Approaches Lessons 07 - 09

Question 1

What is the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 1

Assumes adult behaviour reflects interactions between the conscious and unconscious.
Emphasises the importance of childhood processes
Freud: “The child is the father of the man” (childhood influences adulthood)

Question 2

Preconscious

Subconscious

Answer 2

In-between conscious and unconscious. Includes ‘slips of the tongue’ (AKA paraphraxes)

Deep within the unconscious

Question 3

Role of the unconscious

Answer 3

The conscious is the tip of the iceberg.
The unconscious contains biological drives, instincts, and repressed memories
The role of the unconscious is to protect the conscious from unpleasant memories

Question 4

Anna O

Answer 4

Suffered severe paralysis on her right side, nausea and difficulty in drinking.
Developed a fear of drinking when a dog she hated drank from her glass. When shared with the therapist, the difficulty disappeared.
The physical and mental strain of looking after her bedridden father led to her paralysis. When shared with the therapist, her paralysis disappeared.
All symptoms disappeared when Anna had the opportunity to make unconscious thoughts conscious.

Question 5

Hypnosis

Answer 5

A way to study the unconscious mind.
Involves the induction of a trance-like condition where the patient is in an enhanced state of awareness. The conscious mind is suppressed, revealing the unconscious and subconscious

Question 6

Drives

Answer 6

Two basic drives - sex and aggression (‘eros’ and ‘thanatos’)
Sex - life instinct, vital for reproduction and therefore has its own source of psychic energy (libido)
Aggression - death instinct, allows us to procreate while eliminating our enemies

Question 7

The structure of personality

Answer 7

The mind has a fixed amount of psychic energy (libido).
Tripartite personality:
Id - ‘pleasure principle’ (I WANT). Present from birth
Ego - ‘reality principle’ (MIDDLE MAN). Develops at 1 year
Superego - ‘morality principle’ (YOU CAN’T HAVE BECAUSE IT IS WRONG). Develops at 3 years
Id and superego are in constant conflict, with the ego being the middleman

Question 8

Defence Mechanisms

Answer 8

Defence mechanisms help the ego satisfy both the id and superego.
REPRESSION: prevents unacceptable desires/emotions from being conscious. Not being aware of ‘secrets’, but them being present in the unconscious and influencing behaviour
DISPLACEMENT: diverting emotions onto someone else (less socially acceptable). e.g. bullying a younger child because you’re angry at your parents.
DENIAL: refusal to believe events

Question 9

Extra Notes on Defence Mechanisms

Answer 9

Projection: when faults are attributed to someone else e.g. accusing someone of being angry when its you who is angry
Rationalisation: finding rational excuses for behaviour e.g. a parent hitting their child might say its for their own good
Regression: responding in a childish way e.g. adults who resort to kicking
Sublimation: diverting emotions onto something else (more socially acceptable than displacement) e.g. playing a vigorous sport
Reaction Formation: when the conscious mind adopts the opposite to the unconscious mind e.g. someone with a strict moral upbringing may react against sexual desires by becoming involved with an anti-pornography campaign

Question 10

Psychosexual stages

Answer 10

At particular points in development, a single part of the body is particularly sensitive. A child’s libido is focused on that area. If needs are not met, frustration may occur (under-indulgence), or a child may be overindulged. Both may lead to fixation (libido becomes permanently locked in that stage).

Question 11

Oral stage (0 - 18 months)

Answer 11

From birth, the mouth is the primary focus of libidinal energy. Frustration may lead to pessimism, envy and suspicion (‘oral aggressive’). Overindulgence may lead to optimism, gullible and full of admiration (may lead to addiction)

Question 12

Anal stage (18 months - 3 years)

Answer 12

Focus on eliminating and retaining faeces. Too lenient may lead to an anal expulsive character who is disorganised, reckless and defiant. Opposite is anal retentive, neat, stingy and obstinate

Question 13

Phallic stage (3 - 6 years)

