THE ABSENCE OF THE FATHER DURENG EARLY
CH§LDHOOD AND ITS EFFECT UPON THE
OEDQPAL SITUATWN AS REFLECTED IN
YOUNG ADULTS
Thesis hr than Down of Ph. D.
MICHIGAN STA?! UNWï¬RSFi’Y
Mary M. ‘Laichw
19.58
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tmxtxtuttjgtutxmgtttumt\um 2.;
This is to certify that the
thesis entitled
THE ABSENCE OF THE FATHER DURING EARLY CHILDHOOD
AND ITS EFFECT UPON THE. OEDIPAL SITUATION
AS REFIECTED IN YOUNG ADULTS x
presented by
Mary M. Leichty ‘
has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for
_Eht.D.__ degree in lsychology
WW.
Major professor
Date June_2.0_,_ I .
i
0-169
THE ABSENCE OF THE FATHER DURING EARLY CHILDHOOD
AND ITS EFFECT UPON THE OEDIPAL SITUATION
AS REFLECTED IN YOUNG ADULTS
By
Mary M. Leichty
A THESIS
Submitted to the School of Advanced Graduate Studies of
Michigan State University of Agriculture
and Applied Science in partial
fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHIIDSOPHY
Department of Psychology
1958
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The writer wishes to express appreciation to all those
who made the completion of this thesis possible.
ESpecially, she wishes to thank Dr. Albert I. Rabin,
chairman of her committee, for his valuable suggestions
and encouraging support. The other members of her committee,
Dr. M. Ray Denny, Dr. Donald M. Johnson, and Dr. Walter F.
Johnson, also offered many helpful suggestions.
Further, she wishes to thank Professor Paul Bagwell,
head of the Communication Skills department, for permission
todbtain subjects from those classes. The clerical staff of
the department was also helpful in that task.
The writer wishes to express her deep appreciation for
the assistance given by Mrs. Mary Cross, secretary of the
Psychological Clinic. Thanks are extended to Mrs. Alice
Lawrence who typed the final manuscript.
Finally, the writer wishes to thank her husband and
family for the help and encouragement offered during the
preparation of this thesis.
THE ABSENCE OF THE FATHER DURING EARLY CHILDHOOD
AND ITS EFFECT UPON THE OEDIPAL SITUATION
AS REFLECTED IN YOUNG ADULTS
By
Mary M. Leichty
AN ABSTRACT
Submitted to the School of Advanced Graduate Studies
of Michigan State University of Agriculture
and Applied Science in partial
fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Department of Psychology
Year 1958
.Approved zé?2;Z:;617;E;:§%§?é;g;¢é: —4.
Mary M. Leichty
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of
absence of the father on the resolution of the Oedipal con-
flict. .A review of the literature dealt with the differing
points of views of the Freudian and neoéFreudian schools of
psychology in respect to this developmental period. Four
hypotheses were formulated: (1) More of the experimental
subjects, as compared to the control subjects, will maintain
strong attachment to the mother; (2) fewer of the experimen-
tal subjects, as compared to the control subjects, will show
strong castration anxiety; (3) fewer of the experimental
subjects, as compared to the control subjects, will show
strong identification with the father, and identification of
the experimental subjects will be more diffuse than will be
the case with the control subjects; (4) fewer of the experi-
mental subjects, as compared to the control subjects, will
choose their fathers as the type of figure adapted for their
ego-ideal.
The subjects were 62 male college freshmen. The experi-
mental group was composed of 35 subjects who were between the
ages of three and five while their fathers were overseas with
the armed forces during World War II. The control group was
composed of 29 subjects whose fathers were not overseas when
the boys were between the ages of three and five. The Blacky
Test and Cards 1, 7§M and SEQ of the Thematic Apperception
Test were administered to each group. Responses to multiple
choice inquiry items of the Blacky Test and to items composed
for the TAT cards were analyzed statistically, using the Chi-
square technique. Global response to the Blacky Test was
analyzed, using the Rank Test. Global reaponse to the TAT
cards was also analyzed with the sign test.
On the basis of analysis of the data obtained from the
Blacky Test, support was obtained for three of the four hypo-
theses. (l)There was some evidence to indicate that Oedipal
intensity is greater in those subjects who were separated from
their fathers. However, the data was contrary to one aSpect of
the first hypothesis, in that the control group rather than the
experimental group tended to choose the mother as anaclitic love
object. The experimental group appeared to make a narcissistic
choice of love object. (2)The hypothesis dealing with identifi—
cation, which was formulated in accordance with Freudian theory,
received the most consistent support. However, an attempt was
made to interpret these findings also from the nee-Freudian
point of view. (3)The hypothesis dealing with the choice of the
father as ego-ideal was somewhat supported by the data. (4)The
hypothesis dealing with castration anxiety was not supported by
the data.
The TAT cards did not prove to be a fruitful measure of the
hypotheses. Possible reasons for this and ways in which it
might be deve10ped into a more adequate instrument for studies
such as the present one were discussed.
Implications of the findings were discussed.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
I. INTRODUCTION.{ ..................... ...... 1
II. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE... .............. 5
Infantile Experience.................. 3
The Oedipal Complex in Theory......... 4
Studies of the Oedipal Complex........ 6
Resolution of the Oedipal Complex..... 8
Father Separation in the Resolution
of the Oedipal Complex........ 13
III. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM ................. 18
IV. HYPOTHESES.................. ............. 20
v. EXPERIMENTALPROCEDURE................,.. 22
subjeCtSeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeoeeeeee 22
Description Of TeStSOO‘eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 24
The BlaCkyTestOOOOOOOOOOOOIOOOOOO 25
The Thematic_Apperception Test.... 51
VI 0 RESULTS OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO O O C O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 58
Hypotheses O O O O O O O O O O O O O C C O I O O O O O O O O O O O 38
Summary of Results.................... 54
Additional Data. 0 O O C O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O I 54
VII 0 DISC USSIOiq O O O OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO '0 0 O O O O O O 59
Hypotheses. O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 59
Thematic Apperception Test............ 65
VIII . COIQ‘CLUSIONS . . O . . . . . . . . C . . C . . . . . . . . C C O . . . . 67
H . SUIVHVj-ARY ...... . C . ............... . ........ . 7 l
' BIBLIOGRAPHY............ ......... ........ 75
APPEL‘ODIXOOOOOOOOO00......0.0.0.... ....... 77
II.
III.
IV.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
X.
XI.
XVII.
XVIII.
XE.
Agreement of judges on TAT Cards..
Item response to Blacky Cartoon IV
Global response to Blacky Cartoon IV....
Item reSponse to Blacky Cartoon XI
Global response to Blacky Cartoon XI:
Anaclitic Love Object..........
Item response to Blacky Cartoon VI
Glooal response to Blacky Cartoon VI....
Response to TAT Card SRM..........
Item response to Blacky Cartoon VII.....
Global response to Blacky Cartoon VII...
Number of subjects giving ambivalent
responses to Blacky Cartoon VII
Response to TAT Card 1...... ......
Item response to Blacky Cartoon X.
Global response to Blacky Cartoon X .....
Response to TAT Card 7RM..........
Summary of reSponse to Blacky
Cartoons IV, VI, VII, X, XI....
Global response to Blacky Cartoon XI:
Narcissistic Love Object.......
Response to Blacky Cartoons
I, II, III, V, VIII, IX... .....
Number of subjects in each sibling
pOSitionOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO00......
Page
32
59
4o
42
45
44
45
46
47
49
49
SO
52
55
55
55
56
5’7
58
INTRODUCTION
With the emergence and rapid growth of sociology and
anthropology as independent disciplines, a number of followers
of Freud became dissatisfied with certain of his concepts.
These so-called neo-Freudians attempted to incorporate socio-
logical principles into the framework of psychoanalytic theory
and in the process rejected or minimized certain of the
Freudian postulates. Two crucial points of difference were
the finality of infantile experience and the role of the
Oedipal conflict in psychological development.
It is not surprising that the testing of the validity of
psychoanalytic concepts has proved a very difficult matter.
While descriptions of psychoanalytic processes are clear as
a part of the whole structure of psychoanalysis, they tend to
lose their definiteness when transferred to the laboratory.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to establish artificially
in the laboratory conditions comparable to the psychoanalytic
processes of real life and manipulation of the life experiences
of human beings must of necessity be limited. Some attempt
has been made to experiment with lower animals in such studies
as those of Hunt (26) on hoarding'behavior in rats; Miller (34)
on aggression in rats; Kahn (29) on the effects on mice of
trauma at various ages; and of Levy (31) on the sucking drive
in puppies. But animals cannot be used for the study of many
analytic concepts; for example, the development of lower
animals does not lend itself to the observation of the Oedipal
complex. The most satisfactory approach to validating psycho-
analytic concepts would be to utilize human subjects under
conditions as they occur in the natural course of events,
but suitable times when these conditions occur are very rare.
The present study is an attempt to take advantage of such a
fortuitous combination of circumstances in order to examine
the above mentioned differences in theory between the orthodox
Freudian and neo-Freudian points of view, particularly in
relation to the resolution of the Oedipal conflict.
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Infantile Experience
Freud emphasized the importance of the early years of
life on adult personality.
Since analytic experience has convinced us of the
complete truth of the common assertion that the
child is father of the man and that the events of
the first years of life are of paramount importance
for his whole subsequent life, we should be cape-
cially interested if there were something that
could be described as the central experience of
this period of his childhood.(l7)
The neo-Freudians could not accept this emphasis on a few
early years of life. They attempted to understand the
deve10pment of the child in terms of growth continuously
affected by interpersonal relationships provided by the
culture. Adler (l) felt that man is primarily a social
creature, not a sexual creature, who is motivated more'by
expectations of the future than by experiences of the past.
Sullivan (50) does not believe that personality is set at
an early age, rather that it may change at any time as new
interpersonal situations arise, because the human organism
is extremely malleable and plastic. Horney (24) believes
that early experience only sets the pattern for later expec—
tations and later techniques of adaptation.
The Oedipal Complex in Theory
A second basic theoretical difference between the
Freudian: and neo—Freudians is in the concept of the
Oedipal complex. In his Qggling g; Psychoanalysis (l7)
Freud has described it as follows. The child's first erotic
object is the.mother's breast and love, in its beginnings,
attaches itself to the satisfaction of the need for food.
The first object gradually becomes differentiated into the
person of the mother who, through.her care, arouses in the
child many physical sensations, both pleasant and unpleasant.
At the age of two or three interest in the genitals develOps
rapidly. Freud felt that at this time the boy became his
mother's lover. "In a word, his early awakened masculinity
makes him seek to assume, in relation to her, the place be-
longing to his father." (17) His father becomes a rival
who stands in his way and whom he would like to push aside.
This is the Oedipal complex, defined as sexual love for the
parent of the Opposite sex and death wishes for the same-
sexed parent. A corollary of the Oedipal complex is the
Oedipal conflict in which the boy is torn between desire to
possess his mother and fear of castration by the father be-
cause of that desire. The child works through the Oedipal
complex during the so-called Oedipal period, which lasts
between the approximate ages of three and five. Freud also
believed firmly in the phylogenetic origin of the Oedipal
complex.
The phylogenetic foundation has so much the upper
hand in all this over—accidental experience that
it makes no difference whether a child has really
sucked at the breast or has been brought up on the
bottle and never enjoyed the tenderness of a
mother's care. (17)
He further felt that the Oedipal complex and its accompany-
ing conflict is experienced by every individual, regardless
of culture.
