approaches: psychodynamic approach

Question 1

what is the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 1

a perspective that describes the different forces (dynamics), most of which are unconscious, that operate on the mind and direct human behaviour and experience.

Question 2

what are the key assumptions of the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 2

• 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)

Question 3

the importance of relationships:

Answer 3

• emphasises importance of relationships with family members
• particularly between parent and child
• our childhood relationships become a template for our adult relationships

Question 4

the importance of the unconscious:

Answer 4

• the part of our mind that we are unaware of but continues to direct much of our behaviour

Question 5

the role of the unconscious:

Answer 5

• 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

Question 6

what is the conscious?

Answer 6

the small amount of mental activity that we know about e.g. thoughts, perceptions and ideas

Question 7

what is the preconscious?

Answer 7

thoughts that are not immediately accessible but can be brought into conscious awareness e.g. memories, stored knowledge

Question 8

what is the unconscious?

Answer 8

• 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

Question 9

how can you access the unconscious mind?

Answer 9

• 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

Question 10

the structure of the personality:

Answer 10

• adult personality is constructed into three parts (tripartite)
• the id, the ego and the superego

Question 11

the Id:

Answer 11

• 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

Question 12

the ego:

Answer 12

• 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)

Question 13

the supergo:

Answer 13

• 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

Question 14

defence mechanisms:

Answer 14

• 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

Question 15

psychic determinism:

Answer 15

• 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

Question 16

what are the psychosexual stages?

Answer 16

• 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

Question 17

outline the oral stage:

Answer 17

• 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

Question 18

outline the anal stage:

Answer 18

• 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

Question 19

outline the phallic stage:

Answer 19

• 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

Question 20

outline the latency stage:

Answer 20

• from 6 years - puberty
• forgetting previous stages (from libido being dispersed across the body) as earlier conflicts are repressed into unconscious

Question 21

outline the genital stage:

Answer 21

• from puberty - development
• sexual desires become conscious alongside the onset of puberty- normal, functional adult sexual relationships

Question 22

what is the Oedipus Complex? (use Little Hans)

Answer 22

• 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 Little Han’s genitals.
• The boy eventually realises he cant compete with his father, and identifies with him, taking on his gender role.

Question 23

what is the Electra complex?

Answer 23

• 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

Question 24

evaluation: the case study method (weakness)

Answer 24

• 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

Question 25

evaluation: practical application (strength)

Answer 25

• 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)

Question 26

evaluation: untestable concepts (weakness)

Answer 26

• 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)