An experimental analogue of "regression" with incidental observations on "reaction-formation."

Abstract

The concept of "regression" as it has been developed psychoanalytically is reviewed and restated in the terminology of the psychological laboratory. Section II describes an experiment in which "frustration" of one mode of adjustment, Habit B, caused regression in one group of rats to a previously practiced mode of adjustment, Habit A, but did not lead to regression in another group of rats that had not practiced Habit A before acquiring Habit B. The hypothesis that regression is conditioned by the presence or absence of prior fixations is supported and contrasted with an ahistorical interpretation of this phenomenon. The view that "emotional disturbance," rather than specific frustration, is the precipitating cause of regression is also discussed. The psychoanalytic concept of "reaction-formation" is defined and exemplified by human illustrations and by behavior manifested by rats in connection with this study of regression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)