Freud And The Psycodynamic Approach

Question 1

Describe the unconscious mind.

Answer 1

• The mind is unaware
• It is buried and hidden
• Drives and shapes our personality and behaviour

Question 2

According to Freud how can we uncover our unconscious thoughts?

Answer 2

Through psychoanalysis (the talking cure)

Question 3

Describe the psychodynamic approach.

Answer 3

• emphasises the effect of childhood experiences.
• theory states that events in our childhood have great influence on our adult lives and personality.
• events in our childhoods can remain in the unconscious mind and may cause problems.

Question 4

What is the role of the unconscious?

Answer 4

• much of our behaviour is driven by the unconscious.

- mental disorders can be formed from repressed feelings in the unconscious.

Question 5

What is the ID?

Answer 5

The unconscious focus on self (pleasure principle). E.g. a baby will cry for food.

Question 6

What is the ego?

Answer 6

It is in the conscious part of the brain and is the type of person you present to the world (reality principle). It also try’s to control the ID and the superego.

Question 7

What is the superego?

Answer 7

Your moral principle or conscious. The unconscious acts as the conscious or moral guide values. Parental and societal values also effect the superego.

Question 8

What happens if someone’s ego is too weak?

Answer 8

It allows the ID and the superego to dominate.

Question 9

What happens if someone’s ID is too strong?

Answer 9

The person tends to be more selfish and out of control. They could become an addict or take more risks.

Question 10

What happens if someone’s superego is too strong?

Answer 10

They tend to be strict, anxious, obsessive, have depression, anxiety, OCD.

Question 11

What are the scientific problems with psychoanalysis?

Answer 11

• its Freud’s subjective option on people’s problems.
• its not falsifiable
• its not replicable

Question 12

What is meant by something that is not falsifiable?

Answer 12

It cannot be proven or disproven

Question 13

Describe defence mechanisms.

Answer 13

• they are unconscious.
• we use them on a daily basis.
• if we overuse them it can lead to mental abnormalities.
• constant disagreements between the ID and the superego can lead to anxiety.
• as a result, the ego develops methods to defend itself (defence mechanisms).

Question 14

What is denial?

Answer 14

You completely reject the thought or feeling. A person refuses to accept that an event has happened. This can protect a person from anxiety.

Question 15

What is displacement?

Answer 15

It is when a person redirects their feelings. If something upsets us we take the anger out on something else.

Question 16

What is repression?

Answer 16

Forcing a distressing memory out of the conscious mind and into the unconscious mind. The thoughts are trapped in the unconscious, but can later emerge as anxiety, etc.

Question 17

What is the anagram for the psychosexual stages?

Answer 17

Old Aged Pensioners Love Guinness.

Question 18

What are all the psychosexual stages?

Answer 18

• oral stage
• anal stage
• phallic stage
• latent stage
• genital stage

Question 19

What did Freud believe would happen if a person didn’t complete one of the stages?

Answer 19

They would develop a fixation.

Question 20

What did Freud believe they children are born with? (Psychosexual stages)

Answer 20

Libido - a sexual urge. A child seeks pleasure from a certain object throughout childhood.

Question 21

Describe the oral stage.

Answer 21

• present from birth to 18 months.
• the mouth is the source of pleasure.
• ID is in control.
• fixation can occur if a child is weaned too soon or too late.

Question 22

What can oral fixation lead to?

Answer 22

Over-eating, talking too much, chewing pens, smoking, sucking thumb as adult.

Question 23

Describe the anal stage.

Answer 23

• occurs form 18 months to 3 years (potty training)
• defecation is the main source of pleasure
• if stage is not resolved then it will lead to an anal character.
• parents might be too strict or too lenient which causes the fixation.

Question 24

What are the consequences of an anal fixation?

Answer 24

Someone may be…
Anally retentive - very tidy, OCD, likes order
Anally expulsive - generous but disorganised

Question 25

Describe the phallic stage.

Answer 25

• occurs from the age of 4.
• the focus of pleasure is the genitals.
• boys experience Oedipus complex.
• girls experience Electra complex.

Question 26

What is the Oedipus complex?

Answer 26

Boys sexual curiosity comes from being close to the mother which leads to intense affection and desire for the mother.
Boy sees father as rival, as a result the boy is afraid of losing his fathers love. To complete the stage he must see his father as a role model.

Question 27

What are the consequences of people not completing the phallic stage?

Answer 27

It can cause castration anxiety.