4.2.1 - psychodynamic approach

Question 1

Assumption of the psychodynamic theory

Answer 1

Freud proposed the idea that all behaviour is driven by the unconscious mind: the thoughts that we ignore because they re immoral and unethical and the thoughts that we aren’t immediately aware of

Question 2

Frauds view on the past

Answer 2

All humans are slaves to their pasts

Question 3

What are the 3 levels to the personality

Answer 3

• conscious mind
• pre- conscious mind
• unconscious mid

Question 4

What is the conscious mind

Answer 4

Everything that we are aware of

Question 5

What is the pre conscious mind

Answer 5

The thoughts that are beyond everyday awareness, BUT are easily accessible and tends to emerge in dreams

Question 6

What is the unconscious mind

Answer 6

We repress traumatic, embarrassing and unacceptable
thoughts into the unconscious mind. So that we don’t have to face them everyday
HOWEVER they can emerge in behaviours and are possible to be accessed through therapy and free association.
↳ can emerge In both:
· latent fear
· manifested fear

Question 7

What is latent fear and manifested fear

Answer 7

Latent : True fears
Manifested : something else that represents the true fear

Question 8

What are the 3 levels to the mind

Answer 8

• id
• ego
• superego

Question 9

What is the id

Answer 9

The pleasure principle.
- desires immediate satisfaction
- our thoughts, wants and desires.
↳ babies are mass ID , meaning we are born with id, it
is strong until 18 months.

Question 10

What is the superego

Answer 10

the morality principle:
- allows the differentiation between right
and wrong
- it develops between 3-6 yrs and is learnt from society
and parents.

Question 11

What is the ego

Answer 11

the reality principle:
- the balance of demands of Id and superego
- located in the conscious mind.
- develops between 18 months and 3 yrs

Question 12

What are the 3 ego defence mechanisms

Answer 12

• denial
• displacement
• repression

Question 13

What is denial

Answer 13

Refusing to accept reality

Question 14

What is displacement

Answer 14

Taking out true feelings and placing them onto a safer target

Question 15

What is repression

Answer 15

Pushing things away from our conscious awareness

Question 16

What are the purpose of the ego defence mechanisms

Answer 16

help an individual cope with anxiety resulting from a stressful internal or external environment.

Question 17

What are the purpose of the psychosexual stages

Answer 17

The stages of development that shape personality

Question 18

List the 5 psychosexual stages

Answer 18

• oral
• anal
  -phallic
• latent
• genital

( Old Age Pensioners Like Girls )

Question 19

Describe the oral stage

Answer 19

• ages 0-1
• pleasure focused on the mouth ( through breastfeeding )
• unresolved conflicts in this stage lead to: smoking, nail biting, eating/drinking problems

Question 20

What is fixation

Answer 20

• occurs when an issue or conflict in a psychosexual stage remains unresolved, leaving the individual focused on this stage and unable to fully move onto the next.

Question 21

Describe the anal stage

Answer 21

• ages 1-3
• pleasure is focused on the anus
• children withhold and expel faeces
• unresolved conflicts cause: anally retentive personality ( organised, perfectionist )
  Or a anally retentive personality ( messy, disorganised)

Question 22

Describe the phallic stage

Answer 22

• age 3-5
• focus of pleasure is from the genitals
• boys go through the Oedipus complex
• girls go through the electra complex

Question 23

What is the Oedipus complex

Answer 23

↳ Young boys develop a sexual attraction to their mother
- so therefore become jealous of their father, and develop castration anxiety.
- To avoid this, boys identity with the father and copy their morals and ethics.
- at this stage superego is fully developed therefore get their superego from their father.

Question 24

What is the electra complex

Answer 24

• girls desire their father because they have penis envy. - They view penises as powerful so penis = power.
• girls identify with their mother as she doesn’t have a
  penis, then they desire a baby

Question 25

Describe the latent stage

Answer 25

• ages 6-12
• sexual impulses are repressed and redirected into a focus on school and friendships

Question 26

Describe the genital stage

Answer 26

• from puberty onwards
• a focus on sexual relationships with others with genital as a focus, rather than self pleasure
• unresolved conflicts: difficulty forming heterosexual relationships

Question 27

A03: bias

Answer 27

• Freud may have shown research bias in his interpretations
• he may have only paid attention to information which supported his theories, and ignored information and other explanations that did not fit them.

Question 28

A03: unscientific

Answer 28

• limitation
  Subjective theories that are unfalsifiable meaning his theory cannot be supported by evidence

Question 29

A03: talking therapy

Answer 29

• strength
  proposed the first suggestion of talking therapy easily is used widely to treat patients with mental disorders today

Question 30

A03: case studies

Answer 30

• limitations
  Little hans was investigated in detail however cannot be generalised to the whole population
• decreases the reliability