Listen to a conversation between a student and a psychology professor. (male professor) Hi, Johnny, what can I help you with?(female student) Well, I’ve been working on my paper on Sigmund Freud and what he said about our minds, how there\'s a part of our minds that\'s conscious like our thoughts, and also an unconscious part that we\'re not in control of, not even aware of?(male professor) The idea that most of our behavior comes from our unconscious mind rather than conscious choices.(female student) Right. But something\'s been bothering me. (male professor) Oh. What\'s that?(female student) Well, how can Freud came to know? I mean, for sure, how the unconscious mind works, I mean, how can you really confirm ideas about the unconscious?(male professor) Well, those are great questions. And the answer is you can\'t. (female student) You, you can\'t?(male professor) Freud is actually quite controversial in the field of psychology for that very reason, not necessarily among the therapists who are trying to help their patients.They often find Freud ideas useful, but more among people who want psychology to be seen as a science. (female student) like who?(male professor) Um, people who do psychological research. Freud’s work concerning the unconscious was based on case studies, observations he made about his own patients.Since Freud himself was a therapist, he derived his insights from these observations rather than from controlled experiments. So, his method wasn\'t really scientific.(female student) Wait, I, I thought Freud was like the father of modern psychology. I mean, when I think of psychology, I think of Freud.(male professor) You\'re not wrong. His ideas have become part of our everyday life.Just this morning, I was speaking with a colleague, not someone in the psychology department, remind you.We were talking about how close the end of the semester is getting.(female student) Uh, I know I still have so much work to do before it\'s over.(male professor) Well, that\'s what she was saying, too. And the way she phrased it was that she was in denial about the end of the semester.Basically, she was saying she\'s not ready to face reality.Now, this idea of being in denial originated with Freud. He identified denial as something people do to avoid having to think about unpleasant things.But, but it\'s not like she was quoting Freud.(female student) She was just familiar with the concept of denial? (male professor) Right.(female student) So, you\'re saying that most people rely on Freud\'s ideas without realizing it. But many researchers reject them. Huh, that\'s so weird.(male professor) Well, think of it this way. Things have changed a lot in the field of psychology since Freud\'s day.We\'ve learned a great deal about the brain and how it gives rise to thoughts and feelings.There\'s a lot of information we have now that wasn\'t available to Freud, brain chemistry, brain structure, information that\'s proven useful for therapists as well as researchers.