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
What are the 5 psychosexual stages in order
1) Oral stage
2) Anal stage
3) Phallic stage
4) Latency stage
5) Genital stage
Describe the Oral stage
- 0-1 years approximately
- Mouth is main focus of pleasure during this stage
- Child enjoys tasting and sucking
- Mothers breast object of desire
- Successful completion of this stage is demonstrated by Weaning
Consequence of unresolved conflict - Oral fixation= Sarcastic, overeats and drinks, smoke, bite nails
Describe the Anal stage
-1-3 years old
- Defecation (pooing) is the main source of pleasure
- Successful completion is marked by potty training
- Ego develops as parents impose restrictions
Consequence of unresolved conflict
- Anally retentive= Very tidy, perfectionist, likes being in control
- Anally expulsive= Thoughtless, messy
Describe the Phallic stage
- 3-5 years old
- Genital area is the main source of pleasure
- Oedipus complex= Boy wants his mother as his ‘primary love object’ and wants father out the way
- Electra complex= Girls experience penis envy; they desire their father, as penis is primary love object and want mother out the way
Describe the Latency stage
- Age 7 to puberty
- Sexual urges sublimated into sports and other hobbies
- Focus on developing same sex friendships
- No particular requirements for a successful completion
Describe the genital stage
- Puberty into adulthood
- Focus on genitals but not to same extent as phallic stage
- Task is to develop healthy adult relationships
- Should happen if earlier stages have been negotiated successfully
Consequence of unresolved conflict - Difficulty forming heterosexual relationships
What does fixation (getting stuck) at any of the stages determine
It determines our adult character, personality and behavioural traits
Freud believes all children are born with a libido
What’s a libido
A sexual urge
What happens if you don’t complete all psychosexual stages
- May not be psychologically healthy
- May cause a mental abnormality to occur
Why might fixation occur
Due to trauma, pleasant or unpleasant experiences, change in environment etc
Describe Little Hans study
- Hans developed a fear of horses after seeing one fall over and kick its feet
- According to Freud, Little Hans was experiencing the Oedipus complex, wanting to possess his mother, and saw his father as a rival
- He displaced the fear of his father on to horses
- Horses was a representation of Han’s unconscious fear of castration experienced during the Oedipus Complex
Evaluation of psychodynamic approach
- Has an ability to explain human behaviour, such as abnormal behaviour through fixation at stages
- Many of its concepts are in the unconscious which is unfalsifiable therefore can’t be proved wrong. Therefore seen as not a science
- Freuds theories developed from case studies like Little Hans, explaining the fear of his father (Oedipus complex). This methodology is highly bias
- Psychic determinism, as behaviour that appear freely chosen under conscious control are actually caused by the unconscious. Challenges how people view their decision making