Our interest will be still more attracted by the
influence of a situation which every child is
fated to pass through and which follows inevitably
from the factor of the length of his dependence in
childhood and of his life with his parents. I am
thinking of the Oedipal complex. (17)
The neo-Freudians reject the universality of the Oedipal
complex and trace conflict when it occurs to cultural and in-
terpersonal factors.\ Horney (24) feels that the Oedipal
complex, instead of being a biologically given phenomenon,
is culturally determined by such factors as lack of harmony
in marriage, unlimited authoritative power of the family,
\taboos on sexual outlets for children“ and tendencies to
keep a child infantile and emotionally dependent on the
parents. She says,
I doubt very much that the sexual undercurrents in
the child's relations to the parents would ever be
strong enough to effect a potential disturbance.
At any rate, I know of no case in which it was not
neurotic parents who by terror and tenderness forced
the child into these passionate attachments, with
all the implications of possessiveness and jealousy
described by Freud. (24, p. 84)
Adler, whose theory was built around a core of motivation
based on social urges, felt that the Oedipal situation devel-
ops as a result of pampering the child. The child turns to
whichever parent pampers him the most and the Oedipal com-
plex "is not a fundamental fact but is simply a vicious
unnatural result of maternal overindulgence." (l)
IFromm (18) agrees with Freud that there are sexual
strivings in children and that strong dependency ties are
formed with the parent but he does not accept that the
Oedipal complex is universal nor that the tie with the
mother is essentially sexual. The conflict between father
and son is the result of authoritarianism on the part of
the father rather than of sexual rivalry.
To an even greater degree Sullivan (50) emphasizes
interpersonal relationships in the so-called Oedipal com-
plex. The child will develop a greater feeling of warmth
and attraction for the parent who treats him with the
greatest consideration. The parent is usually more autho-
ritarian toward the child of the same sex as himself, which
makes the child feel more resentful toward him than toward
the Opposite-sexed parent.
Studies of the Oedipal Complex
The influence of childhood experience on adult person-
ality is the cornerstone of psychoanalytic theory. The
adequate resolution of the Oedipal conflict between the ages
of three and five may be considered the gig; gga £9; for the
develOpment of the normal adult personality. One would ex-
pect that the literature would report many studies testing
these assumptions but Winch (55) notes that at this point
most, if not all, of our propositions regarding the influ-
ence of early childhood experiences on personality develop-
ment are in the realm of belief rather than tested
generalizations. This point is well taken and amply sub-
stantiated if one examines the literature. Frequently the
studies reported are uncontrolled or merely descriptive.
Illustrative of such studies are several which purport
to show that the absence of the father is important in the
resolution of the Oedipal conflict. One was done by ‘N.
Stendler (47) who, in an uncontrolled study using only
twenty children, concluded that overdependency as a general\
characteristic was related to the absence of or weakness of
the father. Weiss (55) reported the analysis of a child 1
whose father died when he was three years, three months old.
This child had insomnia, anxiety about his mother, and eb-
sessive thoughts about an angry father. The Oedipal conflict
could not be resolved because the image of a fearsome father
could not be tested against reality since the father was
dead. Heilpern-Fuchs (22) reported five case studies of
step-children. She felt that the children's difficulties
were due to derangement of libidinous relations between them
and the step-parents.- When the step-parent appeared on the
scene, the Oedipal conflict was re-activated in the step-
children, and emotional problems developed.
Some objective studies of Oedipal relationships have
been done. (44) In his review of them, Sears suggested
that "the sub-cultures in which peOple grow up are too
varied as to detail ever to permit of the kind of generali-
zations that Freud has made concerning the role of specific
members of the family." (44) Sears further stated that
Freud was able to abstract one of the not too un-
common developmental patterns. But other sequences
have been Observed too, and lead inescapably to the
conclusion that Freud vastly underated the importance
of the child's immediate social milieu as a source
for these kinds of learning, and overated the uni-
formity of family patterns." (44)
Sears reached these conclusions on the basis of studies such
as that of Terman (52) which utilized a 5-point scale rating
attachmentto and conflict with each parent. .Another study
he quoted is that of Stott (49) in which adolescents were
asked what there was about each parent that was criticizable.
These would appear to be studies of conscious attitudes to-
ward parent figures. This is not necessarily comparable to
Freud's Oedipal complex. In orthodox analytic theory, the
child works through the Oedipal complex when he is approxi-
mately between the ages of three and five. As the organism
continues to develop, Oedipal material is repressed into the
unconscious. The conscious attitudes of adolescents toward
their parents would not be an adequate criterion on which to
base a study of the Oedipal situation.
Resolution of the Oedipal Conflict
‘ In the resolution of the Oedipal conflict, the boy is
said by the Freudians to give up his object choice, his desire
to possess his mother sexually, and, because of castration
fear, to replace this object choice by identification.with
his father.’ The closest identification takes place with that
parent who was the source of the more decisive frustration.
For boys this is usually the father, because he acts as the
frustrator of the boy's Oedipal simpulses. Psychoanalytic
writers generally consider identification to be an uncon-
scious process as distinguished from conscious imitation.
It is the process by which.a person takes over features of
another person and makes them a part of himself, so that
they become a more or less permanent part of his personality.
, The concept of identification has been one of the most
controversial of the psychoanalytic concepts and there have
been various interpretations of it. Knight (50) says that
identification is based on a subtle interaction of intro-
jection and projection. Balint (4) feels that it is closely
related to displacement and is the means by which the child
gets to know the external world. Several learning theorists
have attempted to draw together psychoanalysis and learning
theory and in the process have made their own.interpretations
of the concept of identification. Miller and Dollard (35),
as did other learning theorists, quarreled with the Freudian
concept that to identify is instinctive. They attempted to
analyze and understand human social relations in terms of the
principles of learning. They felt that social roles are
learned through social imitation. Mowrer (56) postulates a
two factor theory of imitative learning. Martin (32) posits
l J
that the child assumes certain values because he consciousLy
imitated the behavior of adults and peers and was rewarded
for it. Tolman (51) considers identification to have three
aspects, a person copies an older individual, he adheres to
any group of which he feels a part, or the individual accepts
a cause. Sears (44) felt that object choice is essentially
a function of learning and what is learned is a function of
the environment. He believes there can be no universal pat-
tern of object choices. Identification, however, is only
one aspect of object choice. Fenichel stated specifically
that 'it would be wrong to imagine that in childhood there
are no other objects than the parent of the opposite sex."
(14, p. 98) That at least some object choices are a func-
tion of learning and the environment is implicit in Fenichel's
statement that children would probably make more use of
other children as object choices if education did not aim
at prohibiting such choices. These studies illustrate the
confusion which has arisen in relation to the concept of
identification. It has been re-defined and re-formulated.
in so many contexts that frequently it is questionable whether
two authors are talking about the same term.
The neo-Freudians have, to a large extent, ignored
identification at least as the concept was postulated by
Freud. Adler (l) discussed social feeling as taught by the
society but especially by the mother. When the mother is too
indulgent the child refuses to allow his social feeling to
11
extend to other people. The normal attitude.for the child
would be an almost equal interest in his father and mother.
But external circumstances, the father's personality, a
pampering mother or illnesses may tend to create a distance
between the child and the father and thus hinder the expan-
sion of social feeling. If the father's pampering pre-
dominates, then the child turns to him and away:from his
mother.
Horney (25) neglected identification, though her
idealized.ig§gg may be compared to it. Horney called the
idealized image a fictitious or illusory self. "It is an
imaginative creation interwoven with and determined by very
realistic factors. It usually contains traces of the person's
genuine ideals." (25, p. 108) Everyone constructs a sense of
self which supplies integrative and positive strivings in
dealing with.the world of people and things.
Fromm (19) has spoken of internalization, man's need
for a sense of identity. At first the child's relationships
are rooted in the mother. If this persists too long it is
unhealthy. It is most satisfying if the roots are in a
feeling of brotherliness for other people. Man wants to be
a unique individual. If he is not able to attain individual-
ity himself, he identifies with another individual or group.
This is an identity arising from a sense of belonging to
someone, not of being someone.
~Sullivan (50) utilized the concept of the significant
12
pphgp. This figure is any one of significance to the
child, mother, nurse, or their surrogates. The child ex-
perience himself and appraises himself in terms of what
the significant other manifests. Whatever attitude is
expressed toward him, whether it be reapecting or loving,
derogatory or hateful, that attitude the child will adopt
toward himself.
Brodbeck (11) has criticized Oedipal motivation as a
determinant of identification. He felt that it is not pos-
sible to use a simple and exclusive Oedipal theory. Identi-
fication is a slow and gradual change in social influence
and there is continued parental influence throughout adoles-
cence. He suggested that factors other than sexual frustra-
tion lead to parental identification in childhood. He
believed that parental identification arises before the
Oedipal rivalry and, itself, contributes to the development
of Oedipal conflicts. He has concluded that "...there are
multiple and independent determinants of identification and
that, by and large, the value systems of adolescents are on
the whole not patterned in the degree or manner implied by
the exclusive and simple use of the Oedipal theory." (ll,
pp. 60-61)
That there are multiple determinants of identification
is not necessarily contrary to Freudian theory.“ Fenichel (14)
Spoke of primary identification occurring during the oral
stage of psychosexual development. At this time, by intro-
jecting the love object, the infant achieves a state of
15
identification. Fenichel felt that this is only the first
of several ways in which the develOping erganism estab-
lishes object relationships, a process which may be said
to culminate in secondary identification, the end product
of the Oedipal conflict.
Mowrer (56) also offered an alternative to the Oedipal
eXplanation of identification. A major problem in identi-
fication is how the boy shifts over to like his father more
than his mother, to identify with him. According to Mowrer,
the process of identification is accomplished more smoothly
in those societies which provide opportunity for the mother
to say, when the boy is three or four years old, "Go along
with your father." It is thus that the fathers begin to do
things with their sons and the identification process is
started. He feels that there is greater solidarity in
those societies which provide ample opportunity for sons to
identify with their fathers in this way.
Father Separation in the Resolution of the Oedipal Conflict
If there is no father present with whom the boy can
identify, resolution of the Oedipal conflict cannot be com—
plete and, according to orthodox Freudian theory, the effects
will be evident in the adult personality. The literature
reports no systematic attempts to study the effects of the
unavailability of the father on the resolution of the Oedipal
conflict, but there have been attempts to study the effects
of father absence on early childhood development.
14
The study most relevant to this problem is that of
Stolz and her collaborators. (48) This is an extensive
study which utilized interviews with both the fathers and
the mothers as well as projective play with and observa-
tions of the children. This study showed that emotional
adjustments which might have affected the resolution of
the Oedipal conflict were faced by children who were born
during World War II while their fathers were overseas. On
the fathers' return they were not, in general, ready to
accept their unknown children; nor were their offspring
ready to accept them, but rather treated them as strangers.
The fathers thought their children spoiled and too depen—
dent on their mothers. The separated fathers felt that
their children had more serious problems in eating,
elimination, and sleeping habits than the non-separated
fathers felt concerning their children. The separated
children were found to have significantly greater negative
feelings toward their fathers than the non-separated
children. The separated children were also more aggressive
in their play, but there was no significant difference be-
tween the separated and non-separated children in repression
of aggression.
It was hypothesized in Stolz's study that children
separated from their fathers would not feel as close a
relationship with the father as would non-separated children.
When each group (separated and non-separated) was composed of
15
boys and girls together as a unit, this hypothesis was not
supported. However, it gag found that the scores of the
separated boys were significantly different from the scores
of the separated girls, this difference being in the direc—
tion hypothesized.‘ In other words, the separated boys were
as hypothesized, but the separated girls were like what the
non-separated group was eXpected to be. There was no signi-
ficant difference between the scores of the non-separated
girls and the non-separated boys.
