Psychodynamic and Humanistic approaches Flashcards
Where does the psychodynamic approach originate from?
Work of Sigmund Freud (founder of psychoanalysis)
What are the 4 pieces in the psychodynamic approach?
Role of the unconscious, the structure of personality, defense mechanisms, psychosexual stages
What metaphor does Freud use when talking about the role of the unconscious?
Iceburg - most of it is hidden beneath the surface (big store)
What did Freud argue our everyday actions and behaviours were controlled by?
Our unconscious mind
When do things end up in the unconscious?
When they threaten us - may be mentally painful or unacceptable
How do we protect ourselves from threatening thoughts in the unconscious?
Forcing them out of our conscious mind - this process is called repression
How do we get glimpses of things in the unconscious mind?
Through slips of the tongue - Freudian slips PARAPRAXES
What are the 3 stages of the ‘iceberg’?
Conscious, preconscious (memories) and unconscious
What are the 3 parts of the structure of the personality?
ID (instincts) Ego (reality) and Superego (morality)
What is the ID driven by?
Pleasure principle
What is the ego driven by?
Reality principle
What is the superego driven by?
Morality principle
When is the ID present from and why?
Birth as it wants all desires, wants and needs fulfilled otherwise there is a state of anxiety (wanting feeding and crying)
What sort of behaviour would we have if we constantly followed ID instincts?
Disruptive and socially unacceptable (Queuing)
What is the ego ensuring?
ID impulses are expressed in an acceptable manner - balances ID and Superego
What can ID impulses be satisfied through?
A process of delayed gratification (ego eventually allowing the behaviour when appropriate)
Where does the ego function?
In the conscious, preconscious and unconscious
What does the superego hold?
All of our moral standards that we acquire from parents and society
When does our sense of right and wrong emerge? (psychodynamic approach)
Around age 5
What are the 2 parts of the superego?
The ego ideal - rules and standards of good behaviour (obeying these leads to feelings of pride and value)
The conscience - information of things viewed as bad by parents and society (its present is effective in all parts of the iceberg)
What is a person with good ego strength able to manage?
pressures of mediating between ID and Superego
What does the ego use to deal with conflicts in life?
Defence mechanisms (repression, displacement and denial) operating on an unconcious level
What is repression?
unconcious blocking of unacceptable thoughts and ‘repressed memories’ have been unconsciously blocked
What is displacement?
Redirecting of thoughts, feelings and impulses, used when they cannot express their emotions in a safe manner (boss - girlfriend)
What is denial?
Refusal to accept reality or fact - characteristic of early childhood development - avoid dealing with painful feelings or areas of life
What does the term libido mean according to Freud?
Part of the ID driving all behaviour - represented all psychic energy - as children this energy is directed to different parts of the body
What are the 5 psychosexual stages?
Oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital
Explain the oral stage…
Age 0-1, interaction with mouth, ID develops in this stage
How does fixation occur in the oral stage?
Through insufficient and forceful feeding - chewing, sucking, nail biting in later life
Explain the anal stage…
Age 1-3, pleasure in controlling bowel and bladder movements, ID develops at this stage
How does fixation occur in the anal stage?
Parents being too lenient/strict with toilet training.
L - messy personality ANAL EXPULSIVE
S - perfectionist personality ANAL RETENTIVE
Explain the phallic stage…
3-6, pleasure in genital area, discovering difference in sexes, feelings of attraction towards other sex parent and envy of the other
How does fixation occur in the phallic stage?
Either learn to control envy and identify with same sex parent. Consequences of not - recklessness and homosexuality?
What is the oedipus and electra complex?
O - boys - castration anxiety through fear of punishment by father
E - girls - penis envy - believes its been removed so to contemplate for loss girl wants child with father
Explain the latency stage…
6-11, Ego develops, no source of pleasure and earlier conflicts are repressed, focus on social areas. self confidence is important at this stage
Explain the genital stage…
11+ years, sexual desires become conscious alongside puberty, pursuit for sexual relationships
How does fixation occur in the genital stage?
