Psychodynamic approach

Question 1

What is the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 1

This approach assumes that adult behaviour reflects complex dynamic interactions between the concious mind and the unconcious mind. It also emphasises the importance of childhood processes, one of the more influential psychologist to explain this approach was Sigmund Freud.

Question 2

The unconcious mind

Answer 2

Freud suggested that most of our mind is made up of the unconcious which is a vast storehouse of biological drives and instincts that have a significant effect om our behaviour and personality.
It also contains threatening and distrubing memories that have been repressed/locked away and forgotten.The uncious mind is supposed to portect the concious mind from these memories.

Question 3

The preconcious, hypnotism and dreams

Answer 3

The preconcious is the part of our unconcious that is closest to the concious mind, it includes thoughts and ideas that we can become aware of in our dreams or through slips of the tounge.

Freud believed the only way to get to someones unconcious was htrough the interpretation of dreams, in his early work he worled with many Female patients who where neurotic and discvered the importance of dream analysis.

Freud also used hypnosis to look at the unconcioous mind and the conflicts that might be due to childhood trauma, in the trance like condition the concious mind is supressed and the uncious mind is revealed according to Freud.

Question 4

Drives in the psychodynamic approach

Answer 4

Freud believed we were born with two basic drives, sex and aggression.
These are reffered to as Eros and Thanatos and motivate all our thoughts and behaviour.
Eros represents the life instinct with sec being the driving force of human nature as it is vital for reproduction. This source of psychic energy is called libido.
The second drive is the death instinct allows us to proecreate while eliminating our enemies who may try to prevent this.

Question 5

The tripartite personality

Answer 5

Freud believed the personality had three parts the id, ego and supergo.

The ID- allows us to meet basic needs and is based on the pleasure principle of seeking immediate gratification while not looking at the reality of the situation.

Superego- It develops during the phallic stage as a result of the moral constraints put on us, a strong superego limits the biological instincts of the ID leading to a high level of guilt while a weak supergo allows the ID more expression so there will be low levels oif guilt. So the ID is based on the morality principle

Ego- It meets the needs of the ID while considering the constraints of reality. The ego acts as a middleman and satisfies the ocnflicting demands of the Supergo and the ID.

The ID develops at birth, the ego after the age of one and the Supergo around the age of 3

Question 6

Defence mechanisms

Answer 6

The ego deploys defence mechanisms to help it satsify both the ID and Superego. Repression is the most powerful of these, it reduces the anxiety created by unacceptable ID impulses. It pushes tehm out of awarness into the unconncious.
The three defence mechanisms we need to know about are Repression, Displacement and Denial.

Question 7

Repression

Answer 7

It is a defence mechanism which prevents unacceptable desires, motivation or emotions from becoming concious. It makes them uncious so you are not even aware of them. They do not dissapear however, and remain in the unconcious where they influence our thoughts and behaviours which can lead to emotional difficulties.

Question 8

Displacement

Answer 8

This defence metho dis when you divert emotions onto something or someone else because the emotion cannot be expressed directly, or because accpeting faults in outself will cause anxiety. This is different from punching a cushion nstead of someone else it is socially unnaceptable actions such as kicking the dog instead of a person.

Question 9

Denial

Answer 9

This is a dence mechanism in which people will sometimes refuse to believe events or to admit they are expressing certain emotions that produce anxiety.

Question 10

Psychosexual stages

Answer 10

Freud believed that at particular points in a childs development a single aprt of the body is particullary sensitive to physical stimulation. At any time a childs mental energies (libido) where focused on the primary erogenous zone for that age, due to this they had certain needs and demands relating to this zone an=d frustration occurs if they are not met so are underindulged.
Howevr they can also be overindulged, so may be relucatnt to porgress beyond that stage because of it.
Both frustation and overindulgence can lead ro fixation in which some of the childs mental energies stay locked into that stage which will affect their adult persoanlity.

Question 11

Oral stage (0-18 months)

Answer 11

This stage starts from birth when the primary focus of libidal energy is focsued on the mouth which is expressed through nursing and mouthing objects.
A child who is frustrated at this stage may develop a oral agressive personality and will be characterised by pessimism envy and suspicion. If they are overindulged they will be an oral receptive character and will optomistic, gullable and be full of admiration for others. An oral persoanlity may also end up with an addiction to drinking or smoking.

