Lesson 7- Psychodynamic Approach Flashcards
Psychodynamic approach
Assumes that adult behaviour reflects complex dynamic interactions between conscious and unconscious and believes that psychopathology is caused by conflict between conscious/unconscious thoughts, emphasises importance of childhood processes and one of the most influential psychologists to explain this was Freud
Role of unconscious
Only aware of conscious mind, unconscious is most our mind, a vast storehouse of biological drives and instincts that has significant influence on our behaviour and personality, also contains threatening/disturbing memories
Pre conscious includes thoughts and ideas we may become aware of during dreams or paraphraxes
Believed only way to access unconscious was through interpretation of dreams, used both dream analysis and hyponsis
Drives
Two basic drives that motivate all behaviour, sex/Eros, life instinct, driving force, vital for reproduction has own source of psychic energy ‘libido’, aggression/Thanatos, death instinct, allows procreation while eliminating enemies who can prevent from doing so
Tripartite personality
-id, ego, superego, dynamic interaction determines personality
-id allows basic needs to be met, based on pleasure principle, wants immediate satisfaction with no consideration of reality of situation, present at birth
-as child interacts with world ego begins to develop, job is to meet needs of id while taking into consideration constraints of reality governed by reality principle, acknowledges being selfish/impulsive can sometimes hurt us so id must be constrained, develops after 1 years
-superego develops during phallic stage as a result of moral constraints placed on us by parents, strong superego serves to inhibit biological instincts of id (high level of guilt), weak superego allows id more expression (low level of guilt), id is based on morality principle, superego develops at 3 years plus
Defence mechanisms
-ego has difficult time satisfying both id and superego, employs ego defence mechanisms
-repression- preventing unacceptable desires, motivation or emotions from becoming conscious, does not mean consciously cover up guilt secrets, means they are made unconscious so not even aware of them, repressed drives do not disappear, remain in unconscious where they influence behaviour in ways we are unaware of, may cause emotional difficulties
-displacement- diverting emotions to someone/something else because emotions cannot be expressed to persons concerned or alternatively because accepting faults in ourselves will cause anxiety, emotion displaced on someone else or object
-denial- sometimes refuse to believe events or to admit they are experiencing certain emotions that provoke anxiety
What are Psychosexual stages
-Freud believed that at particular points in child’s development a single part of the body is particularly sensitive to sexual/physical stimulation, erogenous zones are mouth, anus and genital region
-at any given time the child’s libido is focused on the primary erogenous zone for that age, as a result the child has certain needs ad demands related to zones
-frustration occurs if needs are not met- not being indulged enough/overindulged, so may be reluctant to progress beyond that stage
-both frustration and overindulgence may result in fixation- some of the child’s libido remains locked into that stage
-if a child is fixated at a particular stage, the method of obtaining satisfaction that characterised the stage will dominate their adult personality
oral stage
0-18 months, mouth is primary form of libidinal energy, child who is frustrated at this stage may develop an adult personality that is characterised by pessimism, envy, and suspicion- oral aggressive, over indulged oral receptive character is optimistic, gullible, and full of admiration for others, oral personality may end up with addiction such as smoking/drinking
anal stage
18 months-3 years
childs focus of pleasure is on eliminating or retaining faeces, represents conflict between id, which derives pleasure from expulsion of bodily wastes, and ego, represents external pressurs to control bodily functions
if parents are too lenient in this conflict it will result in an oral expulsive character who is disorganised, reckless, and defiant
conversely, a child may opt to retain faeces thereby spiting his parents and may then develop in to anal retentive character who is neat, stingy, and obstinate
phallic stage
3-6 years
during this boys develop unconscious sexual desires for mothers and become rivals with their father for her affection, develop feat that their father will punish them for these feelings so as a result boy develops masculine characteristics and represses his sexual feelings- oedipus complex, id will occassionally bring out feelings to conscious and create guilt/anxiety
girls also develop ‘penis envy’, believe their mother castrated them at birth so have negative feelings towards them, Freud believed the resolution of this female conflict comes much later and is never truly complete, young girls eventually replace their wish of a penis to a wish for a baby
eventually both boys and girls overcome their conflicts and identify with the same sex parent, hence girls become like mothers, boys their fathers
however, if a child becomes fixated at this stage they may face conflicts of sexuality, could also become narcissistic
latent stage
6 years- puberty
not a psychosexual stage but a period in which the sexual drive lies dormant, also where boys and girls will be quite distinct from each other, girls become more ‘femenine’ boys more ‘masculine’, Freud saw latency as a period of unparalleled repression of sexual desires and erogenous impulses
genital stage
puberty onwards
at start of puberty when sexual urges are once again awakened, interest now turns to heterosexual relationships
the less energy the child has still invested in unresolved conflicts in the earlier stagesm the greater their capacity will be to develop normal relationships with opposite sex
psychodynamic approach strengths
-uses case studies, detailed, allows development of the theory, eg Little Hans, Anna O
-first approach to suggest how childhood is important in determining adult behaviour
-is a unique approach/theory, expands on new level of complexity and understanding
-created psychoanalysis, very deep meaningful therapy for neurosis, where therapists try to understand the underlying causes of disorders through hypnosis, dream therapy, free association, research has shown it is extremely successful compared to other therapies
psychodynamic approach weaknesses
-includes abstract concepts which are difficult to test since they are unconscious, cant physically prove/actually see id/ego
-criticised for being sexist, oedipus complex suggests girls do not experience same feelings of guilt as boys, suggests boys are morally superior to girls because they experience more guilt during phallic stage
-lacks falsifiability, prevents theory from being scientific, little research evidence to support theory, defence mechanisms also not falsifiable
-based on psychic determinism, no such thing as accident, all driven by an unconscious force and has deep significant meaning, explains all behaviours even accidents as determined by unconscious conflicts which we have no control over thus suggesting we have no free will in anything, we do because it is all somehow determined by our unconscious mind
