Little Freudian Slippage: Coverage of the Psychodynamic Perspective in the Undergraduate Personality Course

Debate about the merits of the psychodynamic perspective led us to wonder about the extent of its inclusion in personality textbooks and its coverage by teachers of the undergraduate personality psychology course. We reviewed the tables of contents of 25 recent personality textbooks and found only 4 that had no chapters dedicated to psychodynamic content. We also conducted an online survey of 160 faculty members who teach the personality course. Most respondents cover psychodynamic theory in their course, primarily due to the theory’s historical relevance. Among those who do not cover the perspective at all in their course, the most important reasons were that the theory is outdated and its major propositions do not lend themselves to empirical analysis.