average
Freud persisted, however, and after taking the of 20 cigars a day. At the age of 38, it was discov-
drug himself, he found that it relieved his feelings ered that he had heart arrhythmia; his physician
of depression and cured his indigestion, helped him advised him to stop smoking, but he continued to
work, and appeared to have no negative side effects. do so. Being a physician himself, Freud was well
Besides taking cocaine regularly himself, Freud gave aware of the health risks associated with smoking,
it to his sisters, friends, colleagues, and patients and he tried several times to quit but without suc-
and sent some to his fiancée Martha Bernays “to cess. In 1923, when Freud was 67 years old, he
make her strong and give her cheeks a red color” developed cancer of the palate and jaw. A series
(E. Jones, 1953, p. 81). The apparent improvement of 33 operations eventually necessitated his wearing
caused by cocaine in Freud’s patients made him of an awkward prosthetic device (which he called
feel, for the first time, that he was a real physician. “the monster”) to replace the surgically removed
He became an enthusiastic advocate of cocaine and sections of his jaw. He was in almost constant
published six articles in the next two years describ- pain during the last 16 years of his life, yet he con-
ing its benefits. tinued to smoke his cigars.
496 CHAPTER 16
Granted that it is a merit to have created

EARLY INFLUENCES ON THE psychoanalysis, it is not my merit. I was a
DEVELOPMENT OF PSYCHOANALYSIS student, busy with the passing of my last
examinations, when another physician of
Vienna, Dr. [Josef] Breuer, made the first
Josef Breuer and the Case of Anna O.
application of this method to the case of an
Shortly before Freud obtained his medical degree, hysterical girl (1880-82). (p. 1)
he developed a friendship with Josef Breuer
Anna O. was a bright, attractive, 21-year-old
(1842–1925), another one of Brucke’s former stu-
woman who had a variety of symptoms associated
dents and the Brentano family’s physician. Breuer
with hysteria. At one time or another, she had
was 14 years older than Freud and had a consider-
experienced paralysis of the arms or legs, distur-
able reputation as a physician and researcher. Breuer
bances of sight and speech, memory loss, and gen-
had made an important discovery concerning the
eral mental disorientation. Breuer hypnotized the
reflexes involved in breathing, and he was one of
young woman and then asked her to recall the cir-
the first to show how the semicircular canals influ-
cumstances under which she first experienced a par-
enced balance. Breuer loaned Freud money, and
ticular symptom. For example, one symptom was
after Freud married in April 1886, the Breuer and
the perpetual squinting of her eyes. Through hyp-
Freud families socialized frequently.
nosis, Breuer discovered that she had been required
It is what Freud learned from Breuer concern-
to keep a vigil by the bedside of her dying father.
ing the treatment of a woman, anonymously
The woman’s deep concern for her father had
referred to as Anna O., that essentially launched
brought tears to her eyes so that when the weak
psychoanalysis. Because Breuer started treating
man asked her what time it was she had to squint
Anna O. in 1880, while Freud was still a medical
to see the hands of the clock.
student, Freud (1910/1949) gave Breuer the credit
Breuer discovered that each time he traced a
for creating psychoanalysis:
symptom to its origin, which was usually some trau-
matic experience, the symptom disappeared either
temporarily or permanently. One by one, Anna O.’s
symptoms were relieved in this way. It was as if certain
emotionally laden ideas could not be expressed
directly but instead manifested themselves in physical
symptoms. When such pathogenic ideas were
given conscious expression, their energy dissipated,
and the symptoms they initiated disappeared. Because
relief followed the emotional release, Breuer called
the treatment the cathartic method. Aristotle orig-
inally used the term catharsis (from the Greek katharsis,
which means “to purify”) to describe the emotional
release and the feeling of purification that an audience
experienced as they viewed a drama. Anna O. called
the method the “talking cure.” Breuer’s treatment of
© Bettmann/Corbis
Anna O. started in December 1880 and continued

