approaches: Freud's psychodynamic approach p2

Question 1

what does freud suggest the mind is made up of? (3 things)

Answer 1

• conscious: what we are aware of
• preconscious: thoughts we may become aware of through dreams or freudian slips
• unconscious: storehouse of biological drives and instincts that influence behaviour

Question 2

what are the 3 structures of personality?

Answer 2

id
ego
superego

Question 3

what is the id?

Answer 3

• present at birth
• your own selfish desires that take over
• works on pleasure principle
• concerned with wants and desires

Question 4

what is the superego?

Answer 4

• developed at age 5
• concerned with that is right and wrong
• morality principle
• punishes ego for wrong-doings through guilt
• rewards ego for moral behaviour
• develops in response to the oedipus/electra complex

Question 5

what is the ego?

Answer 5

• developed at age 2
• reality principle
• tries to balance demands from id and superego
• protects itself from the demands of the id and superego by using defence mechanisms

Question 6

what are the 3 defence mechanisms?

Answer 6

(unconscious strategies used by the ego)
repression
denial
displacement

Question 7

what is repression?

Answer 7

automatically pushing an unpleasant thought or memory to the back of your mind

Question 8

what is denial?

Answer 8

refusing to acknowledge some aspect of reality

Question 9

what is displacement?

Answer 9

emotions are directed away from their target source, towards something else

Question 10

what is the sequence of the psychosexual stages?

Answer 10

oral (0-1) - mouth
anal (1-3) - anus
phallic (3-6) - genital
latency - earlier conflicts are repressed
genital (puberty) - sexual desires become conscious

Question 11

what is meant by psychosexual stages?

Answer 11

each stage is marked by a different conflict that the child must resolve to move on to the next. any unresolved conflict leads to fixation where the child becomes ‘stuck’ and carries these behaviours into adulthood

Question 12

strengths of the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 12

• research support e.g little Hans
• practical application e.g psychotherapy

Question 13

why is practical application a strength?

Answer 13

in psychotherapy, the patient talks until their unconscious mind comes out. this helps them to uncover their unconscious mind. this means it is useful to society and is therefore making a difference to the lives of people in a positive way, adding credibility to this approach

Question 14

why is research support a strength?

Answer 14

the little Hans case study proved that he used the defence mechanism of displacement to direct his fear of his dad onto the horse. this case study adds to the validity of the approach in the world of psychology

Question 15

limitations of the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 15

• subjective theory (bias)
• non falsifiable (non-testable)

Question 16

why is it being a subjective theory a limitation?

Answer 16

freud only spoke to one person during his experiment of little Hans (the dad) and freud is very bias that his theory works. this means that people cannot rely on his results as they could be getting false information as there is no real proof, which leads us to question the validity of the research

Question 17

why is it being non falsifiable a limitation?

Answer 17

we can’t test the unconscious mind (id, ego and superego). this means that it lacks scientific credibility so psychologists don’t like it as scientific evidence