Psychodynamic Apprach Flashcards
What are the three key assumptions of the psychodynamic approach?
Behaviour is determined by unconscious drives and motivations
Behaviour is determined by biological drives and early experiences (before the age of 5)
Behaviour is determined by conflicts between our instinctual libidinal and our efforts to repress them
How did Freud describe the mind as an iceberg?
Conscious: the small amount of mental activity we know about
Preconscious: things we could be aware of if we tried
Unconscious: things we are unaware of and cannot become aware of e.g. traumatic experiences, fears, unacceptable sexual desires, shameful thoughts
What are the three parts of the mind?
Id, ego and superego
What is the id?
Part of the mind based on the pleasure principle, it demands unreasonable and immediate satisfaction. It is where desires stem from
What is the superego?
The moral aspect, develops due to moral and ethical restraints from parents. Uses anxiety and guilt to prevent us from acting on the id’s impulses
What is the ego?
The logical aspect, it operates on the reality principle and makes rational decisions which reflect the demands of the superego and id
What is the psychosexual development of personality?
We develop through stages and particular erogenous zones. The way the ego deals with the id and superego is based on how a person in childhood goes though the psychosexual stages of development
What are the 5 psychosexual stages of development?
Oral, anal, phallic, latent and genital
What is the oral stage?
0-1 years, associated with the mouth, the id develops, a baby gains pleasure from breast feeding and sucking dummies
What may cause a fixation at the oral stage?
Too much or too little oral activities
What will happen if there is too much fixation at the oral stage?
You either become orally aggressive (chewing gum, nails etc) or orally passive (lots of smoking, eating, kissing).
More likely to be selfish and immature
What is the anal stage?
1-3 years, associated with faeces, the ego developed, toilet training results in conflict between id and superego
What may cause a fixation at the anal stage?
Too much or too little demand on the child to become toilet trained
What will happen if there is too much fixation at the anal stage?
Adult may be anally retentive or anally expulsive
What may cause a fixation at the phallic stage?
Not moving through the oedipus complex correctly