until June 1882. During that time, Breuer typically
saw her several hours each day. Soon after treatment
started, Anna O. began responding to Breuer as if he
Josef Breuer
were her father, a process later called transference.
PSYCHOANALYSIS 497
All emotions Anna had once expressed toward her he remained a materialistic-positivistic physiologist;
father, both positive and negative, she now expressed he sought to explain all disorders, including hyste-
toward Breuer. Breuer also began developing emo- ria, only in terms of neurophysiology. As did most
tional feelings toward Anna, a process later called physicians at the time, Freud viewed psychological
countertransference. Because of the excessive explanations of illness as nonscientific. As we have
amount of time involved and because his emotional seen, Charcot assumed hysteria to be a real disease
involvement in the case began to negatively impact his that could be triggered by dissociated ideas. Taking
marriage and his other professional obligations, Breuer hysteria seriously and proposing a partially psycho-
decided to terminate his treatment of Anna O. logical explanation of the disease set Charcot apart
The story of Anna O. usually ends with the from most of his colleagues. It is also significant for
revelation that Anna’s real name was Bertha the subsequent development of psychoanalysis that
Pappenheim (1859–1936) and that Breuer’s treat- Freud claimed to have overheard Charcot say about
ment must have been effective because the hysteria, “But in this kind of case it is always some-
woman went on to become a prominent social thing genital—always, always, always” (Boring,
worker in Germany. Ellenberger (1972), however, 1950, p. 709). Furthermore, Charcot insisted that
discovered that Anna O. was institutionalized after hysteria occurred in males as well as females. This
Breuer terminated her treatment. Little is known contention caused a stir because from the time of
about her life between the time of her release the Romans it had been assumed that hysteria was
from the sanatorium and her emergence as a social caused by a disturbance of the uterus.
worker in the late 1880s. However, Pappenheim Freud returned to Vienna and, on October 15,
did eventually go on to become a leader in the 1886, presented a paper entitled “On Male
European feminist movement; a playwright; an Hysteria” to the Viennese Society of Physicians,
author of children’s stories; a founder of several in which he presented and endorsed Charcot’s
schools and clubs for the poor, the illegitimate, or views on hysteria. The presentation was poorly
wayward young women; and an effective spokes- received because, according to Freud, it was too
person against white slavery. Her feminism is evi- radical. Sulloway (1979), however, indicates that
dent in the following statement she made in 1922: the paper was poorly received not because it was
“If there is any justice in the next life women will shocking but because such views on hysteria,
make the laws there and men will bear the chil- including the fact that hysteria was not a disorder
dren” (E. Jones, 1953, p. 224). It is interesting to confined to women, were already widely known
note that throughout her professional life she main- within the medical community. According to
tained a negative attitude toward psychoanalysis and Sulloway, Freud’s account of the reaction to his
would not allow any of the girls in her care to be paper on hysteria was perpetuated by his followers
psychoanalyzed (Edinger, 1968, p. 15). to enhance the image of Freud as a bold innovator
Breuer and Freud published Studies on Hysteria fighting against the medical establishment.
(1895/1955), in which the case of Anna O. was the In April 1886, Freud established a private prac-
first presented, in 1895, and that date is usually tice as a neurologist in Vienna, and in September
taken as the date of the official founding of the 1886, he finally married Martha Bernays after a
school of psychoanalysis. four-year engagement. The Freuds eventually had
six children—three boys and three girls. The youn-
gest, Anna (1895–1982), went on to become a
Freud’s Visit with Charcot
world-renowned child psychoanalyst and assumed
As we saw in the last chapter, Freud studied with leadership of the Freudian movement after her
the illustrious Jean-Martin Charcot from October father’s death. Freud soon learned that he could
1885 to February 1886. Until this visit, although not make an adequate living treating only neuro-
Freud was aware of Breuer’s work with Anna O., logical disorders, and he made the fateful decision
498 CHAPTER 16
to treat hysterics, becoming one of the few forehead and declared that additional information
Viennese physicians to do so. At first, he tried the was forthcoming, and in many cases it was. Freud
traditional methods of treating neurological found that this pressure technique was as effective as
disorders—including baths, massage, electrotherapy, hypnosis, and soon he learned that he did not even
and rest cures—but found them ineffective. It was need to touch his patients; simply encouraging
at this point that everything that he had learned them to speak freely about whatever came to
from Breuer about the cathartic method and from their mind worked just as well. Thus, the method
Charcot about hypnosis became relevant. of free association was born.
In 1889 Freud visited the noted physicians With free association, the important phenom-
Auguste Ambroise Liebeault and Hippolyte ena of resistance, transference, and countertransfer-
Bernheim at the Nancy school in hopes of improving ence still occur but with the major advantage that
his hypnotic skills. From Liebeault and Bernheim, the patient is conscious. Also, although when using
Freud learned about posthypnotic suggestion, observing free association it is often more difficult to arrive at
that an idea planted during hypnosis could influence the original traumatic experience, once attained it is
a person’s behavior even when the person was available for the patient to deal with in a rational
unaware of it. This observation—that intact ideas manner.
of which a person was unaware could play an impor- For Freud, the goals of psychotherapy are to
tant role in that person’s behavior—confirmed what help the patient overcome resistance and rationally
Freud had learned from Charcot and was to become ponder early traumatic experience. This is why he
an extremely important part of psychoanalysis. He said that true psychoanalysis started only when hyp-
also learned from Liebeault and Bernheim that nosis had been discarded (Heidbreder, 1933). Freud
although patients tend to forget what they had likened the use of free association to an archeolo-
experienced during hypnosis (a phenomenon called gist’s excavation of a buried city. It is from only a
posthypnotic amnesia), such memories could return if few fragmented artifacts that the structure and
the patient is strongly encouraged to remember nature of a civilization must be ascertained. Simi-
them. This observation, too, was important to the larly, free association provides only fragmented
development of psychoanalysis. glimpses of the unconscious, and from those
glimpses the psychoanalyst must determine the
structure and nature of a person’s unconscious
The Birth of Free Association
mind.
Upon returning to his practice, Freud still found During a therapeutic session Freud had his
hypnosis to be ineffective and was seeking an alter- patients lie on a couch while he sat out of sight
native. Then he remembered that, while at the behind them. Freud gave two reasons for this
Nancy school, he had observed that the hypnotist arrangement: (1) It enhanced free association, for
would bring back the memory of what happened example, by preventing his facial expressions and
during hypnosis by putting his hand on the patient’s mannerisms from influencing the flow of his
forehead and saying, “Now you can remember.” patients’ thoughts; and (2) he could not tolerate
With this in mind, Freud tried having his patients being stared at for eight, or more, hours a day
lie on a couch, with their eyes closed, but not hyp- (Storr, 1989).
notized. He asked the patients to recall the first time
they had experienced a particular symptom, and the
patients began to recollect various experiences but
Studies on Hysteria
usually stopped short of the goal. In other words, as In Studies on Hysteria (1895/1955), Breuer and
they approached the recollection of a traumatic Freud put forth a number of the basic tenets of
experience, they displayed resistance. At this psychoanalysis. They noted that hysteria is caused
point, Freud placed his hand on the patient’s by a traumatic experience that is not allowed
PSYCHOANALYSIS 499
adequate expression and therefore manifests itself in model of the mind, Freud turned to a psychological
physical symptoms. Therefore, symptoms could be model, and the development of psychoanalysis was
taken as symbolic representations of an underlying truly begun.
traumatic experience that is no longer consciously
available to the patient. Because such experience is
traumatic, it is repressed—that is, actively held in the
The Seduction Theory
unconscious because to ponder it would provoke On April 21, 1896, Freud delivered a paper to the
anxiety. Resistance, then, is a sign that the therapist Psychiatric and Neurological Society in Vienna titled
is on the right track. Repression also often results “The Aetiology of Hysteria.” The paper stated that,
from conflict, the tendency both to approach and without exception, Freud’s hysteric patients related
to avoid something considered wrong. to him a childhood incident in which they had been
The fundamental point is that repressed experi- sexually molested. Freud concluded that such an
ences or conflicts do not go away. Rather, they go on event was the basis of all hysteria. He stated his
exerting a powerful influence on a person’s person- conclusion forcefully as follows:
ality. The only way to deal with repressed material
Whatever case and whatever symptom we
properly is to make it conscious and thereby deal
take as our point of departure, in the end we
with it rationally. For Freud, the most effective way
infallibly come to the field of sexual experience.
of making repressed material conscious is through
So here for the first time we seem to have
free association. By carefully analyzing the content
discovered an aetiological precondition for
of free associations, gestures, and transference, the
hysterical symptoms. (Masson, 1984, p.
analyst could determine the nature of the repressed
259)
experience and help the patient become aware of
it and deal with it. Thus, in Studies on Hysteria, Freud went on to say, “In all eighteen cases
Freud clearly outlined his belief in the importance (cases of pure hysteria and of hysteria combined
of unconscious motivation. Freud and Breuer with obsessions, and comprising six men and twelve
wrote separate conclusions to the book, and women) I have … come to learn of sexual experi-
Freud emphasized the role of sex in unconscious ences in childhood” (Masson, 1984, p. 268).
motivation. At the time, Freud contended that a Richard von Krafft-Ebing (1840–1902), the
person with a normal sex life could not become illustrious physician and head of the department of
neurotic. psychiatry at the University of Vienna, chaired the
meeting at which Freud’s paper was presented. In a
letter to his close friend Wilhelm Fliess (1858–
1928), Freud described how his paper was
PROJECT FOR A SCIENTIFIC
received:
PSYCHOLOGY
A lecture on the aetiology of hysteria at the
Psychiatric Society met with an icy
In 1895, the same year that Breuer and Freud pub-
reception from the asses, and from Krafft-
lished Studies on Hysteria, Freud completed Project for
Ebing the strange comment: It sounds like
a Scientific Psychology. The purpose of Project was to
a scientific fairy tale. And this after one has
explain psychological phenomena in purely neuro-
demonstrated to them a solution to a more
physical terms. In other words, he intended to
than thousand-year-old problem, a
apply the principles of Helmholtzian physiology,
“source of the Nile”! They can all go to
in which he was trained, to the study of the
hell. (Masson, 1984, p. 9)
mind. Freud was not satisfied with his effort, and
Project was not published (in his lifetime). Frustrated Masson (1984) suggests that the hostile recep-
in his attempt to create a neurophysical (medical) tion by the medical community of Freud’s paper
500 CHAPTER 16
was at least partially responsible for his subsequent then, became a second way of tapping the uncon-
abandonment of the seduction theory. Indeed, scious mind (the first way being free association)
Freud abandoned his seduction theory in September and one that was suitable for Freud’s self-analysis.
1897. In most cases, he concluded, the seduction Freud said, “The interpretation of dreams is the
had not really taken place. Rather, the patients royal road to knowledge of the unconscious activi-
had imagined the encounter. Freud decided that ties of the mind” (1900/1953, p. 608), and Freud’s
the imagined incidents were very real to his patients self-analysis culminated in what he considered to be
and therefore just as traumatic as if they had actually his most important work, The Interpretation of
occurred. His original belief remained intact: The Dreams (1900/1953).
basis of neuroses was the repression of sexual Like the physical symptoms of hysteria, dreams
thoughts, whether the thoughts were based on require a knowledgeable interpretation. During
real or imagined experience. sleep, a person’s defenses are down but not elimi-
nated, so a repressed experience reaches conscious-
ness only in disguised form. Therefore, there is a
Freud’s Self-Analysis
major difference between what a dream appears to
Because of the many complexities involved in the be about and what it really is about. What a dream
therapeutic process, Freud soon realized that to be appears to be about is its manifest content, and
an effective analyst, he had to be psychoanalyzed what it really is about is its latent content. Freud
himself. Freud (1927) insisted later that to be a qual- concluded that every dream is a wish fulfillment.
ified psychoanalyst one need not be a physician, but That is, it is a symbolic expression of a wish that the
one does need to be psychoanalyzed. And, in addi- dreamer could not express or satisfy directly with-
tion to being psychoanalyzed, one needs at least out experiencing anxiety. Wishes expressed in sym-
several years of supervised practice as a psychoana- bolic form during sleep are disguised enough to
lyst. Because no one was available to psychoanalyze allow the dreamer to continue sleeping because a
Freud, he took on the job himself. Along with a direct expression of the wish involved would pro-
variety of insecurities, such as an intense fear of train duce too much anxiety and disrupt sleep.
travel, a major motivation for Freud’s self-analysis According to Freud, dream interpretation is
was his reaction to the death of his father in the fall complex business, and only someone well versed
of 1896. Although his father had been very ill and in psychoanalytic theory can accomplish the task.
his death was no surprise, Freud found that his One has to understand the dream work that dis-
father’s death affected him deeply. For months fol- guises the wish actually being expressed in the
lowing the death, Freud experienced severe depres- dream. Dream work includes condensation, in
sion and could not work. His reaction was so acute which one element of a dream symbolizes several
that he decided he should regard himself as a things in waking life, such as when a family dog
patient. symbolizes an entire family. Dream work also
involves displacement, in which, instead of
Analysis of Dreams. Clearly, Freud could not use dreaming about an anxiety-provoking object or
free association on himself, so he needed another event, the dreamer dreams of something symboli-
vehicle for his self-analysis. He assumed that the cally similar to it, such as when one dreams of a
content of dreams could be viewed in much the cave instead of a vagina.
same way as hysterical symptoms. That is, both Freud believed that although the most impor-
dreams and hysterical symptoms could be seen as tant dream symbols come from a person’s own
symbolic manifestations of repressed traumatic experience, there also are universal dream symbols,
thoughts. If one properly analyzed either the sym- which have the same meaning in everyone’s
bols of dreams or hysterical symptoms, one could dreams. For example, travel symbolizes our moving
get at the roots of the problem. Dream analysis, toward death; falling symbolizes giving in to sexual
PSYCHOANALYSIS 501
temptation; boxes, gardens, doors, or balconies allowed him to confirm from his own
symbolize the vagina; and cannons, snakes, trees, experience just how remarkably wide-
swords, church spires, and candles symbolize the spread the opportunities were in every
penis. normal childhood for both traumatic and
spontaneous sexual activity. At the same
Freud, Dreams, and Originality. In 1914 Freud time, self-analysis enabled Freud to extend
said about dreams, “I do not know of any outside significantly his understanding of the vari-
influence which drew my interest to them or ous psychological correlates of such early
inspired me with any helpful expectations” sexual experiences. He was able to recall
(1914/1966c, p. 18). He also said that, prior to his feelings of jealousy and hatred at the birth
work, for a physician to suggest there was scientific of a younger male sibling, one year his
value in the interpretation of dreams would have junior (and who died after only eight
been “positively disgraceful,” and such a physician months of life). He also recognized love
would have been “excommunicated” from the for the mother and jealousy of the father in
medical community. All of this is Freudian myth. the early years of his childhood and
The use of dream interpretation for diagnosing therefore concluded that such feelings
physical and mental disorders goes back at least to must be a universal concomitant of this
the early Greeks. In fact, as we saw in Chapter 2, period of life.… He even recalled that
Plato described dreams in a way reminiscent of “libido towards matrem was aroused”
Freud’s later description. Rosemarie Sand (1992) when, at the age of two, he had seen his
indicates that, before Freud, some of the most mother in the nude. (Sulloway, 1979,
prominent physicians in Europe were convinced p. 209)
of the scientific significance of dream interpretation:
Thus, by analyzing his own dreams, Freud con-
Among them Charcot, Janet, and Krafft-Ebing.
firmed his belief that young males tend to desire
These individuals suggested that often important
their mothers and be jealous of their fathers. He
information about a patient could be ascertained
called this tendency the Oedipus complex after
only through the interpretation of dreams. For
the Greek play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, in
example, Krafft-Ebing observed that some homo-
which Oedipus killed his father and married his
sexuals dream of heterosexual relations and con-
mother.
cluded that, for them, homosexuality was acquired
Because male children have a close physical
and not congenital. Krafft-Ebing believed that, for
relationship with their mothers (the mother bathes,
such individuals, heterosexual tendencies are
strokes, nurses, and hugs them), Freud thought that
unconscious and disclosed only by dream analysis.
it was natural for them to have a desire for their
In his personal library, Freud had four editions of
mothers. It is very important to note, however,
the book by Krafft-Ebing describing how dreams
that Freud purposefully used sexual terms, even
could be used to explore the unconscious mind.
when a less polarizing notion like “pleasurable”
could readily have served. That is, for Freud, any-
thing pleasurable was roughly what he intended by
The Oedipus Complex
his sexual language. Heidbreder (1933) summarized
Freud’s self-analysis did not result in any major the- the Freudian use of the word sex:
oretical breakthroughs, but it served to confirm
Freud used the word “sex” in a very gen-
many of the theoretical notions that he entertained
eral sense. He includes in it not only the
before his self-analysis began.
specifically sexual interests and activities,
What, then, was the real scientific value of but the whole love life—it might almost
Freud’s self-analysis? Self-analysis finally be said, the whole pleasure life—of human
502 CHAPTER 16
beings. The list of activities that he and his adult life explain much normal and abnormal
followers have seen as having a sexual sig- behavior. At this point, Freud had the vehicle he
nificance is almost inexhaustible; but its needed for explaining the seduction fantasies he had
range and variety may be indicated by the presumably observed in so many of his patients. He
fact that it includes such simple practices as now saw such fantasies as representing repressed
walking, smoking, and bathing, and such desires to possess the parent of the opposite sex
complex activities as artistic creation, reli- and to eliminate the same-sex parent. Such desires,
gious ceremonial, social and political Freud concluded, are as natural and universal as the
institutions, and even the development of need to repress them, and so infantile sexuality
civilization itself. (p. 389) became an important ingredient in his general the-
ory of unconscious motivation.
It is often assumed that Freud’s extensive use of
sexual language, for example, even in his psychosexual
stages—oral, anal, phallic, etc.—ran purposefully con-
trary to the Victorian morality of the time. Yet, this THE PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
contention may not be true. Views of sexuality very
OF EVERYDAY LIFE
similar to those proposed by Freud had already been
offered by individuals such as Krafft-Ebing, Albert
Freud’s next major work following The Interpretation
Moll (1862–1939), and Havelock Ellis (1859–1939),
of Dreams was Psychopathology of Everyday Life
so that sexology was very much in vogue when Freud
(1901/1960b) in which he discussed parapraxes
was developing his theory (Foucault, 1976). In the
(singular, parapraxis). Parapraxes are relatively
case of the Oedipus complex, the mother is the source
minor errors in everyday living, such as slips of the
of all the young child’s pleasures—being held, being
tongue (Freudian slips), forgetting things, losing
fed, being comforted, and so on, and the father clearly
things, small accidents, and mistakes in writing.
has priority for her attentions.
According to Freud, all behavior is motivated; so
He wishes to possess her physically in such for him, it was legitimate to seek the causes of all
ways as he has divined from his observa- behavior, “normal” or “abnormal.” Furthermore,
tions and intuitions about sexual life.… His he believed that because the causes of behavior are
father now becomes a rival who stands in usually unconscious, people seldom know why they
his way and whom he would like to get rid act as they do. Freud pointed out that parapraxes are
of. (Freud, 1940/1969, p. 46) often unconsciously motivated.
So the male child is in competition with the Freud is never at a loss to find evidence for
father who also desires the mother, but the reality his theories in the commonplace incidents
of the situation (that the father is much more pow- we dismiss as insignificant or attribute to
erful than the child) causes the child to repress his chance. Slips of the tongue and slips of the
desires for the mother and his hostility toward the pen, forgotten names and forgotten
father. According to Freud, however, repressed appointments, lost gifts and mislaid pos-
ideas do not go away; they continue to manifest sessions, all point to the role of wish and
themselves in dreams, symptoms, or unusual behav- motive. Such happenings, Freud insists, are
ior. For example, it became clear to Freud that his by no means accidental. The woman who
overreaction to his father’s death had been at least loses her wedding ring wishes that she had
partially motivated by the guilt he felt from wishing never had it. The physician who forgets
his father would die. the name of his rival wishes that name
Freud believed that the Oedipus conflict is uni- blotted out of existence. The newspaper
versal among male children and that its remnants in that prints “Clown Prince” for “Crown
PSYCHOANALYSIS 503
Prince” and corrects its error by Thus, in his search for the contents of the
announcing that of course it meant unconscious mind, Freud made use of free associa-
“Crown Prince,” really means what it says. tion, dream analysis, slips of the tongue, memory
Even untutored common sense had a lapses, “accidents,” gestures and mannerisms, what
shrewd suspicion that forgetting is signifi- the person finds humorous, and literally everything
cant; one rarely admits without embar- else the person does or says.
rassment that he failed to keep an
appointment because he forgot it. Events Religion. Freud showed his pessimism about
of this sort are always determined. They human nature in The Future of an Illusion
are even overdetermined…. A young (1927/1961a), which was his major statement on
business man, for example, striving to be religion. In this book, Freud contended that the
generous to a rival, and intending to say basis of religion is the human feeling of helplessness
“Yes, he is very efficient,” actually said, and insecurity. To overcome these feelings, we cre-
“Yes, he is very officious.” Obviously he ate a powerful father figure who will supposedly
was slipping into an easy confusion of protect us, a father figure symbolized in the concept
words, but he was also expressing his real of God. The problem with this practice, according
opinion. (Heidbreder, 1933, pp. 391–392) to Freud, is that it keeps humans operating at a child-
like, irrational level. The dogmatic teachings of reli-
In the preceding quotation, Heidbreder used
gion inhibit a more rational, realistic approach to
the term overdetermined in regard to acts of for-
life. In Civilization and Its Discontents (1930/1961b),
getting and errors in speech. The concept of over-
he said,
determination is very important in Freudian
theory. In general, it means that behavioral and The whole thing [religion] is so patently
psychological acts often have more than one infantile, so foreign to reality, that to any-
cause. A dream, for example, may partially satisfy one with a friendly attitude to humanity it
several needs at the same time, as may a hysterical is painful to think that the great majority of
symptom. mortals will never be able to rise above this
view of life. (p. 22)
Humor. Freud (1905/1960a) indicated that peo-
For Freud, our only hope is to come to grips
ple often use jokes to express unacceptable sexual
with the repressed forces that motivate us; only
and aggressive tendencies. Like dreams, jokes
then can we live rational lives. Just as Freud refused
exemplify wish fulfillments; so, according to
to take pain-killing drugs during his 16-year bout
Freud, jokes offer a socially approved vehicle for
with cancer, he believed that humans could and
being obscene, aggressive or hostile, even critical,
should confront reality without religious or any
or blasphemous. Viewed in this way, jokes offer a
other type of intoxicating illusions.
way of venting repressed, anxiety-provoking
It was Freud’s hope that religious illusions
thoughts. Freud said that we laugh most at those
would eventually be replaced by scientific principles
things that cause us the most anxiety. However,
as guides for living. Scientific principles are not
to be effective, jokes, like dreams, must disguise
always flattering or comforting, but they are
the true sexual or aggressive motives behind them,
rational:
or they would cause too much anxiety. Freud
believed that a joke often fails because the motive No belittlement of science can in any
it expresses is too blatant, in the same way that a way alter the fact that it is attempting to
nightmare is a failed dream from which one awakes take account of our dependence on the
because the motive expressed is too powerful for real external world, while religion is an
dream work to disguise. illusion and it derives its strength from its
504 CHAPTER 16
readiness to fit in with our instinctual psychoanalysis in the United States. He

