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Psychohistory in the Classroom

Paul H. Elovitz
The Journal of Psychohistory V. 25, N. 4, Spring 1998

Psychohistory is a fascinating and yet sometimes frustrating field to teach.1 It is fascinating because the subject matter is so varied and rich, and frustrating because there is usually no one answer and endless resistances may arise among students. In this essay, I will use as prime examples two sophomore-level psychohistory courses: The first I taught recently as a visiting professor at a metropolitan New York college, the second during the presidential election of 1992 and the 1994 congressional elections which led to the "Republican Revolution." The principle underlying my teaching, as spelled out in earlier publications and presentations,2 is an emphasis on the case study method rather than on psychoanalytic and psychohistorical theory. When I do turn to theory, the focus is on childhood, empathy, the vital role of fantasy, and the mechanisms of defense. Certain theories I teach without necessarily even using the term: For example, I introduce the repetition compulsion by discussing the enormous power of first experiences in our lives.3

Introduction to Psychohistory

This course was geared to introducing undergraduates to psychohistory. Most of the students majored in psychology, history, social work, and literature. It was explained that we were examining the "why" of history and society systematically as we studied psychobiography, the history of childhood, group dynamics, the emotions, the mechanisms of defense, mourning, sexuality, and much else. The human subjects probed included Isaac Asimov, Austrian leaders (Victor and Fredrich Adler, Otto Bauer, and Theodore Herzl), William Jefferson Clinton, Germans (including Heinrich Himmler and Adolph Hitler), Ted Kaczynski, Walter and William Langer, Timothy McVeigh, Richard Nixon, George Steinbrenner, and major psychohistorical innovators such as David Beisel, Rudolph Binion, Lloyd deMause, Peter Loewenberg, Robert Jay Lifton, and Vamik Volkan.

At the beginning of the syllabus there are a variety of quotes including, "Psychohistory is based upon the Socratic dictum: Ôknow thyself.'" I tell my students, Socrates understood self knowledge is the basis of all know-ledge; therefore introspection is a valuable tool in the process of learning. The role of the student as a psychohistorical participant observer was stressed. Some of the best psychohistory students have clearly had depth psychological therapeutic experiencesÑalthough they almost never mention that they learned the power of the unconscious in this manner. I point out that feelings are transmitted among people with or without words. Introducing the students to transference and countertransference is complex. Fortunately, Loewenberg has an excellent discussion which is suitable for undergraduates.

The primary readings were Peter Loewenberg's Decoding the Past,4 the Special Student Edition of Clio's Psyche,5 Lloyd deMause's "The Evolution of Childhood,"6 and various photocopied articles. Students were required to read and discuss these materials and write a research paper chosen after consultation with me. Psychohistorical concepts were introduced in the course of the examination of different individuals, events and problems. Theory was usually integrated with concrete human and historical examples. Some of the general issues raised were the human inclination to find enemies and allies, the impact of the shedding of blood, the role of the biographer, sports as an outlet for unfettered emotions, and the relationship of the leader and the led.

Why humans need enemies and martyrs was an important topic in this course. To introduce this subject I showed the film, "The Faces of the Enemy." The main theme of this excellent film and book by Sam Keen is the ways in which Nazi Germany, Soviet Communism, the USA, some individuals, and societies generally depersonalize and demonize enemies as a prelude to war.7 Amidst many images of the enemy, Keen interviews authorities such as Robert Jay Lifton and Joseph Campbell. The interview of David Rice, a mass murderer, is quite effective in reaching students. Seeing himself as a soldier in the struggle against communism, this frustrated and probably psychotic individual used the demonization of communists by various right-wing demagogues as a justification for murdering a family he wrongfully thought were Marxists. A most moving point in the film is when Rice comes finally to see the family he has killed as human beings, not faceless enemies. The normally affectless Rice has to face the inhumanity of his deed, just as the students have to face their human feelings for a murderer, as did Sam Keen.

