PSYC 3140 Lecture Notes - Lecture 70: Falsifiability, Dogma, Postdiction
PSYC 3140
Lecture 70
1. Human Nature
a. Freud was largely pessimistic about human nature but, believed
that people could, and should, live more rational lives, but to do so
they must first understand the workings of their own minds.
b. For Freud our only hope is to come to grips with the repressed
forces that motivate us; only then can we live rational lives
c. For Freud, religion comes from the human feeling of helplessness
and insecurity and keeps humans operating at a childlike, irrational
level.
a. It was Freud’s hope that religious illusions would eventually
be replaced by scientific principles as guides for living.
Scientific principles are not always flattering or comforting,
but they are rational.
2. Current Concern about Repressed Memories
a. Researchers do not agree on whether repressed memories are
valid.
3. Criticisms of Freuds theories
a. Method of data collection – No controlled experimentation.
b. Definition of terms – Freud’s concepts were too nebulous to be
measure. No way to quantify psychic energy, castration anxiety,
penis envy, or the Oedipal comples.
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