wishful impulses. (Freud, 1933/1966b, made lasting friendships with a few
pp. 638–639) Americans. Yet he was puzzled and
somewhat distrustful, amused but not
And elsewhere Freud said, “Our science is no
pleased, by what he had seen—Worcester,
illusion. But an illusion it would be to suppose that
the Adirondacks, Coney Island, his first
what science cannot give us we can get elsewhere”
movie, full of wild chasing. He admired
(1927/1961a, p. 71).
Niagara Falls—it was grander and larger
than he had expected. He was charmed by
Freud’s Trip to the United States a porcupine and by the Greek antiquities at
the Metropolitan Museum. Yet the
As Freud’s fame grew, he began to attract disciples.
American cooking irritated his stomach;
In 1902 Freud began meeting on Wednesday eve-
the free and easy informality irked his sense
nings with a small group of his followers in the
of dignity. He learned of a popular mania
waiting room outside his office. This group, called
for religious mind cures, and he detected a
the Wednesday Psychological Society, became the
distressing potential lay enthusiasm for his
Vienna Psychoanalytic Society in 1908. By Freud’s
hard-won discoveries. (p. 4)
own account, psychoanalysis remained rather obscure
until he and two of his disciples, Carl Jung and Sandor After his trip to the United States, Freud’s fame
Ferenczi, were invited to Clark University in 1909 by and that of psychoanalysis grew rapidly. In 1910 the
G. Stanley Hall (Rosenzweig, 1992). Aboard ship, International Training Commission was organized to
Freud saw a cabin steward reading Psychopathology of standardize the training of psychoanalysts. However,
Everyday Life and thought for the first time that he not everything went well for Freud. In 1911 Alfred
might be famous (E. Jones, 1955). Freud was Adler, an early disciple of Freud’s, broke away to
53 years old at the time. develop his own theory; this was closely followed
After a few days of sightseeing, Freud began his by the defection of Carl Jung. Freud worried that
series of five lectures. Each lecture was prepared such defections would contaminate psychoanalytic
only a half-hour before it was given, and prepara- doctrine; thus, in 1912 he established a committee
tion consisted of a walk and discussion with of loyal disciples to ensure the purity of psychoana-
Ferenczi. Freud delivered the lectures in German lytic theory. This inner circle consisted of Karl
without any notes. Although his lectures were Abraham, Sandor Ferenczi, Ernest Jones, Wilhelm
met with some criticism, reactions were generally Stekel, Otto Rank, and Hans Sachs. In time, even
favorable. Supposedly, none other than William members of this group would disagree with Freud.
James said to Ernest Jones, Freud’s friend, colleague,
and, later, his biographer, “The future of psychol-
ogy belongs to your work” (E. Jones, 1955, p. 57). A REVIEW OF FREUD’S THEORY
Freud was deeply grateful that his visit to Clark
University had given psychoanalysis international OF PERSONALITY
recognition, but still he returned to Germany with
a negative impression of the United States. He said to The components of Freud’s theory of personality
Ernest Jones, “America is a mistake; a gigantic mis- are widely known, so we will simply review them
take it is true, but none the less a mistake” (E. Jones, here.
1955, p. 66). Hale (1971) summarized what Freud
liked and did not like about the United States: The Id, Ego, and Superego
At the time, the trip aroused Freud’s Early in his theorizing, Freud differentiated among
hope that there might be a future for the conscious, the preconscious, and the unconscious.
PSYCHOANALYSIS 505
Consciousness consists of those things of which we the id with their counterparts in the physical envi-
are aware at any given moment. The preconscious ronment. For this reason, the ego is said to operate
consists of the things of which we are not aware in service of the id. The ego is also said to be gov-
but of which we could easily become aware. The erned by the reality principle, because the objects it
unconscious consists of those thoughts and feelings provides must result in real rather than imaginary
that are being actively repressed from consciousness satisfaction of a need.
and are therefore made conscious only with great If the id and the ego were the only two com-
effort. Later, Freud summarized and expanded these ponents of the personality, humans could hardly be
views with his concepts of the id, ego, and superego. distinguished from other animals. There is, how-
ever, a third component of the personality that
The Id. The id (from the German das es, meaning vastly complicates matters.
“the it”) is the generative force of the personality. It
contains all the instincts (although better transla- The Superego. Although the newborn child is
tions of the word Freud used might be “drives” or completely dominated by the id, the child must
“forces”) such as hunger, thirst, and sex. The id is soon learn that need gratification usually cannot
entirely unconscious and is governed by the pleasure be immediate. More important, he or she must
principle. When a need arises, the id wants immedi- learn that some things are “right” and some things
ate gratification of that need. The collective energy are “wrong.” For example, the male child must
associated with the instincts is called libido (the inhibit his sexual desires. Teaching these do’s and
Latin word for “lust”), and libidinal energy don’ts is usually what is meant by socializing the
accounts for most human behavior. child.
The id has only two means of satisfying a need. As the child internalizes these do’s and don’ts,
One is reflex action, which is automatically triggered he or she develops a superego (from the German
when certain discomforts arise: Sneezing and recoil- das überich, meaning “the over I”), which is the
ing from a painful stimulus are examples of reflex moral arm of the personality. The fully developed
actions. The second means of satisfaction is wish superego has two divisions: The conscience and also
fulfillment, in which the id conjures up a represen- the ego-ideal, that is, the internalized experiences for
tation of an object that will satisfy the existing need. which the child has been rewarded. Once the
Because the activities in the id occur indepen- superego develops, internalized values govern the
dently of personal experience and because they child’s behavior and thoughts, usually those of the
provide the foundation of the entire personality, parents; and the child is then said to be socialized.
Freud referred to them as primary processes. The pri-
mary processes are irrational because they are Life and Death Instincts. Later in his theorizing,
directly determined by a person’s need state, they Freud (1920/1955b) differentiated between life and
tolerate no time lapse between the onset of a need death instincts. Initially, Freud had equated libido
and its satisfaction, and they exist entirely on the with sexual energy, but because of increased evi-
unconscious level. Furthermore, the primary pro- dence to the contrary and because of severe criti-
cesses can, at best, furnish only temporary satisfac- cism from even his closest colleagues, he expanded
tion of a need; therefore, another aspect of the the notion of libido to cover all energizing instincts
personality is necessary if the person is to survive. including sex, hunger, and thirst. When all needs
are satisfied, the person is in a state of minimal
The Ego. The ego (meaning “I” in Latin, and tension. One of life’s major goals is to seek this
from the German das ich, meaning “the I”) is state of needlessness that corresponds to complete
aware of the needs of both the id and the physical satisfaction.
world, and its major job is to coordinate the two. In What happens if the above discussion is carried
other words, the ego’s job is to match the wishes of an additional step? Quoting Schopenhauer, Freud
506 CHAPTER 16
said that “the aim of all life is death” (1920/1955b, anxiety. To reduce objective anxiety, the ego must
p. 38). Thus, besides the life instincts, there is a deal effectively with the physical environment. To
death instinct called thanatos (named after the deal with neurotic and moral anxiety, the ego must
Greek god of death). The life instincts seek to per- use processes that Freud called the ego defense
petuate life, and the death instinct seeks to termi- mechanisms. Freud believed that all ego defense
nate it. So, to all the other conflicts that occur mechanisms have two things in common: They dis-
among the id, ego, and superego, Freud added a tort reality, and they operate on the unconscious
life-and-death struggle. When directed toward level—that is, a person is unaware of the fact that
one’s self, the death instinct manifests itself as sui- he or she is using one.
cide or masochism; when directed outwardly, it
manifests itself as destruction and general aggression. The Ego Defense Mechanisms. Repression is the
For Freud, then, aggression is a natural component fundamental defense mechanism because it is
of human nature. involved in all others. Repressed ideas enter con-
No wonder the ego was referred to as the exec- sciousness only when they are disguised enough
utive of the personality. Not only does it need to that they do not cause anxiety. Modified repressed
deal with real environmental problems, but it also ideas show up in dreams, in humor, in physical
needs to satisfy the needs of the id in ways that do symptoms, during free association, and in para-
not alienate the superego. Another of its jobs is to praxes. Displacement is another important defense
minimize the anxiety that arises when one does act mechanism. In general, displacement involves
contrary to one’s internalized values. To combat replacing an object or goal that provokes anxiety
such anxiety, the ego could employ the defense with one that does not. When displacement
mechanisms to which we turn next. involves substituting a nonsexual goal for a sexual
one, the process is called sublimation. Freud consid-
Anxiety and the Ego Defense ered sublimation to be the basis of civilization.
Because we often cannot express our sexual urges
Mechanisms
directly, we are forced to express them indirectly in
Anxiety. Anxiety is a warning of impending dan- the form of poetry, art, religion, sports, politics,
ger, and Freud distinguished three types. Objective education, and everything else that characterizes
anxiety arises when there is an objective threat to civilization. Thus, Freud viewed civilization as a
the person’s well-being. For example, being physi- compromise. For civilization to exist, humans
cally attacked by another person or an animal would must inhibit direct satisfaction of their basic urges.
cause objective anxiety. Neurotic anxiety arises when Freud believed that humans are animals frustrated
the ego feels that it is going to be overwhelmed by by the very civilization they create to protect them-
the id—in other words, when the needs of the id selves from themselves. Freud said, “Sublimation of
become so powerful that the ego feels that it will be instinct is an especially conspicuous feature of cul-
unable to control them and that the irrationality of tural development; it is what makes it possible for
the id will manifest itself in the person’s thought and higher psychical activities, scientific, artistic or ideo-
behavior. Moral anxiety arises when one is about to logical, to play such an important part in civilized
violate an internalized value. We experience moral life” (1930/1961b, p. 49).
anxiety as shame or guilt. It is the self-punishment Another way to deal with an anxiety-
we experience when we act contrary to the values provoking thought is to attribute it to someone or
internalized in the superego. something other than one’s self. Such a process is
Any form of anxiety is uncomfortable, and the called projection. One sees the causes of failure,
individual experiencing it seeks its reduction or undesirable urges, and secret desires as “out there”
elimination just as one would seek to reduce hun- instead of in the self because seeing them as part of
ger, thirst, or pain. It is the ego’s job to deal with one’s self would cause anxiety. Also, when one feels
PSYCHOANALYSIS 507
frustrated and anxious because one has not lived up the child will be an oral character. Fixation during the
to some internalized value, one can symbolically early part of the oral stage results in an oral-incorporative
borrow someone else’s success through the process character. Such a person tends to be a good listener and
of identification. Thus, if one dresses, behaves, or an excessive eater, drinker, kisser, or smoker; he or she
talks the way a person considered successful does, also tends to be dependent and gullible. A fixation
some of that person’s success becomes one’s own. during the latter part of the oral stage, when teeth
Rationalization involves giving a rational and logical, begin to appear, results in an oral-sadistic character.
but false, reason for a failure or shortcoming rather Such a person is sarcastic, cynical, and generally
than the true reason for it. Sometimes, when people aggressive.
have a desire to do something but doing it would
cause anxiety, they do the opposite of what they The Anal Stage. The anal stage lasts through about
really want to do. This is called reaction formation. the second year of life, and the erogenous zone is
Thus, the male with strong homosexual tendencies the anus-buttocks region of the body. Fixation dur-
becomes a Don Juan type, the mother who hates ing this stage results in an anal character. During the
her child becomes overindulgent, the person with first part of the anal stage, pleasure comes mainly
strong antigovernment leanings becomes a superpa- from activities such as feces expulsion, and a fixa-
triot, or the person with strong sexual urges tion here results in the adult having an anal-expulsive
becomes a preacher concerned with pornography, character. Such a person tends to be generous, messy,
promiscuity, and the sinfulness of today’s youth or wasteful. In the latter part of the anal stage, after
(Cramer, 2000). toilet training occurs, pleasure comes from being
able to withhold feces. A fixation here results in
the person becoming an anal-retentive character.
Psychosexual Stages Such an adult tends to be a collector and to be
stingy, orderly, and perfectionistic.
of Development
Although Freud considered the entire body to be a The Phallic Stage. The phallic stage lasts from
source of sexual pleasure, he believed that this plea- about the beginning of the third year to the end
sure was concentrated on different parts of the body of the fifth year, and the erogenous zone is the
at different stages of development. At any stage, the genital region of the body. Because Freud viewed
area of the body on which sexual pleasure is con- the clitoris to be a small penis, the phallic stage
centrated is called the erogenous zone. The eroge- describes the development of both male and female
nous zones give the stages of development their children. The most significant events that occur
respective names. According to Freud, the experi- during this stage are the male and female Oedipal
ences a child has during each stage determine, to a complexes. According to Freud, both male and
large extent, his or her adult personality. For this female children develop strong, positive, even
reason, Freud believed that the foundations for erotic feelings toward their mother because she
one’s adult personality are formed by the time a satisfies their needs. These feelings persist in the
child is about five years old. boy but typically change in the girl. The male
child now has an intense desire for his mother and
The Oral Stage. The oral stage lasts through about jealous hostility toward his father, who he perceives
the first year of life, and the erogenous zone is the as a rival for his mother’s love. Because the source
mouth. Pleasure comes mainly through the lips, of his pleasurable feelings toward his mother is his
tongue, and such activities as sucking, chewing, and penis and because he sees his father as much more
swallowing. If either overgratification or undergratification powerful than he, the male child begins to experi-
(frustration) of the oral needs causes a fixation to ence castration anxiety, which causes him to repress
occur at this level of development, as an adult his sexual and aggressive tendencies.
508 CHAPTER 16
The male child resolves the problem by identify- friend Princess Marie Bonaparte that “the great
ing with the father. This identification accomplishes question that has never been answered and which
two things: Symbolically becoming his father I have not yet been able to answer, despite my
(through identification) allows the child to share the thirty years of research into the feminine soul,
mother; and it removes his father as a threat, thus is ‘What does a woman want?’” (E. Jones, 1955,
reducing the child’s castration anxiety. The female p. 421).
child’s situation is much different from the male’s.
Like the male child, the female starts out with a strong The Latency Stage. The latency stage lasts from
attraction and attachment to the mother. She soon about the beginning of the sixth year until puberty.
learns, however, that she lacks a penis and she blames Because of the intense repression required during
the mother for its absence. She now has both positive the phallic stage, sexual activity is all but eliminated
and negative feelings toward her mother. At about the from consciousness during the latency stage. This
same time, she learns that her father possesses the val- stage is characterized by numerous substitute activi-
ued organ, which she wants to share with him. This ties, such as schoolwork and peer activities, and by
causes a sexual attraction toward the father, but the extensive curiosity about the world.
fact that her father possesses something valuable that
she does not possess causes her to experience penis The Genital Stage. The genital stage lasts from
envy. Thus, the female child also has ambivalent feel- puberty through the remainder of one’s life. With
ings toward her father. To resolve the female Oedipal the onset of puberty, sexual desires become too
complex in a healthy way, the female child must intense to repress completely, and they begin to
repress her hostility toward her mother and her sexual manifest themselves. The focus of attention is
attraction to her father. Thereafter, she “becomes” the now on members of the opposite sex. If everything
mother and shares the father. has gone correctly during the preceding stages, this
The repression and strong identification neces- stage will culminate in dating and eventually
sary during this stage result in the full development marriage.
of the superego. When a child identifies with his or The undergratifications or overgratifications
her parent of the same sex, the child introjects that and fixations that a person experiences (or does
parent’s moral standards and values. Once these not experience) during the psychosexual stages
standards are introjected, they control the child will determine the person’s adult personality. If
for the rest of his or her life. For this reason, psy- the person has adjustment problems later in life,
choanalysts believe the final and complete forma- the psychoanalyst looks into these early experiences
tion of the superego goes hand in hand with the for solution to the problems. For the psychoanalyst,
resolution of the Oedipal complexes. childhood experience is the stuff of which neuroses
One of the major reasons Freud believed that or normality are made. Indeed, psychoanalysts
the male’s and female’s experiences during the believe that “the child is father to the man” (Freud,
phallic stage are not symmetrical is the fact that a 1940/1969, p. 64).
key ingredient in the male experience is castration
anxiety. Because the female is already castrated
(symbolically), she never has the intense motivation
to defensively identify with the potential castrator. FREUD’S FATE
Because such identification results in the develop-
ment of the superego, Freud reached the contro- Even while suffering from cancer in the later years
versial conclusion that the male superego (morality) of his life, Freud continued to be highly productive.
is stronger than that of the female. However, when the Nazis occupied Austria in
Clearly, Freud viewed women as more enig- 1936, his situation became increasingly precarious.
matic than men. He once commented to his close Psychoanalysis had already been labeled as “Jewish
PSYCHOANALYSIS 509
science” in Germany, and his books were banned

there. In Vienna, the Nazis destroyed Freud’s per-
sonal library and publicly burned all his books
found in the Vienna public library. About this
Freud said, “What progress we are making. In the
Middle Ages they would have burnt me; nowadays
they are content with burning my books” (E. Jones,
1957, p. 182). Freud resisted as long as he could but
eventually decided it was time to leave Vienna. To
do so, however, he was required to sign a docu-
ment attesting to the respectful and considerate
treatment he had received from the Nazis; to this
document, Freud added the comment (sarcastically,
of course), “I can heartily recommend the Gestapo
Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy

