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31. What Objects Mean, Second Edition by Arthur Asa Berger, 30–44. © 2014 . All rights reserved.

2. A Freudian Psychoanalytic Approach

�e basic premise of psychoanalytic theory, as Freud explained in his essay, “Psychoanalysis” (1922), is that unconscious mental processes exist and play an important role in our lives. As he explained (1963:230):

Psychoanalysis is the name (1) of a procedure for the investigation of mental processes which are almost inaccessible any other way, (2) of a method (based upon that investigation) for the treatment of neurotic disorders and (3) of a collection of psychological information obtained along those lines which is gradually being accumulated into a new scienti�c discipline.

Freud saw psychoanalytic theory as an interpretative art, and this mode of

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interpretation can be applied, as we shall see, to artifacts and objects as well as to psychological problems. As he wrote (1963:235–236):

It was a triumph of the interpretative art of psychoanalysis when it succeeded in demonstrating that certain common mental acts of normal people, for which no one had hitherto a�empted to put forward a psychological explanation, were to be regarded in the same light as the symptoms of neurotic: that is to say they had a meaning, which was unknown to the subject, but which could easily be discovered by analytic means.

Freud explained that we resist knowing the contents of our unconscious and repress recognizing the importance of the Oedipus complex and our sexuality. It is the hidden meanings and symbolic signi�cance of various artifacts of material culture that a psychoanalytic approach to the subject a�empts to discover. �e quotation by Huizinga with which this chapter begins calls a�ention to the hidden meanings and unconscious signi�cance of symbols and other aspects of life. �ere’s more than meets the eye, he argues, to all things.

Artifacts and the Unconscious: Freud’s Topographic Hypothesis

For Freud there are three levels to the human psyche: consciousness, pre-conscious (material we can access and of which we are dimly aware), and the unconscious, which we cannot access without guidance from psychoanalytic trained therapists. �is is known as Freud’s topographic hypothesis. It is useful to use the analogy of an iceberg to show how the three levels are related to one another. Consciousness, what we are aware of, is the part of the iceberg we see above the water. �e preconscious is what we can dimly make out a few feet below the water line. A nd the unconscious is the inaccessible dark area that makes up most of our psyches, and that is buried deep beneath the water line. �e important thing to recognize is that it is our unconscious, Freudian psychoanalytic theorists argue, that profoundly shapes our behavior.

2. A Freudian Psychoanalytic Approach 33.

We can suggest, then, that there are three levels that have to be understood when it comes to artifacts:

Consciousness: W hat an artifact does Preconsciousness: Other aspects of the artifact’s functionality of which we may be aware Unconscious: Unrecognized symbolic meanings connected to the artifact

Presumably we are not conscious of the symbolic signi�cance and importance of the artifacts we purchase or use. When we analyze an artifact, we should consider the meanings it has for di�erent levels of our psyche.

Let’s consider cigare�e lighters, which have been studied by Ernest Dichter. Dichter, o en described as the “father of motivation research,” used depth psychology in interviews to discern how people felt about various products. What his research uncovered was that people o en have a�itudes towards objects of which they are unaware, a�itudes that are hidden in the unconscious areas of their psyches.

For example, when his researchers asked people about cigare�e lighters, they generally replied that they used them to light their ciga- re�es, so it was their functionality that seemed to be all-important. But

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as his researchers probed further, they discov- ered that at a deeper level, subjects’ cigare�e lighters were connected to ma�ers involving mastery and power and, speci�cally, the abil- ity to summon �re at one’s command. �is is tied to mythological legends such as that of Prometheus and other myths involving �re. Finally, his researchers found that at the deep- est level the feeling that one’s lighter will work is connected to a�itudes about sexual poten- cy, and the �ame of the lighter symbolizes, at the unconscious level, sexual union being consummated.

W hat follows is his analysis of their di�er- ent levels of meaning.

Conscious: Light cigare�es Preconscious: To summon �re Subconscious: Sexual union (“Baby, won’t you light my �re.”)

We can use this theory about the levels of the human psyche to analyze other arti- facts, to discover the hidden or unrecognized meaning that artifacts have for us.

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A middle aged woman, whose legs were markedly bowed, changed the tables and chairs in her living-room three times before she could come to terms with her obsession about them. The first time, the tables and chairs had legs as bowed as her own. They were beautiful, costly pieces and everybody admired them, but they made her obscurely uncomfortable. She got rid of the lot and substituted others with delicate straight lines. These bothered her even more. Finally, after months of wracking indecision, she disposed of her problem by buying the kind of modern furniture which is all massive blocks and has no legs at all!

