This Science Sunday will be a bit shorter, and will look at this series of panels here!
Here, The Wizard is attempting to turn The Thing evil with Freudian Psychology! This is an outdated method of thinking and decision making that has a lot of prominence in pop culture because it was one of the first models proposed.
Freud's theory claims that we have three voices inside our head: the conscious ego, the unconscious superego, and the unconscious id. Freud speculated that the ego was comprised of all our thoughts and feelings, and was the decision maker of the brain. He also thought that, while we couldn't hear our superego or id, they would subtly influence our decision making in meaningful ways. He believed the superego compelled you to act selflessly and help people, while following laws and being a good person. The id on the other hand was compelled to seek reward. It would chase junk food and cocaine (which Freud did a lot of). These two voices would subtly nudge your ego towards certain decisions, like the trope of the angel and the devil on your shoulders.
This theory has never been proven, or even had supporting evidence shown, making me hesitant to call this a Science Sunday. Pseudoscience Sunday may be closer. No matter if you believe the theory or not, Stan Lee's understanding of it seems to be a little lacking, as as soon as The Thing has his id enlarged, he immediately tries to kill all his friends. This isn't the kind of instant gratification behaviour the id is known to seek. It also wouldn't make him any easier to control. It might actually make him harder to control, as he'd be more inclined to act in his own self interest.
