psychodynamic approach

Question 1

who is the founder of the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 1

sigmund freud

Question 2

why was the psychodynamic approach developed?

Answer 2

● freud realised that patient’s symptoms such as paralysis and headaches had no physical cause

● proposed symptoms caused by deep rooted psychological conflicts within unconscious mind

Question 3

what are the 3 assumptions of the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 3

● unconscious mind has an influence on our behaviour

● our personality is made of 3 parts - tripartite personality

● psychosexual stages determine our adult personality

Question 4

what is the conscious mind?

Answer 4

● small amount of mental activity we know about

● e.g. thoughts

Question 5

what is the preconscious mind?

Answer 5

● things we could be aware of if we wanted or tried

● e.g. memories, stored knowledge

Question 6

what is the unconscious mind?

Answer 6

● things we are not aware of and can not become aware of

● e.g. instincts, deeply buried memories

Question 7

what is the id?

Answer 7

● pleasure principle

● present from birth

● demands instant gratification

Question 8

what is the ego?

Answer 8

● reality principle

● controls demands of id and superego by using defence mechanisms to ensure neither one dominate the personality

Question 9

what is the superego?

Answer 9

● morality principle

● responsible for feelings of guilt and our sense of right and wrong

Question 10

what are defence mechanisms?

Answer 10

used by ego to prevent us experiencing trauma/anxiety

Question 11

what is denial?

Answer 11

refusing to acknowledge reality

Question 12

what is displacement?

Answer 12

transferring feelings from their true source onto a substitute target

Question 13

what is repression?

Answer 13

anxiety provoking thoughts are repressed into the unconscious mind

Question 14

what are the psychosexual stages of development?

Answer 14

● determine adult personality

● each stage marked by different conflict that child must resolve to move on to next age

● any conflict that is unresolved leads to fixation where child becomes stuck and carries behaviours associated with that stage though to adult life

Question 15

explain the oral stage

Answer 15

● age: 0-1

● focus of pleasure is mouth - child gains pleasure from breastfeeding

● consequence of unresolved conflict: oral fixation - smoking, biting nails

Question 16

explain the anal stage

Answer 16

● age: 1-3

● focus of pleasure is anus - child gains pleasure from withholding and eliminating faeces

● consequences of unresolved conflict: anal retentive - perfectionist, obsessive
anal expulsive - messy, thoughtless

Question 17

explain the phallic stage

Answer 17

● age: 3-5

● focus of pleasure is genital area

● experiences oedipus / electra complex

● consequences of unresolved conflict: phallic personality - narcissistic, reckless

Question 18

explain the latency stage

Answer 18

● age: 6-12

● earlier conflicts are repressed

Question 19

explain the genital stage

Answer 19

● age: 12 +

● sexual desires become conscious alongside onset of puberty

● difficulty forming heterosexual relationships

Question 20

what is the oedipus complex?

Answer 20

● occurs for males during phallic stage

● begin to have unconscious sexual desire for their opposite sex parent (mother)

● makes them resentful of their same sex parent (father) as they see them as a competitor for their parents love
experience castration anxiety

● to resolve conflict: boys begin to identify with father and adopt their personality and behaviours so father no longer sees them as threat
they internalise their moral values, which leads to development of superego