The development of personality Fromm concludes that personality may continue to

develop into adulthood, but he posits no specifi c developmental stages. He warns against such pathogenic parental behaviors as authoritarianism, narcissism, pessimism, and physical abuse. He also devotes considerable attention to such nonproductive character types or frames of ori- entation as receptive, exploitative, hoarding, and marketing. In contrast, the healthy productive orientation stresses biophilia, love, and reason.

4. Further applications. Fromm is noted for his major work on dream interpretation, The

Forgotten Language. He argues that dreams may be relatively obvious as well as disguised, and

that we are often wiser in our dreams than when we are awake. Fromm is also a social philoso- pher who offers numerous criticisms of our hypocritical, alienating, and destructive society. He therefore proposes sweeping (and highly controversial) changes in the basic structure of society.

5. Evaluation Fromm’s radical and sermonistic proposals for social change often seem unsci- entifi c and excessive. Yet his works have also been praised as landmarks in psychological, political, and philosophical thought, and it is by no means clear that his recommendations can be safely ignored.

STUDY QUESTIONS

Part I. Questions

1. Fromm argues that “destructiveness is the outcome of unlived life.” Freud contends that destruc- tiveness occurs because we fail to sublimate our illicit instincts. Since both theorists agree that we are destructive, why is this theoretical difference important?

2. According to Adler, it is all too possible to deny our predisposition for social interest and become neurotically self-centered. Fromm argues that we must overcome our innate narcissis- tic tendencies in order to develop healthy and mature love. Does the difference in terminology between Adler and Fromm refl ect important theoretical differences?

3. Explain how each of the following is related to Fromm’s conception of “escape from freedom”: (a) The confl ict between the healthy need for identity and the desire for a powerful protector. (b) A growing child gets increasing freedom to do what he or she wants, which involves both freedom from the hindrance of parental authority and freedom from the comforts of security and protection. (c) Unlike lower animals, humans have nonorganic drives. (d) The behavior described in section 5 of the case material in the Appendix.

4. Give a real-life example of a child who grows up with a profound fear of being loved. Why might this happen?

5. Give an example from your own life, from the life of someone you know well, or from fi ction to illustrate: (a) the receptive orientation; (b) the exploitative orientation; (c) the hoarding orienta- tion; (d) the marketing orientation; (e) the productive orientation.

6. A young woman dreams that she is having breakfast with her husband and hands him the com- ics section of the newspaper. To her, this dream seems meaningless and unimportant. How would Fromm interpret this dream?

7. Fromm takes a negative view of many aspects of our society, including: (a) advertising by busi- nesses and politicians; (b) politicians; (c) inadequate foreign aid; (d) the lack of a guaranteed annual income; (e) the existence of so many different religions; (f) the threat of nuclear war; (g) plundering our environment and poisoning the earth. Do you agree or disagree? Why? 8. According to Fromm, “one must believe that loving parents are the exception, rather than the

9. A terrorist blows up a building in a hated foreign country. How might Fromm explain the terrorist’s behavior?

10. How might a destructive (and unusually introspective) terrorist use Fromm’s ideas to make bet- ter decisions and live a more fulfi lling life?

Part II. Comments and Suggestions

1. One reason: Fromm devotes considerable emphasis to changing society. Since we do not have any innate illicit tendencies, the causes of psychopathology must be external, namely society (and its agents, the parents). In contrast, Freud devotes considerable emphasis to changing the individual (as through psychoanalytic therapy). Since we have powerful illicit instincts that always remain part of our personality, it is we who must change by sublimating these instincts in order to reduce the inevitable confl icts between ourselves and society.

In my opinion, there is merit in both of these views. We should try to improve our society (which is in need of considerable improvement). We should also strive for self-improvement, and to replace our self-defeating and pathological behaviors with healthy ones. (Recall that we are all at least a little neurotic—some of us more than a little.)

2. I don’t think so. Fromm’s conception of love is virtually identical to Adler’s construct of social interest, since it involves a caring for humanity rather than an infatuation with a specifi c per- son, and (secondary) narcissism is the same as exaggerated self-interest. So I regard this as yet another example of Adler’s ideas being subsumed into other theories of personality, albeit using a different terminology.