Another woman, preoccupied with her bowel movements, treated her whole house as though it were a gigantic bathroom. All the walls were bare and white and the curtains were made of some transparent plastic material. Decorative bowls, also white, and rather oddly shaped, rested on every available flat surface. A crowning touch, in which she took great pride, was a small fountain, set up in the wall which originally had held a fireplace.

Milton Sapirstein, The Paradoxes of Everyday Life (1955:98)

This insert shows the way unconscious processes work in people. Thus, the woman with bowed legs solved her problem by getting furniture with no legs, and the woman preoccupied with her bowel movements turned her house into a bathroom. In both of these cases, it was unconscious imperatives that shaped their behavior.

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Id, Ego and Superego: Freud’s Structural Hypothesis

Freud later suggested that there are three forces at work in our psyches, what is known as his structural hypothesis. �is theory suggests that our psyches have three components: an id, an ego, and a superego. Charles Brenner, who wrote an in�uential book on psychoanalytic theory, described the structural hypothesis in his book, An Elementary Textbook of Psychoanalysis (1974:38):

We may say that the id comprises the psychic representatives of the drives, the ego consists of those functions which have to do with the individual’s relation to his environment, and the superego comprises the moral precepts of our minds as well as our ideal aspiration.

�e drives, of course, we assume to be present from birth, but the same is certainly not true of interest in or control neither of the envi- ronment, on the one hand, nor of any moral sense or aspirations on the other. It is obvious that neither of the la�er—that is, neither the ego nor the superego—develops till sometime a er birth.

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Psychoanalytic theory suggests that the ego performs a delicate balancing act between id forces (our drives, “I want it all now”) and the superego forces (our sense of guilt, conscience, and similar phe- nomena). �e id provides energy, but it is unfocused and dissociated. It has to be controlled to some degree since we must live in society. �e superego provides restraint, but if too strong, it inhibits us too much, and we become overwhelmed by guilt. �e ego stores up expe- riences in the memory by which it guides us and mediates between id and superego forces. People who have overly powerful ids or super- egos that dominate the ego elements in their psyches generally have psychological problems and experience di culties in their lives.

It is possible to classify artifacts according to whether they are connected primarily to id, ego, or superego elements in our psyches. W hat follows is my suggestion about how one might classify a number of di�erent objects using Freud’s typology.

Id Ego Superego

Barbie Doll Dictionaries Bible

Playboy Magazine Textbooks Book of Fables

Bottle of Liquor Science Toys Holy Water Vessel

I used the term “primarily” because Freud’s topographic theory suggests that objects can have di�erent levels of signi�cance.

Psychoanalytic theory also suggests that the ego can also employ a number of defense mechanisms to help it control id and superego ele- ments in our psyches, prevent anxiety and overwhelming guilt, and control our instincts. We are generally not conscious of our use of these defense mechanisms, and sometimes they are not successful in control- ling our ids and superegos. Among these defense mechanisms are:

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Ambivalence: a simultaneous feeling of a�raction and repulsion Avoidance: refusal to face ma�ers that distress us Denial: inability to accept reality of things that generate anxiety Fixation: obsessive a�achment to something, generally as result of trauma Identification: desire to be like someone Rationalization: o�ering excuses for untoward behavior Regression: individuals return to an earlier stage of development Repression: barring certain phenomena from consciousness Suppression: pu�ing certain things out of mind

W hen using psychoanalytic theory, we can consider these defense mechanisms in addition to the unconscious signi�cance of artifacts and the relationship among these three elements of the psyche as we analyze objects of material culture.

For example, we may identify with some sports hero and purchase a brand of running shoe or watch advertised by that �gure. We may develop a �xation about shoes and purchase many more pairs than we can possibly use. Imelda Marcos, the wife of Ferdinand Marcos, the former president of the Philippines, is famous (infamous may be more correct) for having purchased thousands of pairs of shoes, re�ecting a �xation she had for them.

We may rationalize our purchase of some expensive perfume or body fragrance by convincing ourselves that it will have a positive impact on our social life. W hen we are adults and buy an ice cream cone, this can be considered a form of momentary regression in the service of our egos. Much of this works at the unconscious level, so we aren’t aware that we are using defense mechanisms, such as rationaliza- tion, to justify our longing for, and purchasing of, artifacts of all kinds.

