Psychodynamic Approach Flashcards
What did Freud believe?
That behaviour was determined more by psychological factors than by biological factors or environmental reinforcement
What are the main assumptions of the psychodynamic approach?
We are born with basic instincts and needs
Behaviour is largely controlled by the unconscious mind
What did Freud say the personality is composed of?
ID
Ego
Superego
What is the ID?
A primitive part of our personality that operates on the pleasure principle. Throughout life it is selfish and demands instant gratification
What is the ego?
The part of our personality that works on the reality principle
It’s role is to reduce the conflict of the demands of the ID and the superego
What is the superego?
Our internalised sense of right and wrong.
It is based on the morality principle and punishes the ego for wrongdoing with the feeling of guilt
What are defence mechanisms?
Unconscious behaviours used by the ego to help balance conflicting demands
What is repression?
What is an example of repression?
‘Unconscious forgetting’ - this mechanism does not allow disturbing thoughts to become conscious
Not recalling a traumatic childhood event
What is denial?
What is an example of denial?
A mechanism to reduce anxiety by refusing to see the unpleasant aspect of reality
A student receives a poor grade but tells themselves it doesn’t matter and it’s not their fault
What are the psychosexual stages?
Oral
Anal
Phallic
Latent
Genital
When is the oral stage?
What is it?
0-1
The focus of pleasure is the mouth, the mothers breast is the object of desire
What is the consequence of unresolved conflict in the oral stage?
Oral fixation
—> smoking, biting nails, sarcastic, critical
When is the anal stage?
What is it?
1-3
The focus of pleasure is the anus. A child gains pleasure from withholding and expelling faeces
What is the consequence of unresolved conflict in the anal stage?
Anal resentive
— perfectionist, obsessive
Anal expulsive
— thoughtless, messy
When is the phallic stage?
What is it?
3-6
The focus of pleasure is the genital area. The child experiences the Oedipus or electra complex
What is the consequence of unresolved conflict in the phallic stage?
Phallic personality
— narcissistic, reckless, possibly homosexual
What is the latent stage?
When the earlier conflicts (oral, anal, phallic) are repressed.
A sexual desire is present but dormant, sometimes sexual energy is redirected towards peers
What is the genital stage?
When sexual desires become conscious alongside the onset of puberty
What is the consequence of unresolved conflict in the genital stage?
Difficulty forming heterosexual relationships
What is the Oedipus complex?
In the phallic stage, boys develop incestuous feelings towards their mother and a murderous hatred towards their rival in love - their father
Fearing their fathers will castrate them, boys repress their feelings and identify with their fathers, taking on his gender roles and moral values
What is the Electra complex?
Girls experience penis envy - they desire their father and hate their mother
They are thought to give up their desire over time and replace this with the desire for a baby, allowing them to identify with their mother
