Approaches in Psychology - Sigmund Freud and the Psychodynamic Approach Flashcards
According to Freud how many levels are there in our mind and what are they?
Three levels: conscious, preconscious and unconscious
What is the conscious level?
The things we are aware of and currently thinking
What does the preconscious level include?
Includes thoughts and ideas which we may become aware of during dreams or slips of thought
What does the unconscious level contain?
Threatening and disturbing memories that have been repressed, or locked away and forgotten
Unconscious
The primitive, instinctual wishes as well as information that we cannot access
What drives some of our behaviours?
Unconscious forces
What does Freud say is the only way of accessing your unconscious thoughts?
Psychoanalysis
What is psychoanalysis also know as?
The talking cure
3 defence mechanisms according to Freud
Denial, displacement and repression
Denial
You completely reject the thought or feeling
When may someone use denial?
When a person refuses to accept that an event has happened or when something traumatic happens and a person denies that it has happened
What can denial protect a person from?
Anxiety
What is denial not?
A conscious process
Displacement
A person redirects their feelings to another target
Example of displacement
When a person is angry at their mum they will take their anger out on a more socially acceptable things such as by slamming a door
