Obsessiveness and a thematic apperception test-based measure of aggression.

Freud (1909/1955) hypothesized a conflict between love and hate in obsessive neurosis. To test this relationship, we compared a Thematic Apperception Test-based measure of aggressive fantasies in college men who scored either high or low on the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised. 64 undergraduate men from beginning classes in psychology participated. Their mean age was 19.4 yr. (SD= 1.7). 16 men with high scores had significantly higher scores on a TAT-based measure of aggressive fantasies toward parents, partners, and others than 15 men with low scores, which is consistent with Freud's hypothesis.