BIOLOGY IN HUMAN AFFAIRS 



The Freudian doctrines include principles, mechanisms, 

 and applications. Each is entitled to appraisal on its own 

 merits, though the structure stands as a whole. In the first 

 division, the exploration of the subconscious, the distinc- 

 tion between logical thinking in terms of reality and 

 fantasy as pleasurable wish-thinking, the keystone position 

 of the affective life, the importance of childhood experi- 

 ences, the far-reaching determinations of the sexual life, 

 fit in with the progressive trends of modern psychology, 

 as well as with the close parallelism of normal and abnor- 

 mal manifestations. The mechanisms of repression, substi- 

 tutional outlets, compensations, rationalizations, fixations 

 — all leading to the concept of the complex with its 

 emotionalized force — have been fairly well incorporated 

 into a motivation psychology.^ In the applications, psycho- 

 analysis overshadows all else. Its value depends intimately 

 upon the perspective of principles and the wisdom and tact 

 of the practitioner. The Freudian clue to character analysis, 

 the possibility of a psychobiography, the emphasis upon 

 the proper psychic weaning of children to and beyond 

 adolescence, the Freudian factor in the psychoneuroses, 

 however treated, apart from the interpretations of dreams, 

 trance states, and lapses, indicate the possibilities of the 

 Freundian instrumental aids. 



But approached closely, the weaknesses of the con- 

 struction are conspicuous; and one can sympathize with 

 Dunlap's classification of the entire system as unscientific 

 and mystic, while declining to agree with his dismissal 

 of it on that ground. Had Freud been content to indicate 

 the generic plot of the human drama, he would have 

 remained on safer ground. He proceeded to outline its 

 details. Sex played the leading role and dominated the 

 minor parts as well. There developed the "family romance" 



^ See L. T. Troland, "Fundamentals of Human Motivation," D. Van Nostrand 

 Company Inc., New York, 1928. 



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