Approaches Flashcards
What are the features of science ?
-Control
-Objectivity
-Replicability
-Empiricism
Who is Wundt (1879)
-“Father of psychology”
-Helped psychology become known as a science
-Set up the first psychology laboratory
-Method of introspection
What is introspection ?
-A systematic analysis of ones own conscious experience
-This method of analysis was used to make the data objective rather than subjective
-Participants were presented with environmental stimuli such as a ticking metronome and asked to report their reactions
(‘looking into’)
Limitations of Wundt’s method of introspection
-Bias: no way to prove that the participant was telling the truth when reporting back their reactions
The main assumptions of the Psychodynamic approach?
-Unconcious forces in our mind determine our thoughts and feelings and behaviour
-Our behaviour as adults = strongly influenced by our childhood
-Abnormal behaviour = result of mental conflict
-Mind can be divided into three levels of consciousness
What are the 3 levels of consciousness?
-Concious
-Preconcious
-Unconcious
What is the concious mind?
-The small amount of mental activity we know about
-Responsible for dealing with our everyday actions of the present
What is the preconcious mind?
-Responsible for storing easily accessible memories and past events
What is the unconcious mind?
-Things we are unaware of and can not become aware of
-Stores all our experiences, especially those of a traumatic experience or unpleasant nature
What is the Tripartite model of the personality?
-The personality is split into three parts :
-The ID
-The Ego
-The Superego
What part of the Tripartite model of the personality is the unconcious and impulsive part?
-The ID
What part of the personality is present from birth?
-The ID
What part of the personality demands immediate satisfaction and gratification?
-The ID
What principle is the ID governed by?
-The pleasure principle
Instinctual drives such as food, sleep and sex. Its motive is to satisfy these desires
What part of the personality is the concious and rational part?
-The Ego
When does the Ego develop?
2-3 years old
What is the function of the Ego?
-Balance the demands of the ID and Superego
What principle is the Ego governed by?
The reality principle
When does the Superego develop?
-Develops 4/5 years
What principle is the Superego governed by?
The morality principle
-Seeks to perfect and civilise out behaviour and is governed by the need to act in ways our parents would approve of; it punishes with anxiety and guilt when we don’t
-Embodies child’s sense of right and wrong + his or her ideal self
What is an ego defence mechanism?
Ways the ego protects itself from unconcious thoughts and feelings that may cause stress if they become conscious
Examples of ego defence mechanisms?
-Denial
-Displacement
-Repression
-Projection
-Regression
-Rationalisation
-Sublimation
-Reaction formation
What is denial ?
The unconcious refusal to accept reality
What is displacement?
Take anger/ unacceptable feeling or impulse and divert it from its source to someone else
What is repression?
Burying of the problem into the unconsciousness so that you no longer think about them
What is projection?
Disguising their own threatening impulses by pinning them on other people
What is regression ?
Retreating to an earlier stage of development
What is regression ?
Retreating to an earlier stage of development
What is reaction formation?
Switching unacceptable impulses into their opposite
What is rationalisation?
Justifying actions and covering up the real unconcious reasons
What is sublimation?
Rechanneling unacceptable impulses into socially acceptable stuff
What are the psychosexual stages of development?
-Oral stage
-Anal stage
-Phallic stage
-Latency stage
-Genital stage
What age does the oral stage take place
-0-1 years
The ID is dominant as the ego and superego have not yet fully developed (actions based on the pleasure principle)
What does the baby derive pleasure from in the oral stage?
-Suckling
The mouth is the erogenous zone. This is the area the libido is focused
What development takes place in the oral stage?
-The baby loses much of the intimate contact with the mother due to weaning and leads to the first feelings of loss. This adds to baby’s awareness of self as it learns not everything is under its control and gratification is not always immediate
What causes fixation in the oral stage and how does this affect development in later life?
-If the baby is under or overfed
What is the result of healthy development in the oral stage?
-Healthy- Good ability to form relationships, accept their affection and enjoyment of food and drink
What is the result of underindulgence in the oral stage?
-Underindulgence- Oral aggressive character: Aggressive, dominant, manipulative, trusting, chews pen ends or gum
What is the result of overindulgence in the oral stage?
-Overindulgence- Oral receptive character: Optimistic, gullible, over dependent on others, trusting, overeater, smoking
What age does the anal stage occur?
-1-3 years old
The ego has now developed
What does the baby derive pleasure from in the anal stage?
-Child derives pleasure from the expulsion and retention of faeces
The erogenous zone is the anus as the libido is now focused in this area
What development takes place in the anal stage?
-The child becomes more aware of the demands of reality as potty training is imposed by the parents
What causes fixation in the anal stage?
-Too strict or too lax potty training
What is the result of healthy resolution in the anal stage?
-Healthy- The ability to deal with authority and have a balance between being orderly and being disorganised
What is the result of too strict potty training in the anal stage?
-Anal Retentive character:
Neat, stingy, precise, orderly, and obstinate.
Obsessed with organisation and excessive neatness
What is the result of too lenient potty training in the anal stage?
-Anally expulsive character:
Generous, messy, disorganised, careless, defiant, reckless, hot tempered and destructive
What age does the phallic stage occur?
-3-6 years old
-The superego has developed
-Child becomes fully aware of gender differences and becomes obsessed with its own genitals
What is the Oedipus complex?(Phallic stage)
-Freud suggested children in phallic stage begin to have unconcious sexual desires for opposite sex parent. This makes them resentful of same sex parent ( they are a competitor for their parents love).
-Boys realise they cannot compete as their father is bigger and stronger.
When they realise that girls do not have a penis, they think that they have been castrated and fear their father will castrate them too if their desire for their mother is uncovered (castration anxiety).
-To resolve this, they identify with their father and internalise his morals and standards, which becomes his superego.
According to Freud why do boys develop castration anxiety?
-Realise girls don’t have a penis and think they have been castrated.
-Fear their father will castrate them too if desire for mother is uncovered
What is the Electra Complex? (Freud, Phallic stage)
-Femininity = failed masculinity
-Girls believe they don’t have a penis because their mother must have already castrated them
-They turn to their fathers for love in hope of regaining their penis
-Suffer from penis envy their whole lives and only way to resolve is to have a male baby and a male lover or having a career