The psychological force of the shedding of blood is a theme which I connect to the need for enemies. When the blood sacrifice is made in war, revolution, religion, nation formation, and so forth, a powerful bond of connection is forged. I wonder aloud if we would know the name of Jesus, had he been pardoned, or of Socrates if he had elected to go into exile rather than drink the hemlock. I note that martyrs draw our attention far more than those who accommodate themselves to the often unfair realities of their societies. An example I utilized to support this view is the Serbian celebration of their defeat and the annihilation of their army in the Battle of Kosovo in 1389.8

I also mention a "joke."9 It is about the first Bosnians landing on Mars. The two Croatian Bosnians plant a Croatian flag, drink champagne, and say how much more beautiful the Dalmatian Coast is than Mars. The two Bosnian Muslims plant their flag and look around for sites for the new Sarajevo and the next winter olympics. When the two Serbian Bosnians step out of the space capsule, one shoots the other and then plants a Serbian flag with the words, "Since Serbian blood has been spilled here it is now a part of Serbia forevermore." In the context of our discussion of the psychohistory of hatred, based on what Freud called "the narcissism of minor differences,"10 the blood feuds of the Balkans begin to make more sense to the students. They begin to realize that a history of victimization may be used in a nation's or ethnic group's consciousness to justify feeling entitled to become the victimizers though the group will insist it is just protecting itself.

Student Expectations and Resistances

Let me examine some of the student resistances to mastering the course materials. Before I precede the reader should note that I require only understanding, not agreement or the appearance of agreement. A powerful resistance was to not want to analyze anything that related to their own activities or anything they valued. Thus a baseball fan declared that "baseball is just baseballÑwhich I love" and took offense at the article on sports psychology. Though the article avoided a pathological approach to the sport, the very idea of analyzing it was offensive to this young woman and some others in the class.11

The most common resistance was a reluctance to read, think about, and understand the assigned materials. I found that the majority of the students did not read the assigned materials unless I gave a quiz at the beginning of the class. In short, many resistances were much like those in most classes, although they may have been more extreme. When I gave announced quizzes the grades were usually high and the discussion that followed was intelligent. Often there are resistances which are specific to teaching psychohistory because the materials can be more anxiety producing to some students than those in traditional history courses. For example, a student responded to reading about the history of childhood by blaming the author for the abuses described.

One talented student had such a vocal response that it changed the tone of the entire discussion that followed, making it more subduedÑwhich is seldom helpful. In this situation, I tried to help the student deal with and understand the reasons for the strong reaction and the class to understand that one of the strongest psychic defenses is denial. I referred to the Persian king's practice of giving gold coins to the messenger with good news and killing the messenger with bad news. Our discussion was extended to coping mechanisms, called by their psychoanalytic name of the mechanisms of defense. These became an important part of our discussion as they do in all of my psychohistory courses.

Students are sometimes inhibited when they realize I am a psychotherapist as well as an historian. This created a downside to students reading Clio's Psyche, which clearly identifies me as a therapist. They have fantasies that I can read their minds and that I want to do this and somehow even have time to do this. I suspect that this sometimes stems from their own fantasies of using psychohistory to read other peoples' minds! I remind students that for psychoanalysis you need privacy and a couch as well as lots of time and willingness to work collaboratively.

Once, when I asked a student to come to see me during office hours, he protested: "You won't get me in your office to analyze me!" I told him that we needed to speak about his research projectÑhe had never handed in an outline and bibliography. Prior to class starting, as I walked into the room I had heard him irresponsibly and vocally conducting some wild analysis of another student.12 I had discouraged his wild analysis and in the privacy of my office I had wanted to make it clear to him that it was inappropriate to make assertions about his fellow student's psychodynamics. I had no intention of analyzing him. As expected, he never came to my office and dropped the course after the first quizÑfor which he had not prepared. In his case, I think that his motivation for dropping was as much that he did not want to work hard as that the subject matter and training of the instructor made him uncomfortable.

Though I am fascinated by the Makers of Psychohistory Interviews in the Clio's Psyche Special Student Edition, students did not read these closely, if at all. They totally confused these very separate individuals. I found that I had to limit my discussion to scholars about whom I lectured at length or by whom we had other readings that we discussed in class in some detail. There was a reluctance to learn as much about Europeans who were not already famous or infamous in America. Thus the Austro-Marxists that Loewenberg writes about so intelligently received less attention, unless the assignments were reinforced with quizzes, than the Nazis Hitler and Himmler. Among American subjects, generally contemporary figures who are in the news as symbols of violence, such as Ted Kaczynski and Tim McVeigh, received more attention than more historical and respectable figures such as Walter and William Langer.

