Approaches (A-LEVEL) Flashcards
What 3 parts make up the MIND according to Freud?
- Conscious: what we are aware of
- Pre-conscious: thoughts that are unconscious at a particular moment, but are not repressed. (can be recalled through triggers)
- Unconscious: a vast storehouse of biological drives and instincts, that we aren’t aware of, that influence out behaviour
What 3 parts make up the PERSONALITY according to Freud?
- Id: primitive part of the personality that operates on pleasure principle, demands instant gratification
- Ego: works on reality principle and is mediator between id and superego
- Superego: internalised sense of right and wrong, based on morality principle. Punished the ego through guilt.
How do the 5 psychosexual stages of development determine adult personality?
Each stage is marked by a different conflict that the child must solve to move on to the next
-any conflict that is unresolved leads to fixation where the child becomes ‘stuck’ and carries behaviour associated with that stage through to adult life
Outline the 5 psychosexual stages
- Oral (0-1 years) - pleasure focus = mouth, the mother’s breast is the object of desire
- Anal (1-3 years) - pleasure focus = anus, the child gains pleasure from withholding and eliminating faeces
- Phallic (3-5 years) - pleasure focus = genital area
- Latency - earlier conflicts are repressed
- Genital (puberty) - sexual desires become conscious
What are defence mechanisms?
Unconscious strategies used by the ego to manage the conflict between the id and the superego
- they can help reduce anxiety
Outline 3 defence mechanisms
- Repression: forcing a distressing memory out of conscious mind.
- Denial: refusing to acknowledge reality.
- Displacement: transferring feelings from their true source onto a substitute target.
Evaluate Freuds psychodynamic approach.
Strengths
1. Practical application: Use of psychoanalysis (accessing of mind through techniques such as hypnosis and dream analysis) for individuals suffering from neuroses
Weaknesses:
- Psychoanalysis not for everyone: doesn’t work for more severe mental disorders such as schizophrenia.
- Limited sample size in case studies: E. G. Little Hans, so results can’t be generalised
- Subjective: Freuds interpretations of case study results would be highly subjective. Other researchers may not come to same conclusion
- Untestable concepts: concepts such as Oedipus complex, Id etc. take place at an unconscious level.
- Determinist: suggests that free will has little Influence on behaviour as behaviour may be determined by unconscious conflicts of the mind (according to Freud).
Outline the key assumptions of the humanistic approach
- Free will is central: we are all unique so we should concentrate on studying subjective experiences, rather than general laws - a person centred approach
- Maslows hierarchy : BN, HS, SN, SE, SA
- We should focus on the self: the self refers to the ideas/values that characterise ‘I’ and ‘me’ and includes the perception of ‘what I am’ and ‘what I can do’
Define self-actualisation
The innate tendency to want to reach our full potential and be the best we possibly can be
What can be used to help achieve self-actualisation?
Client centred therapy
What is the aim of client-centred therapy
To establish congruence between the self-concept and the ideal self as self-actualisation requires a personals self- concept to be congruent with their ideal self.
What would happen if there is too big if a gap between self-concept and ideal self?
Then the person will experience a state of incongruence and self-actualisation isn’t possible
What does the humanistic theory suggest to be the cause of low self esteem?
Parents who don’t show their children Unconditional positive regard (UCR) in childhood
What should client centred therapy include?
- Genuineness
- Empathy
- Non directive
- Unconditional positive regard
- Non-judgemental
What are the applications for client centred therapy?
Rogers counselling techniques are widely practised throughout the field of psychotherapy, not only in clinical settings, but throughout education, health, social work and industry.