Answer 13

Boys develop unconscious sexual desires for their mothers and become rivals with their fathers. Fear of father means they identify with him. Boys develop masculine characteristics and repress their sexual desires (OEDIPUS COMPLEX)
Girls develop unconscious sexual desires for their fathers (ELECTRA COMPLEX). They also develop ‘penis envy’ and have negative feelings towards their mother, who ‘castrated’ them at birth. Young girls replace their wish for a penis with the wish of a baby.
Children overcome their conflicts and identify with the same sex parent (girls become like their mothers, boys become like their fathers). Fixation in this stage leads to problems with sexuality (e.g. homosexuality), or narcissism

Question 14

Little Hans

Answer 14

Scared of his father because of his attraction to his mother
Resented his sister because he did not want to share his mother
Scared of horses (bad experience) but specifically horses with dark around the mouth (representing his father’s beard) and blinkers (representing his father’s glasses)
Developing his Oedipus complex - in the phallic stage of development

Question 15

Latent stage (6 to puberty)

Answer 15

Not a psychosexual stage, but a period where the sexual drive lies dormant. Also the stage where boys and girls become distinct from each other. Girls become more ‘feminine’ and boys become more ‘masculine’.

Question 16

Genital stage (puberty onwards)

Answer 16

Sexual urges are once again awakened. Interest turns to heterosexual relationships.
The less energy still invested in previous stages, the greater the capacity to develop normal relationships with the opposite sex

Question 17

Evaluation of the psychodynamic approach

Answer 17

(+) Case study method = rich in detail and allows development of the theory. e.g. Little Hans, Anna O
(+) First to suggest how important childhood is in determining adult behaviour
(+) Unique, and allows us to understand the complexity of human behaviour e.g. how the ego uses defence mechanisms
(+) Created psychoanalysis, a meaningful therapy for neurosis, where therapists try to understand the underlying causes for disorders. It is very successful in treating many different disorders
(-) Abstract concepts, that are difficult to test e.g. id, ego, superego
(-) Sexist. A lot of emphasis on the ‘oedipal complex’ but not much on girls. Suggests boys are morally superior than girls because they experience more guilt during the phallic stage
(-) Lacks falsifiability (cannot prove it wrong) , prevents it from being scientific. e.g. cannot prove that adult personality is because of childhood. Any criticism can be called denial
(-) Based on psychic determinism. Suggests all behaviours are on purpose, not accidental. Everything is determined by our unconscious mind.

Question 18

Humanistic Approach
History and Context

Answer 18

Emerged in the late 1950s and 1960s
Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers and George Kelly were dissatisfied with Behaviourism (viewed people as puppets controlled by the environment) and the Psychodynamic approach (suggested we are driven by unconscious instincts)
The Association of Humanistic Psychology (AHP) focuses on the self, health, personal growth and creativity as central concerns

Question 19

Free Will

Answer 19

Humans are essentially self-determining and have free-will. We are still affected by external and internal factors but we are ‘active agents’ who have the ability to determine our own development.
Humanistic psychologists tend to reject scientific models that attempt to establish general principles of human behaviour.
The ‘person centred approach’: we are all unique, so psychology should concern itself with the study of subjective experiences.

Question 20

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Answer 20

Bottom -> top: physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging needs, esteem needs (all deficiency needs- if not met, we would feel like something important is missing) and self actualisation (being need)
Physiological needs: required for human survival e.g. food, water, sleep
Safety needs: both physically and psychologically e.g. shelter and safety
Love and belongingness: acceptance from family, friends
Esteem needs: to feel good about oneself, establish a sense of competence and achievement.

Question 21

Self Actualisation

Answer 21

Self actualisation: defined personally, is rare, takes the form of peak experiences, characterised by feelings of euphoria, e.g. Albert Einstein, Thomas Jefferson
Characteristics of these high-achieving people include creativity, spontaneity and being able to think outside the box.
Involved in a case outside themselves

Question 22

The self

Answer 22

The concept of you, and how you perceive yourself. Based on how much self worth you have

Question 23

Congruence

Answer 23

The fit/match/comparability of your actual self and ideal self (who you want to be)