Almost all of my students come to psychohistory with a psychopathological model which understands the famous and creative in terms of their psychopathology. In contrast, the model I brought was one that emphasized the use of psychohistory to understand the roots of adaptability, creativity, innovation, and success far more than psychopathology. The dominant student model was reflected in the initial choice of research paper topics which included murderers and madmen such as the Boston Strangler, Jim Jones of Jonestown, David Koresh, and Charles Manson. Some students were drawn to the famous and sensational such as Princess Diana (who had just died) and the Kennedys while others were interested in child abuse. A student with an intense dislike of a major psychological theorist wrote a fine, though thoroughly critical, paper about him. Several did write papers on creative individuals and did aspire to the jargon-free psychohistory I advocated, while most enjoyed pathologizing their subjects. A jargon-free psychohistory is probably something which most students can only achieve, should they aspire to it, in advanced courses.

Tailoring Psychohistory to Election Years

When a presidential election, or a heated congressional election, occurs when I am scheduled to teach psychohistory, I tailor the course to this event. In doing this, I am learning as the events unfold along with my students. I will give examples of my doing this from the 1992 presidential election and the 1994 election known as the "Republican Revolution."

There was a special excitement in the fall 1992 semester since there was a fairly good chance that a sitting president would be defeated. Since I had already co-authored articles on Bush and Clinton,13 I had strong feelings about the candidates, as did some of the students, and the class listened with rapt attention when I described my interviews of people close to the candidates and analyzed the development of the character of Bush, Clinton, Perot, Tsongas and others. There were lively discussions of the childhoods, personalities, political patterns, values, and policies of Bush and Clinton.

The students' sense of psychohistory being on the cutting edge of knowledge of important events was increased, and I found their openness to it to be greater than in non-election years. To assure that they are informed as to these events, I required that the students read The New York Times, The Washington Post, or some other serious newspaper on a daily basis. In seeking to keep tabs on the fast-moving election some students started bringing in materials from the Internet of most uneven quality. Certain of the ideas were so questionable, that I decided that paper copies of Internet materials should be turned in with outlines and the finished papers. By 1996 both my work and home office computers were wired for the Internet so I began to get a better sense of just how uneven the materials from it are. For me it was a more reliable source because I was in a much better position to sort out the chaff from the wheat than were the students.

To accommodate the voluminous election materials I postponed the European materials in Loewenberg, Decoding the Past, until after the election in early November. In the congressional election of 1994 there was an unusual degree of student interest in an off-year election. In 1996, after strong early interest, in the fall students began to act as if Clinton's victory over Dole and Perot was a foregone conclusion. In early October many seemed bored by the election. This meant that it was harder to get them to probe the issues in depth psychologically or in any other way. Nevertheless, it was still a big advantage to teach psychohistory through the narrow focus of the case study of electoral behavior.

Conclusion

Although I have sought to highlight some of my experiences in the teaching of psychohistory, it should be noted that there are enormous variations in the ways our field is taught. These are reflected in the variety of articles on teaching psychohistory in this journal, Clio's Psyche, The Psychohistory Review, Perspectives: American Historical Association Newsletter, The History Teacher, and other publications. In the many workshops on teaching psychohistory that I have chaired, co-chaired, or contributed to, a large variety of approaches to the field have appeared. There is a growing body of published material on the subject.14 David Beisel, a master teacher, has demonstrated that psychohistory can be used to build enrollments in all history classes.15 My most successful psychohistory course is the Holocaust class I have been teaching regularly since the late 1970s. In it and the two courses I discuss in this essay, I have had the opportunity to help students learn more about an exciting new field of inquiry. In the process they have also learned about themselves.

Paul H. Elovitz, Ph.D., became a founding faculty member at Ramapo College of New Jersey after honing his craft as a teaching historian at Temple, Rutgers, and Fairleigh Dickinson universities. He is a founding member and past president (1988-90) of the International Psychohistorical Association, founder and director of the Psychohistory Forum, and editor of Clio's Psyche. He has written a number of chapters and articles on teaching psychohistory. His edited volumes include Historical and Psychological Inquiry (1990) and Immigrant Experiences: Personal Narrative and Psychological Analysis (1991, with Charlotte Kahn). To contact him about teaching, e-mail to [email protected] or write to 627 Dakota Trail in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey 07417 in the USA.

