Approaches in Psychology: Psychodynamic Flashcards
The Psychodynamic Perspective
The Psychodynamic Perspective is synonymous with the work of Sigmund Freud.
Key assumptions:
- All human behaviour can be explained in terms of inner conflicts of mind.
- The structure of the mind made up of the conscious and unconscious.
THE Id
- With us from birth.
- Its energy Is called the libido.
- It constitutes all our basic drives and instincts.
- UNCONSCIOUS
The Super-ego
- Develops as we get older.
- It is the internalization of rules passed down from our parents.
- It is the ‘ideal’ force, the civilized, socially acceptable figure, the person we should strive to be.
- UNCONSCIOUS
The Ego
- It must balance the drives from the Id and the control from the super-ego.
- CONSCIOUS
The Psychodynamic Approach
- There is a balancing act between the forces of the id and the super-ego.
- The strength of each force is a factor in our personality.
- If a person’s Id is too strong, they are seen as delinquent, anti-social or self-centered.
- If a person’s super-ego is too strong, they are seen as rigid, pompous, or self-righteous.
Defence Mechanisms
- Denial: Blocking that something is a problem.
- Repression: burying of the problem into our unconscious.
- Projection: we project our own problem behaviour onto someone else.
- Displacement: our problems get channeled onto something.
- Sublimation: putting effort in to one activity because another can’t be pursued.
- Rationalization: giving an alternative interpretation to something.
- Regression: we go back several stages in our development.
what are the stages
oral
anal
phallic
latency
genital
what is the age erogenous zone and conflicts and consequences of fixation for oral
0-1 years
mouth
Smoking, biting nails, sarcasm, critical.
what is the age erogenous zone and conflicts and consequences of fixation for anal
2-3 years
anus
Anal Retentive: perfectionist, obsessive.
Anal expulsive: thoughtless, messy.
what is the age erogenous zone and conflicts and consequences of fixation for phallic
4-6 years
genetalia
Narcissistic, reckless.
what is the age erogenous zone and conflicts and consequences of fixation for latency
7-10 years until puberty
Previous issues are repressed.
what is the age erogenous zone and conflicts and consequences of fixation for genital
11+ years (Puberty and beyond)
Difficulty forming heterosexual relationships.
Stage 1 – Oral Stage
- Mouth (sucking) is the source of pleasure.
- The ID is in control.
- Fixation caused by:
- Overindulgence:
- Symptoms include selfishness, dependency, compulsive talking.
- Frustration
- Nail biting, sarcasm, critical etc.
Stage 2 – the ANAL stage
- Elimination of faeces is the source of pleasure.
- The EGO (reality principle) develops.
Stage 3: the PHALLIC stage
- The Superego develops.
- Driven by the anxiety principle.
- The Oedipus conflict (boys).
- The Electra conflict (girls).
- Fixation caused by failure to resolve the Oedipus/Electra conflict.
- Symptoms include homosexuality, curiosity, exhibitionism.
Stage 4: Latency Stage
- Nothing much goes on in this stage.
- Sexual energy is put to one side whilst other important physical and intellectual development takes place.
- This explains why at around the age of 6 children no longer choose to interact with opposite sex children.
Stage 5: Genital stage
- This is the final stage and marks the transition into adult sexuality.
- Freud was a product of his time and thought the only acceptable type of sexuality was heterosexuality.
Evaluation
pratical valuve
Practical value as a therapy
- Allows a person to explore the causes of an issue rather than the symptoms (other aim to remove the symptoms).
- Used for a lot of therapy/counselling
evaluation
reduction
Reductionist
- It says all problems are due to fixations in the psychosexual stages but surely, we are more complex than that.
Evaluation
good power
Good explanatory power
- Good at explaining the root causes of behaviour.
- Well suited to explaining real-life situations and thus applicable to all our lives.
- Other approaches are difficult to apply to everyday life.
evaluation objective
Lack of objectivity – hugely objective
- Hugely subjective.
evaluation
conclusions
Unfalsifiable conclusions
- How can his conclusions/interpretations be verified?
- Theories are near impossible to test objectively and repeatedly.
what is the Oedipus complex
little boys develop incestous feelings towards their mother and a murderous hatred for their rival in love their father
