eli5: Why is Freud concidered to be “the father of modern psychology” but at the same time, every psychologist hates freudian analysis?

Question

eli5: Why is Freud concidered to be “the father of modern psychology” but at the same time, every psychologist hates freudian analysis?

In: Other

Answer 1

Well…i hate to be that guy, but as a psychology graduate…Freud is not considered the father of modern psychology at all. The father of modern psychology is recognized as Wilhelm Wundt.

Everyone has given some interesting responses to your question though as to why Freudian theory is still talked about within psychology. That being said, in psychology courses his work is never really referenced nor used as a basis of analytical framework for the different disciplines in psychology.

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Edit: Ok to answer your question

Freud wasnt a psychologist, he was a philospher. Freud didnt do anything other than think about different ways to explain issues people were dealing with. He would think, he would come up with some explanation, and he would share his explanation. This made it possible to consider why some people had mental health issues, it opened up a gate. But thats all he did. The sad part is that unless you do a deep dive into his life, you will never know how many crazy theories he came up with that people dont talk about or know about. Thats why modern psychology dislikes him, he never tried to do anything to prove how the things he thought up were correct or incorrect, he would just think and share, and built a reputation over time that people started to take his word as truth.

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Modern psychology isnt like that. We think of a problem in our world, we ask why its like that, we come up with a theory, and then we rigorously test our thoughts. When we’re wrong, we acknowledge it and think some more and test new theories.

Edit2: i misspelled freud as often as i could to block out the inevitable mental images of some horrendous sexual acts. So close to valentine’s too tsk tsk. My weekend is ruined.

Edit 3: jesus guys its an “explain like im 5” subreddit and a lot of people are drawing all these conclusions based on my ELI5 answer. OP wants to know why we talk about Freud in psychology when most psychologist have moved away from Freudian theory. I gave a simplified answer to an incredibly nuanced and complicated issue. Calm down. Uhg.