Invitation to Psychology

50 Chapter 2 Theories of Personality

tested and validated. Researchers have identi-

fied unconscious processes in thought, memory,

and behavior. They have found evidence for the

major defense mechanisms, such as projection,

denial, and displacement (Baumeister, Dale, &

Sommer, 1998; Cramer, 2000; Marcus-Newhall

et al., 2000). One intriguing study suggests that

homophobia may sometimes be an attempt to

deal with unconscious but threatening homosex-

ual feelings. People were subliminally shown the

word me or other before seeing pictures and words

related to heterosexuality or homosexuality and

then were asked to sort the pictures and words

into the appropriate categories on a computer.

Most sorted the words and pictures associated

with their own sexual orientation faster when me

had been the subliminal cue. But a subset of self-

identified straight people sorted the discrepant

(homosexual) words and images faster when they

had been exposed to me—and those people were

more likely to favor antigay policies (Weinstein

et al., 2012).

Most important, research has confirmed the

psychodynamic idea that we are often unaware

of the motives behind our own puzzling or self-

defeating actions.

at a large and impersonal college. When psy-

chologists conduct longitudinal studies, follow-

ing people from childhood to adulthood, they

often get a different picture of causality from the

one that emerges by looking backward.

Despite these serious problems, some psy-

chodynamic concepts have been empirically

Freud claimed, without much empirical evidence, that

all little girls suffer from “penis envy.” But studies of

preschool girls and boys find that young children of both

sexes are curious about the reproductive abilities of the

other sex (Linday, 1994).

Recite & Review

Recite: State aloud what you know about Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious and its ar-

chetypes; the object-relations school; and the major scientific criticisms of psychodynamic theories.

Review: If you are not feeling defensive, reread this section.

Now take this Quick Quiz:

1. An 8-year-old boy is hitting classmates and disobeying his teacher. Which of the following
   explanations of his behavior might come from a Freudian, a Jungian, or an object-relations
   analyst?
   a. The boy is expressing his shadow archetype.
   b. The boy is expressing the aggressive energy of the id and has not developed enough ego
   control.
   c. The boy has had unusual difficulty separating from his mother and is compensating by
   behaving aggressively.


2. What criticism of all three of the preceding explanations might a psychological scientist make?


3. In the 1950s and 1960s, many psychoanalysts, observing unhappy gay men who had sought
   therapy, concluded that homosexuality was a mental illness. What violation of the scientific
   method were they committing?
   Answers:

Study and Review at mypsychlab

All three explanations are nonfalsifiable; that is, there is no way to disconfirm 2. object-relations analystc. Freud b. Jung 1 a.

The analysts were drawing conclusions from patients in 3. them or confirm them. They are just subjective interpretations.

therapy and failing to test these conclusions with gay men who were not in therapy or with heterosexuals. When such research

was done using appropriate control groups, it turned out that gay men were not more mentally disturbed or depressed than

heterosexuals (Hooker, 1957).