Psychodynamic approach

Question 1

A case study is a

Answer 1

A case study is a detailed investigation into a patients behaviours and experiences

Question 2

why did Freud investigate dreams?

Answer 2

Freud investigated dreams as he though it gave us an insight into our unconscious mind.

Question 3

what psychosexual stage did Freud believe little Hans was in

Answer 3

The phallic stage as he was obsesses with his own penis and was in the age range 3-6

Question 4

what is an Oedipus complex

Answer 4

When a boy becomes sexually attracted to his mother and jealous of his father

Question 5

what defence mechanism did Little Hans show

Answer 5

Little Hans showed displacement as he was redirecting an unconscious fear of his father onto horses

Question 6

limitations of little Hans

Answer 6

-results may not generalise to other children

-lacked empirical evidence

-didn’t test cause and effect as Freud couldn’t manipulate an independent variable and Hans’ fear of horsed could have come from him seeing one collapse when he was young

Question 7

strengths of psychodynamic approach

Answer 7

-strikes a balance between being idiographic and nomothetic as it uses case studies to provide detail about individual experiences but still proposes general ideas about behaviour like the tripartite structure of personality

-Freud was one of the first psychologist to investigate psychological causes for psychological disorders

Question 8

limitations of psychodynamic approach

Answer 8

-the psychodynamic approach isn’t very scientific as Freuds theories are not based on empirical evidence as you cannot enter the unconscious mind, therefore making his theories unfalsifiable

-Freuds studies lack population validity as even though little Hans might have a Oedipus complex, we cannot generalise and assume all other children have it

-Freuds main theories involve gender bias as Freuds concept of penis envy assumes that girls always want the same things boys want which is a very outdated gender stereotype

Question 9

the psychodynamic approach (AO1)

Answer 9

-developed by sigmund freud and the approach is based on the idea that behaviour is influenced by the the interactions between three parts of the mind

-conscious mind which is everything your currently thinking
-preconscious mind which contains everything that you are not thinking about right now, but could easily access
-unconscious mind which contains things outside of our conscious awareness which we never consciously access

Question 10

key assumption

Answer 10

-most behaviour is caused by the unconscious mind

Question 11

tripartite structure of personality:

Answer 11

-The ID is responsible for impulses and the urge for instant gratification, entirely in the unconscious mind

-the superego wants us to follow the rules and morals, and it is found in the conscious, preconscious and unconscious mind

-the ego which mediates between the ID and superego and decided what to do, usually in the conscious mind but it can be preconscious to

Question 12

defender mechanisms:

Answer 12

displacement- when the ego redirects the IDs impulse towards something else

repression- when the ego pushes the IDs impulses back into the unconscious mind

denial- when the ego gives into the ID, but then refuses to believe it has done so

Question 13

freuds psychosexual stages:

Answer 13

1) oral- takes place from birth to 18 months
-during this stage is the ID is focused on the mouth and it’s main impulse is to eat

2) anal- from 18 months to 3 years old
-during this stage is the ID if focuses on the anus and it’s main impulse is to poo if a child is nervous about the toilet, freud called them annally retentive, whereas if a child is super keen to use the toilet, freud called them anally expulsive

3) phallic stage- occurs from the ages 3-6 years old
-during this stage, both boys and girls are focused on the penis
-boys become sexually attracted to their mother and jealous of their father
-girls become sexually attracted to their father and do not trust their mother
-during the phallic stage, freud suggested boys get castration anxiety whereas girls experience penis envy

4) latent stage- from age 6-12 years old
-IDs impulses are no longer focused on one part of the body, they are spread out evenly

5) genital stage- starts at 12 and lasts for the rest of their adult life

Question 14

Oral fixation:

Answer 14

-will cause and adult to be overly dependant and have habits like smoking or biting their nails

Question 15

anally retentive fixation:

Answer 15

-will cause and adult to be organised and careful with their money

Question 16

anally expulsive fixation:

Answer 16

-will cause an adult to be overly emotional

Question 17

phallic fixation:

Answer 17

-will cause an adult to be jealous or anxious

Question 18

Support for psychodynamic approach : Little Hans

Answer 18

-Little Hans was a 5 year old boy who was scared of horses
-through analysing notes on hanses behaviour and dreams, Freud concluded that Hans was in the phallic stage
-he also suggests that Hans was going through an oedipus complex which is when a boy becomes sexually attracted to his mother and jealous of his father
-his fear of his father was redirected at horses which is an example of displacement