In "Earth Diver: Creation of the Mythopoetic Male," folklorist Alan Dundees offers a wildly different, psychological (i.e. Freudian) view of the Earth Diver creation myth. According to Dundes, previous scholars' analyses of Earth Diver are too "literal" and "study myth in monocultural context" whereas his interpretation offers "transcultural universalism."

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According to Dundes, there is "remarkable stability in oral narratives" which suggests "symbolic", "universal meanings" with "unconscious content." Dundees sees Earth Diver as exemplifying male's subconscious dreams of "pregnancy envy" and "cloacal (or anal) theory of birth" - in other words, Dundees concludes "the common denominator is the male myth of creation whereby the male creator uses various aspects of the only means available, namely the creative power of the anus (Bronner 2007, 327-328, 331-339, 346)."

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Still defending himself 34 years later in "Madness in Method Plus a Plea for Projective Inversion in Myth," Dundees repeats that his analysis of Earth Diver exemplifies a deeper "symbolic (with "projective inversion)" as opposed to a "literal (with "simple projection")" interpretation of myth. In a male dominated society, such a myth allows "normal biology to be contravened through myth - by creating a male myth whereby women was said to come from a man's body" and a "male deity creates males in his image (Bronner 2007, 347-349).