Hilgard, E. R. (1952). Experimental approaches to psychoanalysis. In E. R. Hilgard, L. S. Kubie & E. Pumpian-Mindlin (Ed.), Psychoanalysis as science: The Hixon Lectures on the scientific status of psychoanalysis (pp. 3-45). : Stanford University Press.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/10588-001
Selected analytic concepts (defense mechanisms, hoarding, psychosexual development among others), when subjected to experimental study, bear up well. In this first lecture emphasis is given Blum's Blacky Test by virtue of its fruitfulness as a means of hypothesis-testing. I propose to discuss what have come to be called "psychodynamics," that is, some of the principles of development, motivation, and conduct that are part of the fabric of psychoanalytic theory. In the second lecture an analysis of psychoanalytic therapy is made with detailed reference to Keet's experimental design. I shall discuss principles of psychotherapy--not the appraisal of full-scale analysis, but the conjectures about the turning points in a patient's progress that can be selected for separate study. It is concluded that while "it has been possible to parallel many psychoanalytic phenomena in the laboratory, experimentation must not only confirm or deny but must also advance knowledge." Analysts, if they wish to make their approach scientific must "be prepared to follow some of the standard rules of science." In these two lectures, I am to deal with efforts to test some of the teachings of psychoanalysis, and not with an appraisal of the results of full-fledged psychoanalytic treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)