It was also hypothesized that the war-separated children
would be less likely to accept their fathers' standards than
would the non-separated group. Again it was found that the
scores of the separated boys confirmed the hypothesis, but
the separated girls responded contrary to the hypothesis.
The separated boys reaponded in a way significantly less
conforming to their fathers' standards than did the non-
separated children. The war-separated girls responded in a
way which was significantly more conforming than the non-separated
children. This study suggested that the fathers' absence had
a different effect on boys than on girls and Stolz felt that
this may be the result of the differing process of identifi-
cation in boys and girls.
Other studies have elso shown that the father-child
relationship was a difficult one after separation. Young (54)
found that the most common traits among a group of prOblem
children were difficulties of discipline, excessive excitement,
and irritability. There was more disturbance among the boys
16
of the group than among the girls, and in 15.5% of the cases,
the father being in service, or about to be, was considered
the most important cause of the disturbance. Igel (27)
reported on cases selected for study because the father was
in the armed forces. The parents reported that undesirable
behavior began after the father's enlistment. However, Igel
noted that these cases were referred to the agency before the
drafting of the father and he felt that the father may have
enlisted because the family relations were already upset;
problems already present became apparent when intensified by
separation. Sears g: g; (45) reported that boys from father—
absent homes were less likely to fantasy aggression toward
the father than were boys from father-present homes. This
would support Freud and Burlingame (15) who noted that there
may be differences between the actual characteristics of an
absent father and the father image in the child's mind. The
child, perhaps, does not have fantasy aggression toward an
absent father because he has created in his mind a certain
kind of father image, toward which he does not feel hostile.
Bach (5) in a controlled study showed that father-separated
children tend to produce an idealized fantasy picture of the
father. He felt that this fantasy picture may be a handicap
in re-establishment of a realistic father-child relationship.
However, he found a relationship between the child's fantasy
and the father-typing provided by the mother. If the mother
was antagonistic or contemptuous toward.the father, the child
showed more aggression toward the father.
17
The communal settlements, or Kibbutzim, of Israel have
provided a unique opportunity to study personality develop-
ment when children are brought up primarily outside the
nuclear family. Irvine (28) concluded, on thetlasis of her
impressions, that perhaps the super-ego is less completely
internalized in Kibbutz-reared children than is considered
normal in European children;\that no one feels guilty because
the whole group tends to be responsiblei She also felt that
the Oedipal conflict may be less intense in Kibbutz children
because the boy's relationship with.his father is less fraught
with hostility and jealousy.\ Rabin (40), utilizing the
Blacky Test in a study of Kibbutz children, obtained results
to some degree supporting Irvine. He found that the type of
family structure has considerable influence on the nature of
the identification process. Boys from the Kibbutzim did not
show as close identification with the father as did boys
raised in the nuclear family. He also reported, agreeing with
Irvine, that Kibbutz children show less Oedipal intensity than
do children reared in the Israeli nuclear family.
Gardner (20) believes that prolonged absence of the
father, as in divorce, may impair the child's self-concept
because the child feels unworthy of the father's remaining.
The child's concept of human beings is impaired.
For the child the behavior and worth of parents are
the models for his evaluation of the behavior and
worth of alllsn and women.... The expected and hoped-
for stability of love relationships of all persons -
including those directed by and directed toward him -
must be drasticall modified at this period then one
parent leaves him . Love relationships withhhuman
beings no longer appear sufficiently stable - they may
be hazardous and lead to eventual hatred and abandon—
ment. (20, p. 59)
18
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
During World War II many fathers were called into the
armed forces and were away during the period when their sons
were, according to analytic theory, working through the
Oedipal complex. When the father left home the boy was left
in undisputed possession ofthe field so that his yearning
for his mother could be indulged without experiencing the
castration anxiety which, again according to psychoanalytic
theory, would be associated with it if his father were present.
This environment would also be fertile ground for excessive
gratification and overindulgence of the boy's desire for his
mother, a situation which fulfills Fenichel's criteria for
circumstances which may lead to fixation at a particular
level of development.
The consequence of experiencing excessive satisfac-
tion at a given level is that this level is renounced
only with reluctance.... Most frequently, however,
fixations are rooted in experiences of instinctual
satisfaction which simultaneously gave reassurance
in the face of some anxiety. Such simultaneous satis-
faction of drive and of security is the most common
cause of fixations. (14, p. 65—66)
The orthodox Freudians believe that an inadequately
resolved Oedipal conflict will leave a permanent effect on
adult personality. Thus, if the boys whose fathers were
separated from them during the Oedipal period have been
l9
unsuccessful in resolving the Oedipal conflict, they should
now, as young adults, show evidences of it. The present
study is an attempt to examine the effects of absence of
the father during this crucial developmental period on the
resolution of the Oedipal conflict.
20
HYPOTHESES
[In resolving the Oedipal conflict the boy renounces
his mother as an object choice because of castration fear
and replaces it regressively by identification with his
father. According to Freud (16) the Oedipus complex is
"smashed to pieces by the shock of threatened castration."
It is the father who is seen as hostile and threatening
because he feels him to be his rival. If the father is not
present during the Oedipal period, the boy will have no need
to renounce his mother as an object choice and as an adult
will still maintain her as an excessively cathected object.‘
Hypothesis I: More of the experimental subjects, as compared 4
to the control subjec s, will maintain a strong at-
tachment to the mother.
The mother is said to be renounced as a love object be-
cause of threatened castration. If there is no father to
act as a threat, the boy will not develOp castration anxiety
in relation to his Oedipal wishes.
Hypothesis II: Fewer of the experimental subjects, as compared
to the control subjects, will show strong castration
anxiety.
21
The Oedipal conflict is resolved when the boy regres-
sively identifies with his father. If there is no father for
the boy to identify with, his identification will be diffuse
and extend to other significant figures, including feminine
01188 e
Hypothesis III: Fewer of the experimental subjects, as
compared to the control subjects, will show strong
identification with the father, and identification
of the experimental subjects will be more diffuse
than will be the case with the control subjects.
If identification with the father has not taken place,
a boy will choose some figure other than the father to repre-
sent his ego-ideal. He will feel that the ego—ideal he has
established is superior to the image he has created of his
father.
Hypothesis IV: Fewer of the experimental subjects, as com-
pared to the control subjects, will choose their
fathers as the type of figure adopted for their ego-
ideal. More of the experimental subjects, as compared
to the control subjects, will feel that their fathers
are inferior to their ego-ideal.
22
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
Subjects
The subjects used for this study were 62 Michigan State
University freshmen enrolled in the Communication Skills
course. Each male student in this course was asked to fill
out a questionnaire which included his date of birth, whether
or not his father was overseas with the armed forces during
World War II, and if so, the dates of his service.
On examining this information it was found that there
were 51 individuals whose fathers were separated from them
for at least the period when the subject was between the ages
of three and five. Fifty-six names were taken at random from
those individuals who indicated that their fathers did not
serve in the armed forces. This number of names, 56, was
taken in order to have a leeway of 5 more possible subjects
in the control group than in the experimental group. It was
hoped to have control and experimental groups composed of an
equal number of subjects. If, after the data was gathered,
there were more than the desired number of subjects in the
control group, the two groups would have been equalized by
discarding names at random from the control group. No sub-
jects who indicated that their fathers were in the armed
forces were chosen for the control group. It was felt that
25
even though their fathers were in army camps in this country
the boys may have been separated at times, or the families
may have had to move around the country from place to place.
It was felt that this sort of relationship would introduce
a biassing factor in the control group which it would be im-
possible to evaluate. This made a total of 107 subjects who
were then contacted individually, by telephone, and asked to
participate in an experiment, supposedly to validate a test.
Adequate test protocols were eventually Obtained from
62 subjects; the remaining 45 subjects either refused to par-
ticipate, or failed to report for the test. The subjects
were divided as follows: Experimental gpppp - 55 male sub-
jects who were between the ages of three and five while their
fathers were overseas with the armed forces during World War II;
Qonprol,gpppp - 29 subjects chosen at random.from those whose
fathers were not overseas with the armed forces during World
War II when the boys were between the ages of three and five.
The experimental subjects were three years of age or
younger when separated from their fathers. Nine of them were
aged two; and one, born in 1959, indicated that his father
was in Alaska from 1940 until the subject was almost five
years old. Fathers of 20 of the subjects returned when the
boys were six years old. Six fathers did not return until the
boys were seven years of age.
At the time of testing the control subjects ranged in
age from 18 to 22. The experimental group range was from 18
to 21. Twenty-four of the eXperimental group and 21 of the
24
control group were born in 1959.
Thirty-one subjects were tested in the control group.
However, on examination, it was found that two test proto-
cols were so inadequately marked that it was impossible to
score them. For this reason they were discarded, leaving a
control group of 29 subjects, and a total of 62 subjects in
both experimental and control groups.
Description of Tests
Many studies of psychoanalytic principles have been in-
adequate because they were studying unconscious processes with
tools which elicit conscious material directly. Stott (49)
asked adolescents what characteristics in their parents they
disliked. He then correlated these responses with scores
achieved by the adolescents on personality scales. He felt
that this study related to conflict with the parent and its
effect on personality development. Terman (52) had subjects i
rate, on a 5-point scale, attachment and conflict with parents.
He found little difference between the sexes in attachment to
each parent, in both cases the attachment being closest to
the mother. There was less conflict between the boys and
their mothers than between the boys and their fathers, and a
slight opposite tendency in the girls. Terman felt, however,
that there was no support for the theory that the cross-sexed
parent is favored. Stegner and Drought constructed an atti-
tude scale to measure affection toward each parent and used
it with male and female college students. They felt that
25
"the data contradict a common interpretation of the Oedipal
complex theory'but this contradiction appears to be more
superficial than real." (46, p. 176) These studies are
examples of those which purport to examine unconscious
processes by'tapping material which is conscious or very'
close to consciousness. The Oedipal conflict, as it is re-
solved, becomes repressed and unconscious, therefore, it is
not to be expected that it would be shown in conscious ma-
terial.
Even though they may have been designed to examine
unconscious processes, very few studies have utilized pro-
jective techniques in testing their hypotheses. To avoid
this inadequacy the instruments used in this study were
projective tests. These tests are designed to tap material
at the unconscious level. Because it was designed specifi-
cally to measure psycho-sexual develOpment and object
relationships, the Blacky Test was used as the major measuring
device.
A. The Blacky Test
Blum and Hunt (9) have reviewed studies which have
employed the Blacky Pictures in a number of separate areas.
These areas included studies which compared Blacky data with
predictions derived from psychoanalytic theory as well as
studies which compared Blacky data with independent experi—
mental measures. The authors felt that while the studies they
quoted were not definitive in establishing the validity of
26
the Blacky Pictures, still the results should encoarage
further explorations with the test.
Since the Blum-Hunt review, various studies have been
reported in the literature in which the Blacky test has been
utilized to measure psycho-sexual develOpment. The previously
quoted study by Rabin (40) used it with Israeli children.
Cohen (12) used it to assess the social interaction of
peOple as a function of conflict areas and defense mechanisms.
Subjects were assessed for psycho-sexual conflicts and for
preferred ego-defenses. The subjects were then paired in
terms of the preferred ego-defense and psycho-sexual dimen-
sion in which there was conflict, and also in terms of
intensity of disturbance. Cohen felt that he had obtained
some support for his hypothesis: if two people with a similar
psycho-sexual disturbance interact in a situation which arouses
that disturbance, their reaction to one another will be a
function of their defense against that disturbance.
