Psychodynamic approach Flashcards
Who made the pyschodynamic approach ?
-Sigmund Freud
What are the assmuptions of the psychodynamic approach?
-The psychodynamic approach was put forward by Sigmund Freud. It
describes various forces, mostly unconscious, that operate on the
mind and direct human behaviour and experience.
- There are several ideas central to the theory.
- The unconscious mind influences behaviour
- Personality (psyche) has a discernible structure (ID, ego and superego);
- It is constructed by the passage through psychosexual stages of
development throughout infancy and adolescence;
- The unconscious conflicts in the psyche are mediated by processes called
defence mechanisms.
Explain the role of the unconsious mind.
- According to the psychodynamic approach, there are vast parts
of the mind that are inaccessible to conscious awareness. - A vast storehouse of biological drives and instincts all of which have a
significant influence on our thoughts, behaviour and personality. - The unconscious contains threatening and disturbing memories that
have been repressed or locked away and forgotten about - Any traumatic events or memories from childhood are repressed into the unconscious mind and kept there, hidden from conscious awareness.
- Never truly forgotten - explored through psychoanalysis, dreams,
fantasies and slips of the tongue, otherwise known as ‘Freudian slips’. - The preconscious sits between the two. Not in consciousness but
retrievable.
How does Freud describe the structure of personality ?
- Freud describes our personality as a tripartite.
- The ID the ego and the superego.
- All of which develop as different times and are responsible for different
things.
What is the ID ?
- The ID - Pleasure principle.
- Primitive part of our personality and is present from birth.
- Unconscious biological drives and instincts and urges.
- Demands instant gratification
What is the Ego ?
- The Ego - Reality principle - Tame the Id.
- Reduces the conflict between the demands of the Id and the superego.
- Uses defence mechanisms
What is the Super ego ?
- The Superego - Morality principle - Idealism vs. realism
- Represents the moral standards of our same-sex parent
- Punishes the ego through guilt, but also rewards the ego with pride.
Direct opposition to the Id
What are defence mechanisms ?
- Defence mechanisms are used by the ego in order to cope with the conflicting demands of the other two parts of the personality: the ID and superego.
- The ego works by distorting reality so that the individual can continue with their everyday life without unpleasant feelings or memories dominating their conscious awareness.
- Denial
- Repression
- Displacement
What are the pyschosexual stages ?
- He named five stages, each with a particular characteristic behaviour:
- oral behaviour (0-18 months)
- anal – holding or discarding faeces (18 months – 3.5 years);
- phallic – fixation on genitals (3.5 – 6 years);
- latency – repressed sexual urges (6 years - puberty)
- genital – awakened sexual urges (puberty onwards).
What are the conflicts in the first three stages and what do they cause ?
- oral - weaning off the breast causes smoking or overeating
- anal - toilet training causes neatness or messiness
- phallic - oepodious and electra complex causes vanity or overambition
Outline the Psychodynamic Approach [6 Marks]
- The psychodynamic approach was put forward by Sigmund Freud and revolves around 3 or 4 central ideas. The concept of the unconscious. The idea that personality has a discernible structure, and comes about through progression through the psychosexual stages of development. And that unconscious conflicts brought about by this process are mediated by defence mechanisms.
- Freud suggested that, the majority of our mind is made up of the unconscious, which he described as a vast storehouse of biological drives and instincts all of which have a significant influence on our thoughts, behaviour and personality. He also said that the unconscious contains threatening and disturbing memories that have been repressed or locked away and forgotten.
- According to Freud, personality has three components. The Id is the primitive part of our personality. It is present from birth and It is governed by primal urges that Freud called drives and seeks nothing but pleasure. The Ego is the second to develop. It works on the reality principle. It develops around the age of two in response to parental control. Its role is to tame the Id and reduce the conflict between the demands of the Id and the Superego. The superego is our internalised sense of right and wrong and is based on the morality principle.
- Finally, according to Freud our personality develops as we progress through the psychosexual stages. These are 5 stages of child development (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) every child must pass through in order to be psychologically healthy and well adjusted.
- Each stage is marked by a different conflict that the child must resolve in order to progress successfully to the next stage. Any psychosexual conflict that is unresolved leads to a fixation where the child becomes stuck and will then carry certain behaviours and conflicts associated with that stage throughtoadultlife
Evaluation of pyschodynamic approach
(strength/counterpoint)
Another strength of the psychodynamic approach is that it introduced the idea of psychotherapy.
- Freud brought to the world a new form of therapy
- Psychoanalysis - the first attempt to treat mental disorders psychologically rather than physically.
- Psychoanalysis is the forerunner to many modern day talking therapies such as counselling, that have since been established.
- A range of techniques designed to access the unconscious, such as dream analysis.
- Psychoanalysis claims to help clients by bringing their repressed emotions into their conscious mind so they can be dealt with.
- This shows the value of the psychodynamic approach in creating a new approachtotreatment
- However, on the other hand, whilst Freudian therapists have claimed success for many clients with mild neurosis, psychoanalysis is regarded as inappropriate, even harmful, for people experiencing more serious mental disorders.
- Symptoms of schizophrenia for example, such as paranoia and delusional thinking, mean that those with the disorder have lost their grip on reality
- Cannot articulate their thoughts in the way required by psychoanalysis.
This suggests that Freudian therapy, and theory, may not apply to all mentaldisorders
Evaluation of pyschodynamic approach
(limitation)
- A limitation of the psychodynamic approach is the fact that many of its core concepts are very abstract and untestable.
- Philosopher of science Karl Popper argued that the approach does not meet the scientific criterion of falsification
- Not open to empirical testing and the possibility of being disproved.
Concepts, such as the Id and the Oedipus complex are said to occur at an unconscious level, making them difficult, if not impossible to test. - Furthermore Freud’s ideas were based on the subject of study of single individuals, such as Little Hans, which makes it difficult to make universal claims about human behaviour.
- According to Popper this affords the psychodynamic theory the status of Pseudoscience (fake science) rather thanrealscience.
I GOT THE POWER
Evaluation of pyschodymanic approach
(strength)
**EXPLANATORY POWER **
Explanatory power
Another strength of Freurserialy is is ability to explain human behaviour.
Freud’s theory is controversial in many ways, and occasionally bizarre, but it has nevertheless had a huge influence on psychology and contemporay thought. Alongside behaviourism, the psychodynamic approach remained a Key force in psychology for the first half of the 20th century and has been used to explain a wide range of phenomena including personality development, the origins of psychological disorders, moral development and gender identity. The approach is also significant in drawing attention to the connection between experiences in childhood, such as our relationship with our parents, and our later development.
This suggests that, overall, the psychodynamic approach has had a positive impact on psychology - and also on literature, art and other human endeavours.
