Part II    Psychodynamic Theories56
fei75766_ch02_019-071.indd 56  02/19/20 08:59 AMDreams ofthedeath ofabeloved person alsooriginate inchildhood andare
wishfulfillments. Ifaperson dreams ofthedeath ofayounger person, theuncon -
scious maybeexpressing thewishforthedestruction ofayounger brother orsister 
whowasahated rivalduring theinfantile period. When thedeceased isanolder 
person, thedreamer isfulfilling theOedipal wishforthedeath ofaparent. Ifthe
dreamer feelsanxiety andsorrow during thedream, itisbecause theaffect hasbeen 
reversed. Dreams ofthedeath ofaparent aretypical inadults, buttheydonotmean 
thatthedreamer hasapresent wishforthedeath ofthatparent. These dreams were
interpreted byFreud asmeaning that,asachild, thedreamer longed forthedeath of
theparent, butthewishwastoothreatening tofinditswayintoconsciousness. Even 
during adulthood thedeath wishordinarily doesnotappear indreams unless the
affect hasbeen changed tosorrow.
Athird typical anxiety dream isfailing anexamination inschool. According to
Freud (1900/1953), thedreamer always dreams offailing anexamination thathas
already been successfully passed, never onethatwasfailed. These dreams usually 
occur when thedreamer isanticipating adifficult task.Bydreaming offailing an
examination already passed, theegocanreason, “Ipassed theearlier testthatIwas
worried about. Now I’mworried about another task,butI’llpassittoo.Therefore, I
need notbeanxious overtomorrow’s test.” Thewishtobefreefrom worry overadif-
ficult taskisthusfulfilled.
With eachofthese three typical dreams, Freud hadtosearch forthewish
behind themanifest levelofthedream. Finding thewishfulfillment required great 
creativity. Forexample, oneclever woman toldFreud thatshehaddreamed thather
mother-in-law wascoming foravisit.Inherwaking life,shedespised hermother-in-
lawanddreaded spending anyamount oftimewithher.Tochallenge Freud’s notion 
thatdreams arewishfulfillments, sheasked him,“Where wasthewish?” Freud’s 
(1900/1953) explanation wasthatthiswoman wasaware ofFreud’s belief thatawish
liesbehind every nontraumatic dream. Thus, bydreaming ofspending timewitha
hated mother-in-law, thewoman fulfilled herwishtospiteFreud andtodisprove his
wishfulfillment hypothesis!
Insummary, Freud believed thatdreams aremotivated bywishfulfillments. The
latent content ofdreams isformed intheunconscious andusually goesbacktochild -
hood experiences, whereas themanifest content often stems fromexperiences ofthe
previous day.Theinterpretation ofdreams serves asthe“royal road” toknowledge ofthe
unconscious, butdreams should notbeinterpreted without thedreamer’s associations 
tothedream. Latent material istransformed intomanifest content through thedream 
work. Thedream work achieves itsgoalbytheprocesses ofcondensation, displacement, 
andinhibition ofaffect. Themanifest dream mayhavelittleresemblance tothelatent 
material, butFreud believed thatanaccurate interpretation willreveal thehidden con-
nection bytracing thedream work backward untiltheunconscious images arerevealed.
Freudian Slips
Freud believed thatmany everyday slipsofthetongue orpen,misreading, incorrect 
hearing, misplacing objects, andtemporarily forgetting names orintentions arenot
chance accidents butreveal aperson’s unconscious intentions. Inwriting ofthese 
faulty acts,Freud (1901/1960) usedtheGerman Fehlleistung, or“faulty function,” Final PDF to printer