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Abstract

Freud's topographic formulation is central to psychoanalytic theory. Nevertheless, there is little understanding of the causality underlying the topographic phenomena. This paper elaborates Hebb's theory, introducing more complex operations which are used as concrete explanation for the topographic formulation. A simplified six-step developmental outline of the unconscious process is employed to show how punishment may lead to fear and fear-avoidance, permanent anxiety and defense against anxiety, cognitive deficit and repression, and behavioral rigidification It becomes possible to see how the mental apparatus can give rise to the rational and irrational, how these two spheres of action may reside side by side and interpenetrate.

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A Quasineurological Model Elucidating the Causality of Freud's Topographic Formulation

Abstract

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References