Question

A client tells his therapist about a dream of riding on a train with his boss. At the end of the journey, the boss gets off the train at a terminal. The therapist suggests that the "terminal" in the dream indicates an unconscious desire by the client to "terminate" his boss. This desire to terminate the boss, if it exists, would reflect what Freud called the ________ content of the dream.

A. primary

B. secondary

C. manifest

D. latent

Answer 1

The unconscious desire to 'terminate' the boss in the client's dream, according to Freudian theory, reflects the latent content of the dream, which is the hidden psychological meaning behind the literal story of the dream.

Step-by-step explanation:

The desire to 'terminate' the boss, as suggested by the therapist based on the dream content of riding on a train and ending at a 'terminal', would reflect what Freud called the latent content of the dream. Sigmund Freud posited that dreams contain both manifest and latent content. The manifest content is the literal storyline or events of the dream, such as riding on a train with the boss. However, the latent content represents the hidden psychological meaning of the dream, like the supposed wish to 'terminate' one's boss. In this specific case, the correct answer is D. Latent content.