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What Is Testing Freud's Psychoanalytic Understanding Of Mind?

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This essay will argue for and against with reference to empirical research whether it is possible to test Freud’s psychoanalytical understanding of mind. To answer the essay question, first, the allegations against the theorising as unscientific will be briefly introduced followed by a notion of a scientific method. Of the theories, it will be specifically Freud’s ideas of the unconscious and his methods assessing such that will be argued pro and con whether it is possible to test scientifically. It will be argued how Freud can be scientific particularly by the formulation of contemporary cognitive science language.

Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, is much referred to and thought of as unscientific (Westen, 1999). It is said that his theory is unfalsifiable and the data restricted as it was based on abnormal experiences …show more content…

However, this is found to not be specific to psychoanalysis. Meta-analyses point to that it is not clear how effective psychotherapy is as reviews find similar effects of all the treatment styles, yet key words such as consistency are found to be what gives the best effect (Marcus et al., 2014). Back to the example from Cummins reading of the case study of Dora (2000) which is an example of how Freud’s theorising cannot rule out other solutions i.e. is not falsifiable nor meet the condition of corroboration. Another counterargument for Freud’s theories to not be scientific is his notion of recall in memory has been rejected. Research has disproved that perception is merely truthful (Freud, 1901 cited in Brewin & Power, 1991). Auditory illusions and visual illusions such as the Muller-Lyer effect are examples that demonstrate how unconscious processes distort the incoming sensory data (REF,

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He strongly believes that “the scientific method is our only source of knowledge” (58). I disagree with his belief because people also possess their own sense of knowledge. They gain this knowledge through the different obstacles they come across in their lives, which indicates that not all knowledge comes from scientific method. Freud describes “the teachings of Jesus as “psychologically impossible and useless for our lives” (38). I cannot agree with his statement because there are people who study and believe in Jesus because Jesus gives them an optimistic view to life.

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However, just because it is hard to prove these concepts does not diminish the usefulness of psychoanalysis. Many quantum theories are based on models that are first assumed to be true. With experimental results agreeing to the predictions based on the model, the quantum physicist then accepts the model as true. It is often very difficult to prove that the model is correct, especially for quantum physics, where our intuition is wrong. Likewise, it may be impossible to demonstrate the existence of id, ego and superego.

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In chapter 3, Freud’s psychoanalytic theory describes personality as a “theory of a mind” or, in other words, that human behavior is the result of our mental state. His theory developed when he was plagued with periods of depression, and to understand why he was like this he conducted an activity that is fundamental to the development of psychoanalysis, a self analysis (Cervone & Pervin). He conducted his self analysis by analyzing his experiences to dreams. Freud’s psychoanalytic theory was very much about the mind and uncovering the psychological causes of an individual.

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58-68. This book analyses Freudian’s psychoanalysis. Burrow realized that Freud’s psychoanalysis was based only on observations. The purpose of Freud’s psychoanalysis is to help patients find a mental place where they can live a healthy life.

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Sigmund Freud has become one of the most controversial people in the field of psychology, but he remains one of the most famous. His ideas about human development have widely been rejected, but his theories about the human mind, particularly consciousness, are still often referenced today. Freud believed that there were three levels of consciousness: the conscious, the preconscious, and the unconscious, and that we had different levels of awareness of each one. This idea is often represented using an iceberg, as the tip of the iceberg is easy to reach, just like the conscious, while the bottom is very difficult to access, similar to the unconscious. In his lecture series “About Psychoanalysis”, given in 1909 at Clark University, Freud explains

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1. The psychoanalytic analysis in general Psychoanalytic criticism was developed by Austrian neurologist and the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. His theory is based on conscious and unconscious functioning, stages of growth, developments in human behavior and normal and abnormal experiences. If we apply some psychoanalytic techniques like flashbacks, childhood memories and regression, we can uncover the hidden meanings, motivations, repressed dreams and wishes within the text. Major principles of Freud’s theory are the models of human psyche, the psychosexual stages, defense mechanism, the Oedipus complex, dreams and dream symbols.

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Greenberg (1986) believes Freud’s case studies do not place enough stress on revealing the outcome of the treatment and that Freud’s aim was more to illustrate his theoretical points (p.240). In cases, Greenberg asserts that many of the presented cases would not even be considered acceptable examples of psychoanalysis and, in short, that virtually all of the cases studies had basic shortcomings (p.240). Furthermore, many other powerful criticisms about Freud inaccurate and subsequently flawed evidence have been published. These critics contend that Freud’s evidence is flawed due to the lack of an experiment, the lack of a control group, and the lack of observations that went unrecorded (Colby, 1960, p.54).

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Anthropologists have argued that Freud’s theory is culture bound. Freud’s theory centralised on the structure of the psyche, which is included within the inner models of reality of the individual in biological and social aspects. The unconscious is a psychic

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Psychoanalysis was first introduced by Sigmund Freud and is now known as classical psychoanalysis. The theory, as defined by Sigmund Freud, is the dynamic between underlying forces that determine behavior and personality. He stressed the importance of human sexuality, childhood experiences, and the unconscious processes. However, his theory was seen as misogynistic and narrow focused. Consequently, classical psychoanalysis was criticized and rejected by many scholars.

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The overabundance of clinically rooted concepts begin to put threat onto the clinical field as such excess of clinical strategies and techniques are mutually incompatible will create a nearly impossible issues in the conduction of psychoanalytic knowledge and skills. (Nunberg, NCBI, 1943) According to Nunberg, NCBI, (1943) the last 30 years; advancements in every aspect of the field in neuroscience have invalidate the basis for the earlier psychoanalytic which result to neglecting this field. Neuroscientists are not anymore troubled with mental disabilities or even organic disorders. Current evaluations of neuroscientific work approve that most of Freud original studies in this field including his works on the universal influence of non-conscious processes and the organizing function of emotions for thinking, have been discovered validity in scientific

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You also cannot generalize the results Freud got from the experiences he made with individuals to a large number of people. This is one reason of why the use of models in human sciences can be extremely difficult and untrustworthy and therefore can hinder the gaining of knowledge. In response to the counter claim, even though the results from Freud’s experiments cannot be fully generalized, the model can still be useful. Still nowadays it’s used in patient analysis.

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(Freud, 1949) Help is provided to the clients to enable them strengthen their EGO and protect it from being in any conflict between their ID and SUPEREGO. This theory is used to rectify the client’s character and their system of personality if found to have issues. The theory aims at making the unconscious, conscious by releasing the repressed emotions and experiences. Psychoanalytic theory also aims at helping clients work through their developmental stages not previously resolved well to solve the problem of fixation.

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