to anyone” (Clark, 1980, p. 511). When Freud left
Vienna, he had to leave his sisters behind, and he
died without knowing that they were all soon to
perish in Nazi concentration camps.
With his daughter Anna, Freud first journeyed
Sigmund and Anna Freud
to Paris, where their close friend Princess Marie
Bonaparte and one of Freud’s sons received them.
Shortly afterward, they traveled to London, where injected Freud with three centigrams of
they took up residence at 20 Maresfield Gardens in morphine—the normal dose for sedation
Hampstead, North London. Freud was well was two centigrams—and Freud sank into
received in England and, although in great pain, a peaceful sleep. Schur repeated the injec-
he continued to write, see patients, and occasionally tion, when he became restless, and
attend meetings of the London Psychoanalytic administered a final one the next day,
Society. On June 28, 1938, three secretaries from September 22. Freud lapsed into a coma
the London Royal Society brought to Freud’s from which he did not awake. He died at
home the “sacred book of the Society” for his sig- three in the morning, September 23, 1939.
nature; among the other signatures in the book (p. 651)
were those of Newton and Darwin. Freud was
very pleased. It was in London that Freud com-
pleted his last book, Moses and Monotheism Revisions of the Freudian Legend
(1939/1964b), and he died the same year at the
We have already examined two recent modifica-
age of 83. Freud’s wife Martha died 12 years later
tions of the Freudian legend: the dubious circum-
in 1951, at the age of 90.
stances under which Freud revised his seduction
Freud had reached an agreement with his phy-
theory and that many of his ideas were not as cou-
sician, Max Schur, that when Freud’s condition
rageous and innovative as he and his followers
became hopeless, Schur would assist him in dying.
claimed (such as his ideas concerning infantile sex-
Gay (1988) describes Freud’s final days:
uality, dream analysis, and male hysteria). Accord-
Schur was on the point of tears as he wit- ing to Ellenberger (1970), Freud and his followers
nessed Freud facing death with dignity and purposefully attempted to create an image of Freud
without self-pity. He had never seen any- as a lonely, heroic figure who was discriminated
one die like that. On September 21, Schur against because he was a Jew and because his ideas
510 CHAPTER 16
were so revolutionary that the established medical to ignore all work that had been done
community could not accept them. According to before them and then proceeded to make
Ellenberger (1970), the Freudian legend had two unwarranted claims about their own orig-
main components: inality; (7) that they frequently addressed
themselves to the wider lay audience as if
The first is the theme of the solitary hero
their theories were already a proven fact,
struggling against a host of enemies, suf-
thus making their opponents seem
fering “the slings and arrows of outrageous
narrow-minded and ignorant; (8) that so-
fortune” but triumphing in the end. The
called wild analysts, or individuals without
legend considerably exaggerates the extent
proper training, were analyzing patients in
and role of anti-Semitism, of the hostility
irresponsible ways; and (9) that Freud’s
of the academic world, and of alleged
followers were becoming a sect, with all of
Victorian prejudices. The second feature of
the prominent features of one, including a
the Freudian legend is the blotting out of
fanatical degree of faith, a special jargon, a
the greatest part of the scientific and cul-
sense of moral superiority, and a predilec-
tural context in which psychoanalysis
tion for marked intolerance of opponents.
developed, hence the theme of the abso-
In their contemporary context, such criti-
lute originality of the achievements, in
cisms were considerably more rational and
which the hero is credited with the
had far more merit than traditional psy-
achievements of his predecessors, associ-
choanalytic historians have been willing to
ates, disciples, rivals, and contemporaries.
admit. (p. 460)
(p. 547)
Freud and his followers had a very low toler-
ance for criticism and usually accused critics of resis- The Reality of Repressed Memories
tance, lack of understanding, or even bigotry.
Concerning his seduction theory, Freud believed
However, Sulloway (1979) points out that most
the mistake he made was accepting the stories of
of the criticisms of psychoanalysis were valid:
seduction his patients told as true. As we have
In addition to the criticisms that had seen, Masson (1984) believed the opposite. For
already been raised before Freud acquired a Masson, Freud’s mistake was rejecting the seduction
substantial following, common objections stories as true and accepting them as fantasies
against psychoanalysis now began to instead. But a careful reading of Freud’s “The
include: (1) that psychoanalysts were con- Aetiology of Hysteria” (1896), and two other arti-
tinually introducing their assertions with cles he wrote on his seduction theory in the same
the statement, “We know from psycho- year, suggests that none of Freud’s patients reported
analytic experience that … ,” and then a seduction of any kind. There is now some evi-
leaving the burden of proof to others; dence that Freud entered the therapeutic process
(2) that Freud’s disciples refused to listen to with a strong conviction that hysteria had a sexual
opinions that did not coincide with their origin and that he manipulated events during ther-
own; (3) that they never published statistics apy so that his theory was confirmed: “A consider-
on the success of their method; (4) that ation of all the evidence … points to the conclusion
they persisted in claiming that only those that Freud’s early patients, in general, did not
who had used the psychoanalytic method recount stories of infantile seductions, these stories
had the right to challenge Freud; (5) that were actually analytic reconstructions which he
they saw all criticism as a form of “neurotic foisted on them” (Esterson, 1993, pp. 28–29; see
resistance”; (6) that psychoanalysts tended also, Esterson, 1998, 2001).
PSYCHOANALYSIS 511
Freud noted that a physician does not require of the seduction theory much differently than his
that a patient know the nature of his or her ailment account of them in 1896:
before it can be effectively treated. Similarly, psy-
Under the pressure of the technical proce-
choanalysts assume that patients are ignorant of the
dure which I used at that time, the majority
origins of their symptoms. It is the analyst who
of my patients reproduced from their
must define the ailment, determine its cause and
childhood scenes in which they were sex-
cure, and then inform the patient of these matters.
ually seduced by some grown-up person.
Freud assumed seduction was present in a hysteric’s
With female patients the part of seducer was
history whether the patient realized it or not; the
almost always assigned to their father. I do
disease required it (Gleaves & Hernandez, 1999,
not believe even now that I forced the
2002). In “The Aetiology of Hysteria” (1896, rep-
seduction-phantasies upon my patients, that
rinted in Masson, 1984), Freud pondered the idea
I “suggested” them. I had in fact stumbled
that analysts could encourage patients to have cer-
for the first time upon the Oedipus complex,
tain ideas through suggestion or that patients may
which was later to assume such an over-
invent stories of seduction:
whelming importance. (pp. 36–37)
Is it not very possible … that the physician
Esterson (1993; see also Crews, 1995) notes
forces such scenes upon his docile patients,
that Freud’s clinical method allowed him to corrob-
alleging that they are memories, or else
orate whatever theoretical notions he was enter-
that the patients tell the physician things
taining at the time. Similar concerns were raised
which they have deliberately invented or
by the contemporary Viennese philosopher Ludwig
have imagined and that he accepts those
Wittgenstein (Chapter 20). Although in places his
things as true? (p. 264)
comments are positive (his sister was a satisfied
The suggestive nature of Freud’s technique was patient of Freud), he was also wary:
well known to a number of Freud’s contemporaries.
[Freud] is full of fishy thinking & his charm &
French psychologist and psychotherapist Pierre Janet
the charm of [his] subject is so great that
(1925) said, “The psychoanalysts invariably set to
you may be easily fooled.…. Unless you
work in order to discover a traumatic memory,
think very clearly psycho-analysis is a
with the a priori conviction that it is there to be
dangerous & a foul practice & it’s done no
discovered.… Owing to the nature of their methods,
end of harm &, comparatively, very little
they can invariably find what they seek” (p. 65).
good. So hold on to your brains. (Malcolm,
It is also important to note that even while
2001, p. 39)
Freud was embracing his seduction theory, in no
case did he implicate parents in the seductions. Elsewhere Wittgenstein said, “Freud’s fanciful
Rather, he implicated nursemaids, governesses, pseudo-explanations, precisely because they are so
domestic servants, adult strangers, teachers, tutors, brilliant, perform a disservice. Now any ass has
and in most cases brothers who were slightly older these pictures available for use in ‘explaining’ symp-
than the sisters they supposedly seduced. Immedi- toms of illness” (Cioffi, 1998, p. 79).
ately after abandoning his seduction theory, Freud
claimed that seduction stories were created by Current Concern about Repressed Memories. As
patients to mask memories of real infantile sexual we will see in Chapter 19, modern cognitive psy-
experiences, such as masturbation or to infantile chologists understand that memories are complex
incestuous desires directed at the parent of the phenomenon, frequently influenced by a variety
opposite sex. In his An Autobiographical Study of internal and external factors (Loftus, 1979;
(1925/1952), Freud remembered the events sur- Neisser, 1982). Although many researchers accept
rounding first his acceptance and then his rejection the concept of repressed memories as valid (for
512 CHAPTER 16
example, Erdelyi, 1985; Frawley, 1990; Rieker & remember parts of their childhood, have a feeling
Carmen, 1986; Schuker, 1979; M. Williams, 1987), that something bad happened to them, or are
many do not. Elizabeth Loftus, in her article “The intimidated by authority figures (Loftus &
Reality of Repressed Memories” (1993), recognizes Ketcham, 1994). School performance such as failing
that childhood sexual abuse is tragically common grades, decreased interest, and difficulty in concen-
and constitutes a major social problem. She does, trating have also been suggested as signs of abuse
however, question the repression and subsequent (Davies & Frawley, 1994). With these criteria,
recovery of the memory of such experiences. almost anyone can suspect that they were the victim
From her own research, and after reviewing the of childhood abuse. As Loftus (1994) accurately
literature on the topic, Loftus concludes that observes, “If everything is a sign of past childhood
most, if not all, reports of repressed memories are sexual abuse, then nothing is” (p. 444).
false. If her conclusion is accurate, why do so According to Loftus, the fact that so many indi-
many individuals claim to have such memories? viduals enter therapy without memories of abuse,
One possible reason is that the creation of such but leave with them, should make one wonder
memories satisfies a personal need: about what is going on in therapy. Loftus (1993)
cites numerous examples of how therapists suggest
The internal drive to manufacture an abuse
memories of abuse to their clients and reaches the
memory may come about as a way to
following conclusion:
provide a screen for perhaps more prosaic
but, ironically, less tolerable, painful If therapists ask questions that tend to elicit
experiences of childhood. Creating a fan- behaviors and experiences thought to be
tasy of abuse with its relatively clear-cut characteristic of someone who had been a
distinction between good and evil may victim of childhood trauma, might they
provide the needed logical explanation for too be creating this social reality?
confusing experiences and feelings. The
core material for the false memories can be
borrowed from the accounts of others who
are either known personally or encoun-
tered in literature, movies, and television.
(Loftus, 1993, p. 525)
According to Loftus, the popular literature is
filled with material that suggests or even encourages
a belief in repressed memories. The “bible” of such
books is The Courage to Heal (Bass & Davis, 1988).
This book suggests that people with low self-
esteem, suicidal or self-destructive thoughts, depres-
sion, or sexual dysfunction were probably victims of
childhood sexual abuse, even if they have no recol-
lection of it. About this book, Loftus (1993) says,
© Courtesy of Elizabeth Loftus
“Readers without any abuse memories of their own

cannot escape the message that there is a strong
likelihood that abuse occurred even in the absence
of such memories” (p. 525). Other “checklists” sug-
gest people were probably victims of childhood
abuse if they have trouble knowing what they
Elizabeth Loftus
want, are afraid of having new experiences, cannot
PSYCHOANALYSIS 513
Whatever the good intentions of conviction is a dangerous substitute for an open

therapists, the documented examples of mind” (p. 534). Elsewhere Loftus says,
rampant suggestion should force us to at
My efforts to write about the power of
least ponder whether some therapists
suggestion to create false memories have
might be suggesting illusory memories to
been with the hope of encouraging changes
their clients rather than unlocking au-
in procedures and practices.… Aggressive
thentic distant memories.… What is
efforts to unearth presumably recalcitrant
considered to be present in the client’s
memories can lead to false- memory reports.
unconscious mind might actually be
Uncritical acceptance of every trauma
present solely in the therapist’s conscious
memory report can harm the false victims
mind. (p. 530)
and, also sadly, trivialize the experiences of
Researchers, such as Loftus, do not deny that the true victims. (2003, p. 871)
many individuals have had traumatic experiences as
In 2003 the American Psychological Association
children or that therapy can help them cope with or
(APA) presented Loftus its Award for Distinguished
overcome the memories of such experiences. It is
Scientific Applications of Psychology for her over
the supposed repression and the procedures
30 years of research on memory, both real and
employed to recover “repressed memories” that
false. See Loftus (2007) for an interesting and infor-
are being questioned:
mative autobiographical sketch.
Many tortured individuals live for years
with the dark secret of their abusive past
Evaluation of Freud’s Theory:
and only find the courage to discuss their
childhood traumas in the supportive and Criticisms and Contributions
empathic environment of therapy. We are It should come as no surprise that a theory as broad
not disputing those memories. We are only as Freud’s, and one that touched so many aspects of
questioning the memories commonly human existence, would receive criticism. The
referred to as “repressed”—memories that common criticisms of Freud and his theory include
did not exist until someone went looking the following:
for them. (Loftus & Ketcham, 1994, p. 141)
■ Method of data collection. Freud used his own
Loftus (1993) believes that many questions sur- observations of his patients as his primary source of
rounding the area of repression remain essentially data. There was no controlled experimentation.
unanswered, and they must be addressed in an Not only did his patients not represent the general
objective manner: population, but his own needs and expectations
Is it possible that the therapist’s interpre- probably influenced his observations.
tation is the cause of the patient’s disorder ■ Dogmatism. As we have seen, Freud saw himself
rather than the effect of the disorder?… Is as the founder and leader of the psychoanalytic
it necessarily true that people who cannot movement, and he would tolerate no ideas that
remember an abusive childhood are conflicted with his own. If a member of his
repressing the memory? Is it necessarily group insisted on disagreeing with him, Freud
true that people who dream about or expelled that member from the group.
visualize abuse are actually getting in touch ■ Overemphasis on sex. The main reason many of
with true memories? (p. 534) Freud’s early colleagues eventually went their
Loftus (1993) warns that until answers to ques- own way was that they believed Freud over-
tions like those above are provided, “zealous emphasized sex as a motive for human
514 CHAPTER 16
behavior. Some thought that to speak of sex- of studying the relationships among such mat-
uality everywhere (even as a metaphor), was ters as unconscious motivation, infantile expe-
extreme and unnecessary. The personality rience, and anxiety. Freud’s was the first
theories that other psychoanalytically oriented comprehensive theory of personality, and every
theorists developed show that human behavior personality theory since his can be seen as a
can be explained just as well, if not better, reaction to his theory.
without a focus on sex. ■ Psychoanalysis. Freud created a new way of
■ Length, cost, and limited effectiveness of psychoanalysis. dealing with age-old mental disorders and
Because psychoanalysis usually takes years to revolutionized how we conceive of abnor-
complete, it is not available to most troubled mality. The notion of a Psychopathology of
people. Only the most affluent can participate. Everyday Life moves us toward the modern idea
Furthermore, only reasonably intelligent and of evaluating behavior in terms of its func-
mildly neurotic people can benefit from psy- tionality. And, many still believe that psycho-
choanalysis because patients must be able to analysis is the best way to understand and treat
articulate their inner experiences and understand neuroses.
the analyst’s interpretation of those experiences. ■ Understanding of normal behavior. Freud not only
■ Lack of falsifiability. In Chapter 1, we saw that provided a means of better understanding
Karl Popper said Freud’s theory was unscientific abnormal behavior but also explained much of
because it violated the principle of falsification. our normal behavior. Dreams, forgetfulness,
According to Popper, for a theory to be scien- mistakes, choice of mates, humor, and use of
tific, it must specify observations that, if made, the ego defense mechanisms characterize
would refute the theory. Unless such observa- everyone’s life, and Freud’s analysis of them
tions can be specified, the theory is unscientific. was pioneering.
Popper claimed that within Freudian theory ■ Generalization of psychology to other fields. By
nothing that a person could do would be con-
showing psychology’s usefulness in explaining
trary to what the theory predicted. Let us say, for
phenomena in everyday life—religion, sports,
example, that according to Freudian theory a
politics, art, literature, and philosophy—Freud
certain cluster of childhood experiences will
expanded psychology’s relevance to almost
make an adult leery of sexual relationships.
every sector of human existence. Additionally,
Instead, we find an adult who has had those
he also created substantial interest in the field of
experiences seeking and apparently enjoying
psychology among other professionals (physi-
such relationships. The Freudian can simply say
cians, philosophers, etc.) and the general
that the person is demonstrating a reaction for-
public.
mation. Thus, no matter what happens, the
theory is supported. A related criticism is that As influential as Freud’s theory has been, much
psychoanalysts engage in postdiction rather than of it has not withstood the rigors of scientific exam-
prediction. That is, they attempt to explain ination; in fact, much of it, as we have seen, is
events after they have occurred rather than pre- untestable. Why then is Freud’s theory so often
dict what events will occur. referred to as a milestone in intellectual history?
The answer seems to be that scientific methodology
Despite the criticisms, Freud made truly excep-
is not the only criterion by which to judge a theory.
tional contributions to psychology. The following
Structuralism, for example, was highly scientific,
are usually listed among them:
requiring controlled, systematic experiments to
■ Expansion of psychology’s domain. Like no one test its hypotheses. Yet structuralism has faded
before him, Freud pointed to the importance away while psychoanalysis has remained.
PSYCHOANALYSIS 515
It is enlightening to compare psychoana- the founding of psychoanalysis. According to