Question 24

Conditions of worth

Answer 24

When others impose conditions on an individual on how to behave in return for love and acceptance.
For personal growth, the actual self must have congruence with the ideal self. Too big a gap leads to incongruence, so self actualisation will not be possible
Rogers developed ‘client-centred therapy’. Many issues in adulthood have roots in childhood, and can be explained as a lack of unconditional positive regard. A parent who sets limits (‘I will only love you if…’) imposes conditions of worth and will cause psychological problems in the future.
As an effective therapist, Rogers thought he needed to provide his clients with the unconditional positive regard they lacked as a child

Question 25

Influence of counselling psychology

Answer 25

PERSON-CENTRED THERAPY is strongly non-directive and is based on the idea that each person is an EXPERT on themselves and should be helped to find their own solution.
The individual would recognise their limits and strengths and achieve a REALISTIC BALANCE between the actual self and ideal self. They would be helped to make positive steps towards resolving their issues, learn a deeper understanding of themselves and ultimately reach self actualisation.
The therapist enters the client’s world and provides UNCONDITIONAL POSITIVE REGARD to the client by expressing acceptance, empathy and understanding. The CONDITIONS OF WORTH will DISSIPATE, enabling the client to move towards their ideal self.

Question 26

Core conditions for a therapist

Answer 26

Empathetic understanding: to understand the reality of the client’s experiences and enter into their world.
Unconditional positive regard: acceptance of the client without conditions of worth
A congruent therapist who is in touch with their own feelings.

Question 27

Evaluation of the Humanistic Approach

Answer 27

(+) Not reductionist. Practices holism (the idea that subjective experience can only be understood by considering the whole person). Has more validity because it considers behaviour within its real life context
(+) Allows for personal development and changes (free will). Opposite of psychodynamic approach
(+) Research support for conditions of worth. Harter et al. (1996) saw that teenagers who feel like they need to fulfil criteria for love end up not liking themselves (low self esteem), and are more likely to develop depression
(-) Untestable concepts/vague ideas that are abstract and difficult to test. Anti-scientific
(-) Limited application. Although Rogerian therapy has revolutionised counselling, it has limited impact on psychology as a whole. Lacks a sound evidence-base (there have been times when you are hungry, or tired, or do not feel loved)
(-) Cultural bias. Freedom, autonomy, personal growth etc. are very westernised characteristics. Collectivist cultures emphasise the needs of the group, community and interdependence

Question 28

COMPARISON: Views on development

Answer 28

Psychodynamic approach: most coherent; ties the concepts to specific (psychosexual) stages
Cognitive approach: offers coherent stages of development; schema develop with age
Biological approach: maturation is a key principle, genetically determined changes influence behavioural characteristics
Humanistic approach: the self develops throughout life; relationship with parents is important to psychological health
Behavioural approach: does not offer coherent stages, sees learning as continuous, at any age

Question 29

COMPARISON: Nature v Nurture

Answer 29

Psychodynamic approach: both (behaviour is driven by biological drives, but also relationships with parents)
Cognitive approach: both (schema and processing abilities are innate, but are refined through experience)
Biological approach: nature (genetics)
Humanistic approach: nurture (parents, friends and wider society have a critical impact on a person’s self-concept)
Behavioural approach: nurture (learn through association, reinforcement etc.)

Question 30

COMPARISON: Determinism v Free Will

Determinism (all behaviour has an internal or external cause and is predictable)
Free will (we have choice over what action and behaviours we will carry out, and are active agents of our environment)

Answer 30

Psychodynamic approach: hard determinism (psychic determinism: we can’t control our unconscious forces that drive our behaviour)
Cognitive approach: soft determinism (we are the ‘choosers’ of our own thoughts, but are limited by what we know and have experienced)
Biological approach: hard determinism (genetic determinism/innate influences)
Humanistic approach: free will (are active agents who determine our own development)
Behavioural approach: hard determinism (all behaviour is environmentally determined by external factors that we don’t control)

Question 31

COMPARISON: Psychology as a science

Answer 31

Psychodynamic approach: partially a science (uses case studies and subjective experiences, but does use brains scans and lab conditions)
Cognitive approach: a science (uses experimental method; cognitive neuroscience very scientific)
Biological approach: a science (genes, neuroscience etc. all similar to biology)
Humanistic approach: not a science (does not use lab settings; congruence and self concepts is subjective)
Behavioural approach: a science (all behaviour is observable, uses the experimental method)