The 10,000 Minds Project [Sonnenberg, “New Education Division to Boost Public Interest in Psychoanalysis,” TAP 42/4] appears concerned with finding ways to expose undergraduate psychology majors to psychoanalytic theory while neglecting the need for psychoanalysts to become conversant with recent theories of academic researchers that may require reformulation of a psychoanalytic theory of mind, like mating strategies theory (Buss, 2008), the adaptive unconscious (Wilson, 2002), or psychology of emotions (Eckman, 2003; Oatley et al., 2006). In years past, academic psychology was boring because it studied superficial topics with methodical rigor. Yet times have changed, making for exciting class material. For example, in my Motivation and Emotion course, we use a CD-ROM that trains students to accurately recognize leakage of different emotions through observation of micro-facial expressions. In my Evolutionary Psychology course we study men and women's short- and long-term mating strategies and then conduct an informal observational study of sex differences in nonverbal aspects of flirting and courtship.
Psychoanalysts cannot adequately supervise research on psychoanalytic topics without being conversant with current techniques that experimental psychologists employ to study unconscious processes. I have used mindset priming to activate the oedipal conflict through primal scene exposure, thereby successfully manipulating attitudes towards infidelity (Hunyady, Josephs, and Jost, 2008). It is not enough to expose undergraduates to psychoanalytic theory, its applications, and current research backing, presumptuously assuming that the best and the brightest cannot help but find it more compelling than the alternatives, without serious engagement with the emerging intellectual competition for their hearts and minds.
Lawrence Josephs, Ph.D.
Lawrence Josephs is a professor of psychology at Adelphi University and a member of the North American editorial board of the International Journal of Psychoanalysis. He is also a research associate of the American Psychoanalytic Association.
For further information on references, Josephs can be contacted at (212) 861-7027 or josephs@adelphi.edu.