lytic psychology with structuralism, in this Young-Bruehl, “To Anna Freud’s reckoning, she
respect its antithesis. Structuralism, and psychoanalysis were twins who started out
equipped with a highly developed scien- life competing for their father’s attention” (1988,
tific method, and refusing to deal with p. 15). As a young child, Anna began describing
materials not amenable to that method, her dreams to her father, and several of them
admirably illustrates the demand for were included in Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams
exactness and correctness by which science (1900/1953). At the age of 13 or 14, Anna was
disciplines untutored curiosity. Psycho- allowed to attend the Wednesday meetings of the
analysis, with its seemingly inexhaustible Vienna Psychoanalytic Society by sitting on a
curiosity, at present lacks the means, and library ladder in the corner of the room.
apparently at times the inclination, to Although Anna became a primary school
check its exuberant speculation by severely teacher, her interest in psychoanalysis intensified
critical tests. But what it lacks in correct- and, contrary to his own sanction against analysts
ness, it gains in vitality, in the compre- working with family members, Freud began to psy-
hensiveness of its view, and in the closeness choanalyze Anna in 1918. In 1922 Anna presented
of its problems to the concerns of everyday a paper to the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society on
life. (Heidbreder, 1933, pp. 410–411) childhood fantasies (presumably her own), and
two weeks later she was certified as a
psychoanalyst.
The discovery of Freud’s cancer in 1923 (Anna
BEYOND FREUD was 27 years old at the time) brought him and Anna
even closer together. As her father’s physical condi-
In time, several members of Freud’s inner circle tion worsened, Anna successfully competed with
would break away to advance their own ideas. her mother to become his primary caregiver. The
Likewise, over the years new voices, often the relationship was reciprocal. With Anna, Freud
voices of women, were added to the chorus of psy- could have meaningful discussions about psycho-
choanalysis. As we consider these variants and analysis, something he could never do with his
extensions to Freud’s work it is important to be wife, who considered psychoanalytic ideas a form
mindful of just that—that these alternatives are of pornography (Gay, 1988, p. 61).
building on the foundation provided by Freud.
Considerations of Adler, Erikson, Jung almost
always focus on how they differ from Freud,
often without appreciating that much in their the-
ories remained aligned with the canons of psycho-
analysis. For example, most of Anna Freud’s work
reflected her father’s views, whereas some of her
later contributions—such as those in the area of
Everett Collection Inc/Age Fotostock
defense mechanisms—represent important exten-

sions of psychoanalytic orthodoxy.
Anna Freud
Anna Freud (1895–1982), the youngest of Freud’s
six children, was born in the same year that Breuer
Anna Freud
and Freud published Studies on Hysteria, marking
516 CHAPTER 16
Anna became her father’s emissary to psycho- Freud’s death drive with all its implications seri-
analytic societies throughout the world, delivered his ously, it was Melanie Klein” (p. 468). Klein also
papers, typed his daily correspondence, and, along believed that child analysis could begin much earlier
with his friend and physician Max Schur, attended to than the traditional psychoanalysts believed by ana-
his personal and medical needs. When her father lyzing a child’s playful activities instead of the
died, Anna inherited his library, his cherished an- child’s free associations. Klein’s belief that a child’s
tiques, and his ideas. Anna Freud not only preserved free, undirected play reveals unconscious conflicts
and perpetuated her father’s ideas, but she extended allows children as young as two years old to be
them into new areas such as child analysis (1928) and analyzed (Segal, 1974).
education and child rearing (1935). As we shall see, Anna Freud disagreed with most of Klein’s
she also made several original contributions to the conceptions of child analysis, continuing to empha-
psychoanalytic literature. size the importance of the phallic and genital stages
of development and to analyze children’s fantasies
Anna Freud’s and Melanie Klein’s Conflicting and dreams instead of their play activities during
Views on Child Analysis. As Anna Freud began therapy. Although Klein’s views had a substantial
developing her ideas on child analysis, they soon impact on child analysis, it was the views of Anna
came into conflict with the theories of Melanie Freud that generally prevailed.
Klein (1882–1960). Klein attended the University
of Vienna and was analyzed by two members of the Ego Psychology. There are significant differences
Freudian inner circle, Sandor Ferenczi and Karl between analyzing children and adults, and these dif-
Abraham. Soon after becoming an analyst, Klein ferences caused Anna to emphasize the ego more in
began focusing on children, and was the analyst child analysis than when treating adults. The major
for Ernest Jones’ children. She summarized her difference is that children do not recall early traumatic
ideas in The Psychoanalysis of Children (1932). Klein experiences as adults do. Rather, children display
departed from traditional psychoanalysis by em- developmental experiences as they occur. The
phasizing pre-Oedipal development. She also problems that children have reflect obstacles to their
deemphasized biological drives and highlighted normal growth. Anna Freud (1965) used the term
the importance of interpersonal relationships. developmental lines to describe a child’s gradual transi-
The mother–child relationship was especially tion from dependence on external controls to mas-
important to Klein. The earliest stage of this rela- tery of internal and external reality. Developmental
tionship focused on the mother’s breast, which the lines are attempts by the child to adapt to life’s
infant viewed as either good (satisfying) or bad demands, whether those demands are situational,
(frustrating). The good breast satisfies the life interpersonal, or personal. They describe normal
instincts and stimulates feelings of love and creativ- development and therefore can be used as a frame
ity. The bad breast satisfies the death instinct and of reference for defining maladjustment.
stimulates feelings of hate and destruction. Accord- In her influential book The Ego and the Mechanisms
ing to Klein, the emotions caused by the interaction of Defense (published in German in 1936; in English
of the infant’s experiences with the mother’s breast in 1937), Anna Freud also emphasized autonomous
and with life and death instincts provide the proto- ego functions. In this book, she described in detail
type used to evaluate all subsequent experiences. the ego defenses described by her father and others,
For Klein, notions of good and bad and right and she correlated each mechanism with a specific
and wrong develop during the oral stage, not the type of anxiety (objective, neurotic, moral). Whereas
phallic stage as the Freudians (including Anna) had traditional analysts—including her father—had
asserted. viewed the ego defenses as obstacles to the under-
About the importance of the death instinct in standing of the unconscious, Anna viewed them as
Klein’s theory, Gay (1988) said, “If anyone took having independent importance. She showed how
PSYCHOANALYSIS 517
the mechanisms are normally used in adjusting to The analysis of the ego for its own sake, started
social and biological needs. When normal use is by Anna Freud, was continued by others and
understood, abnormal use is easier to determine. To became known as ego psychology. For example,
the traditional list of defense mechanisms, Anna Freud Heinz Hartmann (1894–1970) wrote Ego Psychology
added two of her own. Altruistic surrender occurs and the Problem of Adaptation (1939/1958). Problems,
when a person gives up his or her own ambitions and he said, are often solved in an adaptive manner,
lives vicariously by identifying with another person’s without regard to the remnants of infantile experi-
satisfactions and frustrations. Identification with ences. Erik Erikson (1902–1994), in his influential
the aggressor occurs when a person adopts the book Childhood and Society (1950/1985), described
values and mannerisms of a feared person as his or how the ego gains strength as it progresses through
her own. Identification with the aggressor also eight stages of psychosocial (not psychosexual) devel-
explains why some hostages develop affection toward opment that occur over a person’s lifetime. Inciden-
their captors. In contemporary psychology, the latter tally, it was Anna Freud who analyzed Erikson,
tendency is referred to as the Stockholm syndrome. qualifying him to become an analyst himself.
The name derives from the case of a woman who was
taken hostage during a 1973 bank robbery in Developmental Milestones. Following his analy-
Stockholm, Sweden. During the ordeal, the woman sis with Anna Freud, Erikson completed his training
became so emotionally attached to one of the robbers at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute in 1933. After
that she subsequently broke off her engagement to immigrating to the United States, Erikson eventu-
another man and remained faithful to her former cap- ally became a professor of Human Development at
tor as he served his prison term. Harvard. Although best known for his theory of
Clearly, Anna Freud overcame her conflict life-span development, Erikson also earned acclaim
with her “twin,” psychoanalysis: (and a Pulitzer Prize) for his work in psycho-history,
or the psychoanalytic biographies of famous histori-
By the time Anna Freud was thirty and a
cal figures such as Martin Luther and Gandhi.
practicing psychoanalyst as well as a lec-
Unlike Freud, Erikson believed that personality
turer at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute
continues to develop across the life-span. Extending
on her specialty, child analysis, she and her
Freud’s developmental stages into adulthood and
twin were no longer rivals. They were
even old age, Erikson reshaped developmental psy-
merged. In 1936, for his eightieth birthday,
chology and helped popularize gerontology. Each
she gave her father a book she had written,
of Erikson’s eight stages features a “crisis” whose
The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense,
resolution shapes identity. For example, the crisis
which marked a reconfiguration of their
of young adulthood is intimacy versus isolation as
lives: she was then the inheritor of her
it resolves around the types of enduring social rela-
twin, the mother of psychoanalysis; the
tions (such as marriage, companions, community,
one to whom primary responsibility for its
etc.) that one typically makes (or not) in college
spirit, its future, was passed. (Young-
and at the start of a career.
Bruehl, 1988, p. 15)
Another psychoanalytic consideration of a key
In 1950 Anna Freud received an honorary developmental milestone was the work by
degree from Clark University, as her father had John Bowlby (1907–1990) and Mary Salter
done in 1909. She subsequently received honorary Ainsworth (1913–1999) on mother–infant attach-
degrees from several other universities, including ments. A medical doctor trained in psychiatry and
Harvard, Yale, and Vienna. After devoting nearly psychoanalysis, Bowlby sought to better align
60 years to the analysis of children and adolescents, Freud’s theories with advances from biological
Anna Freud suffered a stroke in March 1982, and psychology, especially work from ethology (animal
died on October 9. behavior; Chapter 18). Working from Bowlby’s
518 CHAPTER 16
theories, Ainsworth developed her “strange situa-

tion” methodology. This involved a mother leaving
her infant in a strange room, then Ainsworth
observing the reaction of the infant, and how the
infant responded to the mother’s return.
Bowlby and Ainsworth shared a variety of pres-
tigious awards for their work that grounded Freud’s
ideas in biological psychology, and for providing an
empirical basis for extending psychoanalytic theory.
Still, of all the neo-Freudians, none is more famous
© Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

