Understanding Freud

Question

I have recently started studying Freud and have so far managed to read part of his Studies on Hysteria, as well as The Neuro-Psychoses of Defense. In reading his Interpretation of Dreams, I have had trouble understanding what is over- and multiple determination and not only that (more on this below). As I understand it, being overdetermined refers to the elements of a dream. Each of the elements of the dream content is variously conditioned, has a number of corresponding points in the thoughts behind the dream/dream-thoughts. If it is determined by more than one item, it is overdetermined or multiply determined. Moreover, as I have understood being overdetermined refers not only to elements of the dream content, but in general to elements of the psyche, which later become dream-thoughts, once the dream is formed, that are "reinforced from many directions"

And in Chapter VI The Dream-work, Chapter B, I started having problems. Freud writes:

...a dream can reject elements which are thus both highly stressed in themselves and reinforced from many directions, and can select for its content other elements which possess only the second of these attributes.

In order to solve this difficulty we shall make use of another impression derived from our enquiry [in the previos section] into the overdetermination of the dream-content. Perhaps some of those who have read that enquiry may already have formed an independent conclusion that the overdetermination of the elements of dreams is no very important discovery, since it is a self-evident one. For in analysis we start out from the dream-elements and note down all the associations which lead off from them; so that there is nothing surprising in the fact that in the thought-material arrived at in this way we come across these same elements with peculiar frequency. I cannot accept this objection; but I will myself put into words something that sounds not unlike it. Among the thoughts that analysis brings to light are many which are relatively remote from the kernel of the dream and which look like artificial interpolations made for some particular purpose. That purpose is easy to divine. It is precisely they that constitute a connection, often a forced and far-fetched one, between the dream-content and the dream-thoughts; and if these elements were weeded out of the analysis the result would often be that the component parts of the dream-content would be left not only without overdetermination but without any satisfactory determination at all. We shall be led to conclude that the multiple determination which decides what shall be included in a dream is not always a primary factor in dream-construction but is often the secondary product of a psychical force which is still unknown to us. Nevertheless multiple determination must be of importance in choosing what particular elements shall enter a dream, since we can see that a considerable expenditure of effort is used to bring it about in cases where it does not arise from the dream-material unassisted.

It thus seems plausible to suppose that in the dream-work a psychical force is operating which on the one hand strips the elements which have a high psychical value of their intensity, and on the other hand, by means of overdetermination, creates from elements of low psychical value new values, which afterwards find their way into the dream-content

I have a number of questions:

1. Why "we shall be led to conclude that the multiple determination ... is often the secondary product of a psychical force ..."? How does that follow? If multiple/over-determination as the state of being reinforced from multiple directions is caused by some psychical force (i.e. it is a product of this force), then what force is that?

2. What does Freud mean when he talks about "psychical force creating, by means of overdetermination, from elements of low psychical value new values, which afterwards find their way into the dream-content"? Is that the same force which enables over-determination (point 1) and, if so, does he mean it makes these low value elements over-determined and this state is one of the reasons they find their way into dream-contents? Is that the same thing that happened with word "botanical" in a dream about botanical monography? What about this psychical force "stripping the elements which have a high psychical value of their intensity", is this intensity transferred to low-value elements and, because of the combination of this transferred intensity and the elements being overdetermined, they find their way into the dream?

Answer 1

Imagine you're in a park with a friend, playing catch. Suddenly, a dog runs by and you stop playing to pet the dog. This is similar to what Freud called a "psychical force" - something that changes what you're focused on.

In this situation, the park, the game, the friend, and the dog are all parts of your experiense, like parts of a dream. Each part has a certain importanse to you. You might think the game of catch is the most important part because that's what you came to do. But the "psychical force" can change what's important, making you pay more attention to the dog instead of the game.

This is like Freud's idea of over- and multiple-determination. The dog, which at first seems less important, becomes "overdetermined" or more importent, for many reasons - maybe because it's cute, friendly, or just something different.

At the same time, the game of catch, even though it's really important, can become less important because of the same "psychical force". This doesn't mean the game is less important in general or that its importance has moved to the dog - you still want to play it - but at that moment, the "psychical force" has changed what you're paying attention to.

Now, if you were to tell someone about your day at the park, the dog might seem like a big part of the story, even though it wasn't what you planned to do. The game of catch might seem less important in the story, even though it was your main plan. According to Freud, this is what happens in our dreams: the "psychical force" changes around the importance of different parts, making a dream that might seem weird or surprising compared to real life.

Answer 2

Freud's theory revolves around the idea of a "psychical force", which you can think of as a function in a program. This function takes in elements (like variables) that each have a certain "psychical value" - basically, their importance or weight in the dream's context.

Consider this function as an algorithm that can manipulate these values. It can "overdetermine" an element, that is, increase its value significantly, even if it initially had a low value. This process of "overdetermination" can be seen as applying multiple operations or influences to this variable, like adding emotional weight, recurring thoughts, or novel factors, to increase its value.

Let's put this in pseudo code:

def psychical_force(element):
    if element.value == 'low':
        element.value = overdetermine(element)
    return element

def overdetermine(element):
    # Add emotional weight, recurring thoughts, or novel factors
    element.value += emotional_weight + recurring_thoughts + novel_factors
    return element.value

So, when Freud mentions a "psychical force creating, by means of overdetermination, from elements of low psychical value new values", he's essentially saying that this function (psychical force) can take an element with a low value and increase its value significantly (overdetermine it), creating new values that are then factored into the dream content.

On the flip side, this function could also reduce the value of an element that had a high value initially. This doesn't mean the element's original value is lost or transferred to another element. It only suggests that the focus or attention within the dream context has been redirected.