Psychodynamic approach Flashcards
What are the basic assumptions of the Psychodynamic approach
- force behind our behaviour is the unconscious mids
- instincts/drives that motivate our behaviour are present from birth
- early childhood experiences determine our personality
- psychoanalysis should be used to make the unconscious conscious
what is the unconscious mind?
The driving/motivating force behind our behaviour
The parts of the mind that is not accessible to the individual and holds thoughts that won’t easily surface. Traumatic memories also remain here and drive our behaviour
What is the conscious mind?
The part of our mind we can access
Protect the conscious self from anxiety/conflict
what is the preconscious mind?
Things we could be aware of if we wanted to or tried
What was Freuds most important assumption?
The primary driving falls in a persons mental life is the sexual instinct
what is the Id?
Contains all primitive urges sexual/aggressive
The childlike selfish and hedonistic part of your personality
What is the ego?
Keeps a balance of influence between the ID and the super ego
able to deliver the id’s drive for pleasure
what is the super ego?
A moral guardian and demands will be all the balls
Access an individual conscience opposite of the id as it feels guilt and hold someone back from prevent prevent preventing in a certain way
at what age do we have an Id?
Birth to 18 months
At what age do we have the ego?
18 months to 3 years
At what age do we have the super ego?
3 to 6 years
What are defence mechanisms?
Everyday methods we unconsciously used to reduce anxiety
What leads to anxiety?
Unconscious conflict between the ID and the super ego
What is repression?
A type of forgetting where are painful/disturbing memory is pushed into the unconscious mind where it isn’t accessible
The memory that exists for the persons amount of the anxiety that causes
What effects on behaviour does repression have?
No recall of the event/situation but the repressed memory still affects behaviour without the person being consciously aware of it
What is denial?
Refusal to accept the reality of an unpleasant situation
What effects and behaviour does denial have?
so maple leaf that a negative situation is positive and it their port shouldn’t cause anxiety
This this is a resistance to accept reality
What is displacement?
when the focus of a strong emotion is expressed on a neutral person/object
what effects does displacement have on behaviour?
Someone may exhibit strong emotion but focusing onto an uninvolved person/object
What is a strength of defence mechanisms as a wave of explaining human behaviour?
- they have some explanatory power
- Because some people can use them to understand their experiences since many can appreciate the idea of denial repression and displacement
- Strength because it enables people to understand their own behaviour therefore if device mechanisms are a valuable contribution to explain in behaviour
What is a limitation of defence mechanisms?
- lack testability/falsifiability
- Define mechanisms are unconscious processes that can’t be study directly and can only be interfered from behaviour or from reported thoughts or experiences which are open to interpretation bias
-Limitation because this means that hypothesis to study them cannot be tested so scientific evidence for them can’t be gained
- therefore there can be no scientific evidence that defence mechanisms are a valid explanation of behaviour
What is psychoanalysis?
A treatment for mental disorders and phobias
It aims to make the unconscious conflict conscious to strengthen the ego and help people cope more effectively
What happens in classical psychoanalysis?
therapist and patient build a therapeutic relationship. Therapist lets patient talk and do not judge them. They sit behind the patient.
What techniques are used in psychoanalysis?
dream interpretation
Free Association
Projective techniques
what is an example of free association?
analyst read a list of words to the patient and they say the first word that comes to mind
The patient’s response has not had time to be censored by the ego so they express unconscious urges.
a pause is a sign of ego censoring the response indicating an important threat to the ego.
what is an example of free association?
analyst read a list of words to the patient and they say the first word that comes to mind
The patient’s response has not had time to be censored by the ego so they express unconscious urges.
a pause is a sign of ego censoring the response indicating an important threat to the ego.
What are the divisions of the oral stage?
Passive and aggressive
What age is the oral stage?
0 to 12 months
what is the focus of libido in the oral stage
mouth
What is the oral stage?
Focus of pleasure is on the mouth mother’s breast is the object of desire
What effect does the oral stage have on adult behaviour?
oral fixation:
Smoking
biting nails
sarcastic
critical
What are the divisions of the anal stage?
expulsive and retentive
What age does the anal stage occur?
1 to 3 years
What is the focus of libido in the anus stage?
Anus
What is the anal stage?
Focus of pleasure is the anus child gain pleasure from withholding and expelling faeces
what effect does the anal stage have on adult behaviour?
Anal expulsive - thoughtless and messy
Anal-retentive - obsessive and perfectionist
What are the divisions of the phallic stage?
Oedipus or Electra complex
what age is the phallic stage?
3 to 5 years
What is the focus of libido in the phallic stage?
genitals
What is the phallic stage?
Focus of pleasure is the genital area
Child experience the Oedipus or Electra complex
What effect does the phallic stage have on adult behaviour?
Phallic personality – narcissistic, reckless, homosexual
what age is the late stage?
6 - 12 years
What is the focus of libido in the latent stage?
no focus
What is the latent stage?
Earlier conflicts are repressed
What age is the genital stage?
12+ years
What is the focus of libido in the genital stage?
Genitals
What is the genital stage?
sexual desires become conscious alongside the onset of puberty
What effect did the genital stage have an adult behaviour?
difficulty forming heterosexual relationships
What is libido?
Sexual mental energy that motivates behaviour feelings and thoughts
What is gratification?
Specific satisfaction or pleasure required at each stage
What is fixation?
When some children get stuck at a particular stage and this has consequences for their adult personality/behaviour
what is the oedipal complex
- boy developed sexual desire for his mother
- becomes jealous of his father and feared that his dad will castrate him
- Boys in the state of conflict and deals with this by identifying with his father
- boy substitute the desire for his mother with a desire for other women
what is the electra complex?
- girl realisation, she has no penis and blames her mother for this (penis envy)
- girl develop sexual desire for her father and becomes jealous of her mother
- Girl realise that she can’t have a penis or her father and deals with this by identifying with her mother
- Girl substitute her desire for a penis with a desire for a baby and substitute the desire for her father whether it is for other men
what’s a strength of the psychosexual stages
Contributed to society
what are limitations of the psycosexual stages?
gender bias
Difficult to scientifically test
Based on case studies
Evaluate contribution to society as a strength of the psychosexual stages
- draw attention to the possible long-term effects of traumatic events such as child abuse and parental separation
- Strength as he has contributed to the well-being of people
Evaluate gender bias as a limitation of the psychosexual stages
- Focused on male development with little mention of female psychosexual development
- limitation because it is gender bias that may not apply to females therefore the theory can be argued to be an example of androcentrism
Evaluate difficulty to test scientifically as a limitation of psychosexual stages
- concepts such as a libido are impossible to measure and can’t be tested. The research that has been conducted tense not to support freuds theory
- limitation as a little scientific evidence of the theory without this there’s no way of establishing if the theory is valid or not
evaluate the use of case studies as a limitation of the psychosexual stages
- Freuds Case studies used to recollection of adult patients which he interpreted not on actual observation and the study of children. His studies were biased and not empirical
- Limitation as they don’t provide strong scientific evidence but theory without evidence there’s no way of establishing whether the theory is valid
What are strengths of the psycodynapic approach
- supported by evidence
- contributuion to societsy
- practical applications