than Carl Jung.
Carl Jung
Born in the Swiss village of Kesswil, Carl Jung
(1875–1961) was the son of a minister and a min-
ister’s daughter. Jung studied medicine at Basel and
then worked as a resident under Eugen Bleuler
(who coined the term schizophrenia). Jung spent Carl Jung
the winter of 1902–1903 studying with Pierre
Janet. On Bleuler’s recommendation, Jung admin-
istered Galton’s word association test to psychotics the fact that Freud had earlier nominated Jung to be
in hopes of discovering the nature of their uncon- the first president of the International Psychoana-
scious thought processes. This research was fairly lytic Association.
successful and brought Jung some early fame. Jung Jung was competitive as well as ambitious, and
first became acquainted with Freud’s theory when some have suggested that the underlying reasons for
he read The Interpretation of Dreams. When Jung the split were more personal than professional
tried Freud’s ideas in his own practice, he found (McLynn, 1996). Certainly Freud was a great com-
them effective. He and Freud began to correspond, municator, whereas Jung’s writings were often crit-
and eventually they met at Freud’s home in Vienna. icized stylistically. Even if frustration or jealousy
Their initial meeting lasted 13 hours, and the two played a role, the break in the relationship was
became close friends. Ambitious, handsome, even especially disturbing for Jung, who entered what
charismatic (and not Jewish)—Freud saw in Jung he called his “dark years,” a period during which
all the characteristics of a great “front man.” That he was so depressed he could not even read a sci-
is, as someone who could further popularize psy- entific book (Jung, 1961).
choanalysis and who would become the heir- The major source of theoretical difficulty
apparent. between Freud and Jung was the nature of the
When G. Stanley Hall invited Freud to give a libido. At the time of his association with Jung,
series of lectures at Clark University in 1909, Jung Freud defined libido as “sexual energy,” which he
traveled to the United States with Freud and gave a saw as the main driving force of personality. Jung
few lectures of his own (on his word-association disagreed, saying that libidinal energy is a creative
research). About this time, Jung began to express life force that could be applied to the individual’s
concerns about Freud’s emphasis on sexual motiva- continuous psychological growth. According to
tion. These issues became so intense that in 1912 Jung, libidinal energy is used in a wide range of
the two stopped corresponding, and in 1914 they human endeavors beyond those identified by
completely terminated their relationship—despite Freud, and it can be applied to the satisfaction of
PSYCHOANALYSIS 519
both biological and intellectual or spiritual needs. In their entire evolutionary past. According to Jung, it
fact, as one becomes more proficient at satisfying is the “deposit of ancestral experience from untold
the former needs, one can use more libidinal energy millions of years, the echo of prehistoric world
in dealing with the latter needs. events to which each century adds an infinitesimally
According to Jung, the goal of life is to reach small amount of variation and differentiation”
self-actualization, which involves the harmonious (1928, p. 162). The collective unconscious registers
blending of all aspects of the personality. How the common experiences that humans have had through
various aspects of personality manifest themselves the eons. These common experiences are recorded
within the context of a particular person’s life is and are inherited as predispositions to respond emo-
called individuation. The job of recognizing and tionally to certain categories of experience. Jung
expressing all the forces within us is monumental referred to each inherited predisposition contained
because these forces often conflict with one in the collective unconscious as an archetype.
another. The rational conflicts with the irrational, Thus, for Jung, the mind is not a “blank tablet”
feeling with thinking, masculine with feminine, at birth but contains a structure that developed in a
introversion with extroversion, and conscious pro- Lamarckian fashion. That is, experiences of preced-
cesses with unconscious processes. Attempting to ing generations are passed on to new generations.
understand these conflicting forces occupies most Archetypes can be thought of as generic images
of childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood. with which events in one’s lifetime interact. They
For Jung, like Erikson, personality develop- record not only perceptual experiences but also the
ment was not limited to childhood. In fact, it is emotions typically associated with those perceptual
usually not until the late thirties or early forties experiences. In fact, Jung thought that the emo-
that one major transformation occurs. That is, tional component of archetypes is their most crucial
only once a person recognizes the many conflicting feature. When an experience “communicates with”
forces in his or her personality are they in a position or “identifies with” an archetype, the emotion eli-
to synthesize and harmonize them. In a healthy, cited is typical of the emotional response people
integrated individual, each system of the personality have had to that type of experience through the
is differentiated, developed, and expressed. Although ages. For example, each child is born with a generic
Jung believed that everyone has an innate tendency conception of mother that is the result of the
toward such self-actualization, he also believed that cumulative experiences of preceding generations,
people rarely attain that state. and the child will tend to project onto its own
mother the attributes of the generic mother-
image. This archetype will influence not only
The Personal and Collective Unconscious. Com-
how the child views his or her mother but
bining the Freudian notions of the precon-
also how the child responds to her emotionally.
scious and the unconscious, Jung’s personal
For Jung then, archetypes provide each person
unconscious consists of experiences that had
with a framework for perceptual and emotional
either been repressed or simply forgotten—material
experience. They predispose people to see things
from one’s lifetime that for one reason or another
in certain ways, to have certain emotional experi-
is not in consciousness. Some of this material is eas-
ences, and to engage in certain categories of behav-
ily retrievable, and some of it is not.
ior. One such category is myth making:
The collective unconscious was Jung’s most
mystical (and perhaps controversial) concept, as well Primitive humans responded to all of their
as one of his most important. Jung believed the emotional experiences in terms of myths,
collective unconscious to be the deepest and most and it is this tendency toward myth mak-
powerful component of the personality, reflecting ing that is registered in the collective
the cumulative experiences of humans throughout unconscious and passed on to future
520 CHAPTER 16
generations. What we inherit, then, is the toward either introversion or extroversion, Jung
tendency to reexperience some manifesta- believed that the mature, healthy adult personality
tion of these primordial myths as we reflects both attitudes about equally. The Myers-
encounter events that have been associated Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a widely used per-
with those myths for eons. Each archetype sonality assessment based in part on these ideas
can be viewed as an inherited tendency to (Myers, McCaulley, Quenk, & Hammer, 1981).
respond emotionally and mythologically to
certain kinds of experience—for example, Causality, Synchronicity, and Dreams. Like
when a child, a mother, a lover, a night- Freud, Jung was a determinist. Both believed that
mare, a death, a birth, an earthquake, or a important causes of a person’s personality are found
stranger is encountered. (Hergenhahn & in his or her past experiences. However, Jung
Olson, 2007, p. 75) believed that to truly understand a person, one
Although Jung recognized a large number of must understand the person’s prior experiences—
archetypes, he elaborated the following ones most including those registered in the collective uncon-
fully. The persona causes people to present only part scious—and the person’s goals for the future. Thus,
of their personality to the public. It is a mask in the unlike Freud’s theory, Jung’s embraced teleology
sense that the most important aspects of personality (purpose). For Jung, people are both pushed by
are hidden behind it. The anima provides the female the past and pulled by the future.
component of the male personality and a frame- For Jung another important determinant of
work within which males can interact with females. personality is synchronicity, or meaningful coin-
The animus provides the masculine component of cidence. Synchronicity occurs when two or more
the female personality and a framework within events, each with their own independent causality,
which females can interact with males. The shadow, come together in a meaningful way. Progoff (1973)
the archetype that we inherit from our prehuman gives the following examples:
ancestors, provides us with a tendency to be A person … has a dream or a series of
immoral and aggressive. We project this aspect of dreams, and these turn out to coincide with
our personalities onto the world symbolically as an outer event. An individual prays for some
devils, demons, monsters, and evil spirits. The self special favor, or wishes, or hopes for it
causes people to try to synthesize all components of strongly, and in some inexplicable way it
their personalities. It represents the human need for comes to pass. One person believes in
unity and wholeness of the total personality. The another person, or in some special symbol,
goal of life is first to discover and understand the and while he is praying or meditating by the
various parts of the personality and then to synthe- light of faith, a physical healing or some
size them into a harmonious unity. Jung called this other “miracle” comes to pass. (p. 122)
unity self-actualization.
Jung also described two major orientations, or Dreams were important to Jung, but he inter-
attitudes, that people take in relating to the world. preted them very differently than Freud. Freud
One attitude he labeled introversion, the other believed that repressed, traumatic experiences
extroversion. Jung believed that although every reveal themselves in dreams because one’s defenses
individual possesses both attitudes, he or she usually are reduced during sleep. During the waking state,
assumes one of the two attitudes more than the these experiences are actively held in the uncon-
other. The introverted person tends to be quiet, scious mind because to entertain them consciously
imaginative, and more interested in ideas than in would provoke extreme anxiety. Jung believed that
interacting with people. The extroverted person is everyone has the same collective unconscious but
outgoing and sociable. Although most people tend that individuals differ in their ability to recognize
PSYCHOANALYSIS 521
and give expression to the various archetypes. As himself as small and ugly. He also had a severe
we have seen, Jung also believed that everyone rivalry with his older brother. Like Jung, Adler
has an innate tendency to recognize, express, and became acquainted with Freudian psychology by
synthesize the various components of his or her reading The Interpretation of Dreams after completing
personality and, in so doing, to become self- his medical degree. Adler wrote a paper defending
actualized. Even with this tendency, however, Freud’s theory and was invited to join the Vienna
most people are not self-actualized. For most indi- Psychoanalytic Society, of which he became
viduals, certain components of the personality president in 1910. Differences between Adler and
remain unrecognized and underdeveloped. For Freud began to emerge, however, and by 1911 they
Jung, dreams are a means of giving expression to became so pronounced that Adler resigned as
aspects of the psyche that are underdeveloped. If a president of the society. After a nine-year associa-
person did not give adequate expression to the tion with Freud, the friendship crumbled, and the
shadow, for example, he or she would tend to two men never saw each other again. Freud accused
have nightmares involving various monsters. Adler of becoming famous by reducing psychoanal-
Dream analysis, then, can be used to determine ysis to the commonsense level of the layperson.
which aspects of the psyche are being given ade- About Adler, Freud said, “I have made a pygmy
quate expression and which are not. great” (Wittels, 1924, p. 225). Ernest Jones (1955)
summarized Adler’s major disagreements with
Criticisms and Contributions. Jung’s theory is Freud:
often criticized for embracing spiritualism and mys-
Sexual factors, particularly those of child-
ticism. Many saw Jung as unscientific or even anti-
hood, were reduced to a minimum: a
scientific because he used such things as the symbols
boy’s incestuous desire for intimacy with
found in art, religion, and human fantasy to develop
his mother was interpreted as the male
his theory. Some refer to Jung’s theory in general as
wish to conquer a female masquerading
unclear, incomprehensible, and inconsistent.
as sexual desire. The concepts of repres-
Finally, Jung has been criticized for employing the
sion, infantile sexuality, and even that
Lamarckian notion of the inheritance of acquired
of the unconscious itself were discarded.
characteristics. Despite these criticisms, Jungian the-
(p. 131)
ory remains popular in psychology. Jung has influ-
ential followers throughout the world, and several
major cities have Jungian institutes that elaborate
and disseminate his ideas (DeAngelis, 1994; Kirsch,
2000). In particular, Jung’s notions of introversion
and extroversion stimulated much research and are
part of every major personality measure—for exam-
ple, the MMPI, the “Big 5,” and the MBTI. Also,
Jung’s concepts of introversion and extroversion
were major components of Hans J. Eysenck’s
(1916–1997) influential theory of personality (for
example, Eysenck & Eysenck, 1985).
© Bettmann/Corbis
Alfred Adler
Born in a suburb of Vienna, Alfred Adler
(1870–1937) remembered his childhood as being
miserable. He was a sickly boy who thought of Alfred Adler
522 CHAPTER 16
In 1926 Adler visited the United States and was can develop keen auditory skills. Another way to adjust
warmly received. Adler made the United States his to a weakness is through overcompensation, which
permanent home in 1935, partially because of the is the conversion of a weakness into a strength. The
Nazi rise in Europe. He died on May 28, 1937, while usual examples include Teddy Roosevelt, who was a
on a lecture tour in Aberdeen, Scotland. The animos- frail child but became a rugged outdoorsman, and
ity that Freud felt toward Adler can be seen in the Demosthenes, who had a speech impediment but
following comment Freud made to a person who was became a great orator. At the time when Adler
moved by the news of Adler’s death: presented this view, he was a physician, and his
observations were clearly in accord with the
I don’t understand your sympathy for
materialistic-positivistic medicine of the time.
Adler. For a Jew boy out of a Viennese
In 1910 Adler entered the realm of psychology
suburb a death in Aberdeen is an unheard-
when he noted that compensation and overcom-
of career in itself and a proof of how far he
pensation can be directed toward psychological infer-
had got on. The world really rewarded
iorities as well as toward physical ones. Adler noted
him richly for his service in having
that all humans begin life completely dependent on
contradicted psychoanalysis. (E. Jones,
others for their survival and therefore with feelings
1957, p. 208)
of inferiority. Such feelings motivate people first
Unlike Freud, who most often saw wealthy cli- as children and later as adults to gain power to
ents, Adler focused his practice on the working class overcome these feelings. In his early theorizing,
(Wassermann, 1958). This no doubt influenced the Adler emphasized the attainment of power as a
views of both men. Adler was struck by the com- means of overcoming feelings of inferiority; later,
mon man’s constant struggles with the challenges of he suggested that people strive for perfection or
daily living, and a strong desire to “get ahead” in his superiority to overcome these feelings.
clients. Fiebert (1997) provides more details con- Although feelings of inferiority motivate all
cerning Adler’s initial professional involvement personal growth and are therefore good, they can
with Freud, the sources of dissension between also disable rather than motivate some people.
Adler and Freud, and the relationship between the These people are so overwhelmed by such feelings
two following Adler’s “excommunication.” that they accomplish little or nothing, and they are
said to have an inferiority complex. Thus, feel-
ings of inferiority can act as a stimulus for positive
Inferiority and Compensation. Like Freud, Adler
growth or as a disabling force, depending on one’s
was trained in the materialistic-positivistic medical
attitude toward them.
tradition; that is, every disorder, whether physical
Another psychological variable of interest to
or mental, was assumed to have a physiological ori-
Adler was birth order. For example, Adler believed
gin. Adler (1907/1917) presented the view that peo-
that second-borns, like himself, tended to be ambi-
ple are particularly sensitive to disease in organs that
tious and competitive, and experience sibling rivalry.
are “inferior” to other organs. For example, some
Eldest children often strive to reach the high expec-
people are born with weak eyes, others with weak
tations of their parents, whereas the youngest child in
hearts, still others with weak limbs, and so on.
a family of three or more was likely to be spoiled and
Because of the strain the environment puts on
immature, even into adulthood.
these weak parts of the body, the person develops
weaknesses that inhibit normal functioning.
One way to adjust to a weakness is through Worldviews and Lifestyles. Hans Vaihinger’s
compensation. That is, a person can adjust to a philosophy of “as if” influenced Adler’s theory.
weakness in one part of his or her body by developing We saw in Chapter 9 that Vaihinger was primarily
strengths in other parts. For example, a blind person concerned with showing how fictions in science,
PSYCHOANALYSIS 523
mathematics, religion, philosophy, and jurispru- any number of ways. For example, whether feelings
dence make complex societal life possible. Like of inferiority facilitate growth or disable a person
Vaihinger, Adler believed that life is inherently is dictated by personal choices. And, although life
meaningless, and therefore whatever meaning life is inherently meaningless, one is free to invent
has must be assigned to it by the individual. A per- meaning and then act “as if” it were true. Adler’s
son’s worldview develops from early experiences as concept of the creative self aligned him with the
a child. Depending on the nature of these experi- Nietzschean belief that humans are free to choose
ences, a child could come, for example, to view the their own destiny. Indeed, many of Nietzsche’s
world as a dangerous, evil place or as a safe and ideas can be found in Adler.
loving place. The first invention of meaning in a With his concept of the creative self, Adler
person’s life, then, is the creation of a worldview. rejected the very foundation of Freud’s
Once a worldview develops, the child ponders how psychoanalysis—repressed memories of traumatic
to live in the world as he or she perceives it. The experiences. Adler said, “We do not suffer the
child begins to plan his or her future by creating shock of [traumatic experiences] we make out of
what Adler called “guiding fictions.” These are them just what suits our purposes” (1931/1958,
future goals that are reasonable given the child’s p. 14). Once a worldview, final goals, and a lifestyle
worldview. If the worldview is positive, the child are created by an individual, all experiences are inter-
might attempt to embrace the world by planning to preted relative to them. As such, Adlerian therapy is
become a physician, scientist, artist, or teacher, for often seen as a first step in the direction of Human-
example. If the worldview is negative, the child istic psychology, which we will consider in the next
might aggress toward the world by planning a life chapter (Carlson, Watts, & Maniacci, 2006).
of crime and destruction.
From the worldview come guiding fictions
(future goals), and from guiding fictions comes a
Karen Horney
lifestyle. Primarily, a lifestyle encompasses the Karen Horney (pronounced “horn-eye”;
everyday activities performed while pursuing one’s 1885–1952) was born Karen Danielson in a small
goals. However, a person’s lifestyle also determines village near Hamburg, Germany. Her father was a
which aspects of life are focused on, what is per- Norwegian sea captain, and her mother, who was
ceived and what is ignored, and how problems are 18 years younger than the captain, was a member of
solved. According to Adler, for a lifestyle to be truly a prominent Dutch-German family. Karen’s father
effective it must contain considerable social was a God-fearing fundamentalist who believed
interest. That is, part of its goal must involve that women are inferior to men and are the primary
working toward a society that would provide a source of evil in the world. Karen had conflicting
better life for everyone. Adler called any lifestyle feelings about her father. She disliked him because
without adequate social interest a mistaken lifestyle. of the frequent derogatory statements he made
Because the neurotic typically has a mistaken life- about her appearance and intelligence. She liked
style, the job of the psychotherapist is to replace him because he added adventure to her life by tak-
that lifestyle with one that contains a healthy ing her with him on at least three lengthy sea
amount of social interest. voyages. The family called the father the “Bible
thrower” (Rubins, 1978, p. 11) because often,
The Creative Self. Adler departed radically from after reading the Bible at length, he would explode
the theories of Freud and Jung by saying that in a fit of anger and throw the Bible at his wife.
humans are not mere victims of their environment Such experiences caused Karen to develop a nega-
and biological inheritance. Although environment tive attitude toward religion and toward authority
and heredity provide the raw materials of personal- figures in general. After being treated by a physician
ity, the person is free to arrange those materials in when she was age 12, Karen decided she wanted to
524 CHAPTER 16
these differences, the theses submitted by her stu-

dents were routinely rejected, and eventually her
teaching duties were restricted. In 1941 she
resigned from the New York Psychoanalytic
Institute; shortly afterward, she founded her own
organization called the American Institute for
Psychoanalysis, where she continued to develop
her own ideas until her death in 1952.
General Disagreement with Freudian Theory.

