60 Part II Psychodynamic Theories
brain that functions to inhibit impulses and drives is damaged, we should see an
increase in the id-based pleasure-seeking impulses. That is precisely what happens
when the frontal-limbic system is damaged. Many case studies and more systematic
brain-imaging research have demonstrated the connection between the frontal-limbic
system and impulse regulation (Chow & Cummings, 1999; Pincus, 2001; Raine,
Buchsbaum, & LaCasse, 1997). The first reported and best-known case of this was
the 19th-century railroad worker Phineas Gage. While working on the railroad, an
explosion caused a metal rod to shoot upward and through the bottom of his jaw up
and out the top of his forehead, damaging his frontal lobes. Amazingly, perhaps
because the speed of the rod cauterized brain tissue, Gage never lost consciousness
and survived. Physically (except for loss of brain tissue) he was relatively fine, but
his personality changed. By all accounts, this rather mild-mannered, responsible, and
reliable worker became, in the words of his doctor, “fitful, irreverent, indulging at
times in the grossest profanity (which was not previously his custom), manifesting
but little deference for his fellows, impatient of restraint or advice when it conflicts
with his desires, at times pertinaciously obstinate, yet capricious and vacillating” (as
cited in Solms & Turnbull, 2002, p. 3). In other words, he became hostile, impulsive,
and not at all concerned with social norms and appropriateness. In Freudian lingo, his
ego no longer could inhibit basic drives and instincts and he became very id-driven.
According to Solms, the underlying theme in the frontal lobe-injured
patients is their inability to stay “reality-bound” (ego) and their propensity to
interpret events much more through “wishes” (id); that is, they create the real-
ity they wanted or wished for. All of this, according to Solms, provides support
for Freud’s ideas concerning the pleasure principle of the id and the reality
principle of the ego.Repression, Inhibition, and Defense Mechanisms
Another core component of Freud’s theory involved the defense mechanisms, espe-
cially repression. The unconscious actively (dynamically) keeps ideas, feelings, and
unpleasant or threatening impulses out of consciousness. The area of defense
mechanisms remains an active area of study for personality researchers. Some of
this research has focused on the use of projection and identification in childhood
and adolescence (Cramer, 2007), whereas other work has investigated who is more
likely to be a target of projection (Govorun, Fuegen, & Payne, 2006).
From the neuropsychological perspective, Solms (2004) reports cases that
explore the areas of the brain that may be implicated in the use and perseverance
of defense mechanisms. Specifically, Solms (2004) describes cases demonstrat-
ing repression of unpalatable information when damage occurs to the right hemi-
sphere and, if this damaged region becomes artificially stimulated, the repression
goes away; that is, awareness returns. Additionally, these patients frequently
rationalize away unwelcome facts by fabricating stories. In other words, they
employ Freudian wish- fulfilling defense mechanisms. For instance, one patient,
when asked about the scar on his head, confabulated a story about its being a
result of dental surgery or a coronary bypass, both of which he had had years
before. Furthermore, when the doctor asked this patient who he was, the patient
would variously respond that he (the doctor) was either a colleague, a drinking