Psychodynamic approach

Question 1

What is the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 1

A perspective that describes the different forces, most of which are unconscious, that operate on the mind and direct human behaviour and experience

Question 2

Who was the main person in this approach?

Answer 2

Freud

Question 3

Freud suggested the mind is made up of what 3 things?

Answer 3

1. Conscious - what we are aware of
2. Pre conscious - thoughts we might become aware of through dreams
3. Unconscious - biological drives and instincts that influence our behaviour

Question 4

The unconscious mind contains what?

Answer 4

Threatening and disturbing memories that have been repressed. These can be assessed during dreams or through ‘slips of the tongue’

Question 5

What does the term ‘parapraxes’, which Freud came up with, mean?

Answer 5

‘Slips of the tongue’ - eg. when you accidentally call your teacher mum

Question 6

How does freud describe personality?

Answer 6

As ‘tripartite’ (composed of 3 parts)

Question 7

What are the three parts of personality?

Answer 7

The Id, the ego and the superego

Question 8

What is the ‘Id’?

Answer 8

‘The devil on your shoulder”. It operates on the pleasure principle (the Id gets what they want), unconscious drives and instincts, present at birth, entirely selfish and demands instinct gratification

Question 9

What is the ‘ego’?

Answer 9

‘The mediator’. It operates as the reality principle, develops around age 2, role is to reduce the conflict between the Id and the Superego, employs a number of defence mechanisms

Question 10

What is the ‘superego’?

Answer 10

‘The angel on your shoulder’. It is based on the morality principle, our internalised sense of right and wrong, formed at the end of the phallic stage (age 5-6)

Question 11

At what ages are the Id, the Ego and the Superego formed?

Answer 11

Id - present at birth
Ego - develops around age 2
Superego - at the end of the phallic stage (age 5-6)

Question 12

What did Freud claim about child development?

Answer 12

That it occurs in 5 stages - the psychosexual stages. Any stage that isn’t passed leads to fixation where the child becomes ‘stuck’ and carries certain behaviour and conflicts associated with that stage through to adult life

Question 13

What are the 5 stages?

Answer 13

Oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital

Question 14

Describe the oral stage, and give a consequence

Answer 14

0-1 years
Focus of pleasure is the mouth
Mothers breast can be the object of desire - breastfeeding for too long, not enough or not feeding when hungry can lead to trauma

Consequence can be oral fixation eg. smoking, biting nails, sarcastic, critical

Question 15

Describe the anal stage, and give a consequence

Answer 15

1-3 years
Focus of pleasure is the anus
Child gains pleasure from withholding and expelling faeces
Being forced to potty train too early, not being potty trained at all and punished when done wrong/ had accidents can leave trauma

Consequence can be anal retentive (perfectionist, obsessive) or anal expulsive (thoughtless, messy)

Question 16

Describe the phallic stage, and give a consequence

Answer 16

3-6 years
Focus of pleasure is the genital area
Absency of father, and penis envy can all lead to trauma

Consequence can be having a phallic personality, being narcissistic and reckless

Question 17

Describe the latency stage

Answer 17

Earlier conflicts are repressed

Question 18

Describe the genital stage, and give a consequence

Answer 18

From puberty to death
Sexual desires become conscious alongside the onset of puberty

Consequence can be difficult forming heterosexual relationships

Question 19

What is the oedipus complex?

Answer 19

Freud claimed that in the phallic stage, little boys develop incestuous feelings towards their mother, and develop a murderous hatred for their father (which they see as their rival)

Question 20

What is the electra complex?

Answer 20

Freud claimed that girls in the phallic stage experience penis envy, where they desire their father, and hate their mother

Question 21

Explain Little Hans

Answer 21

• He was a 5 year old boy who had a fear of horses
• He told his father about the fantasies he had about his mother, where they were married with children.
• His mum told Hans she would cut of his penis if he didn’t stop playing with it, causing him to develop castration anxiety
• Hans saw his father as a ‘rival’, but his dad was much bigger and stronger, so he couldn’t do anything towards him
• Hans phobia of horses was merely a displacement. His real, unconscious fear was towards his father, relating to his castration anxiety
• As a result, when he saw a horse, he was scared he would be castrated

Question 22

The ego’s job is to balance the conflict between the Id and the Superego using defence mechanisms. What are the 3 defence mechanisms?

Answer 22

1. Regression - forcing a memory out of the unconscious mind
2. Denial - Refusing to acknowledge some aspect of reality
3. Displacement - Transferring feelings from true source of distressing emotion onto a substitute target

Question 23

What are 2 strengths of the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 23

1. Real world application - new form of therapy, helping clients by bringing their repressed emotions into their conscious mind to be dealt with
2. Explanatory power - has been used to explain a wide range of behaviours (moral, mental disorders) and drew attention to the influence of childhood on adult personality

Question 24

What are 2 weaknesses of the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 24

1. Untestable concept - does not meet the scientific criteria of falsification (it cannot be proved or disproved), and the majority of Freud’s concepts, like the oedipus complex and the Id, occur at an unconscious level, so they are very difficult to test.
2. Freud’s ideas were based on subjective studies of single individuals (like little Hans) which makes it difficult to make universal claims about human behaviour