Construct validity and transpositional research: toward an empirical study of psychoanalytic concepts.

L IKE ALL GREAT HOUSES, the magnificent edifice of psychological constructs, erected by the master-architect Sigmund Freud has a resident ghost. This ghost is the spirit of verification. The imposing structure of psychoanalytic concepts has, of course, considerable internal consistency and coherence. This, otherwise felicitous circumstance however, further complicates the situation by frequently leading to substitution of fraternal concurrence for construct validity. The following quotation from Heinz Hartmann will illustrate my point.