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Symbolic Aspects of Material Culture

�ere is another important aspect of psychoanalytic theory as it relates to material culture that must be considered—namely, the importance of symbolism. As Hinsie and Campbell explain in their book, Psychiatric Dictionary (1970:734), we can understood symbolism as

the act or process of representing an order or idea by a substitute object, sign, or signal. In psychiatry, symbolism is of particular importance since it can serve as a defense mechanism of the ego, as where unconscious (and forbidden) aggressive or sexual impulses come to expression through symbolic representation and thus are able to avoid censorship.

Symbols are, technically speaking, things that stand for other things. According to Hinsie and Campbell, we o en disguise uncon- scious aggressive and sexual desires by using symbols, and doing so enables us to escape from the strictures of the superego.

Freud suggested that most of the symbolic phenomena in dreams have a masked sexual content, and this masking protects dreamers and prevents the superego from waking them. As Freud wrote in the tenth lecture of his A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis (1953:161):

�e penis is symbolized primarily by objects which resemble it in form, being long and upstanding, such as sticks, umbrellas, poles, trees and the like; also by objects which, like the thing symbolized, have the property of penetrating and consequently of injuring the body—that is to say pointed weapons of all sorts: knives, daggers, lances, sabers; �re-arms are also similarly used: guns, pistols and revolvers.

Freud is discussing symbols that are found in dreams, but it is also quite likely that many of these objects or phallic symbols have the same signi�cance, though this signi�cance is not recognized by us, in our everyday lives.

Freud also discussed how female genitalia were symbolized in dreams (1953:163–164):

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�e female genitalia are symbolically represented by all such objects as share with them the process of enclosing a space or are capable of acting as receptacles: such as pits, hollows and caves, and also jars and bo�les; and boxes of all sorts and sizes…Ships too come into this category. Many symbols refer rather to the uterus than to the other genital organs: thus cupboards, stoves and above all rooms…�e breasts must be included amongst the organs of sex; these, as well as the larger hemispheres of the female body, are represented by apples, peaches and �uit in general. �e pubic hair in both sexes is indicated by woods and thickets.

Freud said that sexual intercourse was o en represented in dreams by activities such as riding, dancing, sliding, gliding, and experienc- ing violence of some kind—all of which enable us to disguise our sexual desires and ful�ll our unconscious wishes of a sexual nature.

It is reasonable to suggest that, since sex plays such an important role in our unconscious wishes, desires, and fantasies, and in our con- scious activities, many artifacts incorporate, either consciously or

Male Female

Sticks Bottles

Umbrellas Cupboards

Knives Stoves (ovens)

Guns Microwaves

Toothbrushes Refrigerators

Pens Dishwashing machines

Jackhammers Pots

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unconsciously, sexual symbols in their design. We can also classify objects according to whether they are symbolically male/phallic in nature or female/vaginal/utero in nature.

Psychoanalytic theory would suggest that people are not aware of the symbolic signi�- cance of the objects they use, but quite obvi- ously a large number of artifacts have either a masculine penetrating or female incorpora- tive character to them. We disguise the sexual nature of objects in our dreams so our dream censor or superego will not wake us, so disguis- ing the sexual nature of objects is functional. Freud also has some interesting theories about how we develop sexually that can be used to analyze objects of interest to us.

It’s worth considering what Cli�ord Geertz writes about symbols in �e Interpretation of Cultures (2000:45):

�inking consists not of “happenings in the head” (though happenings there and elsewhere are necessary for it to occur) but of a tra c in what have been called, by G. H. Mead and others, signi�cant symbols—words for the most part but also gestures, drawings, musical sounds, mechanical devices like clocks, or natural objects like jewels—anything, in fact, that is disengaged from its mere actuality and used to impose meaning upon experience. From the point of view of any particular individual, such symbols are largely given. He �nds them already current in

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the community in which is he is born and they remain, with some additions, subtractions, and partial alterations he may or may not have had a hand in, in circulation when he dies. W hile he lives he uses them, or some of them, sometimes deliberately and with care, most o en spontaneously and with ease, but always with the same end in view: to put a construction upon the events through which he lives, to orient himself within “the ongoing course of experiencing things,” to adopt a vivid phrase of John Dewey’s.

Geertz points out that much of our thinking is based on “signi�cant” symbols and that we use symbols to “impose meaning” on things; our understanding of symbols is connected to the communities in which we are born. He mentions that “mechanical devices”—what I describe as objects—play an important role in our thinking.

