Psychology, metapsychology, and psychoanalysis

Abstract

Argues that both purposive and causal perspectives on behavior are essential to a mature psychology. Focus upon the meaning of behavior may be an efficient strategy for using psychoanalytic data but, for other data, process descriptions often seem more useful. It is concluded that the lack of measures in psychology quantifiable on an interval scale prevents energy constructs from having the utility they do in physics, but that energy constructs have served to highlight important issues of capacity and limits and must be considered by any meaningful alternative formulation. (32 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.