Greetings on the first day of March. I’m Wang Fang. At last, today concludes our discussion of Freud. We will consider two questions: which Freudian claims have clearly been shown wrong, and how should we view psychoanalysis today?。

First, what exactly has modern research falsified?

To begin, as the previous episode noted, psychic energy may exist, but it does not operate as Freud proposed. His hydraulic model assumes accumulated energy creates tension, discharge releases it, and the organism becomes calm. That may describe some situations, but extensive evidence finds that venting hostility and aggression does not calm them; it encourages further release. In other words, expressing hostility creates more hostility.

This is better explained through behaviorism, which says environmental consequences shape later conduct. Rewarded behavior is repeated. If venting anger feels good, aggression is reinforced and seeks repeated expression rather than stopping. “Venting rooms” where employees or students smash plates, computers, and furniture may therefore fail to achieve their intended effect.For pressure in a cooker, crude venting is not the best way to prevent explosion. Better to turn off the heat, remove the pot, calm down, identify the real sources of anger, and address them.

Freud also treated sex and aggression as innate drives constantly seeking satisfaction. Yet a person may live without aggression and still be fulfilled, happy, and healthy.Modern research more often treats aggression not as an inborn biological instinct but as a learned tendency.。

Sex is likewise a biological need with a strongly social character. A person without sexual activity need not become ill, while masturbation, intercourse, or attacking others cannot prevent or cure disease (Baumeister, 2005). Freud made repression of sexual energy a cause of mental illness. Yet sexual repression has greatly declined since his era while disorders remain common worldwide, perhaps increasingly so. More complex forces beyond sexuality, neglected by Freud, clearly operate.