In his book, �e Voice of the Symbol, Martin Grotjahn, a psychi- atrist and psychoanalyst, writes that a symbol is a “message from our unconscious which communicates truth, beauty and goodness” (1971:xi). He adds:

A book on the symbol is therefore a book about life and its mastery. It is also a book about death, which we must master in order to progress from maturity to wisdom. Insight into one’s own unconscious or that of our fellow man is insight communicated by the symbol. Insight is inner vision and therefore closely related to art and intuition, to tact and empathy.

Symbols, Grotjahn explains, play an important role in our understanding of life and of art, and it was Freud who alerted us to the signi�cance of symbols in our lives—in our dreams, our psyches, and our everyday activities (xii).

Sexual Development and Material Culture

Freud believed that individuals pass through a number of di�erent stages in their sexual development as they grow older. �ese stages are described by Charles Brenner in An Elementary Textbook of Psychoanalysis (1974:24):

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For the �rst year and a half of life, approximately, the mouth, lips and tongue are the chief sexual organs of the infant. By this we mean that its desires as well as its grati�cations are primarily oral ones…In the next year and a half, the other end of the alimentary canal, that is the anus, comes to be the most important site of sexual tensions and grati�cations… Toward the close of the third year of life the leading sexual role begins to be assumed by the genitals, and it is normally maintained by them therea er. �is phase of sexual development is referred to as the phallic one for two reasons. In the �rst place, the penis is the principal object of interest to the child of either sex. In the second, we believe the girl’s organ of sexual excitement and pleasure during this period is her clitoris, which is embryonically the female analogue of the penis.

�e last stage, which children reach upon puberty, when they learn to focus their a�ention on members of the opposite sex, is the genital stage.

According to Freud, young boys between approximately two and �ve develop an unconscious desire for their mothers and hostility towards their fathers—what he called the Oedipus Complex, a er the Greek myth in which Oedipus, without recognizing what he was doing, killed his father and married his mother. Eventually this mat- ter is resolved in boys by their developing anxiety about being cas- trated, what Freud called castration anxiety. Young girls also wish to supplant their mothers but resolve their problem in a di�erent way, essentially by �nding someone to supplant their father, namely a hus- band or lover.

We can use Freud’s typology to classify objects according to wheth- er they are primarily oral, anal, phallic, or genital in nature, recogniz- ing that people who use these objects are generally not aware of their sexually symbolic nature.

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Some objects may combine several di�erent aspects, but usually it is possible to determine that one is basic. �us, for example, a toothbrush is primarily phallic but used for oral purposes.

Conclusions

Psychoanalytic theory provides us with a large number of concepts that enable us to analyze material culture in terms of the way artifacts re�ect various unconscious needs and desires and relate to our psychological makeup. We can use the ideas Freud and other psychoanalytic theorists have developed about the nature of the human psyche, about the importance of symbolic phenomena in dreams, about our use of defense mechanisms, and about the stages in our sexual development to gain insights into the reasons certain artifacts play such an important role in our lives as individuals and collectively in our societies.

Oral Anal Phallic Genital

Pipe Potty Cigar Condom

Pacifier Enema Video game joystick Vibrator

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French toys always mean something, and this something is always entirely socialized, con- stituted by the myths or techniques of modern adult life: the Army, Broadcasting, the Post O ce, Medicine (miniature instrument-cases, operating theatres for dolls), School, Hair- Styling (driers for permanent waving), the Air Force (Parachutists), Transport (trains, Citroens, Vede�es, Vespas, petrol stations), Sci- ence (Martian toys). �e fact that French toys literally pre�gure the world of adult functions obviously cannot but prepare the child to accept them all, by constituting for him, even before he can think about it, the alibi of a Nature which has at all times created soldiers, postmen and Vespas. Toys here reveal the list of all the things the adult does not �nd unusual: war, bureaucracy, ugliness, Martians, etc. It is not so much, in fact, the imitation which is the sign of an abdi- cation, as its literalness: French toys are like a Jivaro head, in which one recognizes, shrunken to the size of an apple, the wrinkles and hair of an adult. �ere exist, for example, dolls which urinate; they have an oesophagus, one gives them a bo�le, they wet their nappies; soon, no doubt, milk will turn to water in their stom- achs. �is is meant to prepare the li�le girl for the causality of house-keeping , to “condition” her to her future role as mother.

Roland Barthes, Mythologies