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The history of the search for convincing experimental evidence that repression is a significant factor in human psychology has been long and perplexing. Of the many attempts to approximate the conditions necessary for repression in a laboratory setting, very few have been successful (Holmes, 1974). In fact, there seems to be a rather unusual discrepancy between clinical and experimental knowledge of this phenomenon. Madison (1956) stated:
It is a remarkable fact that several decades of experimental research have yielded only the slimmest evidence for repression. It is even doubtful if any of the few positive experiments will hold up under closer study. The therapist, however, seems to see convincing evidence for repression as an everyday fact. It is not merely that there is this astonishing
Dr. Geisler is Assistant Professor, School of Social Work, New York University, New York.
This article is based on a Ph.D. thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology, New York University. The author thanks Doris Aaronson, chairperson of the committee, and members Lloyd Silverman, Gay Snodgrass, Camilla Kemple, and Carl Auerbach for their helpful suggestions.
Page 253discrepancy between laboratory and clinic, it is particularly disturbing to find ourselves at a loss to know whether the theory or the character of the research falls short.”… We simply do not possess a grasp of repression theory that is full and detailed enough to judge what relation the research has to the clinical conception [p. 75].
The discrepancy to which Madison referred still obtains, twenty-eight years later, even though Brenner (1957) presented a clear, detailed, and comprehensive description of the concept of repression as Freud developed it.
In addition to difficulties in deciphering Freud's work, an important factor which has made experimental verification of repression difficult is the behaviorists' attempt to apply their stimulus-response model to Freudian concepts. Their translation into experimental paradi