Question 12

Anal stage (18 months-3 years)

Answer 12

The childs focus of pleasure in this stage is on elimating and retaining faeces. This represents a conflict with the ID which dervies pleasure from the expulsion of bodily wastes while the ego represents the external prewssures to control bodily functions.
If the parents are leniant in this conflict it will lead to an oral expulsive character who is disorganised, reckless and defiant. If the child chooses to retain faeces he may develop into an anal relentive charater who is neat, stingy and obstinate.

Question 13

Phallic stage (3-6 years)

Answer 13

During this stage boys apparently develop unconcious secual desires for their mother and become rivals with their father for affection. They develop a fear that their father will punish them for these feelings (castration anxiety) so decide to indeify with him rather then fight him. The boy then develops mascluine charactersics and represses his feelings towards his mother. This is known as the Oedipus conplex.
Girls go through a simmilar conflict and develop unconcious sexual desires for their father. called the electra complex. They also develop “Penis envy” and believe their mother castrated them at birth so have negative feelings towards their mother. Freud said young girls eventua;;y replace their wish of a penis to a with for for a baby.

eventually both boys and girls overcmone their cionflict and identify with their same sex parent. However according to Freud if a child becomes fixated in this stage of development they may have “problems” with their secuality and could become homosexual.

Question 14

Latent stage (6 years-puberty)

Answer 14

This is not a psychosecual stage but a peroid of time where the sexual drive lies dormant and it is inthis tage boys and grils will become distinct from eachother.

Question 15

Genital stage (puberty onwards)

Answer 15

This stagebegins at the start of puberty and sexual urges are once againt awakened. Intrest now turns into hetrosecual relationships according to Freud. The less energy the child has incested in unresolved conflict in earler stages the greater theri capacity will be to develop normal relationshups with the opposite sex.

Question 16

Strengths of the psychodynamic approach

Answer 16

+) It uses the case stduy method to gather evidence, the case study method is rich ind etail and allows theories to be devloped. Examples are Little Hans and Anna O. Howver unlike case studies in other aproaches such as HM or Phineas Gage we have no way of knowing what happened to these people as with HM and Gage wweh have scientific evidence about what ahppened to them and its effect while Freuds case stduy we do not truly know the causes and we do not know how true it is as Hans even said when he was older he did not remeber much of the events that Freud mentioned.

+) It was the first approach to suggest how childhood is important in determining our adult behaviour which is not emphasised by other approaches. This also measn it is less determinstic then other aproaches such as the biologicla apparoach as our personalitys are not innate but effected by our enviroment during our childhood.

+) Freuds theory is very unique and allows us to look at the comlexity of human behaviour for example with how the ego uses defence mechanisms toi justify actions.

+) It also created psycho analsysis which is a meaningful therapy for neurosis where therapists try to undertsand the underlying causes of these disorders through hypnosis, dream therapy and free association. Research has shown it is effectivein treating neurosis comapred to to other therapies.

Question 17

Weaknesses of the psychodynamic approach

Answer 17

• ) Abstract concepts such the ID, Ego and Superego are hard to test since they are unconcious as you can’t use brain scans such as in the biological appraoch or use data/behaviour to make assumptions such as in the cognitive approach.
• ) The approach was criticised as being sexist as Freud places emphasis on the oedipal complex and so suggests that girls do not expereince the same feeling of guilt as boys. Thi susggests that Boys are morally superior to grils as they feel more guilt at the phallic stage.
• ) The psychodynamic aproach especiallys Freuds theory tends to lack Falsifiability as you cannot prove it wrong , this prevents the theory from being scientific since there is less research evidence to support his theory. For example yoiu can’t provethat your adult persoanlity is the result of experiences in your childhood and if people deny thast they where attracted to the opposite sex aprent during the anal stage of development Freud ould say your in denial. Other theories such as Zimbardos can be faslfied with Zimabrdo having had his study repeated, the resulst where different putting doubt over his findings but it meant his study and theory was more scientific.
• ) While it is less deterministic then the biological approach it is still based on psychic dterminism as according to Freud there was not such thing as an accident as every slipp of the tounge has unconcious meanings this measn we have no free will as everything is controlled by unconcious conflicts which wehave no control over.