Horney believed that Freudian notions such as
unconscious sexual motivation, the Oedipal complex,
© Bettmann/Corbis
and the division of the mind into an id, ego, and

superego may have been appropriate in Freud’s cul-
tural setting and at his time in history but that they
Karen Horney had little relevance for problems experienced by peo-
ple during the Depression years in the United States.
Like Adler, she found that the problems that her
become a medical doctor. Her decision was sup- clients were having had to do with losing their jobs
ported by her mother and opposed by her father. and not having enough money to pay the rent, buy
In 1906, at the age of 21, Karen entered the med- food, or provide their families with adequate medical
ical school at Freiberg, Germany. In October 1909, care. She rarely found unconscious sexual conflicts to
she married Oskar Horney, a lawyer with whom she be the cause of a client’s problem. Horney reached
eventually had three children (two of whom were the conclusion that what a person experiences socially
psychoanalyzed by Melanie Klein). Horney com- determines whether he or she will have psychological
pleted her medical degree at the University of Berlin problems, and not the intra-psychic conflict (among
in 1913, where she was an outstanding student. She the id, ego, and superego) that Freud had described.
then received psychoanalytic training at the Berlin For Horney, the causes of mental illness are to be
Psychoanalytic Institute, where she was psychoana- found in society and in social interactions, and it is
lyzed first by Karl Abraham and then by Hans Sachs, therefore those factors that need to be addressed in
two of the most prominent Freudian analysts at the the therapeutic process.
time (and both members of Freud’s inner circle). In Horney (1937) elaborated her view that psy-
1918, at the age of 33, she became a practicing analyst; chological problems are caused by disturbed
from that time until 1932, she taught at the Berlin human relationships, and of these relationships,
Psychoanalytic Institute and also maintained a private those between the parents and the child are most
practice. important. She believed that every child has two
In 1932 Horney accepted an invitation from basic needs: to be safe from pain, danger, and fear
the prominent analyst Franz Alexander to come to and to have biological needs satisfied. Two possibil-
the United States to become an associate director ities exist: the parents can consistently and lovingly
of the newly founded Chicago Institute of satisfy the child’s needs, or the parents can demon-
Psychoanalysis. Two years later, she moved to strate indifference, inconsistency, or even hatred
New York, where she trained analysts at the New toward the child. If the former occurs, the child is
York Psychoanalytic Institute and established a pri- well on the way to becoming a normal, healthy
vate practice. It was during this time that major adult. If the latter occurs, the child is said to have
differences between her views and those of the experienced the basic evil and is well on the way to
traditional Freudians became apparent. Because of becoming a neurotic.
PSYCHOANALYSIS 525
A child experiencing some form of the basic withdraw, nothing can hurt me” (Horney, 1937,
evil develops basic hostility toward the parents. p. 85).
Because the parent–child relationship is so basic to
What is crucial is their inner need to put
a child, the hostility he or she feels develops into a
emotional distance between themselves and
worldview. That is, the world is viewed as a dan-
others. More accurately, it is their conscious
gerous, unpredictable place. However, because the
and unconscious determination not to get
child is in no position to aggress toward the parents
emotionally involved with others in any
or the world, the basic hostility felt toward them
way, whether in love, fight, co-operation,
must be repressed. When basic hostility is repressed,
or competition. They draw around them-
it becomes basic anxiety. Basic anxiety is the “all-
selves a kind of magic circle which no one
pervading feeling of being lonely and helpless in a
may penetrate. (Horney, 1945, p. 75)
hostile world” (Horney, 1937, p. 77), and it is the
prerequisite for the development of neurosis. Horney believed that psychologically healthy
Alone and helpless in a hostile world, the per- individuals use all three adjustment patterns as cir-
son experiencing basic anxiety must find a way to cumstances warrant. Neurotics, however, use only
cope with such feelings. Horney (1945) described one pattern and attempt to use it to deal with all
three major adjustment patterns available to neu- of life’s eventualities. Interestingly, extensions of
rotic individuals, that is, those with basic anxiety. Horney’s work can also be found in the area of
One adjustment is moving toward people, thus management, where these concepts are applied
becoming the compliant type. The compliant type to problematic leadership styles.
seems to be saying, “If I give in, I shall not be
hurt” (Horney, 1937, p. 83). Feminine Psychology. Chodorow (1989) recog-
nizes Horney as the first psychoanalytic feminist.
In sum, this type needs to be liked,
Horney agreed with Freud’s contention that anat-
wanted, desired, loved; to feel accepted,
omy is destiny—that is, that one’s major personality
welcomed, approved of, appreciated; to be
traits are determined by gender. However, in her
needed, to be of importance to others,
version of this contention, it is males who envy
especially to one particular person; to be
female anatomy rather than the other way around:
helped, protected, taken care of, guided.
(Horney, 1945, p. 51) From the biological point of view woman
has in motherhood, or in the capacity for
A second major adjustment pattern is moving
motherhood, a quite indisputable and by no
against people, thus becoming the hostile type. The
means negligible physiological superiority.
hostile type seems to be saying, “If I have power,
This is most clearly reflected in the uncon-
no one can hurt me” (Horney, 1937, p. 84).
scious of the male psyche in the boy’s
Any situation or relationship is looked at intense envy of motherhood.… When one
from the standpoint of “What can I get out begins, as I did, to analyze men only after a
of it?”—whether it has to do with money, fairly long experience of analyzing women,
prestige, contacts, or ideas. The person one receives a most surprising impression of
himself is consciously or semiconsciously the intensity of this envy of pregnancy,
convinced that everyone acts this way, and childbirth, and motherhood, as well as of
so what counts is to do it more efficiently the breasts and of the act of suckling.
than the rest. (Horney, 1945, p. 65) (Horney & Kelman, 1967, pp. 60–61)
The third major adjustment pattern is moving In the end, Horney’s position was that person-
away from people, thus becoming the detached ality traits are determined more by cultural than by
type. The detached type seems to be saying, “If I biological factors (Paris, 2000). As early as 1923,
526 CHAPTER 16
Horney began writing articles on how culture privileges which in our culture are regarded
influences female personality development, and as masculine, such as strength, courage,
these articles have been compiled in Feminine independence, success, sexual freedom,
Psychology (Horney & Kelman, 1967). Horney right to choose a partner. (1939, p. 108)
agreed with Freud that women often feel inferior
Horney agreed with Freud on the importance
to men, but, to her, this feeling has nothing to do
of early childhood experiences and unconscious
with penis envy. According to Horney, women are
motivation but disagreed with his emphasis on bio-
indeed inferior to men, but they are culturally,
logical motivation, stressing cultural motivation
not biologically, inferior. Horney described how
instead. As far as the therapeutic process is con-
cultural stereotypes hold women back:
cerned, Horney used free association and dream
Woman’s efforts to achieve independence analysis and believed transference and resistance
and an enlargement of her field of interests provided important information. She was much
and activities are continually met with more optimistic about people’s ability to change
skepticism which insists that such efforts their personalities than Freud was, and, unlike
should be made only in the face of eco- Freud, she believed people could solve many of
nomic necessity, and that they run counter their own problems. Horney’s book Self-Analysis
to her inherent character and her natural (1942/1968) was one of the first self-help books
tendencies. Accordingly, all efforts of this in psychology, and it was controversial. One reason
sort are said to be without any vital sig- for the controversy was Freud’s contention that all
nificance for woman, whose every analysts had to be psychoanalyzed before being
thought, in point of fact, should center qualified to treat patients.
exclusively upon the male or upon moth- In conclusion, we can see that Freudian theory
erhood. (Horney & Kelman, 1967, p. 182) strongly influenced Horney who accepted much of
it. However, she ended up disagreeing with almost
When women appear to wish to be masculine,
every conclusion that Freud had reached about
what they are really seeking is cultural equality.
women. Because Freud’s was the first comprehen-
Because culture is a masculine product, one way to
sive effort to explain personality and his was the first
gain power in culture is to become masculine: “Our
comprehensive attempt to understand and treat
whole civilization is a masculine civilization. The
individuals with mental illness, all subsequent theo-
State, the laws, morality, religion, and the sciences
ries of personality and therapeutic techniques owe a
are the creation of men” (Horney & Kelman, 1967,
debt to him. One of the greatest tributes to Freud is
p. 55). And,
the number of prominent individuals he influenced,
The wish to be a man … may be the and we have discussed only a small sample. For a
expression of a wish for all those qualities or more extensive sampling, see Roazen (1992).
SUMMARY
Although most, if not all, of the conceptions that problem, events led him to attempt a psychological
would later characterize psychoanalysis were part of explanation of hysteria instead. Freud learned from
Freud’s philosophical and scientific heritage, his sig- Breuer that when Breuer’s patient Anna O. was
nificant accomplishment was to take those disparate totally relaxed or hypnotized and then asked to
conceptions and synthesize them into a compre- remember the circumstances under which one of
hensive theory of personality. Although Freud orig- her many symptoms had first occurred, the symp-
inally tried to explain hysteria as a physiological tom would at least temporarily disappear. This type
PSYCHOANALYSIS 527
of treatment was called the cathartic method. Freud into one symbol, and displacement, in which a per-
also learned from Breuer’s work with Anna O. that son dreams about something symbolically related to
the therapist was sometimes responded to as if he an anxiety-provoking object, person, or event
were a relevant person in the patient’s life, a process instead of dreaming about whatever it is that actu-
called transference. Sometimes the therapist also ally provokes the anxiety.
became emotionally involved with a patient, a pro- According to Freud, the adult mind consists of
cess called countertransference. Studies on Hysteria an id, an ego, and a superego. The id is entirely
(1895/1955), the book that Freud coauthored unconscious and demands immediate gratification;
with Breuer, is usually taken as the formal begin- it is therefore said to be governed by the pleasure
ning of the school of psychoanalysis. From his visit principle. The ego’s job is to find real objects in
with Charcot, Freud learned that hysteria is a real the environment that can satisfy needs; it is therefore
disorder that occurs in both males and females, that said to be governed by the reality principle. The
ideas dissociated from consciousness by trauma realistic processes of the ego are referred to as sec-
could trigger bodily symptoms in those inherently ondary in order to distinguish them from the irratio-
predisposed to hysteria, and that the symptoms of nal primary processes of the id. The third
hysteria may have a sexual origin. component of the mind is the superego, which con-
Soon after Freud began treating hysterical sists of the conscience, or the internalization of the
patients, he used hypnosis but found that he could experiences for which a child had been punished,
not hypnotize some patients and that the ones he and the ego-ideal, or the internalization of the
could hypnotize received only temporary relief experiences for which a child had been rewarded.
from their symptoms. He also found that patients Freud distinguished among objective anxiety,
often refused to believe what they had revealed the fear of environmental events; neurotic anxiety,
under hypnosis and therefore could not benefit the feeling that one is about to be overwhelmed by
from a rational discussion of previously repressed one’s id; and moral anxiety, the feeling caused by
material. After experimenting with various other violating one or more internalized values. One of
techniques, Freud finally settled on free association, the major jobs of the ego is to reduce or eliminate
whereby he encouraged his patients to say whatever anxiety; to accomplish this, the ego employs the
came to their minds without inhibiting any thoughts. ego defense mechanisms. All defense mechanisms
By analyzing a patient’s symptoms and by carefully depend on repression, which is the holding of dis-
scrutinizing a patient’s free associations, Freud origi- turbing thoughts in the unconscious. Other ego
nally believed that hysteria results from a childhood defense mechanisms are displacement, sublimation,
sexual seduction but later concluded that the seduc- projection, identification, rationalization, and reac-
tions he had discovered were usually patient fantasies. tion formation.
During his self-analysis, Freud found that During the psychosexual stages of development,
dreams contain the same clues concerning the ori- the erogenous zone, or the area of the body associ-
gins of a psychological problem as did physical ated with the greatest amount of pleasure, changes.
symptoms or free associations. He distinguished Freud named the stages of development in terms of
between the manifest content of a dream, or what their erogenous zones. During the oral stage, either
the dream appears to be about, and the latent con- overgratification or undergratification of the oral
tent, or what the dream is actually about. Freud needs results in a fixation. Fixation during the anal
believed that the latent content represents wish ful- stage results in the adult being either an anal-
fillments that a person could not entertain con- expulsive or an anal-retentive character. During the
sciously without experiencing anxiety. Dream phallic stage, the male and female Oedipal com-
work disguises the true meaning of a dream. Exam- plexes occur. Freud believed the psychology of
ples of dream work include condensation, in which males and females to be qualitatively different, pri-
several things from a person’s life are condensed marily because of differential Oedipal experiences.
528 CHAPTER 16
The latency stage is characterized by repression of life-span model of development. Other psychoana-
sexual desires and sublimation. During the genital lytic researchers in development included Bowlby
stage, the person emerges possessing the personality and Ainsworth, best known for their study of infant
traits that experiences during the preceding stages attachment styles.
have molded. Jung, an early follower of Freud, eventually broke
Freud found considerable evidence for his the- with him. Jung saw the libido as a pool of energy that
ory in everyday life. He felt that forgetting, losing could be used for positive growth throughout one’s
things, accidents, and slips of the tongue were often lifetime. Jung distinguished between the personal
unconsciously motivated. He also thought jokes pro- unconscious, which consists of experiences from
vide information about repressed experience because one’s lifetime of which a person is not conscious,
people tend to find anxiety-provoking material and the collective unconscious, which represents the
humorous. Freud believed that although we share recording of universal human experience. According
the instinctual makeup of other animals, humans to Jung, the collective unconscious contains arche-
have the capacity to understand and harness instinc- types, or predispositions, to respond emotionally to
tual impulses by exercising rational thought. Freud certain experiences in one’s life and to create myths
was especially critical of religion, believing that it is about them. Among the more fully developed arche-
an illusion that keeps people functioning on an types are the persona, the anima, the animus, the
infantile level. His hope was that people would shadow, and the self. Jung distinguished between the
embrace the principles of science, thereby becoming attitudes of introversion and extroversion. He also
more objective about themselves and the world. believed that synchronicity, or meaningful coinci-
In recent years, there have been efforts to cor- dence, plays a major role in determining one’s course
rect several misconceptions about Freud and psy- of life. Jung assumed that dreams give expression to
choanalysis. Some historians have argued that the parts of the personality that are not given adequate
Freud was not the courageous, innovative hero expression in one’s life.
that he and his followers portrayed him to be, and Like Jung, Adler was an early follower of Freud
that his ideas were not as original as he and his who eventually went his own way. The theory
followers claimed. Several current scholars and Adler developed was distinctly different from the
researchers suggest that Freud entered the therapeu- theories of both Freud and Jung. Adler believed
tic situation assuming that repressed childhood sex- that all humans begin life feeling inferior because
ual trauma was the cause of a patient’s disorder. of infant helplessness. Adler also believed that
Others, such as Loftus, question the very existence most people develop a lifestyle that allows them
of repressed memories. Freud has also been criti- to gain power or approach perfection and thereby
cized for overemphasizing sexual motivation, and overcome their feelings of inferiority. Some people,
creating a method of therapy that is too long and however, are overwhelmed by their feelings of
costly to be useful to most people. Also, Freud’s inferiority and develop an inferiority complex.
theory violates Popper’s principle of falsifiability. Influenced by Vaihinger’s philosophy of “as if,”
Anna Freud became the spokesperson for psy- Adler believed that the only meaning in life is the
choanalysis after her father died. She also applied meaning created by the individual. Out of its earli-
psychoanalysis to children, which brought her into est experiences, a child creates a worldview.
conflict with Melanie Klein, who had distinctly dif- Horney was trained as a Freudian analyst but
ferent ideas about child analysis. In her analysis of eventually developed her own theory. She believed
children, Anna Freud’s approach to understanding that psychological problems result more from soci-
children emphasized ego functions and her interest etal conditions and interpersonal relationships than
in ego psychology was further demonstrated by her from sexual conflicts. Among interpersonal rela-
analysis of the ego defense mechanisms. One of tionships, that between parent and child is most
her followers was Erik Erikson who developed a important. Horney believed that there were two
PSYCHOANALYSIS 529
types of parent–child relationships: one that consis- Horney modified Freud’s contention that anat-
tently and lovingly satisfies the child’s biological and omy is destiny, saying instead that gender differ-
safety needs and one that frustrates those needs. ences in personality are culturally determined. She
When basic hostility is repressed, it becomes basic said that women often feel inferior to men because
anxiety, which is the feeling of being alone and they are often culturally inferior. In her practice,
helpless in a hostile world. A child experiencing Horney found that it was males who were envious
basic anxiety typically uses one of three major of female biology rather than the reverse. Horney
adjustment patterns with which to embrace reality: contended that psychoanalysis seemed more appro-
Moving toward people emphasizes love, moving priate and complimentary to males because it was
against people emphasizes hostility, and moving created by males. Although in her practice of psy-
away from people emphasizes withdrawal. Normal choanalysis Horney used a number of Freudian
people use all three adjustment techniques as they concepts and techniques, she was more optimistic
are required, whereas neurotics attempt to cope in her prognosis for personality change than was
with all of life’s experiences using just one. Freud.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Provide evidence that many components of much everyday behavior is unconsciously

