approaches- psychodynamic approach

Question 1

what did Sigmund Freud suggest the mind is made up of?

Answer 1

-conscious
-preconscious
-unconscious

Question 2

what is the conscious?

Answer 2

what we’re aware of

Question 3

what is the pre-conscious?

Answer 3

thoughts we may become aware of through dreams and ‘slips of the tongue’

Question 4

what is the unconscious?

Answer 4

vast storehouse of biological drives and instincts that influence our behaviour

Question 5

what is the name for Freud’s 3 part structure of personality?

Answer 5

tripartite

Question 6

what are the three parts of the tripartite personality?

Answer 6

-id
-ego
-superego

Question 7

what is the id?

Answer 7

-primitive part of the personality
-operates on the pleasure principle
-demands instant gratification

Question 8

what is the ego?

Answer 8

-works on reality principle
-mediator between the id and superego

Question 9

what is the superego?

Answer 9

-internalised sense of right and wrong
-based on morality principle
-punishes ego through guilt
-appears age 5

Question 10

what is the role of the five psychosexual stages?

Answer 10

-determine adult personality
-each stage marked by conflict that must be resolved to move onto next
-any unresolved conflict leads to fixation where the child becomes ‘stuck’ and carries behaviours associated with that stage through to adult life

Question 11

what are the five psychosexual stages?

Answer 11

-oral
-anal
-phallic
-latency
-genital

Question 12

oral stage

Answer 12

0-1 years
-pleasure focus is mouth
-mothers breast object of desire

Question 13

anal stage

Answer 13

1-3 years
-pleasure focus is anus
-child gains pleasure from withholding and eliminating faeces

Question 14

phallic stage

Answer 14

3-6 years
-pleasure focus is genital area

Question 15

latency stage

Answer 15

earlier conflicts repressed

Question 16

genital stage

Answer 16

sexual desires become conscious

Question 17

what is the psychosexual conflict that can occur at the phallic stage?

Answer 17

oedipus complex

Question 18

what is the oedipus complex?

Answer 18

-in phallic stage, little bits develop incestuous feelings towards mother and murderous hatred for their father
-later they repress these feelings for their mother and identify with their father, taking on his gender role and moral values
-girls of same age experience penis envy

Question 19

what are the three defence mechanisms and what are they used for?

Answer 19

used by ego to reduce anxiety
-repression
-denial
-displacement

Question 20

what’s repression?

Answer 20

forcing distressing memory out of conscious mind

Question 21

what’s denial?

Answer 21

reducing to acknowledge reality

Question 22

what’s displacement?

Answer 22

transferring feelings from their true source onto a substitute target

Question 23

ao3 of psychodynamic approach: introduces psychotherapy

Answer 23

-Freud’s psychoanalysis was the first attempt to treat mental disorders psychologically rather than physically
-psychoanalysis claims to hep clients deal w everyday problems by providing access to their unconscious, employing techniques such as dream analysis
-so psychoanalysis is a forerunner to many modern-day ‘talking therapies’ (e.g. counselling)

Question 24

ao3 of psychodynamic approach: explanatory power

Answer 24

-Freud’s theory is controversial and pften bizarre, but it has had huge influence on western contemporary thought
-it has been used to explain a wide range of behaviours (moral, mental disorders) and drew attention to the influence on childhood on adult personality
-suggests overall, psychodynamic approach has had a + influence on psychology and modern-day thinking

Question 25

ao3 of psychodynamic approach: untestable concepts

Answer 25

-karl popper argued the psychodynamic approach does not meet the scientific criterion of falsification in the sense that it cannot be disproved
-many of Freud’s concepts such as Id or the Oedipus complex, occur at an unconscious level making them difficult, if not impossible, to test
-means Freud’s lack of scientific rigour, the theory is pseudoscience (‘fake’ science) rather than real science

Question 26

ao3 of psychodynamic approach: psychic determinism

Answer 26

-psychodynamic approach suggests much of our behaviour is determined by unconscious conflicts. freud believed there was no such thing as an ‘accident’
-however, few psychologists would accept this view as it leaves no room for free will beyond early childhood
-suggests Freud’s views were too extreme as most people do have a sense of control over their behaviour