Psychological Criticism PDF

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Psychological Criticism stems from the idea of Psychoanalysis. Sigmund Freud had been an Austrian neurologist, who lived from 1856- 1939. He had found the theory to treat mental illness patients. Freud believed that people could be cured by making conscious their unconscious thoughts and motivations, thus gaining insight. The aim of psychoanalysis therapy is to release repressed emotions and experiences, i.e., make the unconscious conscious. Criticism The fundamental criticism of Freud’s case studies involves the nature of his data. He did not keep verbatim records of the therapy sessions, and warned analysts against taking words. Describing his technique for recording his patients’ comments, Freud said, “I write them down from memory in the evening after work, is over”. Thus it is possible that his data were incomplete, consisting only what he later remembered. One of the largest criticisms of the psychoanalytic theory is that it places far too much emphasis on childhood. Another criticism focuses on Freud’s emphasis on past behavior to the exclusion of our goals and aspirations. Psychoanalytic criticism adopts the methods of "reading" employed by Freud and later theorists to interpret texts. It argues that literary texts, like dreams, express the secret unconscious desires and anxieties of the author, that a literary work is a manifestation of the author's own neuroses. The unconscious material has been distorted by the censoring conscious mind. Neo-Psychoanalytic Carl Jung The point on which Jung comes to disagree with Freud was the role of sexuality. Jung broadened Freud’ definition of libido by redefining it as a more generalized psychic energy that includes sex but is not restricted to it. Jung’s split from Freud was based on two major disagreements. First, Jung, like Adler and Erikson, did not accept that sexual drive was the primary motivator in a person’s mental life. Second, although Jung agreed with Freud’s concept of a personal unconscious, he thought it to be incomplete. In addition to the personal unconscious, Jung focused on the collective unconscious.

Nature of the unconscious; For Jung A storehouse of repressed memories specific to the individual and our ancestral past, on the other side Freud, A storehouse for unacceptable repressed desires specific to the individual. Cause of behavior; For Jung past experiences in addition to future aspiration, other than Freud past experiences, particularly in childhood. Criticism A major criticism of Jung's body of work is that it lacks demonstrable or measurable scientific research.His theory was shaped by his own dreams, thoughts and introspection in addition to that of his patients. For many critics, Jung's own thoughts and observations aren't adequate scientific observation for the basis of a major theory of human personality. Jung’s ideas have not been as popular as Freud’s. This might be because he did not write from the layman and as such his ideas were not a greatly disseminated as Freud’s. It may also be because his ideas were a little more mystical and obscure, and less clearly explained. Alfred Adler Alfred Adler, a colleague of Freud’s and the first president of the Vienna Psychoanalytical Society (Freud’s inner circle of colleagues), was the first major theorist to break away from Freud. He subsequently founded a school of psychology called individual psychology, which focuses on our drive to compensate for feelings of inferiority. Adler’s ideas about inferiority represent a major difference between his thinking and Freud’s. Freud believed that we are motivated by sexual and aggressive urges, but Adler believed that feelings of inferiority in childhood are what drive people to attempt to gain superiority and that this striving is the force behind all of our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Adler also believed in the importance of social connections, seeing childhood development emerging through social development rather than the sexual stages Freud outlined. Criticism Critics that Adler was inconsistent and unsystematic in his thinking and that his theory contains gaps and unanswered questions. Some psychologists dispute Adler’s position on the issue of

determinism versus free will. Terms such as goal of superiority and creative power have no scientific definition. Karen Horney Perhaps the most important contribution Karen Horney made to psychodynamic thought was her disagreements with Freud’s view of women. She countered Freud’s concept of penis envy with what she called womb envy, or man’s envy of woman’s ability to bear children. She argued that men compensate for this inability by striving for achievement and success in other realms. She also disagreed with Freud’s belief that males and females were born with inherent differences in their personality. Rather than citing biological differences, she argued for a societal and cultural explanation. In her view, men and women were equal outside of the cultural restrictions often placed on being female. To Horney, people are not motivated by sexual or aggressive forces but by the needs for security and love. Criticism Horney used case study method. Therefore, her approach, data, and interpretations are subject to the same criticisms made of the work of Freud, Jung, and Adler. Horney was opposed to taking verbatim notes of her patients’ recollections. As Freud, Jung, and Adler, do not have complete records of her analytic sessions and the data she collected during them. Erik Erikson Erik Erikson met Freud’s daughter, Anna Freud. It was Anna Freud who encouraged Erikson to study psychoanalysis. Erikson later proposed a psychosocial theory of development, suggesting that an individual’s personality develops throughout the lifespan a departure from Freud’s view that personality is fixed in early life. In his theory, Erikson emphasized the social relationships that are important at each stage of personality development, in contrast to Freud’s emphasis on sex. Criticism A more specific criticism relates to the incomplete description of the developmental stage of maturity. Erickson’s position on sex differences has also come on under attack. Another criticism

on developmental stages that may not be applicable to women, and other critics that Erickson’s personality theory does not apply to people in reduced economic circumstances....