Conflicting results have been reported by Blum and
Kaufman (10) and by Bernstein and Chase (5) in the study of
the relationship of the development of peptic ulcers to
orality. Blum and Kaufman reported that ulcer patients
tended to show disturbance on the oral-eroticism dimension
of the Blacky. They suggested, from their findings, that
there may be two different patterns of ulcer dynamics. One
is the passive-dependent individual with insatiable oral
demands. The other finds his oral demands unacceptable and
expresses them or rejects them in a defensive manner.
27
Bernstein and Chase questioned whether the Blacky could
differentiate the oral-dependent conflicts of ulcer
patients from other disorders. They administered the test
to ulcer patients, to non-ulcer psychosomatic cases, and to
non-psychosomatic subjects (those with fractures, carci-
nomas, etc.) They found that the oral-eroticism dimension
did not differentiate the ulcer group from either of the
others. However, they noted that perhaps the patients'
oral passivity needs had been satisfied in some way, perhaps
through their dependent state at the hospital, at the time
of testing.
Reed (41) has shown that parent—child relationships
are reflected by the Blacky. He formulated ten hypotheses
based on psychoanalytic theory. He found that oral-erotic
disturbance in parents is related to oral-erotic disturbance
in their children. Anal-retentive disturbance in the parents
was related to anal-expulsive disturbance in the children.
Similarly, disturbance in ego-ideal in the parents was re-
lated to disturbance in ego-ideal in their children.
'Aronson (2),in an examination of the Freudian formulation
regarding the etiology of paranoia, gave a battery of tests
to paranoid patients, to.non-paranoid psychotics, and to
normals. The paranoid patients were more disturbed than
either non-paranoid psychotics or normals on the anal-reten¢
tive dimension and the internalized guilt-feeling dimension.
(Hilgard (25) has presented a discussion of the Blacky
as an experimental instrument. He felt that the original
28
investigation using the Blacky (6) can be considered an
experiment for two reasons. First, certain conditions were
specified by the experimenter and to some extent they were
controlled. A specific population was used (college students)
and responses were obtained under standard conditions for the
Blacky. For these reasons the requirement of experimental
control was satisfied. Second, Hilgard felt that there was
some design present in the investigation. Theory was used
and also logic of proof. He went on to say that the test
could not be used to indicate the presence of a particular
trait (for example, oral-eroticism) because the pictures were
designed to draw out information based on the theory of
libidinal stages. However, differences in the intensity of
a response by two groups is not suggested by the pictures.
The Blacky Test consists of 12 cartoon drawings about
a dog, Blacky, and his family, composed of Papa, Mama, and
Tippy, a sibling, age and sex not specified. Because the
present subjects were males, Blacky was the son. The intro-
ductory cartoon shows the family of dogs. Cartoon I, per-
taining to oral-eroticism, shows Mama lying on the ground in
an Open field with Blacky lying beside her nursing. Cartoon
II deals with oral sadism and shows Blacky shaking and biting
Mama's collar. Cartoon III, indicating anal sadism, shows
four dog-houses, labeled Eapg, Mama, Tippy, and.Blacky.
Blacky is relieving himself between the houses labeled flap;
and Mama. Cartoon IV, dealing with Oedipal intensity, shows
29
Papa and Mama together while Blacky watches from behind some
bushes. Cartoon V, designed to deal with masturbation guilt,
shows Blacky licking his genitals. Cartoon VI, in males
pertaining to castration anxiety, shows Blacky watching Tippy
who is blindfolded and whose tail is resting on a block of
wood. A knife is falling toward Tippy's tail. Cartoon VII,
indicating identification, shows Blacky shaking his paw at a
toy dog. Cartoon VIII, dealing with sibling rivalry, shows
Mama and Papa with Tippy and Blacky standing to one side
watching. Cartoon IX, pertaining to guilt feelings, shows
Blacky being scolded by a.dream-dog. Cartoon 2, in.males
indicating positive ego-ideal, shows Blacky dreaming about
a black dog. Cartoon XI, in males dealing with the love ob-
ject, shows Blacky dreaming about a dog with a ribbon on its
neck.
For the present study the Blacky was used as a group
instrument, according to the standardized instructions.(6)
Groups varied in size from 5 to 17 subjects. Each subject
was given a test booklet (Appendix I) in which.he wrote his
responses as he looked at the Blacky pictures projected on
a screen at the front of the classroom. Before the first
slide, the following instructions were read:
What we have here is a bunch of cartoons, like
you see in the funny papers, except there are no
words. I'll show them to you, one cartoon at a time,
and the idea is for you to make up a little story
about each one - just tell what is happening in the
picture, why it is happening, and so on. Since this
is a sort of test of how good your imagination can be,
50
try to write vividly about how the charactersibel.
You will have two minutes for each story, which
means about one or two paragraphs on each cartoon.
It is desirable to write as much as possible with-
in the time limit.
After this, the introductory cartoon was shown and the subjects
were told, "Here are Papa, Mamma, Tippy, and their son Blacky."
After each Spontaneous story was obtained, the subjects re-
sponded to questions relating to that cartoon. (Appendix I).
Though only five of the cartoons were directly related to
the present hypotheses, all 12 cartoons were administered.
The Blacky Test was scored, using Blum's scoring system.
(7) According to this system, a single plus or a double plus
is given for certain Specific responses. For example, in
scoring for castration anxiety, if the subject in reSponding
to Item I chooses th: item response (b), Blacky is puzzled
agdggpsgp, he receives + . If he chooses item response (a),
Blacky is terrified he is ggipg 32 pg ggzt, he receives + + .
The number of plusses was totaled to give a numerical score.
A high score indicated disturbance in the dimension under
consideration. Scoring independently, two judges differed in
only nine instances out of a possible 216 scorings, 96% agree-
ment.
In addition to this global score obtained for each cartoon,
certain of the inquiry items were related to each hypothesis
and responses to them examined individually. These specific
items were chosen from the regular inquiry items because they
were particularly pertinent to the hypotheses and/or-because
51
they were amenable to objective scoring and thus to
statistical analysis. The items chosen are enumerated and
discussed more fully below.
B. The TAT Cards
Cards 1, 7BM, and BBM from the Thematic Apperception
Test (59) were used as a supplementary measure. These cards
were chosen because they depicted scenes which, it was felt,
would elicit stories dealing with situations relevant to the
hypotheses. Card 1 shows a boy, sitting behind a table,
looking down at a violin lying on the table. This was used
to show identification. Card 7BM shows a grey-haired man
looking at a younger man who is looking into space. This in-
dicated choice of the father as ego-ideal. Card BBM shows
an adolescent boy looking straight out of the picture. In
the background is the dim scene of a surgical Operation. This
was used to show castration anxiety. In order to preserve
the format used with the Blacky test, objective items were
composed to be used with each TAT card. These items are
included in Appendix I, just as they were presented to the
subjects. Before using them with the subjects, these items
were submitted to judges. These judges were 3 advanced
graduate students in Psychology. They were asked to choose
which of the item-responses would show the greatest castration
anxiety, close identification with the father, or choice of
the father as ego-ideal. They agreed, without dissent, as to
which of the'pdssible item-responses was in each case the
crucial one.
52
The global judgment for the TAT was made by 2 judges.
In making the global judgments (for the Blacky as well as
for the TAT) the complete protocol of a subject from the
experimental group was paired with the protocol of a subject
from the control group. In judging the TAT a judge*was asked
to choose which of each pair showed the greater degree of
castration anxiety, closer identification with the father,
and the greater choice of the father as ego-ideal. As noted
above, response to TAT Card SBM was used to indicate castra-
tion anxiety; response to TAT Card 1, identification; and
reSponse to TAT Card 73M, choice of the father as ego—ideal.
Degree of agreement between the two judges is shown in
Table I.
TABLE I
Agreement of Judges on TAT Cards
Card 1 Card 73M Card SBM
Judgments agreed 18 25 22
Judgments disagreed _;1 __fl __2
Total 29 29 29
% Agreement 62 86 76
Agreement on Card 1 was very poor (62% agreement). On Cards
7BM-and 83M, agreement was somewhat closer, 86% and 76% re-
spectively. The judges noted that in many cases their ratings
were arbitrary, due to the tendency of subjects to choose the
same item response and also because of the brevity of the
stories given.
35
Thus, for both the Blacky Test and the Thematic Apper-
ception Test, there were two types of measurements: a global
one, based on the free association plus the objective response,
and the other measurement, based on individual inquiry items.
The specific items to be related to each hypothesis are
discussed in the following section.
Inquiry Items Related to Hypotheses
Hngthesis I: Responses to the following questions from the
Blacky inquiryl were analyzed individually to indicate
Oedipal intensity and love object. Cartoon IV of the Blacky
Test shows Blacky watching the mother and father dogs making
love.
1) How does Blacky feel about seeing Papa and Mamma
make love?
5) What will Papa do if he sees Blacky peeking?
6) What will Mama do if she sees Blacky peeking?
7) Which.would make a happier picture?
a) Mama left on the outside watching Blacky together
with Papa.
'b) Papa left on the outside watching Blacky together
with Mama.
Cartoon XI of the Blacky Test shows Blacky dreaming about a
female dog.
1) Who is the figure Blacky is dreaming about?
2) Whom does the figure remind Blacky of?
5) Which of the following would attract Blacky most?
a) The possibility that the dream figure looks
like himself, which would increase his price.
b) The possibility that the dream figure looks
like Mama, which would remind him of the good
old days.
1. Questions referring to each of the Blacky cartoons were taken
from the Blacky inquiry items. Psychological Corp., Record
Blank: The Blacky Pictures, New York, 1950.
54
c) The possibility that the dream figure looks
like someone else, whom he could make happy by
giving her all his love.
5) In Blacky's mind how does Mamma stack up against the
dream.figure when he compares them?
Hypothesis II: Responses to the following questions were
analyzed individually to indicate castration anxiety. From
the inquiry for Cartoon VI of the Blacky Test, which shows
Tippy's tail about to be docked, these questions were used:
1) How does Blacky feel here?
a) Terrified that he is going to be next.
b) Puzzled and upset.
c) Curious but calm.
2) What does Blacky suspect might be the reason for
this scene?
a) He suspects Tippy is being punished for
having done something wrong.
b) He suspects Tippy is the innocent victim
of someone else's ideas.
0) He suspects Tippy is being improved in some
way.
5) How does Blacky feel about his own tail?
a) He's not particularly worried about it.
b) He's thinking desperately about a way to
save it.
c) He thinks he might look better if it is
cut off.
d) He's so upset he wishes he never saw or heard
of tails.
The following questions were used with Card 8BM of the TAT
which shows an adolescent boy looking straight out of the pic-
ture. In the background is the dim scene of a surgical
operation.
1) Which of the following statements best describes
this picture?
a) The boy is remembering part of a movie he has
just seen.
55
b) The boy is dreaming of becoming a skilled and
famous surgeon.
c) The thought of being operated on has made this
boy turn away.
Hypothesis III: ReSponses to the following questions were
analyzed individually to determine identification. From the
inquiry for Cartoon VII of the Blacky Test, which shows Blacky
being scolded, the following were used: ‘
1) Who talks like that to Blacky - Mama or Papa
or Tippy?
2) Whom is Blacky most likely to obey - Mama or Papa
or Tippy?
4) Whom would Blacky rather pattern himself after -
Mama or Papa or Tippy?
The questions below were used with Card 1 of the TAT which
shows a boy looking at a violin lying on the table in front
of him.
1) Which of the following statements best describes
this picture?
a) His violin is on the table and he is waiting
for his music lesson.
b) He admires his father and is dreaming of being
as great a violinist as he is.
c) The boy is tired of playing the violin and
would rather be playing ball.