what was to become psychoanalysis were part motivated.
of Freud’s philosophical or scientific heritage. 10. Give an example showing the interactions
2. Briefly define the terms catharsis, transference, and among the id, the ego, and the superego.
countertransference. 11. Why did Freud feel the need to postulate the
3. What was the significance of Freud’s visit existence of a death instinct? What types of
with Charcot for the development of behavior did this instinct explain?
psychoanalysis? 12. What, according to Freud, is the function of
4. What did Freud learn from Liebeault and the ego defense mechanisms? Why is repres-
Bernheim at the Nancy school of hypnosis that sion considered the most basic ego defense
influenced the development of psychoanalysis? mechanism? Explain what Freud meant when
5. What did Freud mean when he said that true he said that civilization is built on
psychoanalysis began only after hypnosis had sublimation.
been discarded? 13. What was Freud’s view of human nature?
6. What was Freud’s seduction theory? What did Religion? What was his hope for humankind?
Freud conclude his mistake regarding the 14. Why do researchers, such as Loftus, question
seduction theory had been? the existence of repressed memories?
7. Explain the significance of dream analysis for 15. Summarize the major criticisms and contribu-
Freud. What is the difference between the tions of Freud’s theory.
manifest and the latent content of a dream? 16. What were Anna Freud’s contributions to
What is meant by dream work? psychoanalysis? Why is she considered a pio-
8. What is the Oedipus complex, and what is its neer of ego psychology?
significance in Freud’s theory? 17. Define the following terms from Jung’s theory:
9. Define the term parapraxes and show its collective unconscious, archetype, persona, anima,
importance to Freud’s contention that animus, shadow, and self.
530 CHAPTER 16
18. Define the following terms from Adler’s the- 21. According to Horney, what are the three major
ory: compensation, feelings of inferiority, inferiority adjustment patterns that neurotics can use
complex, worldview, guiding fiction, lifestyle, and while interacting with people? How does the
social interest. way normal people use these patterns differ
19. Summarize the main differences between from the way neurotics use them?
Freud’s and Adler’s theories of personality. 22. Did Horney agree with Freud’s contention that
20. In what way(s) did Vaihinger’s philosophy of anatomy is destiny? Why, according to
“as if” influence Adler’s theory of personality? Horney, do women sometimes feel inferior to
How does Adler’s theory relate to Nietzsche? men?
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING

Alexander, I. E. (1991). C. G. Jung: The man and his Loftus, E. (1993). The reality of repressed memories.
work, then, and now. In G. A. Kimble, M. American Psychologist, 48, 518–537.
Wertheimer, & C. L. White (Eds.), Portraits of Paris, B. J. (2000). Karen Horney: The three phases of
pioneers in psychology (pp. 153–196). Washington, her thought. In G. A. Kimble, & M. Wertheimer
DC: American Psychological Association. (Eds.), Portraits of pioneers in psychology (Vol. 4,
Borch-Jacobsen, M. (1996). Remembering Anna O.: A pp. 163–179). Washington, DC: American
century of mystification (K. Olson, Trans.). New York: Psychological Association.
Routledge. Roazen, P. (1992). Freud and his followers. New York: Da
Erdelyi, M. H. (1985). Psychoanalysis: Freud’s cognitive Capo Press.
psychology. New York: W. H. Freeman and Company. Segal, H. (1974). Introduction to the work of Melanie Klein
Gay, P. (1988). Freud: A life for our time. New York: Norton. (2nd ed.). New York: Basic Books.
Horney, K., & Kelman, H. (Ed.). (1967). Feminine Young-Bruehl, E. (1988). Anna Freud: A biography. New
psychology. New York: Norton. York: Norton.
GLOSSARY
Adler, Alfred (1870–1937) An early follower of Freud Archetype According to Jung, an inherited predisposi-
who left the Freudian camp and created his own theory tion to respond emotionally to certain categories of
of personality, which emphasized the conscious mind experience.
and the individual creation of a worldview, guiding fic- Basic anxiety According to Horney, the feeling of
tions, and a lifestyle in order to overcome feelings of being alone and helpless in a hostile world that a child
inferiority and to seek perfection. experiences when he or she represses basic hostility. (See
Altruistic surrender An ego defense mechanism, pos- also Basic hostility.)
tulated by Anna Freud, whereby a person avoids personal Basic hostility According to Horney, the feeling of
anxiety by vicariously living the life of another person. anger that a child experiences when he or she experi-
Anxiety The feeling of impending danger. Freud ences the basic evil.
distinguished three types of anxiety: objective anxiety, Breuer, Josef (1842–1925) The person Freud credited
which is caused by a physical danger; neurotic with the founding of psychoanalysis. Breuer discovered
anxiety, which is caused by the feeling that one is going that when the memory of a traumatic event is recalled
to be overwhelmed by his or her id; and moral anxiety, under deep relaxation or hypnosis, there is a release of
which is caused by violating one or more values emotional energy (catharsis) and the symptoms caused by
internalized in the superego. the repressed memory are relieved.
PSYCHOANALYSIS 531
Cathartic method The alleviation of hysterical symp- Ego defense mechanisms The strategies available to
toms by allowing pathogenic ideas to be expressed the ego for distorting the anxiety-provoking aspects of
consciously. reality, thus making them more tolerable.
Collective unconscious Jung’s term for the part of the Ego psychology Psychology that emphasizes the
unconscious mind that reflects universal human experi- autonomous functions of the ego and minimizes the
ence through the ages. For Jung the collective uncon- conflicts among the ego, id, and superego.
scious is the most powerful component of the Erikson, Erik (1902-1994) A psychoanalyst best
personality. known for his stage theory of life span development and
Compensation According to Adler, the making up for his psychological biographies.
a weakness by developing strengths in other areas. Extroversion According to Jung, the attitude toward
Condensation The type of dream work that causes life that is characterized by gregariousness and a willing-
several people, objects, or events to be condensed into ness to take risks.
one dream symbol. Feelings of inferiority According to Adler, those
Countertransference The process by which a therapist feelings that all humans try to escape by becoming
becomes emotionally involved with a patient. powerful or superior.
Creative self According to Adler, the component of Free association Freud’s major tool for studying the
the personality that provides humans with the freedom contents of the unconscious mind. With free association,
to choose their own destinies. a patient is encouraged to express freely everything that
Death instinct The instinct that has death as its goal comes to his or her mind.
(sometimes called the death wish). Freud, Anna (1895–1982) Became the official spokes-
Developmental lines A concept introduced by Anna person for psychoanalysis after her father’s death. In addi-
Freud describing the major adjustments that typify the tion to perpetuating traditional psychoanalytic concepts,
transition between childhood and adolescence and she extended them into new areas such as child psychol-
young adulthood. ogy, education, and child rearing. By elaborating on
autonomous ego functions, she encouraged the develop-
Displacement The ego defense mechanism by which a
ment of ego psychology. (See also Ego psychology.)
goal that does not provoke anxiety is substituted for one
that does. Also, the type of dream work that causes the Freud, Sigmund (1856–1939) The founder of psy-
dreamer to dream of something symbolically related to choanalysis, a school of psychology that stresses the con-
anxiety-provoking events rather than dreaming about flict between the animalistic impulses possessed by
the anxiety-provoking events themselves. humans and the human desire to live in a civilized society.
Dream analysis A major tool that Freud used in Horney, Karen (1885–1952) Trained in the Freudian
studying the contents of the unconscious mind. Freud tradition, she later broke away from the Freudians and
thought that the symbols dreams contain could yield created her own theory of mental disorders that
information about repressed memories, just as hysterical emphasized cultural rather than biological (such as sexual)
symptoms could. For Jung dreams provided a mechanism causes.
by which inhibited parts of the psyche might be given Id According to Freud, the powerful, entirely uncon-
expression. Therefore, for Jung, dream analysis indicated scious portion of the personality that contains all instincts
which aspects of the psyche are underdeveloped. and is therefore the driving force for the entire personality.
Dream work The mechanism that distorts the meaning Identification with the aggressor An ego defense
of a dream, thereby making it more tolerable to the mechanism, postulated by Anna Freud, whereby the fear
dreamer. (See also Condensation and Displacement.) caused by a person is reduced by adopting the feared
Ego According to Freud, the component of the per- person’s values.
sonality that is responsible for locating events in the Inferiority complex According to Adler, the condi-
environment that will satisfy the needs of the id without tion one experiences when overwhelmed by feelings of
violating the values of the superego. inferiority instead of being motivated toward success by
Ego Derived from Freud’s use of the term, according to those feelings.
Jung, that aspect of the psyche responsible for problem Instincts According to Freud, the motivational forces
solving, remembering, and perceiving. behind personality. Each instinct has a source, which is a
532 CHAPTER 16
bodily deficiency of some type; an aim of removing the Overcompensation According to Adler, the conver-
deficiency; an object, which is anything capable of sion of a weakness into a strength.
removing the deficiency; and an impetus, which is a Overdetermination Freud’s observation that behav-
driving force whose strength is determined by the mag- ioral and psychological phenomena often have two or
nitude of the deficiency. more causes.
Introversion According to Jung, the attitude toward Parapraxes Relatively minor errors in everyday living
life that is characterized by social isolation and an intro- such as losing and forgetting things, slips of the tongue,
spective nature. mistakes in writing, and small accidents. Freud
Jung, Carl (1875–1961) An early follower of Freud believed that such errors are often unconsciously
who eventually broke with him because of Freud’s motivated.
emphasis on sexual motivation. Jung developed his own Pathogenic ideas Ideas that cause physical disorders.
theory, which emphasized the collective unconscious
Personal unconscious Jung’s term for the place that
and self-actualization.
stores material from one’s lifetime of which one is cur-
Klein, Melanie (1882–1960) An early child analyst rently not conscious.
whose theory emphasized the importance of the
Repression The holding of traumatic memories in the
mother–child relationship and the development of the
unconscious mind because pondering them consciously
superego during the oral stage of development. By using
would cause too much anxiety.
play therapy, Klein believed that child analysis could
begin as early as two years of age. Klein’s ideas con- Resistance The tendency for patients to inhibit the
cerning the psychology of children were often in conflict recollection of traumatic experiences.
with those of Anna Freud. Seduction theory Freud’s contention that hysteria is
Latent content What a dream is actually about. caused by a sexual attack: Someone familiar to or
related to the hysteric patient had attacked him or her
Libido For Freud, the collective energy associated with
when the patient was a young child. Freud later con-
the life instincts. For Jung, the creative life force that
cluded that in most cases such attacks are imagined
provides the energy for personal growth.
rather than real.
Lifestyle According to Adler, the way of life that a
Social interest The concern for other humans and for
person chooses to implement the life’s goals derived from
society that Adler believed characterizes a healthy
his or her worldview.
lifestyle.
Manifest content What a dream appears to be about.
Studies on Hysteria The book Breuer and Freud pub-
Moving against people The neurotic adjustment pat- lished in 1895 that is usually viewed as marking the for-
tern suggested by Horney by which people adjust to a mal beginning of the school of psychoanalysis.
world perceived as hostile by gaining power over people
Superego According to Freud, the internalized values
and events.
that act as a guide for a person’s conduct.
Moving away from people The neurotic adjustment
Synchronicity According to Jung, what occurs when
pattern suggested by Horney by which people adjust to a
unrelated events converge in a person’s life in a mean-
world perceived as hostile by creating a distance between
ingful way.
themselves and the people and events in that world.
Transference The process by which a patient responds
Moving toward people The neurotic adjustment pat-
to the therapist as if the therapist were a relevant person
tern suggested by Horney by which people adjust to a
in the patient’s life.
world perceived as hostile by being compliant.
Unconscious motivation The causes of our behavior
Oedipus complex The situation that, according to
of which we are unaware.
Freud, typically manifests itself during the phallic stage of
psychosexual development, whereby children sexually Wish fulfillment In an effort to satisfy bodily needs,
desire the parent of the opposite sex and are hostile the id conjures up images of objects or events that will
toward the parent of the same sex. satisfy those needs.

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16

W hen psychology became a science, it became first a science of conscious

than by reason. Because the instincts determine

he was given an oil lamp and a room of his own—

and was always at the head of his class; at age 17, he

Granted that it is a merit to have created

Anna O. started in December 1880 and continued

readiness to fit in with our instinctual psychoanalysis in the United States. He

science” in Germany, and his books were banned

Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy

“Readers without any abuse memories of their own

Whatever the good intentions of conviction is a dangerous substitute for an open

It is enlightening to compare psychoana- the founding of psychoanalysis. According to

defense mechanisms—represent important exten-

theories, Ainsworth developed her “strange situa-

© Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

these differences, the theses submitted by her stu-

General Disagreement with Freudian Theory.

and the division of the mind into an id, ego, and

1. Provide evidence that many components of much everyday behavior is unconsciously

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING

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