Psychodynamic Approach Flashcards
3 assumptions
- The unconscious, of which we are unaware, determine our behaviour
- Personality has three parts: id, ego and superego
- Early childhood experiences determine adult personality
What’s the conscious
Your awareness of specific mental functions
E.g. If you feel thirsty you get a drink
What’s the preconscious
Things that are brought to your awareness
E.g. Someone asks for your address
What’s the unconscious
Lacking of awareness without realising
E.g. Childhood memories (early). What cannot be accessed, but which controls and drives behaviours
What’s psychic determinism
Unconscious forces and drives our inborn and controls or determines behaviour
Is our conscious mind aware of our unconscious
The conscious mind is unaware of what thoughts and emotions occur in the unconscious
Who’s the main figure involved in the psychodynamic approach
Sigmund Freud
3 ways accessing the unconscious mind
Rorschach inkblot test
Word association
Dreams
How are dreams used to access the unconscious mind
- Repressed ideas in the unconscious are more likely to appear in dreams than when we are awake
- A therapist interprets the dream in order to provide insight on what it represents
How is word association used to access the unconscious mind
- Timing how long a person to respond to a word measures the issues in a persons unconscious
- However, could be measuring something else, E.g. someone’s understanding of the word, therefore validity of measure is questioned
What’s the psyche
The personality
What’s the id
- “selfish beast” part of the personality
- Contained In the unconscious mind
- Operates according to the “pleasure principle”
- Requires instant gratification
What’s the Ego
- Uses it’s cognitive abilities to manage and control the id and balance it’s desires against the restrictions of the superego
- Operates according to the “reality principle”
- Delayed gratification
- Ego defends itself from id-Superego struggles via various defence mechanisms
What’s the superego
- Insists we do the right thing
- Opposes the desires of the id
- Develops later in childhood
- Enforces moral restrictions and battles against id impulses
What happens if the ego fails to balance the needs of the id and superego
May result in conflicts and psychological disorders
What’s intra-psychic conflict
Conflict between the components of the psyche can lead to anxiety
What does the ego use to maintain a balance in relation to the id and superego
Defence mechanisms
Name the 3 defence mechanisms
Repression, denial and displacement
Are the defence mechanisms conscious or unconscious
They’re unconscious strategies
What’s repression and an example of it
Forcing a distressing or threatening memory out of your conscious mind
E.g. an individual forgetting the trauma of their pet dying
What’s denial and an example of it
Failing or refusing to acknowledge some aspect of reality
E.g. continuing to turn up to work even though you’ve been sacked
What’s displacement and an example of it
Transferring feelings from the true object of anxiety onto a substitute target/object
E.g. slamming the door after an argument
What happens there’s an excessive use of defence mechanisms
Result in the ego becoming increasingly detached from reality and, in time, can cause psychological disorder
What’s psychoanalysis
Effort to understand defences and unconscious motives, driving self-destructive behaviours
