Approaches - Psychodynamic approach

Question 1

What is the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 1

Focuses on the different forces, most of which are unconscious, that operate on the mind and direct human behaviour and experience.

Question 2

What is id?

Answer 2

Entirely unconscious, the id is made up of selfish aggressive instincts that demand immediate gratification.

Question 3

What is ego?

Answer 3

Balances the conflicting demands of the id and the superego.

Question 4

What is superego?

Answer 4

The moralistic part of our personality which represents the ideal self.

Question 5

What is the unconsious?

Answer 5

The part of the mind that we are unaware of but which continues to direct much of our behaviour.

Question 6

What are defense mechanisms?

Answer 6

Unconscious strategies that the ego uses to manage the conflict between the id and the superego.

Question 7

What are psychosexual stages?

Answer 7

According to Freud, five developmental stages that all children pass through. At most stages there is a specific conflict, the outcome of which determines future development.

Question 8

What is repression?

Answer 8

Forcing a distressing memory out of the conscious mind.

Question 9

What is denial?

Answer 9

Refusing to acknowledge some aspect of reality.

Question 10

What is displacement?

Answer 10

Transferring feelings from true source of distressing emotion onto a substitute target.

Question 11

What are the 5 psychosexual stages?

Answer 11

• Oral (0-1 years)
• Anal (1-3 years)
• Phallic (3-5 years)
• Latency
• Genital

Question 12

What is the consequence of the unsolved conflict in the oral stage?

Answer 12

Oral fixation - smoking, biting nails, sarcastic, critical.

Question 13

What is the consequence of the unsolved conflict in the anal stage?

Answer 13

Anal retentive - perfectionist, obsessive

Anal expulsive - thoughtless, messy

Question 14

What is the consequence of the unsolved conflict in the phallic stage?

Answer 14

Phallic personality - narcissistic, reckless, possibly homosexual

Question 15

What is the consequence of the unsolved conflict in the genital stage?

Answer 15

Difficulty forming heterosexual relationships.

Question 16

What are the assumptions of the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 16

• All behavior can be explained in terms of the inner conflicts of the mind.
  Freud highlights the role of the unconscious mind, the structure of personality and the influence that childhood experiences have on later life.
  Freud believed that the unconscious mind determines most of our behavior and that we are motivated by unconscious emotional drives.

Question 17

What are the applications of the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 17

• The psychodynamic approach has given rise to one of the first “talking cure”, psychoanalysis, on which many psychological therapies are now based. Psychoanalysis is rarely used now in its original form but it is still used in a shorter version in some cases.
• This approach can be used to explain mental disorders such as depression and schizophrenia although these explanations are rarely used by mainstream psychology.
• One of the very influential concept put forward by Freud is the lasting importance of childhood on later life and development.

Question 18

What are the limitations of the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 18

• The concepts of Id, ego and superego are very abstract and difficult to test experimentally so evidence is obtained from case studies (Little Hans). However, the sample used in this case study is mainly Austrian so lack population validity.
• The theory is not falsifiable as if people behave in the way predicted by the theory it is viewed as support, if they don’t it is argued that they are using defence mechanisms.
• It cannot explain the biological symptoms observed in some disorders such as enlarged ventricles in schizophrenics.
• The individual is not seen as responsible for their disorders however as the conflicts which lead to the disorder are unconscious there is nothing they can do about it without an analyst, they are disempowered.

Question 19

What are the strengths of the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 19

• It has given rise to one of the first “talking cure”, psychoanalysis, on which many psychological therapies are now based.
• It recognises the influence of social and cultural factors as it proposes that we are driven by innate, biological instincts (nature) but that the way they are expressed is shaped by our social environment (nurture).
• It could be argued that Freud was the first person to highlights the importance of childhood in mental health and this is an idea extensively used today.

Question 20

How does free will vs determinism relate to the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 20

It is strongly determinist as it views our behavior as caused entirely by unconscious factors over which we have no control.

Question 21

How does Nature Vs nurture relate to the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 21

The psychodynamic approach recognises the influence of social factors as it argues that we are driven by innate biological instincts, represented by the Id (nature), but the ways these instincts are expressed is shaped by our social and cultural environment (nurture).

Question 22

How does idiographic Vs nomothetic relate to the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 22

Freud argued that human behavior is governed by universal processes that apply to everyone e.g. the tripartite structure of the mind (nomothetic) however, he also proposed that the ways in which these processes manifest themselves in the individual is unique (idiographic).

Question 23

Are the research methods used in the psychodynamic approach scientific?

Answer 23

The concepts proposed by Freud cannot be tested empirically. The theory is not falsifiable as if people behave in the way predicted by the theory it is viewed as support, if they don’t it is argued that they are using defence mechanisms.