2) What person would be most effective in getting the
bo to finish his practicing?
a His father.
b) His mother.
c) His music teacher.
Hypothesis IV: Reaponses to the following questions were
analyzed individually to determine ego-ideal. From the inquiry
for Cartoon X, which shows Blacky dreaming about a male dog,
36
the following were used:
1) Whom does the figure remind Blacky of?
2) In Blacky's mind how does Papa stack up against
the dream figure when he compares them?
The questions below were used with.Card 73M of the TAT which
shows a grey-haired man looking at a younger man who is look-
ing into Space.
1) Which of the following statements best describes
this picture?
a) The boy is determined to live up to the ideals
and standards of this older man whom he greatly
admires.
b) The older man is telling about his childhood
experiences.
c) The boy is anxious to go to his friends who
are waiting for him.
2) If the father is giving his son advice, how would
the son feel about it?
a) Resentful because of his father's interference.
b) Pleased because his father is helping him.
c) He does not care one way or the other.
Treatment of Data
In the present study the hypotheses were concerned with
the number of subjects falling in a particular category. Be-
cause of this, and because it is a non-parametric statistical
technique, Chi square was used as a test of significance of
the data Obtained from each of the objective items on both
the Blacky Test and the TAT. In all cases Yates correction for
continuity for small samples was made as described by Guil-
ford . (21) Differences at the .05 level of confidence were
57
considered to be significant. Where apprOpriate, a one-
tailed test of significance was utilized. In each it is
indicated whether a one-tailed or a two-tailed test was
used.
The scoring system for the Blacky (used for the global
evaluation) gave numerical scores. Protocols from the two
groups of subjects were paired and the rank test for paired
observations was used in analyzing the global reSponse to
individual cartoons. The gldbal judgments of the TAT were
made in paired comparisons so the sign test (15) was used
for this data. Different tests were used for the data from
the Blacky Test and the TAT because of the differing methods
of rating the data. With the Blacky, a numerical score was
obtained. The data from the TAT was obtained as paired judg-
ments. The rank test is more sensitive than the sign test
because it takes into consideration the magnitude of scores.
This means that it could be used with the Blacky data, and it
would be a more sensitive measure than would the sign test.
The TAT did not produce numerical scores so the rank test
could not be used.
56
RESULTS
Hypotheses
Hypothesis I. This hypothesis dealt with the effect of ab-
sence of the father on the strength of attachment felt by the
subject for his mother. Tables II and III show the reaponse
of the experimental and control groups to inquiry questions
1, 5, 6 and 7 of Blacky Cartoon IV, indicating Oedipal
intensity.
According to this hypothesis, the experimental subjects
would give responses to question 1, Cartoon IV, indicating
fear or jealousy. Since this was an Open-ended question,
responses such as "Blacky feels ashamed" were given by the
subjects. Any reSponse indicating negative feelings was
considered to indicate strong Oedipal intensity. No signifi-
cant difference was found between the experimental and
control groups.
Following the first hypothesis, more of the experimental
group would expect papa to punish or reject Blacky. Table II
indicates that the experimental and control groups were not
significantly different in their reSponse to question 5,
Cartoon IV.
According to this hypothesis, the experimental group
would not expect Mama to be punitive or rejecting toward
TABLE II
Item ReSponses to Blacky Cartoon IV
Question 1 Experimental Control g2:;re p.
Fear, Jealousy, negative l9 15 .54 N.S.
No concern, positive _1& _16
Total 55 29
Question 5
Papa reject Blacky l4 14 .041 N.S.
Papa accept Blacky _19 _15
Total 55 29
gpestion 6
Mama reject Blacky 15 10 .57 N.S.
Mama accept Blacky 18 _19
Total 33 29
guestion 7
Blacky with Mama 16 10 .52 N.S.
With someone else _12 18
Total 55 28*
* 1 subject did not reSpond to this item.
4O
Blacky for peeking. Table II shows no significant difference
between the experimental and control groups in their responses
to this question.
As this hypothesis was stated, more of the eXperimental
group would feel that Blacky should be with Mama. As shown
in Table II, the experimental and control groups were again
not significantly different in their response to question 7,
Cartoon IV.
Thus, when considered individually, none of the four
inquiry items for Cartoon IV seems to distinguish the two
groups in relation to Oedipal intensity. However, as shown
in Table III, where the free association and reSponse to all
inquiry items were considered globally, there was shown a
significant difference between the experimental and control
groups in the direction hypothesized.
TABLE III
Global Reaponse to Blacky Cartoon IV
Experimental Control
Sum of rank scores 521 114
Indicating strong (7- 46.2
Oedipal intensity 2 2 23
p .02‘
‘One-tailed test
Tables IV and V show the reSponse of the experimental
and control groups to inquiry questions 1, 2, 5, and 5 for
Blacky Cartoon XI, which is concerned with the love object.
41
According to the first hypothesis, experimental subjects
would say that Blacky is dreaming of Mama. As indicated by
Table IV, this was found to be a non-discriminating item
since all but three of the total group said that Blacky was
dreaming of someone other than Mama. These three, however,
were all in the experimental group.
According to the first hypothesis, the eXperimental sub-
jects would say that the dream figure reminds Blacky of
Mama. In this case (Table IV) the tendency appears to be in
the opposite direction from the hypothesis. More of the ex-
perimental group chose someone else rather than Mama, while
the control group was about equally divided. However, this
difference is significant only between the .10 and .20 level
of confidence.
Following the first hypothesis, the experimental group,
in responding to question 5, Cartoon XI, would choose the
item response indicating that the dream figure looks like
Mama, which reminded Blacky of the good old days. This item
(Table IV) again showed little discriminating power, with all
but five of the subjects avoiding the crucial item response.
According to this hypothesis, the eXperimental subjects
would say that Mama is as good as or better than the dream
figure. As with question 2 for this Cartoon, the tendency
appears to be in the opposite direction from that hypothesized,
but the level of confidence is only .10 - .20.
Thus, two of the four inquiry items pertaining to
Cartoon XI and dealing with the anaclitic love object,
42
TABLE IV
Item Response to BlaCky Cartoon XI
Chi-
Question 1 Experimental Control Square p.
Dreaming of Mama 5 0 N.C.* N.S.
Dreaming of someone else 50 29
Total 55 29
Question 2
Dream reminds of Mama 9 14 2.07 .10-.20**
Reminds someone else 24 15
Total 55 29
guestion 5
Figure looks like Mama 4 l N C.* N.S.
Looks like Blacky, someone 29 28
else
Total 55 29
Question 5
Mama good as or better 10 15 2.10 .10-.20‘*
Mama not as good 25 14
Total 53 29
* Not computed, eXpected frequencies too small
** Two-tailed test
45
though not significant, were found to be in the Opposite
direction from that hypothesized. As shown in Table V, the
glObal.score for Cartoon XI was also in the opposite direc-
tion from that hypothesized, but significant only at the .54
level of confidence.
Taï¬LE V
Global Response to Blacky Cartoon XI
Anaclitic Love Object
Experimental Control
Sum of rank scores 172 265
Indicating anaclitic love object 0- 46.2
2 .97
p. N.S.
Hypothesis II. This hypothesis stated that the experimental
subjects would feel less castration anxiety than would the
control group. Tables VI and VII show the response of the
experimental and control groups to inquiry questions 1, 2, 5
and 5 of Blacky Cartoon VI, dealing with castration anxiety.
Table VIII shows response to TAT card 83M-
According to this hypothesis, the control group would say
that Blacky is frightened. Table VI shows that in reSponding
to question 1, Cartoon VI, there was no significant difference
between the two groups.
As hypOthesis II was stated, the control group would say
that Blacky is being punished. Table VI shows that following
TABLE VI
Item Reaponse to Blacky Cartoon VI
Question 1 Experimental Control gguare p
Blacky terrified-upset ll 12 .15 N.S.
Blacky curious, calm _ge _l2
Total 55 29
Question 2
Blacky being punished 6 5 N.C.* N.S.
Being improved, victim _22, _ge
Total 55 29
Queetion 5
Not worried 25 21 N.C.‘ N.S.
Worried _;Q __8
Total 55 29
Question 5
Papa arranged for tail 9 14 1.85 .05-.10‘*‘
Someone else arranged _25 _;5
Total 52“ 29
‘= Not computed; cell deviation too small to use Yates
correction.
*‘ 1 subject did not reapond to this item.
“* One-tailed test.
45
this prediction, there is no significant difference between
the two groups.
According to Hypothesis II, the control group, in
responding to Question 5, Cartoon VI, would say that Blacky
is worried about his tail. Table VI shows that there was no
significant difference between the two groups in their response
to this item.
According to this hypothesis, the control group would say
that Papa arranged to have Tippy's tail cut off. Table VI
shows that there was no significant difference between the
two groups, though the tendency may be in the direction hypo-
thesized.
Thus, when considered individually, none of the four in-
quiry items for Cartoon VI support the hypothesis regarding
castration anxiety. Nor is it supported when one considers
the global score as shown in Table VII.
TABLE VII
Global Response to Blacky Cartoon VI
Experimental Control
Sum Of rank scores in- 215.5 219.5
dicating strong
castration anxiety 6“ 46.2
z .05
p N.S.
According to this hypothesis, the control group, in
reSponding to TAT card SBM nould say that the Operation has
made the boy turn away. As shown in Table VIII, this item
TABLE‘VIII
Response to TAT - Card 85M
46
Exper. Control Chi-square p
Being operated on 5 7 .55 N.S.
Neutral Foils 28 2
Total 55 29
Global reSponse Judge #1 Judge #2
Exper. Contr. Exper. Contr.
Most castration anxiety l2 . 17 ll 18
Least anxiety 12 12 18 11
Total 29 29 29 29
z .95 1.50
p N.S. N.S.
4'7
TABLE IX
Item Reaponse to Blacky Cartoon VII
Chi-
Question 1 Experimental Control square p
Papa talks like that 7 16 6.22 .01*
Mamma, Tippy 26 15
Total 55 29
Question 2
Obey Papa l5 19 1.76 .05-.10‘
Obey Mama, Tippy 18 10
Total 55 29
Question 4
Be like Papa 20 25 5.85 .01‘
Like Mama, Tippy l5 4
Total 55 29
‘One—tailed test.
48
does not distinguish between the two groups, either in the
item response or the global response.
Hypothesis II, then, has not been supported by reSponse
to either Blacky Cartoon VI or TAT Card 83M.
Hypothesis III. This hypothesis stated that the control
group would feel a closer identification with the father than
would the experimental group. Tables IX through XI show the
response of the experimental and control groups to Blacky
Cartoon VII, dealing with identification with the father.
According to this hypothesis, the control group would
say, in responding to Question 1, Cartoon VII, that Papa
talks to Blacky like the dog in the picture. As indicated
by Table IX, the hypothesis has been strongly supported
beyond the .01 level of confidence.
As hypothesis III was stated, the control group would
say that Papa is the one Blacky will Obey. Though Table IX
indicates a low level of confidence (.05-.10), the tendency
is in the direction predicted.
According to this hypothesis, the control group would
indicate, for Question.4, Cartoon VII, that Blacky wants to
be like Papa. This hypothesis also was supported beyond the
.01 level of confidence. Two out of the three inquiry items
on this cartoon support Hypothesis III.
As shown in Table X, there is a tendency in the hypo-
thesized direction (at the .08 level of confidence) when
one considers the global score for Cartoon VII.