3. (a) and (b) Although everyone needs to feel that “I am I,” this is not easy to achieve. Life has many dangers, such as accidents, earthquakes, fl oods, illness, crime, and death. So it is tempt- ing to abandon our desire for independence and identity, escape from the freedom to make our own choices, and seek out a powerful protector who will provide security by telling us what to do. (c) If we only had organic drives, we would be more like lower organisms whose behavior is determined by innate instincts. Without reason, self-awareness, and imagination, there would be fewer (or perhaps even no) choices for us to make, and little or no freedom from which to escape. (d) Freedom is frightening to this person because he is too weak and confl icted to take advantage of it. He has repressed his real self so well that he usually does not know what he wants, and freedom is a threatening reminder of this painful situation. So he would rather not be free, and he unconsciously creates inner commands for himself that make it seem as though he has no free choice. (Other ways of escaping from freedom that he might have chosen, but did not, include becoming a conformist or someone who blindly follows the orders of a dictator or religious zealot.)

4. See sections 2 and 3 of the case material in the Appendix. Because of such pathogenic parental behaviors as overprotectiveness and destructive criticism, and his own inability to deal with these behaviors, he developed basic anxiety (in Horney’s terminology) and surrendered his real self. Yet his parents always said how much they loved him (which, in their way, they did). So he equates love with being overprotected, dominated, criticized, and having to abandon his real wishes. These beliefs are largely unconscious; he is aware only of considerable anxiety concerning the prospect of intimate relationships and love.

5. Possible examples: (a) Horney’s description of the patient who resembles “Cinderella bereft of her fairy godmother.” (b) Enron executives; a novel popular many years ago, What Makes

Sammy Run; the character of Sheldon Grossbart in Philip Roth’s short story, “Defender of the

Faith.” (c) See the comment to Chapter 4, question 6e; the hoarding orientation is much the same as Adler’s description of the person who “guards his wretched treasures.” (d) A college student wears trendy clothes and drinks alcohol, even though he does not like to do so, in order to be accepted by his peer group. (e) See the comment to Chapter 4, question 6f.

6. Recall that, to Fromm, every dream is an important communication from the dreamer to him- self or herself. How might Fromm’s interpretation vary according to the following additional information? (a) Her husband hates the comics. (b) Her husband loves the comics. (c) At a party on the evening prior to this dream, her husband accused her of being too silly and comical. (d) Her husband likes to talk during breakfast; she prefers to read the paper. (e) She likes to talk during breakfast; her husband prefers to read the paper. (f) On the day prior to this dream, she read a comic strip wherein a presumably happy husband and wife were revealed as having seri- ous marital diffi culties. (g) She wants to have cosmetic surgery; her husband argues that it is too expensive. On the day prior to this dream, she read a comic strip wherein a woman had a successful facelift. (Do you see why it is usually necessary to know more about the dreamer, and perhaps obtain the dreamer’s free associations, in order to interpret a dream accurately?) 7. (a) Are advertisements illogical? Which is more sensible: to buy a pair of sneakers because a

famous athlete wears that brand (and is paid a large amount of money to recommend it), or to buy a brand that is comfortable, durable, and reasonably priced? Do such advertisements impair our ability to use reason and logic? (b) How often do you actually meet those who represent you in government? Do they usually tell the truth in their speeches and statements? (c) and (d) Starvation is a serious problem in “have-not” countries, as is the possibility that they might start a nuclear war. So too is the problem of the homeless in this country. But where is the money to come from? (e) If this is harmful, why is this country respected for allowing freedom of reli- gion? (f) How serious is this threat? Might it get worse in the not too distant future? (g) What are the dangers of following our present course? What changes should be made?

8. Fromm had extremely negative views about our society, and parents act as the agents of society by teaching prevailing standards to their children. However, consider Fromm’s opinion of his own parents (biographical sketch). If a child has parents who are very neurotic and don’t meet his or her important needs, might it be comforting to believe that this is the norm rather than the exception?

9. Would Fromm attribute the terrorist’s behavior to an illicit instinct? Why not? What mecha- nism of escape is the terrorist using? According to Fromm, what is the cause of human destruc- tiveness? Why, then, might the terrorist have chosen this mechanism of escape instead of the healthy, productive orientation?

7