2) Approaches - Psychodynamic Approach

Question 1

What is the role of the unconscious?

Answer 1

• What we know is the conscious and makes up a small portion of our mind.
• The unconscious takes up most of our mind, stores drives and instincts.
• Another part is the preconscious which contain our thoughts and memories which are not currently in out conscious awareness.

Question 2

What are the three structures of personality?

Answer 2

Id, Ego, Superego

Question 3

What is the Id?

Answer 3

• Operates on the pleasure principles and demands gratification of its drives and instincts.
• Primitive and entirely selfish.
• Present at birth.

Question 4

What is the ego?

Answer 4

• Works on the reality principle and is the mediator between the id and superego.
• Reduces conflict between the Id and the Superego through the use of defence mechanisms.
• Develops at around 2yrs.

Question 5

What is the superego

Answer 5

• Based on the morality principle: our internalised sense of right and wrong.
• Represents the moral standards of the child’s same sex parent and punishes the ego for wrongdoing through guilt.
• Formed at the end of the phallic stage, around 5yrs

Question 6

When does the Id develop?

Answer 6

From birth

Question 7

When does the ego develop?

Answer 7

From 2yrs

Question 8

When does the superego develop?

Answer 8

End of the phallic stage, 5yrs

Question 9

How does the ego balance the demands of the Id and Superego?

Answer 9

Through defence mechanisms

Question 10

What do defence mechanisms actually do?

Answer 10

Prevent us from being overwhelmed by temporary threats or traumas

Question 11

What are the three defence mechanisms?

Answer 11

Repression, Denial and Displacement

Question 12

What is Repression?

Answer 12

Forcing a distressing memory out of the conscious mind

Question 13

What is Denial?

Answer 13

Refusing to acknowledge an aspect of reality

Question 14

What is Displacement?

Answer 14

Transferring feelings onto a substitute target

Question 15

What are Psychosexual stages?

Answer 15

• 5 stages of child development where the child must resolve a different conflict in order to progress to the next stage.

Question 16

What happens if a psychosexual conflict is not resolved?

Answer 16

Fixation occurs where the child carries on certain behaviours associated with that stage into their adult life.

Question 17

Name the 5 psychosexual stages and their age range

Answer 17

Oral: 0-1yrs
Anal: 1-3yrs
Phallic: 3-5yrs

After these stages:
Latency
Genital

Question 18

What is the age range of the Oral stage?

Answer 18

0-1yrs

Question 19

What is the age range for the Anal stage?

Answer 19

1-3yrs

Question 20

What is the age rage of the Phallic stage?

Answer 20

3-5yrs

Question 21

When do the Latency and Genital stages occur?

Answer 21

After 5 yrs

Question 22

What are features of the Oral stage?

Answer 22

• Focus of pleasure is the mouth

- Mother’s breast is the object of desire

Question 23

What is the consequence of fixation in the Oral stage?

Answer 23

Oral fixation - smoking, nail biting, sarcasm, critical

Question 24

What are the features of the Anal stage?

Answer 24

• Focus of pleasure is the anus, pleasure when withholding and expelling faeces

Question 25

What are the consequences of fixation in the Anal stage?

Answer 25

Anal Retentive - Perfectionist, obsessive

Anal Expulsive - Thoughtless, messy

Question 26

What are the features of the phallic stage?

Answer 26

• Focus of pleasure is the genital area.

- Child experiences the Oedipus or Electra complex

Question 27

What are the consequences fixation in the phallic stage?

Answer 27

Phallic personality - Narcissistic, reckless, possibly homosexual

Question 28

What are the features of the Latency stage?

Answer 28

Earlier conflicts are repressed

Question 29

What are the features of the genital stage?

Answer 29

Sexual desires become conscious alongside the onset of puberty

Question 30

What are the consequences of fixation in the Genital stage?

Answer 30

Difficulty forming heterosexual relationships.

Question 31

Give a strength of the psychodynamic approach

Answer 31

Influence
P - Has had a major influence on psychology.
E - Was used in the early 20th century to explain a wide range of phenomena, such as personality development and the importance of of early childhood experiences on development.

Question 32

Give a limitation of the psychodynamic approach in terms of its study method

Answer 32

Lack of generalisability
P - The psychodynamic approach lacks generalisability.
E - Freud’s theory was based on the study of single individuals who were often in therapy.
E - Critics claim that it is not possible to make universal claims about human nature based on the studies of a small number of individuals who were also psychologically abnormal.
L - Therefore Freuds research lacks external validity.

Question 33

Give a limitation as to how Freud’s research is subjective

Answer 33

P - Freuds research is subjective.
E - It is unlikely that other researchers would have came up with the same conclusions as Freud, such as in the case of Little Hans.
E - This questions the internal validity of Freud’s research.

Question 34

Give a limitation in relation to the psychodynamic approach being untestable

Answer 34

Pseudoscience
P - The psychodynamic approach lacks falsification as it is not open to empirical testing.
E - Since many of Freud’s concepts (such as the Oedipus and Electra complex) occur at the unconscious level, they are very difficult to test.
E - This makes the psychodynamic approach a pseudoscience (fake science) rather than a real science.

Question 35

What is the Oedipus complex?

Answer 35

• Boys develop incestuous feelings towards their mother and murderous intentions for their father as they are seen to be a rival for their mother’s love.
• They repress their feelings for their mother and identify with their father in fear of castration.
• They then take on the father’s gender roles and moral values.

Question 36

What is the Electra complex?

Answer 36

• Girls experience penis envy, they desire their father’s penis as it is the primary love object but also hate their mother.
• They then replace this desire with the desire for a baby, identifying with their mother.

Question 37

Who did Freud investigate to support his concept of the Oedipus complex?

Answer 37

Little Hans

Question 38

What was the case study of Little Hans?

Answer 38

• Hans was a 5yr old boy who developed a fear of horses after seeing one collapse in the street.
• Freud suggested that this phobia was a form of displacement where he repressed the fear of his father and displaced it onto horses.
• Therefore the fear of horses was symbolic for the fear of castration by his father during the Oedipus complex.