Approaches: Psychodynamic Approach Flashcards
What Is the conscious
The part of the mind we know and are aware of
What is the unconscious
• A storehouse of biological drives and instincts that influence our behaviour and personality
• Contains threatening and disturbing repressed memories which are accessed during dreams or slips of the tongue
What is the preconscious
Contains thoughts and memories that aren’t in our conscious but can be accessed if desired
What is included in the tripartite personality structure
Id
Ego
Superego
What is the id
(4 points)
• primitive part of personality, only id is present at birth
• obeys ‘pleasure principle’ (Id gets what it wants)
• built on unconcscious drives and instincts
• selfish and demands instant gratification of needs
What is the ego
(4 points)
• mediation between id and superego
• reality principle
• Develops around 2y/o
• Reduces conflict between id and superego using defence mechanisms
What is the superego
• Developed at end of phallic stage which is our internalised sense of right and wrong
• based on morality principle and punishes ego for wrongdoing thru guilt
What are the 5 psychosexual stages and describe it
• oral 0-1yrs
• anal 1-3yrs
• phallic 3-6yrs
• Latency
• Genital
The stages determine adult personality. Each one is a conflict that must be resolved to move onto the next
What happens if one of the conflicts are unresolved (a stage of psychosexual stages isn’t resolved)
Any unresolved conflict leads to fixation where child becomes stuck and carries behaviours associated to that stage to adulthood
What is the oral stage 0-1yrs
• focus is on pleasure and gratification of mouth e.g biting, sucking
What are the consequences of unresolved conflict of oral stage
• if weaned too early / late, fixation in adulthood is smoking, biting nails, chewing pens or orally passive (gullible) or aggressive (sarcastic)
What is the anal stage 1-3yrs
• focus is pleasure in anus
• child gain pleasure form withholding and expelling faeces
What are the consequences of unresolved conflict of anal stage
• During potty training, if child is overly keen (anal expulsive) they will be messy and thoughtless.
• If child is anxious about using potty (anal retentive), unconscious fixation will be perfectionism
What is the phallic stage
• The pleasure is in the genitals and differs dependant on the sex.
• boys experience Oedipus complex
• girls experience electra complex
What are the consequences of unresolved conflict of the phallic stage
Fixation at the phallic stage can lead to a jealous and anxious adult.
Could lead to homosexuality
What is the latency stage of the psychosexual stages
• the sexual energy is displaced throughout the body.
• Child focuses on being a child and represses any other conflicts
What is the genital stage
• The libido is focused in the genitals
• The child becomes an adult with the onset of puberty
What is the Oedipus complex
• Boys experience intense sexual feelings for their mother
• Boy sees father as rival
• father is bigger so son feels threatened and experiences castration anxiety
• to reduce anxiety the boy befriends father by acting similarly - father sees boy as ally not rival for mothers affection. This is identification - develops superego.
What is the electra complex
• Girls realise they don’t have a penis and believe their mother took it away.
• they develop penis envy
• girls desire their fathers too and experience identification
What are the 3 defence mechanisms
Repression
Denial
Displacement
What are the 3 defence mechanisms
Repression
Denial
Displacement
What are defence mechanisms for
• For the ego to balance the conflicts between id and superego
• Uses unconscious defence mechanisms to prevent us from being overwhelmed by traumas
• regarded as psychologically unhealthy long term solutions
What is repression as a defence mechanism
Forcing a traumatic memory out of the conscious mind
What is denial as a defence mechanism
Refusing to acknowledge some aspect of reality
What is displacement as a defence mechanism
Transferring distressing feelings onto a subtle target
Give a strength of the psychodynamic approach
P: real world application
E: it introduced psychotherapy as an attempt to treat mental disorders psychologically rather than physically which included techniques such as dream analysis to allow people to deal with repressed emotions
E: it allowed for other talking therapies such as counselling to develop thus showing the value of this approach to treatment
What is a limitation of the psychodynamic approach
P: much of this approach is not testable
E: it does not meet the scientific criterion of falsification. It is not open to empirical testing and much of the concepts such as the id and Oedipus complex are said to occur at an unconscious level thus making it impossible to test. His ideas were based on subjective study of individuals so it is difficult to make universal claims.
E: this theory is pseudoscientific rather than established fact.