49
TABLE X
Global Response to Blacky Cartoon VII
Experimental Control
Sum of rank scores 286 149
6— 4602
z 1.47
p .08‘
I"0ne--tai1ed test
It was hypothesized that more of the experimental sub-
jects would show diffusion Of identification than would be
the case with the control group. Those subjects who were
ambivalent in responding to the inquiry items of Cartoon VII
were considered to show diffuse identification. For example,
if instead of choosing one Of the item responses Offered
(Mepe, Pepe, or Tippy), the subject gave a response referring
to more than one individual, or he gave a response which in-
dicated inability to make a choice, this was counted as an
ambivalent response. The following are illustrative of such
ambivalence: Mama and Papa, all of them, no one, no feelin ,
don't know, either Ofpthep. As shown in Table XI, a larger
number Of the experimental group than of the control group
were ambivalent in their choice Of response.
TABLE XI
Number of Subjects Giving Ambivalent Responses
to Blacky Cartoon VII
Experimental Control
Question 1 l5 5
Question 2 7 O
Queetion 4 4 0
Total 24 5
TABLE XII
Response to TAT - Card 1
SO
Question 1
Question 2
Exp; Control
Exp. Control_
Admire father 7 6 Father makes l6 l6
practice
Neutral foils 25 25 Neutral foils 16 15
Total 52* 29 Total 52* 29
‘ 1 subject did not Chi-sq. Chi—Square .02
respond to this not N S
question computed p. ' '
P. N.S.
Global Response
Judge #1 Judge #2
Expr. Control Expr. Control
Close identification l6 l5 17 12
Least identification l5 16 12 12
Total 29* 29* 29* 29*
Z 055 .95
p N.S. N.S.
* Paired for sign test
51
Thus, reSponse to Blacky Cartoon VII supports Hypo-
thesis III. Re ponse to two out of three inquiry items was
significant at the .01 level of confidence or better. The
third inquiry item and the global response tended in the
direction hypothesized. Identification appears to be more
diffuse in the experimental subjects. ReSponse to TAT Card
1 does not support the hypothesis.
Hypethesis IV. This hypothesis stated that the experimental
group would show less tendency to choose the father as the
ego-ideal than would the control group. Tables XIII and XIV
show the response to inquiry items 1 and 2 of Blacky Cartoon
X, indicating choice of the father as ego-ideal.
According to this hypothesis, the experimental group, in
responding to question 1, Cartoon X, would say that theciream
figure reminds Blacky of someone other than Papa. This hy-
pothesis is supported by data shown in Table XII.
As hypothesis IV is stated, the experimental group would
think that Papa does not compare well with the dream figure.
Table XIII shows that this item did not distinguish between
the experimental and control groups. Thus, only one of the
two inquiry items for Cartoon X distinguishes between the
two groups Of subjects. Nor did the glObal score distinguish
between the experimental and control groups. Response to
questions 1 and 2 suggests, however, that there may be aten-
dency to respond in the direction hypothesized.
TABLE XIII
52
Item Response to Blacky Cartoon X
Chi-
Experimental Control square p
Question I
Remind of Papa 4 9 2.29 .02-.05*
Someone Else 29 20
Total 55 29
euestion 2
Papa as good or 15 15 .02 N.S.
better
Papa not as good 18 16
Total 55 29
*one—tailed test
55
TABLE XIV
Global Response to Blacky Cartoon X
Experimental Control
Sum of rank scores 16? 268
Indicating the father or 46.2
as ego-ideal z 1 08
p N.S.
The global score Obtained for Cartoon X, while not statisti-
cally significant, also tends in the direction hypothesized.
As shown in Table XV, the data Obtained from questions
1 and 2 for Card 71p; of the TAT did not support hypothesis IV.-
TABLE XV
Response to TAT - Card 79M
Question l Questgon:g_
Expr. Control Expr. gentpp;
Father 18 20 _ Resentful ll 5
Neutral foils _15 __§ Neutral foils _ee _e1
Total 55 28* Total 55 28*
*1 blank Chi-square 1.22 Chi-square 1.11
p N.S. p N.S.
O a1 e onse Qudge #1 J d e 2
Exper. Contrg;i Exper. Contrq;_
Father as ego-ideal l5 16 15 16
Neutral foils _;§ _;5, _;§ _15
Total 29* 29* 29* 29*
*Paired for sign test
2 .55 2 ~55
p N.S. p N.S.
Thus hypothesis IV has received only slight support
from the data Obtained from Blacky Cartoon X. One of the
two inquiry items supports the hypothesis at a significant
level Of confidence. The response to TAT card 75M Offers no
clear support for it. However, reSponse to this as well as
the global response to Cartoon X is in the direction hypo-
thesized.
Summary
Complete results in relation to the hypotheses for the
Blacky Test are summarized in Table XVI. Hypotheses I, III,
and IV have received some support from the response made to
the Blacky Test. Hypothesis II was not supported. The TAT
cards, with the exception of questions 1 and 2, Card 7pm,
proved non-discriminating, since the subjects of both groups
tended to answer in the same direction. Questions 1 and 2
for Card 75M did show some tendency to discriminate between
the two groups but not at a significant level.
Additional Data
‘In scoring Blacky Cartoon XI, what seemed to be a signi-
ficantly high degree Of narcissism was Observed in the proto-
cols Of the experimental subjects. Because of this, the
protocols were scored formally and, as shown in Table XVI,
the experimental group showed a tendency in the direction Of
a greater degree of narcissism than did the control group.
TAQLE XVI
55
Summary of Response to Blacky Cartoons
IV, VI, VII, X, XI
BIPOTHESIS I
Oedipal Intensity (Cartoon IV)
Question 1 2 6 7 Global
p N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. p .02
Love Object
Global Global
huestion 1 2 5 5 Anaclitic Narcissistic
Chi-square N.C. 2.07 N.C. 2.10 z .97 z 1.71
p N.S. lO-.20* N.S. .lO-.20* p N.S. p .09*
HIPOTHESIS II
Castration Anxiety
Qpestion 1 2 5 5 Global
Chi-square e 15 N 0C 0 NOC e 1085 Z .05
p N.S. N.S. N.S. .05-.10 p N.S.
HYPOTHESIS III
Identification
geestion 1 2 4 Global
Chi-square 6.22 1.76 5.85 z 1.47
p <00]. 005-010 <00]- p 008
HIPOTHESIS IV
Ego-Ideal
Question 1 2 Global
Chi-square 2.29 .02 z 1.08
P 002-005 N.S. p N.S.
*Two-tailed test
N.C. - not computed because fe too small
56
TABLE XVII
Global Response to Blacky Cartoon XI
Narcissictic Love Object
Experimental Control
Sum of rank scores indicating 297 158
narcissistic love object
or 46.2
2 1.71
p .09"
*Two-tailed test
Global ratings for Blacky Cartoons I, II, III, V, VIII,
and IX were also Obtained. The results, as shown in Table
XVIII, indicate that there is no significant difference
between the experimental and control groups in any of these
psycho-sexual dimensions. One - sibling rivalry - is signi-
ficant at the .11 level of confidence, but it is not possible
even to speculate regarding the meaning Of this on the basis
Of these findings. Position in the family in relation to
sibs was not controlled and, as shown in Table XIX, the
experimental and control groups were not equated in this
respect. The mode among the experimental group is to be the
oldest child of the family. In the control group it is to
be a middle child. This difference is not surprising when
one considers the methods followed when drafting into the
armed forces. It was not customary to take men with several
children and those men who had more than one child tended to
be in the older age groups which were not taken into the armed
TABLE XVIII
Response to Blacky Cartons I, II, III,
V, VIII, IX
Exper. Control 4- z p
Cartoon I-Strong oral 259 176 46.2 .89 N.S.
eroticism-Sum Of rank
scores
Cartoon II-strong oral 285 150 46.2 1.46 .15
sadism-sum of rank
scores
Cartoon III-strong oral 216 219 46.2 .052 N.S.
expulsive-sum of rank '
scores
Cartoon III-strong anal 172 265 4612 .99 N.S.
retentive-sum Of rank
scores
Cartoon V—strong mastur— 201.5 255.5 46.2 .54 N.S.
bation guilt-sum Of rank
scores
Cartoon VIII-strong sib- 291.0 144 46.2 1.59 .11
ling rivalry-sum of rank
scores
Cartoon IX-strong guilt 225.5 209.5 46.2 .16 N.S.
feelings-sum of rank
scores
57
58
forces early in the war, when the fathers Of the present
sample were taken. The child's position in his family in
relation to Older or younger siblings could certainly be
expected to be a relevant variable in the measurement of
sibling rivalry. Because Of this, the tendency toward a
stronger feeling of sibling rivalry, if it does exist in
the experimental group, cannot be attributed to the experi-
mental variables relevant tO this study.
TABIE XIX
Number of subjects in each sibling position
Experimental Control
Oldest Child 18 8
Middle Child 7 l2
Youngest Child 1 7
Only Child _Q _2
Total 52* 29
*1 subject did not reSpond
59
DISCUSSION
The purpose Of the present study was to examine the
effect on adult personality structure when the father is
absent during the so-called Oedipal period. Three Of the
four hypotheses formulated for this study have received at
least some support from the data. These hypotheses may also a
be predicted from other points of view, for example, associa-
tionism as well as neo-Freudianism. The present discussion
is limited to the Freudian and neo-Freudian controversy.
Hypotheses
Hypothesis I The first hypothesis, that more separated sub-
jects would maintain a closer attachment to the mother than
would non-separated subjects, had two aspects. The first
was that more separated subjects would evidence strong Oedipal
intensity. None of the individual inquiry items distinguished
between the two groups. However, in total response, there is
a significant difference between the experimental and control
groups, in the direction predicted.
It was in relation to the second aspect of Hypothesis I
that unexpected and interesting data were Obtained. It was
expected that the experimental group would maintain the
mother as an excessively cathected Object. Instead, the
control group tended to choose the mother as an anaclitic
love Object, while the eXperimental group appeared to show
preference for a narcissistic love Object. An examination
of response to the items used to determine the anaclitic
60
love Object showed that the control group gave responses to
a greater degree, indicating, not that the love object was
the mother herself, but that she was the prototype Of his
love Object. The experimental group, on the other hand,
gave reaponses indicating the rejection of the mother as
prototype for the love Object. There seemed to be represented
in the experimental group something of a negative cathexis
toward the mother. For example, instead of choosing the
item-response which.says Blacky is dreaming of Mama, both
groups said Blacky is dreaming Of someone else. But where
the control group was evenly divided between saying that the
dream figure reminds Blacky of Mama and saying that it reminds
Blacky Of someone else, the experimental group almost 5 to 1
said the dream figure reminds Blacky Of someone else. A
Similar situation existed in the item dealing with how Mama
compared to the dream figure. Two-thirds Of the experimental
group said she was not as good. The control group was again
about evenly divided. 9
Instead of choosing an external love Object, the experi-
mental group appeared tO have turned to a narcissistic choice.
Blum (p. 26) says that
Later in life [when the ego has been differentiated]
individuals in the face of severe stress are tempted
to regain the original_idy11ic feeling of security
[pf primary narcissist . . . . This return to self
love as a consequence of failure to make satisfactory
attachments to others is termed 'secondary narcissism'.
The present data may indicate some degree of secondary.narcis~;
sism in the experimental group. It can be reasoned that the
61
boy who has not made adequate resolution of the Oedipal
conflict because his father was absent, will eXperience
stress when his father returns. At that time his mother,
very likely, would begin to show the father attention which
the boy had been accustomed to receive exclusively and the
boy would be expected to react negatively. In view of the
present findings, one can speculate that because Of this
stress, the experimental group has regressed to a narcissistic
type Of Object choice, but Of course only further research
can throw more light on this issue.