Can lead to difficulties in forming and maintaining relationships
What supporting evidence can you use for the oedipus complex?
Little Hans case study - Freud interpreted that the horses resembled Hans father and the anxiety Hans felt was a result of castration anxiety triggered by mothers threat
What are 3 criticisms of the psychodynamic approach?
Freud relied heavily on case studies - not generalisable
His interpretations were highly subjective - others may draw different conclusions
His concepts are untestable (unconscious mind) UNABLE TO DISPROVE AND IMPOSSIBLE TO TEST
What is the main strength of the psychodynamic approach?
Led to the development of psychoanalysis - range of techniques to assess the unconscious mind - hypnosis and dream therapy
CAN BE CRITICISED AS INAPPROPRIATE FOR PEOPLE WITH SERIOUS DISORDERS SUCH AS SCHIZO.
When was the humanistic approach developed?
In America in early 1950’s
Who’s work did the humanistic approach emerge from?
Maslow and Rogers
What is the humanistic approach concerned with?
Individual human experiences, uniqueness, meaning, freedom and choice
What do Maslow and Rogers reject? (H approach)
Scientific models to ‘generalise’ theories of learning
What does the humanistic approach believe we all are?
Active agents - all unique
What is the therapy brought out of the humanistic approach?
Person-centered therapy/client-centered therapy
What are the main assumptions of the humanistic approach? (4)
Focus on individuals not look for general laws
Consider on the whole person ‘holism’
People need to ‘self actualise’ - make the most of life
PEOPLE HAVE FREEWILL - psychologists need to take this into account
What do humanistic psychologists believe we should not study?
Animals behaviour as it is way too different to humans
What are the 3 main ideas in the humanistic approach?
Freewill
Self-actualising tendency
The self, congruence and conditions of worth
What does the freewill factor in the H approach say about when we make decisions?
That they are not determined by biological and external factors
What are all other approaches that the humanistic one is not?
Determinist as it claims we are self determind
We are active agents according to the H approach but this does not mean we aren’t affected by what?
External factors, we do still make decisions ourselves though
What is self actualisation?
Innate tendency to achieve our full potential as it is essential to personal growth
As well as self actualisation what do we also exercise?
organismic value - naturally moving away from whats bad for you
How can we explain Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to do with the H approach?
To reach self actualisation you must first fulfill the needs of the lower levels before growth needs
What are the compartments of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?
Physiological - safety - love - esteem - self actualisation
What does Rogers state in H approach we need to be a healthy individual?
Congruence between the way we see ourselves and our ideal self (the person we want to be)
If there is a big gap between our self and ideal self what will we not be able to do?
Self-actualise as we will never be happy enough - feelings of INCONGRUENCE where we have low self esteem because of this gap
What did Rogers develop in the H approach to help deal with feelings of incongruence?
Client centered therapy to make the gap more realistic
When are we in a state of congruence?
When our view of our self is closely matched with our ideal self
What does Rogers argue many of the problems people have in their lives arise from?
Feelings of incongruence
Where do the feelings of incongruence arise from?
Childhood, where a due to a lack of UNCONDITIONAL POSITIVE REGARD (love, feelings of value) from parents we develop negative feelings about yourself
What are conditions of worth?
Parents who put conditions on their love for us (UPR)
What does parents setting boundaries on the love for their children storing up?
Psychological problems for the child in the future
What are the key concepts of client centered therapy CCT? (4)
Focus on helping client feel more accepted
Non-directive (doesn’t call them patient)
Role of therapist is to facilitate clients own understanding
Basd on organismic value - client knows whats best
What is the aim of CCT?
Increase feelings of self worth and reduce incongruence gap
What are the 3 key skills CCT uses?
Empathy
Active listening
Genuineness of the therapist
What are the 3 strengths of the humanistic approach?
Widely applied in real world - therapeutic approaches form basis of most counsellings
Maslow’s ideas are very influential in business and management
Brings the idea of the person back to the centre
What are the 3 weaknesses of the humanistic approach?
Lacks cross cultural validity
CCT is only suitable for people who want to change
Humanistic psychology is not scientific as lack of empirical evidence
