Describe the results of attempts to test Freudian concepts experimentally.
Many of the foundations of psychoanalysis were experimentally determined by the psychologists. Some supported Freud’s theories, while some out rightly rejected them. 2500 studies ranging from anthropology, psychiatry and psychology were done to ascertain Freud’s concepts.
Many were against the Id, ego, super ego, and libido concepts of Freud. Some of his theories like oral and anal personalities were supported by the experiments. The anxiety of castration and the theory of dreams being the gateways to emotional personality were also supported. Few aspects of the Oedipus complex, like the fear of the father by a male child, were supported.
Some of the experiments did not approve of Freud’s psychology. They said that dreams could not tell about the innermost desires or feelings. They further added that boys did not develop a super ego, as a result of the Oedipus complex. Also, they stated that Freud’s concept about women having an inferiority complex about their bodies because they lack the male sex organ, was baseless.
They also refuted Freud’s claim that a person’s personality is developed up to the age of five, and stops developing beyond that age. Recent researches support the processes’ going on in the unconscious state, is actually derived from bad experiences. Scientists now claim that Freud must have underestimated the power of the unconscious mind.