Hypothesis II. In no aspect was this hypothesis (that more
non-separated subjects would show castration anxiety) sup-
ported by the data. The concept that the Oedipus conflict
"is smashed to pieces by the shock of threatened castration"
(16) has been considered by some to be a weak point in
Freudian theory. It was difficult to account, in terms Of
castration anxiety, for the passing of the Oedipal conflict
in girls who cannot experience castration anxiety as a
dynamic force. For this reason fear of loss of love,
disappointment, shame, and fear of physical injury have
been postulated to explain the resolution of the Oedipal
conflict in women. (14) The neo-Freudians, with their de-
emphasis of the Oedipal conflict, concerned themselves very
little with castration anxiety. Their point of view, in
general, is that any conflicts the child experienced in
his attachments to either parent could be explained in terms
62
of his total experience throughout childhood and adoles-
cence. They do not feel the Oedipal conflict to be
universal, but rather something that develOps, if it does
appear, because Of environmental factors. For example,
Adler (1) felt that attachment to either parent was the
result of pampering; Horney (24), that it resulted from
sexual stimulation by the parent; Fromw(l8), that the Oedipus
myth.was not a symbol of an incestuous tie with the mother,
but a conflict with authority of the father. Therefore,
the resolution of the Oedipal conflict would not be in.terms
of threat of castration, but some change in interpersonal re-
lationship. I
The lack of discrimination, by means of the present
techniques, between the experimental and control groups,
which was shown in relation to Hypothesis II, would lend
some support to the view that castration anxiety is not a
relevant variable in relation to the total problem Of this
study.
Hypothesis III. It is in terms of identification with the
father that there appears most clearly to be a difference
between the experimental and control groups. From the data
presented it appears that in some way the absence Of the
father for a:re1atively short period Of time has affected
the identification process. This is as hypothesized ac-
cording to Freudian theory, but it is not necessary to
ascribe the change entirely to an absence of two or three
65
years on the part of the father. As Stolz (48) has shown,
the period of adjustment when the father returned was a
difficult one. It is possible that this difficulty between
father and child established a pattern Of relationship which
maintained itself indefinitely so that close identification
with the father could never be achieved.
If one accepts that the identification process has been
affected by the fathers' absence, a natural question follows.
What kind of identifications have the young men made? No
answer is provided by the present data, but one can speculate
that identification in the experimental group has been more
diffuse than in the control group. Though their fathers were.
absent, there were usually other adult males with.whom the
boys had close contacts. Many army wives returned to their
parents' home for the duratiOn. In this case, the boy may
have tended to identify with his grandfather. In many cases
there were uncles, or even older cousins, who could serve as
a mOdel. Sometimes the relationships available to the boy
might be almost completely feminine, with no close male to
whom he could relate. One might expect the most common
pattern to be one of diffuse relationship, where there were
several figures available to the boy, with no one individual
in a very close association. And most important of all, for
the boy, none of these adult males would have, with his
mother and himself, the same relationship as would his father.
Whether one accepts the Freudian concept of fixation at
certain develOpmental levels or follows the neoéFreudian
64
point of view in stressing the sum total of parent-child re-
lationships, the implication of the data related to Hypothesis
III is that the absence of the father during this period of
the child's life has in some way affected the identification
process.
Hypothesis IV. The present data lend only slight support to
the hypothesis that boys separated from their fathers during
the Oedipal period will choose someone other than the father
as their ego-ideal. Both the experimental and control groups
tend to choose someone other than the father as an egOPideal,
but‘the tendency seems to be for a greater prOportion of the .
experimental group to make this sort of choice.
This tendency might be considered as a reinforcement Of
the findings Obtained for hypothesis III because the concepts
Of identification and ego-ideal are closely related. As
already noted (p. 9) in the resolution of the Oedipal complex,
Object choice is replaced by identification with the father.
The Oedipus complex is regressively replaced by identifica-
tion through introjection. The introjected parents combine
with previously existing identifications to form the super—ego.
The super—ego is not only a source Of threats and punishment
but also a source Of protection and a provider of love. SO
there are two aspects of the super-ego, first as a threaten-
ing, prohibitive power, and second, as the pattern Of what the
individual would like to be, the ego—ideal. These two aSpects
of the superwego are closely interwoven as were the threaten-
ing and protective powers of the parents.
65
If, as the data related to hypothesis III indicated,
the identification process with the father was interfered
with, one would expect the experimental group to choose some
one other than the father as ego-ideal. Stolz (48) reported
less conformity to father's standards in separated children
than in non-separated children. The separated boys also
showed a more distant emotional relationship with their
fathers. This is not a climate in which one would expect the
father to develOp as an ego-ideal.
It is in terms of the boy's total relationship to his
father that there appears the clearest differences between
the two groups. It is here that the absence of the father
during this devtiopmental period seems to have the most
evident influence.
Thematic Apperception Test
The use of the TAT cards in this study did not prove very
fruitful. In general, the subjects from both groups tended
to choose the same item-response, so that for three out of
the five inquiry items, cell frequencies were too small to
compute Chi-square. As noted earlier, because Of the tendency
for all subjects to choose the same reSponse, and because of
the brevity of the stories given, the judges felt that the
global judgment as to which subject showed the greater degree
of the trait in question was in many cases arbitrary. In ad-
dition, the TAT may have proved unsatisfactory because Of the
nature Of the test. Because the stimulus is a picture
66
involving people in more or less structured situations, the
material it taps is mdch closer to consciousness than is the
material tapped by the Blacky. Further the very fact that
the judges who:rated the TAT items agreed so perfectly may
indicate that these items were too Obvious and that this is
the reason the subjects tended to avoid the crucial responses.
It is possible that the items were also too Specific.
For example, if the item, He admires his father and_;e
dreaming_o§ being_as great a violinist as he is, had read
IQEIBOY admigee hie:father and is thinkingpof following his
rofession, it is possible that it would have attracted.morep
response.
For the TAT to be a useful instrument in this kind of
study, it would be necessary to do extensive work in.formu-
lating inquiry items and in establishing Objective scoring
methods for the free association.
67
CONCLUSIONS
From the data presented in this study, it appears that
the absence of the father during the so-called Oedipal period
has affected some aSpects of personality develOpment. |In
Freudian theory, the Oedipal conflict is resolved because
the boy, due to castration anxiety, renounces his mother as
a love Object, and substitutes identification with his father.
Progress to a higher level never takes place completely.
Freud's simile was an advancing army, leaving occupation
troops at all important points. (14) In the adult personality
structure, then, there will be incomplete transition from one
psychosexual level to the next higher. Strong Oedipal inten-
sity and inadequate identification with.the father, for
example, are indicators of an incompletely resolved Oedipal
conflict.
In the present study, more of the young male adults who
were separated from their fathers during this time Showed
strong Oedipal intensity than does a similar group which was
not separated. Fewer of the separated group felt a close 3
identification with the father then the non—separated group.
More Of the separated group tended to choose someone other
than the father as their ego~ideal. Insofar as one accepts
these characteristics as indicating inadequate resolution of
68
the Oedipal conflict, so far is Freudian theory supported by
this study. Castration anxiety which might be considered, in
Freudian theory, the key to resolution Of the Oedipal con-
flict, does not appear in this study to be a relevant
variable.
In neo-Freudian theory, emphasis is on the totality of
experience throughout childhood and even into adulthood. The
neo-Freudians place much less emphasis on moving from one
psychosexual level to another in step-wise fashion. They
cannot accept the concept that after the organism has passed
beyond the so~called Oedipal period, the unresolved elements
of the Oedipal conflict will be relegated to the unconscious,.
unapproachable except through analysis. They feel that an
Oedipal conflict, if it has developed, may be affected at any
time in the organism's life if there is a change in the en-
vironment.
From the neo-Freudian point of view, the findings in
regard to identification would not be interpreted to mean an
unresolved Oedipal conflict. Their interpretation of the
present data might be that fewer of the experimental group
Show close identification with their fathers, not because
they were separated.from their fathers during a particular
period of psychosexual development, but because this separa-
tion created a particular environment which hindered the
development Of a close identification. That is to say, the
father's being absent and the contingent prOblemS on his
return Operated to create a continuing environment which
69
influenced personality development.
The data related to castration anxiety would be consi-
dered by the neoéFreudians as supporting their point of
view. In orthodox Freudian theory, castration anxiety has
a very important role. It implements the resolution of the
Oedipal conflict and, though it is finally repressed into
the unconscious, remains with the organism throughout life.
As discussed earlier, the neo-Freudians de—emphasize castra-
tion anxiety and pass over it lightly in their theories.
From the present data, it does not appear to be a relevant
variable. The neo-Freudians would interpret this as support
for their view, that castration anxiety should not have a
vital or even very important place in Oedipal theory.
That the absence Of the fathers was meaningful in the
development of these young adults seems to be implied by
the present data, but there still remain unanswered ques-
tions. Environment after the father's return was not con-
trolled as a variable. One cannot say that on the father's
return there was no difference in the environment Of the two
groups. It is possible that self-perpetuating patterns Of
relationships were established because Of the difficult
adjustment period, patterns which would not necessarily have
appeared had the father been present continually. The ques-
tion remains, what would have been the personality development
in the experimental group if the father had returned to a
warm, understanding relationship, without either father or
child experiencing a difficult adjustment?
70
Future research which controlled for environmental
differences after the fathers! return would limit experi-
mental variables to the period of the fathers' absence.
This would perhaps throw more light on the prOblem of finality
of experience during certain psychosexual develOpmental
periods. The additional data Observed in this study also
suggests an interesting area for exploration. In discussing
this data, it was suggested that the experimental group had
regressed to choice Of a narcissistic love Object. Further
research would perhaps Show whether this interpretation was
justified
71
SUMMARY
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of
absence of the father on the resolution Of the Oedipal con-
flict. A review Of the literature dealt with the differing
points of views of the Freudian and neo-Freudian schools of
psychology in respect to this developmental period. Four
hypotheses were formulated: (l) more Of the experimental
subjects, as compared to the control subjects, will maintain.
strong attachment to the mother; (2) fewer Of the experimen-
tal subjects, as compared to the control subjects, will show
strong castration anxiety; (5) fewer Of the experimental
subjects, as compared to the control subjects, will show
strong identification with the father, and identification Of
the experimental subjects will be more diffuse than will be
the case with the control subjects; (4) fewer of the experi—
mental subjects, as compared tO the control subjects, will
choose their fathers as the type of figure adapted for heir
ego—ideal. ‘
The subjects were 62 male college freshmen. The experi-
mental group was composed Of 55 subjects who were between the
ages of three and five while their fathers were overseas with
thearmed forces during World War II. The control group was
composed of 29 subjects whose fathers were not overseas when
72'
the boys were between the ages of three and five. The
Blacky Test and Cards 1, 7BM and BBM of the Thematic Appercep-
tion Test were administered to each group. ReSponses to mul-
tiple choice inquiry items of the Blacky Test and to items
composed for the TAT cards were analyzed statistically, using
the Chi-square technique. Global response to the Blacky Test
was analyzed, using the Rank Test. Global response to the TAT
cards was also analyzed with the Sign test.
On the basis of analysis of the data Obtained from the
Blacky Test, support was obtained for three of the.four hypo-
theses. (l)There was some evidence to indicate that Oedipal
intensity is greater in those subjects who were separated from
their fathers. However, the data was contrary to one aspect of
the first hypothesis, in that the control group rather than the
eXperimental group tended to choose the mother as anaclitic love
Object. The experimental group appeared to make a narcissistic
choice of love object. (2)The hypothesis dealing with identifi-
cation, which was formulated in accordance with Freudian theory,
received the most consistent support. However, an attempt was
made to interpret these findings also from the neoéFreudian
point Of view. (5)The hypothesis dealing with choice of the
father as ego-ideal was somewhat supported by the data. (4)The
hypothesis dealing with castration anxiety was not supported by
the data.
