Evaluate Freud’s psycho dynamic theory (8 marks)

Question 1

STRENGTHS

Answer 1

→ Freud’s ideas about treating mental health problems provided solutions that at the time were unavailable
→ Psychoanalysis addressed neuroses where previous treatments were barbaric
→ His treatments therefore revolutionised treatment of mental health providing more ethical procedures.

Question 2

STRENGTHS

Answer 2

→ Freud’s theory was generated from in-depth case studies in which he looked at many aspects of a person’s background and mental state
→ His methods involved gathering and analysing qualitative data from various methods (such as dream analysis)
→ which gathered in-depth and detailed data.

Question 3

WEAKNESSES

Answer 3

→ His methods are not scientific
→ data are qualitative and personal so an overall theory should not be generated from the data gathered.
→ His theory lacks generalisability due to the unique nature of the patients he studied and through his use of case studies.

Question 4

WEAKNESSES

Answer 4

→ The concepts in Freud’s theory (such as id, ego) are not measurable so cannot be rigorously tested.
→ The unconscious is unreachable by normal means and the concepts studied lack scientific credibility as they are immeasurable.

Question 5

STRENGTHS

Answer 5

→ Use of Field Experiment
→ Feshbeck & Singer (1971) used field experimentation.
→ this provides a natural setting which encourages realistic and natural behaviour. As such, there would be less chance of demand characteristics.

Question 6

WEAKNESSES

Answer 6

→ there are issues of control in field experiments
→ there is less control over extraneous variables, meaning it is difficult to recreate the exact same setting to test for reliability. For example, the boys who watched the non-violent programmes may have acted more aggressively because they were banned from watching their favourite programmes- that involved violence.
→ There may also be problems trying to establish a cause and effect relationship due to extraneous variables.

Question 7

WEAKNESSES

Answer 7

→ Females have weaker superegos than males
→ Hoffman (1977) suggests in fact that females show stronger moral orientation than males at all ages.
→ females constitute a very small percentage of the criminal population