Component 2: The Psychodynamic Perspective

Question 1

What are the concepts and principles of the psychodynamic perspective?

Answer 1

1. Adult behaviour is influenced by experiences we had as children.
2. Our behaviour and feelings are influenced by unconscious motives and conflicts.
3. Our personality is an interplay of thress different forces - the id, ego and super-ego.
4. Two powerful instinctive drives governing behaviour are Eros (the sex drive) and Thanatos (the death instinct) both coming from the id.

Question 2

Who is the psychodynamic mostly associated with?

Answer 2

Sigmund Freud

Question 3

What is the id, ego and superego?

Answer 3

Id - the primitive and instinctive component of personality that seeks to satisfy and gratify the urges and desires as they happen.
Ego - the ego develops to mediate between the unrealistic id and the external real world.It is the decision making component of the personality. It is the conscious self which operates on the ‘reality principle.’
Superego - This is our moral consciounce.

Question 4

What is repression?

Answer 4

This is an unconscious defence mechanism employed by the ego to keep disturbing or threatening thoughts from becoming conscious.

Question 5

What is denial?

Answer 5

This is a defence mechanism that involves blocking external events from awareness. If the situation is too much for a person to handle, the person just refuses to experience it.