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.
Evaluate the humanistic approach
Strengths
- Not determinist: doesn’t suggest behabiour is shaped by forced we have no control over - suggests sense of free will.
- Not reductionist: higher validity as it doesn’t break up behaviour into components - looks at whole person to understand subjective experiences. (holism)
- Has led to client centred therapy
Weaknesses
- Limited application compared to other approaches
- Untestable concepts like UPR, however Roger try to introduce rigour into his work with the Q-sort, an objective measure of progress in therapy
- Western cultural bias: individual freedom and free will may be more commonly associated with Western cultures, not collectivists so research/application may not work with them
Briefly compare each of the approaches views on development.
Behaviourist - processes that underpin learning are continuous, occurring at any age
Social learning - same as behaviourism
Cognitive - Piagets theory
Biological - genetics
Psychodynamic - age-related stages
Humanistic - development of self is ongoing
Briefly compare each of the approaches views on nature vs nurture.
Behaviourist - (NURTURE) babies born as ‘blank slates’ and learn through CC and OC
Social learning- same as behaviourism but with concept of imitation and observation
Cognitive - (BOTH) recognises that many information processing abilities are innate but can be refined using experience (schemas)
Biological - (NATURE) genetics
Psychodynamic - (BOTH) behaviour determined by unconscious innate drives but also sees parents relationship with child as important
Humanistic - (NATURE)
Briefly compare each of the approaches leanings towards reductionism
Behaviourist - reduced complex learning process into stimulus-response units for ease of testing in controlled lab environment.
Social learning- recognises role of cognitive factors
Cognitive - machine reductionism
Biological - reduces human behaviour to level of a gene
Psychodynamic - reduces behaviour to influence of biological drives but also sees personality as a dynamic, holistic interaction
Humanistic - anti-reductionist, advocates holism
Briefly compare each of the approaches leanings towards determinism
Behaviourist - all behaviour is determined by external forces that we cannot control.
Social learning- we are influenced by our environment but we also exert an influence upon it through behaviours we choose to do (free will).
Cognitive - cognitive system can only operate within certain limits, but we are stkll free to think before responding to a stimuli (soft determinism)
Biological - much of our behaviour is innate
Psychodynamic - unconscious forces drive behaviour (psychic determinism) but these are rationalised by our conscious minds.
Humanistic - free will
Briefly compare each of the approaches explanation and/or treatment of atypical behaviour.
Behaviourist - caused by CC/OC, but treated by counter conditioning
Social learning- aggressive behaviour caused by vicarious reinforcement, treated by using vicarious reinforcement in good way.
Cognitive - depression caused by negative self-schemas, led to therapies such as CBT
Biological - genes cause disorders; treatment includes psychoactive drugs that regulate chemical imbalances of brain.
Psychodynamic - anxiety disorders caused by unconscious conflicts and overuse of defence mechanisms but psychoanalysis can be used as treatments
Humanistic - low self esteem caused by lack of UPR, treated using client-centred therapy
