approaches: psychodynamic approach Flashcards
what is the psychodynamic approach?
a perspective that describes the different forces (dynamics), most of which are unconscious, that operate on the mind and direct human behaviour and experience.
what are the key assumptions of the psychodynamic approach?
- events in our childhood have a great influence on our adult lives, shaping our personalities
- different parts of the unconscious mind are in constant struggle (id, ego, and superego).
- freud proposed that children go through the same 5 stages of development (oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital)
the importance of relationships:
- emphasises importance of relationships with family members
- particularly between parent and child
- our childhood relationships become a template for our adult relationships
the importance of the unconscious:
- the part of our mind that we are unaware of but continues to direct much of our behaviour
the role of the unconscious:
- the mind is an iceberg: much of what goes on inside our mind lies under the surface
- our feelings, motives, and decisions are powerfully influenced by past experiences and stored in the unconscious.
- the psyche is a complex system that consists of three distinct parts
what is the conscious?
the small amount of mental activity that we know about e.g. thoughts, perceptions and ideas
what is the preconscious?
thoughts that are not immediately accessible but can be brought into conscious awareness e.g. memories, stored knowledge
what is the unconscious?
- largest part of the mind, holding thoughts and memories that are not accessible to awareness but influence our behaviours and feelings
- contains threatening and disturbing memories that have been repressed or locked away and forgotten
how can you access the unconscious mind?
- dream analysis: ‘the royal road to the unconscious’
- Rorschach Inkblock Test
- slips of the tongue (parapraxes)
- free association: saying the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear a word
the structure of the personality:
- adult personality is constructed into three parts (tripartite)
- the id, the ego and the superego
the Id:
- the primitive part of our personality
- the energy is called the libido
- part of the unconscious mind
- it operates on the pleasure principle: consists of primal urges and seeks nothing but pleasure and instant gratification, present in newborn infants
the ego:
- the ‘reality check’ that must balance the conflicting demands of the id and the supergo
- operates on the reality principle
- defends the unconscious mind against displeasure by using defence mechanisms
- develops during the anal stage of development (around 2)
the supergo:
- the ‘ideal force’ and civilised socially acceptable figure the person strives to be
- based on the morality principle + includes our understanding of right and wrong
- develops during the phallic stage (around 5)
- the supergo is perpetually in conflict with the id
defence mechanisms:
- repression: forcing a disturbing or threatening memory out of your conscious mind
- denial: failing or refusing to acknowledge some aspects of reality
- displacement: transferring feelings from the true source of anxiety onto a substitute target/object
psychic determinism:
- our behaviours are shaped by unresolved unconscious conflicts by diff parts of our personality as well as experiences in our ‘psychosexual’ stages
- problems during these stages can result in fixations, where an individual is ‘stuck’ in a particular stage, expressing certain negative traits
what are the psychosexual stages?
- 5 developmental stages all children pass through
- at each stage, the child will experience an unconscious conflict that must be resolved
- at each stage, the libido (energy of the id) focusses on one area
outline the oral stage:
- from 0-18 months
- focus of libido (pleasure) is the mouth
- being breastfed and weaned- they are passive, receptive and dependant
- oral fixation: if denied oral satisfaction when little, they will look for ways to satisfy this e.g. smoking, biting nails, sarcastic, critical
outline the anal stage:
- from 1-3 years
-focus of libido is on the anus as this is when potty training takes place - first time the child experiences any control (expulsion/retention of faeces)
- ego develops as parents impose restrictions
- fixation:
anal retentive -> perfectionist, obsessive due to parents being overly critical during potty training
anal expulsive -> messy, thoughtless
outline the phallic stage:
- from 3-5 years
- focus of libido is on genitals - curiosity and examination
- superego develops through resolution of Oedipus or Electra complex
- identification with same sex parent leads to formation of gender identity
- fixation: phallic personality-> narcissistic, reckless, possibly homosexual
outline the latency stage:
- from 6 years - puberty
- forgetting previous stages (from libido being dispersed across the body) as earlier conflicts are repressed into unconscious
outline the genital stage:
- from puberty - development
- sexual desires become conscious alongside the onset of puberty
- normal, functional adult sexual relationships
what is the Oedipus Complex? (use Little Hans)
- During the phallic stage, Little Hans develops a sexual desire for his mother and becomes fascinated with his penis.
- He develops a hatred towards his rival - his father and develops castration anxiety- a fear that his father will find out and remove his genitals.
- Little Hans eventually realises he cant compete with his father, and identifies with him, taking on his gender role.
what is the Electra complex?
- girls during the phallic stage develop penis envy
- they desire their father and hate their mother and blame her for castration
- give up their desire for father and replace it with a desire for a baby, identifying with the mother in the process
evaluation: the case study method (weakness)
- Freud used case studies as evidence for his theories e.g. Little Hans, Dora, Rat-man
- observations detailed + carefully recorded so can generate hypotheses for future study
- not possible to make universal claims about human nature
- so generalisation not possible
- based on studies of such a small number of individuals
- lacks ecological validity
- interpretations are highly subjective to researcher -> lacks scientific rigour
evaluation: practical application (strength)
- psychoanalytic therapy, a form of talking therapy
- employs a range of techniques designed to access unconscious e.g. hypnosis + dream analysis
- psychoanalysis is forerunner to many modern-day psychotherapies that have since established
- freudian therapists claimed success with patients with mild neuroses -> but criticised as inappropriate + harmful for people suffering more serious mental disorders (e.g. schizophrenia)
evaluation: untestable concepts (weakness)
- falsifiability is ability to demonstrate a theory is wrong through empirical testing
- many of Freud’s concepts (e.g. id, Oedipus complex) are said to occur at an unconscious level, making them difficult, if not impossible to test
- cant scientifically test many concepts central to Freud’s theories as they are subjective -> lack falsifiability
- e.g. argued criminal behaviour is result of an overdeveloped, underdeveloped or deviant superego
- considered a pseudoscience (‘fake’ science)