Paper 2- Psychodynamic Approach Flashcards
Main assumptions of the psychodynamic approach?
-Unconscious processes that we are unaware of determine our behaviour.
-Our personality has 3 parts: id, ego and super ego.
-Early childhood experiences determine adult experiences.
What did Freud suggest about an iceberg?
Freud suggested that the part of our mind that we know about and are aware of – the conscious mind – is merely the ‘tip of the iceberg’
Conscious- The small amount of mental activity we know about (tip)
Preconscious- Memories we could be aware of it we tried.
Unconscious- Memories we are unaware of, contains traumatic or disturbing memories that we have locked away.
Your psyche- What are the id, ego and super ego?
Id- The Id is entirely unconscious. It is the primitive part of our personality and is made up of selfish aggressive instincts that demand immediate gratification.
Ego- The Ego is the ‘reality’ check’. It acts as the mediator between the other two parts of the personality.
For example, it may delay gratifying the Id until a more appropriate opportunity arises.
Super ego- The Superego is the moralistic part of our personality – it is our internalised sense of write and wrong. It is divided into conscience (what behaviour is allowed / what causes guilt), and ego-ideal (what a person strives towards – probably determined by parents’ standards of behaviour).
What is a healthy, neurotic and psychotic psyche?
A healthy psyche is when the ego is in control.
A neurotic psyche is when the superego is in control.
A psychotic psyche is when the id is in control.
What is a defence mechanism?
The Ego has a difficult job balancing the conflicting demands of the Id and Superego, but it does have help in the form of defence mechanisms.
These are unconscious and ensure that the Ego is able to prevent us from being overwhelmed by temporary threats or traumas.
What is denial- defence mechanism?
The refusal to accept reality so as to avoid having to deal with any painful feelings that might be associated with that event.
The person acts as though the event never happened (people around them can find this strange!)
For example, alcoholics will often deny that they have a drinking problem.
What is repression- defence mechanism?
Pushing bad experiences out of the conscious mind into the unconscious.
For example, a child who is abused by a parent might not remember the events, but has trouble forming friendships.
What are Freuds psychosexual stages?
Freud suggests that problems in childhood can cause psychological abnormalities in adulthood.
He suggested that there are 5 stages that everyone goes through – these are referred to as psychosexual stages.
He emphasises that the most important driving force in a person’s development is the need to express sexual energy (libido).
What are the 5 different psychosexual stages?
Oral 0-1 years-The mouth is the focal point of sensation and is the way in which the child expresses early sexual energy e.g. through sucking and biting.
Anal 1-3 years- The focus of pleasure is the anus. The child gains pleasure from withholding and expelling faeces. A major issue at this stage is toilet training, as the child learns to control the expulsion of bodily waste.
Phallic 3-6 years- Focus of pleasure is the genital area. A major conflict in this stage is the Oedipus complex.
Latency 6-12 years- The child develops their mastery of the world around them. During this stage, conflicts from previous stages are repressed. As a consequence, children can’t remember much of their early years.
Genital- puberty onwards- Sexual desire becomes conscious alongside the onset of puberty. This eventually directs us towards sexual intercourse and the beginnings of adult life.
What happens if there is an unresolved conflict in one of the psychosexual stages?
If a problem (fixation) occurs at a stage then this could affect adult behaviour.
Oral – oral fixation – smoking, biting nails, sarcastic, critical.
Anal – anal retentive – perfectionist, obsessive.
anal expulsive – thoughtless, messy.
Phallic – phallic personality – narcissistic, reckless.
Genital – difficulty forming heterosexual relationships.
What is Freuds Oedipus complex and penis envy theory?
In the phallic stage, little boys develop incestuous feelings towards their mother and murderous hatred for their rival in love – their father. This is the Oedipus complex.
Fearing their feather will castrate them, boys repress their feelings for their mother and identify with their father, taking on his gender role and moral values.
Girls of the same age experience penis envy: they desire their father – as the penis is the primary love object – and hate their mother (the Electra complex).
What did Freud think about Little Hans?
Freud supported his concept of the Oedipus complex with his case study of Little Hans.
Hans was a five year old boy who developed a phobia of horses after seeing one collapse in the street.
Freud suggested that Hans’ phobia was a form of displacement in which his repressed fear of his father was transferred (displaced) onto horses.
Thus, horses were merely a symbolic representation of Hans’ real unconscious fear: the fear of castration experienced during the Oedipus complex
Evaluation of the psychodynamic approach?
STRENGTH
Real world application – first attempt to treat mental disorders psychologically. We now have many modern day ‘talking therapies’ such as counselling thanks to this approach.
COUNTER-ARGUMENT-Psychoanalysis can sometimes be regarded as inappropriate and even harmful for people experiencing more serious mental disorders such as schizophrenia.
The ability to explain human behaviour, such as personality development, moral development, gender identity etc.
Draws attention to the connection between experiences in childhood and later development.
LIMITATIONS
Much of the approach is untestable – Karl Popper argued that the psychodynamic approach doesn’t meet the scientific criteria for falsification – it’s not open to empirical testing and therefore the possibility of being disproved.
Many of Freud’s concepts occur at an unconscious level, and are therefore practically impossible to test.
His ideas were also based on the subjective study of individuals, which makes it hard to make universal claims about human behaviour.
Deterministic- believes that childhood experiences shape our adult personality. Regardless of our emotions, he also rejects free will.
