A Critique of the Theory of Sublimation

Levey, Harry B.

doi:10.1080/00332747.1939.11022242

Cited by 17 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Other reductionistic treatments of creativity can be found in the writings of Abraham (1949), Adler (1927), Bellack (19S8), Bischler (1937), Brill (1931), Ehrenzweig (1949), Grotjahn (1957), Kohut (1957), Kris (1952), Levey (1940), Rank (1916), andSachs (1951). Criticisms of sublimation theory were offered by Bergler (1945), Deri (1939), and Levey (1939).…”

Section: Criterion Group Empirical Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychological study of creativity.

Golann¹

1963

Psychological Bulletin

132

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In this review of the psychological study of creativity there are 4 emphases; products, process, measurement, and personality. 3 main issues concern questions of: definition and criteria, the process viewed temporally, and necessary personal and environmental conditions. The relationship between creativity and intelligence is discussed to illustrate the need for conceptual reorganization as well as correlational data. We should now be able to utilize personality and stylistic modes as criterion variables and to study how these factors are related at different age levels to behavior that is judged to be creative. This approach holds promise for providing a functional, developmental understanding of creativity.

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Section: Criterion Group Empirical Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychological study of creativity.

Golann¹

1963

Psychological Bulletin

132

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“…To give just one example of many, the concept of sublimation as expounded by Freud (8) is accepted not only by the followers of the psychoanalytic school of thought but also by many psychologists who are not analytically oriented. But by others sublimation is considered to be an illdefined, doubtful, inconsistent hypothesis (1,12,17) and, to say the least, entirely unclear as regards its dynamics. With the assistance of hypnosis, however, it should be possible to design experiments that duplicate the allegedly causative situations propounded in various theories and to attain if not certainty then at least the assurance of a greater probability of some of the alleged forces at work.…”

Section: Elimination Of Disturbing Factorsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Hypnosis as an Instrument in Psychological Experimentation

Beigel

1953

Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis

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“…The theory of sublimation has seemed unable to give a complete explanation of the complexity of aesthetic experience; there are several reasons for this. Firstly, the very notion of sublimation has been the object of a critical examination (Glover, 1931; Levey, 1939) which pointed up its shortcomings, especially with regard to the second topography. It became clear that sublimation could not just be a mere displacement of aim, that it involved a reversal towards the ego of the drive movement, in particular, identification which, in the Ego and the Id (Freud, 1923), is linked with sublimation.…”

Section: Psychoanalysis and Aestheticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aesthetic experience

Sirois

2008

The International Journal of Psychoanalysis

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An initial clinical question, 'Why does an analysand talk about his/her relationship with an aesthetic object?' opens an investigation into the nature of aesthetic experience. Three principal aspects of the psychoanalytic approach are presented: sublimation, a Freudian concept concerning the vicissitudes of the drives; reparation, a Kleinian concept linked to depressive anxiety; and transformation, a concept of object-relations theory about primitive ego-states. The article discusses the psychic function of aesthetic feelings in mastering anxiety as related to ego, id and superego. The transformation of the experience of passivity is a common link underlying these aspects. Such transformation relies on tolerating ambiguous and contrary feelings within the self, fostered by contact with an aesthetic object. This balance can, however, be upset: two excessive forms of aesthetic experience ensue, namely, fascination and bewitchment. The first belongs to the experience of awe; the second can lead to claustrophobic anxiety. The initial clinical question requires an elaboration of aesthetic transference, a variant of the narcissistic transference, whereby the analysand invites the analyst to share his/her internal state as a common unspoken object.

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A Critique of the Theory of Sublimation

Cited by 17 publications

References 0 publications

Psychological study of creativity.

Psychological study of creativity.

Hypnosis as an Instrument in Psychological Experimentation

Aesthetic experience

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