Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Who are the Freudians?

My last post discussed a survey that asked about some more or less Freudian ideas--that young children have sexual thoughts, dreams often reflect unconscious desires, and the main cause of psychological problems is the relationship to one's parents.   Who accepted them?  It seems reasonable that more educated people would be more favorable.  You could argue that there's been a general drift away from tradition, so young people would be more favorable to them.  On the other hand, Freud's prestige seems to have peaked in the 1950s and 1960s, so maybe middle-aged people would be most favorable.

Dreams often reflect unconscious desires

                        Yes  No  Not sure
Not high school grad    30%  42%   28%
high school  grad       39%  42%   19%
college graduate        45%  40%   15%
graduate study          49%  32%   19%

Children under four have sexual thoughts

                        Yes  No   Not sure
Not high school grad    13%  80%    7%
high school grad        11%  80%    9%
college graduate        14%  75%   11%
graduate study          12%  63%   26%


Main reason for psychological problems
                    Parents Own fault   Luck Other Don't Know
Not high school grad  32%     32%       11%    7%    20%
High school grad      27%     22%       16%   17%    18%
college graduate      26%     17%       13%   24%    20%
graduate study        17%     19%       10%   30%    24%

There's no obvious common pattern.  An unusual thing about the second question is that the percent saying they aren't sure increases with education.  Usually educated people are more likely to offer an opinion, even on topics where not knowing is in principle the most reasonable option. 

 Three tables is probably enough for one post, so I'll leave age differences until next time.


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