The TAT cards did not prove to be a fruitful measure Of the
hypotheses. Possible reasons for this and ways in which it
might be developed into a more adequate instrument for studies
such as the present one were discussed.
Implications of the findings were discussed.
ll
10.
ll.
12.
75
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APPEN D IX
Name = uIUynuT NU.
Qan UON I
1. Is Blacky
(a) happy?
(b) unhappy?
(c) or doesn't he feel one way or the other?
How does Mama feel in this scene?
(a) Very contented?
(b) Pleased but tired?
(c) Rather unhappy?
Which would Blacky rather do?
(a) Stay until his feeding is over and then go
some place else;
(b) Stay as long as possible to be sure he gets
enough nourishment?
Which one of the following best describes Minsky?
(a) He's a little glutton who neVer stops eating.
(b) He's got a hearty appetite which usually gets
satisfied.
(0) He sometimes doesn't get enough to replace all the
energy he burns up.
Judging by appearances, how much longer will Blacky
want to be nursed by name before being weaneo?‘
(a) He'll want to be on his own fairly soon.
(b) He'll want to continue being nursed until he's
quite a bit Older.
(c) He feels Mama would like to turn him loose right new.
now.'
How will Blacky feel about eating when he grows Older?
(a) He will rather eat than do most anything else.
(b) He will enjoy eating but Will like lots of other
, things just as much.
(c) He Wlll never get enough to satisfy his appetite.
ohRToON Il‘
1.
Why is Blacky doing that to Mama's collar?
How Often does Blacky feel like acting up this way?
(a) Once in a while.
(b) Fairly OIten.
(c) Very Often.
Blacky most often acts like this when he can't get
enough of which one 01 the following?
(a) Attention.
(b) Milk.
(0) Recreation.
What will Blacky do next with Mama's collar?
(a) Get tired of it and leave it on the ground.
(b) Return it to mama.
(c) angrily chew it to shreds.
If mama comes on the scene, what will she do?
(a) Feed Blacky again.
(b) send him off to bed without his dinner.
(c) Bark.
What would Blacky do if Mama did come over to feed him?
(a) He'd ignore mama and continue chewing the
collar.
(b) He'd put down the collar and start eating.
(c) He'd get even with name by trying to bite her
instead of the collar.
CARTOON Ill
1.
0
What was Blacky's main reason for defecating there?
(a) He wanted to spite somebody. . . . tho?
(b) He was doing what Mama and Papa told him to.
(c) He picked the Spot by accident.
(d) He wanted to keep his own area neat and clean.
Which one of the following is Blacky most concerned
with here?
(a) Throwing dirt over what he did SO that it will be
neatly covered up.
(D) Relieving himself so that his system feels more
comiortable.
(c) Getting rid Of his anger.
Why is Blacky covering it up?
(a) He wants to make as little mess as possible.
(b) He doesn't want Mama and Papa to find out.
(O) He's automatically dOIng what he's been taught.
How does Blacky feel about the training he's been
getting?
(a) By relieving himself in the way he's been taught
he now has an Opportunity to show his family what
a good dog he can be.
(b; He feels Mama and Papa are expecting too much
of him at this early stage.
(c) He is very happy to have control of himself.
(d) He thinks he's got Mama and Papa right where he
wants them.
What will Mama say to Blacky?
What will Papa say to Blacky?
anTOON IV
1.
How does Blacky feel about seeing Mama and Papa
make love? . . . Why?
When does Blacky get this feeling?
(a) Whenever he sees Mama or Papa.
(b) Whenever he sees Mama and Papa together.
(c) Whenever he sees Mama and Papa making love.
Which one of the following makes Blacky most unhappy?
(a) Papa keeping Mama all to himself.
(b) The idea that Mama and Papa seem to be ignoring
him on purpose.
(c) He is ashamed watching them make love out in the
Open.
What does Blacky suspect is the reason behind the
scene he's watching?
(a) He suspects Mama and Papa are planning an addition
to the famiLy.
(b) He suSpectS Mama and Papa are very much in love.
(0) He suspects Papa is having his own way about things.
(d) He suspects Mama and Papa are purposely depriving
him Of attention.
What will Papa do if he sees Blacky peeking?
What will Mama do if she sees Blacky peeking?
Which would make a happier picture?
(a) Mama left on the outside watching Blacky together
with Papa. . . . .‘thy?
(b) Papa left on the outside watching Blacky together
with Mama. . . . Why?
CART 0019 V
1.
How does Blacky feel here?
(a) Happy, without a care in the world.
(b) Enjoying himself, but a little worried.
(c) Mixed up and guilty.
How might Blacky feel about this situation when he is
Older?
(a) Happy, without a care in the world.
(b) Enjoying himself, but a little worried.
(0) Mixed up and guilty.
(d) The situation won't come up again when he is older.
Whom might Blacky be thinking about here?
Does Blacky naively fear that something might happen.
to him? . . . What?
What will Mama say if she comes over and finds Blacky?
What will Papa say if he comes over and finds Blacky?
CARF'OON V l
1.
How does Blacky feel here?
(a) Terrified that he's going to be next.
(b) Puzzled and upset.
(0) Curious but calm.
What does Blacky suspect might be the reason for
this scene?
(a) He suSpects Tippy is being punished for having
done something wrong.
(b) He suspects Tippy is an innocent victim of some-
one else's ideas.
(c) He suspects Tippy is being improved in some way.
How does Blacky feel about his own tail?
(a) He's not particularly worried about it.
(b) He's thinking desperately about a way to save it.
(c) He thinks he might loOk'better if it is cut off.
(d) He's so upset he wishes he never saw or heard
of tails.
DO you suppose Blacky would prefer to have his own tail
cut off right away rather than go through the suspense
Of wondering if it will happen to him? . . . Why?
Which member of the family most likely arranged for
Tippy's tail to be cut off?
What will other dogs in the neighborhood do when they
see Tippy's short tail?
(a) Start worrying about their own tails.
(b) Make fun Of Tippy.
(c)WWonder what's going on.
(d) Admire Tippy.
bliR‘l‘QUfl y J. .1.
1. Who talks like that to 3lacky - Mamma or Papa or
Tippy?
F0
Whom is Blacky most likely to obey - Mama or Papa or
Tippy?
5. Whom is Blacky imitating here - Mama or Papa or Tippy?
4. Whom would Blacky rather pattern himself after -
Mama or Papa or Tippy?
5. Blacky's diSposition, actually, is most like the dis-
position Of which one - Mamma or Papa or Tippy?
6. What would Blacky hawe an impulse to do if he were
in the position of the toy dog?
(a) Get frighteneo and hide.
(b) Stand there and take it.
(c) Get mad and sulk.
(d) Start fighting.
CaRTOON VIII
1.
What does Blacky prObaoly feel like doing now?
(a) Beat Tippy up.
(b) Bark happily at the group and join them.
(O) Show up Tippy by doing something better.
(d) Run away to Spite Mama and Papa.
according to Blacky, how much praise does Tippy
actually deserve?
(a) He feels Tippy fully deserves the praise.
(b) He feels Tippy deserves some praise, but not
that much.
(c) He feels Tippy deserves to be punished instead
of praised.
Who does Blacky feel is paying more attention to Tippy?
(a) Mama.
(b) Papa.
(0) Both paying the same amount.
How Often does Blacky see this?
(a) Once in a while.
(b) Fairly Often.
(c) Very Often.
How does Blacky think Mama and Papa really feel
toward him at this time?
(a) He thinks they love him more than they do Tippy.
(b) He thinks they love him about the same as they
do Tippy.
(c) He thinks they love him less than they do Tippy.
If Blacky is angry, whom is he most angry at —
Mama or Papa or Tippy? . . . Why?
CARTOUN IX
1. What might have happened between the last picture
and this one?
2. How is Blacky's conscience here?
(a) His conscience is so strong he's practically
paralyzed.
(b) H is conscience is bothering him somewhat, but
he's mostly afraid of what will be done to him.
(c) He's hardly bothered at all by his conscience,
just afraid of what will be done to him.
5. Which character do the actions of the pointing figure
remind Blacky of?
4. Who is really to blame for Blacky's feeling this way?
(a) Himself.
(b) Somebody else. . . . Who?
(0) The situation couldn't be helped.
5. How guilty does Blacky feel here?
(a) He feels very guilty.
(b) He feels fairly guilty.
(c) He hardly feels guilty at all.
6. What might Blacky do now?
7. Do you think Blacky will
(a) have this feeling as long as he lives?
(b) feel bad every now and then?
(c) feel bad for a little while and then go out to
play?
-10-
CARTOON A
l.
Whom does the figure remind Blacky of?
In Blacky's mind, how does Papa stack up against the
dream figure when he compares them?
What would be the main reason for Blacky wanting to
be like the figure in his dream?
(a) Then he would show up Tippy.
(b) Then he would be the envy of all male dogs.
(c) Then he would be loved more by Mama and Papa.
(d) Then he would be very popular with the females.
What does Blacky himself probably feel about his
chances of growing up to be like the figure in his
dream?
(a) He probably feels he has a very good chance to
grow up to be like that.
(b) He probably feels he has a fair chance to grow
up to be like that.
(c) He probably feels he has a very poor chance to
grow up to be like that.
Actually, what are Blacky's chances of growing up to
be like the figure in his dream?
(a) Very good.
(b) Fair.
(0) Very poor.
How often does Blacky probably have this kind of dream?
(a) Very Often.
(b) Fairly Often.
(c) Once in a while.
-11-
CaRTOOM AI
1. Who is the figure Blacky is dreaming about?
2. Whom does the figure remind Blacky of?
5. Which of the following possibilities would attract
BlaCky most?
(a) The possibility that the dream figure looks like
himself, which would increase his pride.
(b) The possibility that the dream figure looks like
Mama, which would remind him Of the good Old days.
(c) The possibility that the dream figure locks like
someone else, whom he would make happy by giving
her all his love.
4. Why does Blacky feel so contented while he is
dreaming?
(a) He feels everyone will admire him.
(b) He feels Mama will comfort him.
(c) He feels the dream figure will be delighted by
his attentions.
5. In.Blacky's mind, how does mama stack up against the
dream figure when he compares them?
6. Would Blacky rather be like the figure in his
dream? . . . Why?
-12-
CARD I
1. Which of the following statements best describes
this picture?
(a) His violin is on the table and he is waiting
for his music lesson.
(b) He admires his father and is dreaming of being
as great a violinist as he is.
(c) The boy is tired of playing the violin and would
rather be playing ball.
2. What person would be most effective in getting the
boy to finish his practicing?
(a) His father.
(b) His mother.
(c) His music teacher.
-13-
ChRD VII
1. Which of the following statements best describes
this picture?
(a) The boy is determined to live up to the ideals
and standards of this Older.man whom he greatly
admires.
(b) The older man is telling about his childhood
experiences.
(c) The boy is anxious to go to his friends who are
waiting for him.
If the father is giving his son advice how would the
son feel about it?
(a) Resentful because of his father's interference.
(b) Pleased because his father is helping him.
(c) He does not care one way or the other.
-14-
CARD VIII
1. Which of the following statements best describes
this picture?
(a) The boy is remembering part Of a movie he has
just seen.
(b) The boy is dreaming of becoming a skilled and
famous surgeon.
(c) The thought of being Operated on has made this
boy turn away. '
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