References below

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1. I would like to thank the numerous psychohistory students whom I have had the pleasure to teach and learn from since teaching my first psychohistory course at Ramapo College in 1972. My appreciation also extends to Professor David Beisel for reading a draft of this paper and to numerous colleagues who have talked with me about the subject throughout the years.

2. "Leadership Education" and "The Holocaust in the Classroom," in Paul H. Elovitz, ed., Historical and Psychological Inquiry (New York: International Psychohistorical Association, 1990), pp. 496-524; "Psychohistorical Teaching," Journal of Psychohistory, Spring, 1988: 435-445; and "Helping People Learn," Psychohistory, III (1) 1979: 6-13. I have made about five professional presentations on teaching at various organizations and have chaired, co-chaired, or been an active participant in a half dozen workshops on teaching psychohistory and psychohistorically.

3. (c) Copyright 1998 Paul H. Elovitz.

4. Peter Loewenberg, Decoding the Past: The Psychohistorical Approach (New Brunswick, NJ: Transactions Books), is a valuable psychohistorical source and handbook. Henry Lawton, The Psychohistorian's Handbook (New York: The Psychohistory Press, 1988), is a valuable books with lots of helpful suggestions.

5. Paul H. Elovitz, ed.,Clio's Psyche Special Student Edition, 1997-98. (New Jersey: Franklin Lakes, The Psychohistory Forum, 1997).

6. Lloyd deMause, "The Evolution of Childhood," reprinted in Foundations of Psychohistory (New York: Creative Roots Publishing, 1982), pp. 1-83.

7. I would like to thank David Beisel for first introducing me to Keen's work. Our weekly discussions have benefited both our work as teachers and scholars. It has long been my contention that professors can learn an enormous amount from each other about techniques, sources, innovations, and problem solving in the classroom. This is based on discussions with the following: My fellow graduate teaching assistants at Rutgers at the beginning of my career, colleagues for five years at regular meetings of Western Civilization instructors at Temple University, and with David Beisel for the last fifteen years. The Psychohistory Forum's Research Group on Teaching Psychohistory works to sponsor and encourage psychohistorical instruction.

8. Vamik Volkan has just published some of his pathbreaking work on this subject which I have assigned in my course: War, Peace, and Conflict Resolution. See Blood Lines: From Ethnic Pride to Ethnic Terrorism (New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1997).

9. At this point, I do not remember if I read a version of this in a cartoon form or perhaps heard it from Vamik Volkan of the Center on Mind and Human Interaction at the University of Virginia.

10. Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1989), p. 72. This is also mentioned in Michael Ignatieff, Blood and Belonging: Journeys into the New Nationalism (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1994).

11. Paul H. Elovitz, "George Steinbrenner and the Yankees: Personality and Sports Psychology," Clio's Psyche: Special Student Edition, 1997-98, pp. 38-40.

12. "Wild psycho-analysis" is a term used by Freud to describe the irresponsible use of psychoanalytic interpretations. His primary example was a physician who gave advice that did not encourage self understanding to a woman patient. His general sense was that such interpretations do more harm to the reputation of psychoanalysis than to the recipients. I think this remains the case. His 1910 article on the subject was called "ÔWild' Psycho-analysis."

13. "Psychobiographical Explorations of Clinton and Perot," Journal of Psychohistory XX Fall, 1992: 197-216 with Professor Herbert Barry of the University of Pittsburgh and "George Bush: From Wimp to President" in Joan Zuckerberg, editor, Politics and Psychology: Contemporary Psychodynamic Approaches (New York, Plenum Press, 1991), pp. 99-116Ñwith Professor Glen Jeansonne of the University of Wisconsin.

14. The Journal of Psychohistory has had many informative articles on teaching psychohistory. The Spring 1988 issue was specifically organized around the subject with articles by Kenneth Adams, Jerrold Atlas, David Beisel, Michael Carroll, Alice Eichholz, Paul Elovitz, Robert Pois, and Lee Shneidman. Clio's Psyche has had articles on teaching by Geoffrey Cocks, Melvin and Margo Goldstein, Robert Pois, and others. Most of the featured scholars interviewed in Clio have spoken about their pedagogy. I welcome correspondence advising me as to additional articles on psychohistorical instruction.

15. David Beisel, "How I Teach Psychohistory." Journal of Psychohistory XV (4): 391-412.

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