Psychodynamic Approach Flashcards
Describe the Psychodynamic Assumption of ‘The Unconscious Mind’
(hints: the mind, 3 parts, ego defence)
‘The Mind:’
Psychodynamic Psychologists believe all thoughts and behaviour are caused by ‘the mind’ (different from the brain: our mind cannot be scientifically studied.)
The 3 parts of our mind:
Our ‘mind’ is split up into three parts: The conscious (the part of our mind that we are completely aware of), the pre-conscious (the part of our mind that we can become aware of if we try) and the unconscious (the part of our mind that we are completely unaware of, unconscious thoughts, feelings and desires are stored here).
Ego Defence Mechanisms:
Ego defence mechanisms are ways in which the mind protects itself from thoughts and feelings that may cause stress to the ego is they become conscious.
Three of the most common are:
- Displacement, transferring impulses from one thing to another (eg. when angry at someone, you may yell at someone else.)
- Projection, thoughts are pushed onto someone else (eg. An insecure person may bully someone else about that same insecurity.)
- Repression, pushing painful thoughts into the unconscious mind. (eg. a person may not remember a traumatic experience).
Describe the Psychodynamic Assumption of ‘The Tripartite Personality’
According to Psychodynamic Psychology, our personality is split into three parts.
The Ego:
- The rational part of our personality, governed by the reality principle.
- Aims to balance the demands of the id and the superego in a socially acceptable way.
- Mostly linked to the conscious mind.
- Develops around the age of two.
The Superego:
- The part of our personality seeking to perfect our behaviour, governed by the morality principle.
- Learned through identification with one’s parents (Oedipus and Electra Complexes).
- Mostly linked to the pre-conscious mind.
- Develops around the age of four.
The Id:
- The impulsive part of our personality, governed by the pleasure principle.
- Aims to gain immediate gratification at any cost.
- Completely unconscious.
- Is present at birth.
The id and superego are often in conflict, balance is important for a persons well-being. The ability of an individual’s ego to affectively balance these pressures in a socially acceptable way determines their behaviour.
Too much conflict between the three parts may lead to psychological issues.
Describe the Psychodynamic Assumption of ‘The Influence Of Childhood Experiences’
Psychodynamic Psychologists believe that our experiences during childhood fully shape our adult personality. Freud proposed that psychological development in childhood happens in five Psychosexual Stages. Each of these being based on the fixation of the child’s libido (sex drives) on a different area of the body.
Problems during these stages could result in a child getting fixated at the part of the body associated with this stage, having a long-lasting affect on personality. Fixation can occur through frustration (not enough gratification) or overindulgence (too much gratification).
The Stages:
- Stage One, The Oral Stage (Ages 0- 18 months): Focus of the libido is the mouth (swallowing, sucking, etc.). A healthy process is said to result in the ability for adults to trust/form healthy relationships and have a healthy relationship with food. Overindulgence could lead to adults becoming oral receptive and too dependant on others.
Frustration could lead to adults becoming oral aggressive and therefore aggressive.
- Stage Two, The Anal Stage (Ages 18 months - 3 years): Focus of the libido is the anus (Potty Training). A healthy process is said to allow an adult to separate their needs from the greater good.
Overindulgence (through no punishment for accidents) could lead to adults becoming anal expulsive and therefore messy and disorganised.
Frustration (through too much punishment for accidents) could lead to adults becoming anal retentive and therefore overly tidy.
- Stage Three, The Phallic Stage (Ages 3-5): Focus of the libido is on the genitals.
During this stage, the superego develops during the Oedipus Complex (boys) or the Electra Complex (girls). At the end of these complexes, a child internalises the superego/gender expression of their same-sex parent.
-Stage Four, The Latency Stage (5 years - Puberty): Libido is latent (little to no sexual motivation).
- Stage 5, The Genital Stage (Puberty onwards): Focus of the libido is on the genitals of the opposite sex. The adult personality is set and any issues occurring during earlier stages present themselves.
Apply the assumptions of the Psychodynamic Approach to explain two human behaviours.
Firstly, the psychodynamic assumption of the unconscious mind could be used to explain Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). This assumption could explain OCD as a form of ego defence mechanism (a way in which the mind protects itself from thoughts that may cause stress to the ego if they become conscious). An individual with OCD may experience intense anxiety due to harmful thoughts/feelings that have been repressed into the unconscious mind. The compulsive behaviours therefore may be a form of displacement: where the individual redirects their anxiety onto these ‘compulsive rituals’ (eg. checking if the door is locked excessively), therefore protecting the ego from these anxieties.
Secondly, another human behaviour that can be explained by the assumptions of the psychodynamic approach is violent/aggressive behaviour. The psychodynamic assumption of the influences of childhood experiences, in which our personality is said to be shaped during the ‘psychosexual stages’ of development, could be used to explain violent behaviour if an individual had an oral aggressive fixation; meaning that their libido was under-gratified during the oral stage of psychosexual development. Freud suggested that under-gratification during this stage would result in an individual growing to have an aggressive personality in later life.
What was the aim of Bowlby’s Study: 44 Juvenile Thieves?
Researching the effects of maternal deprivation at a young age on delinquency.
Describe the Methodology of Bowlby’s Study: 44 Juvenile Thieves?
This study was a series of case studies from a child guidance clinic where Bowlby worked as a psychiatrist.
An opportunity sample of 88 children was selected from the clinic. The focus of the study was on 44 children - 31 boys and 13 girls between the ages of 5 and 17yrs old - who had been labelled as thieves and were graded in terms of the seriousness of their stealing (eg. Grade IV thieves - 22 of the children - had been stealing for a long time while Grade I thieves - 4 of the children - had only committed one crime.) The thieves were also found to be of average intelligence.
A control group was also used, consisting of 44 other children (who were similar in age, sex and IQ as the thieves) who also attended the clinic.
Describe the Procedure of Bowlby’s Study: 44 Juvenile Thieves?
- On arrival to the clinic each child was given mental tests by a psychologist to assess their intelligence and emotional attitude.
- Asocial worker then interviewed the mothers of the children and recorded details about the child’s early psychiatric history.
- After a two hour examination, the team reviewed secondary data (such as school reports), and then discussed their conclusions, then made separate reports to Bowlby.
- Bowlby then conducted an initial interview with the child and the mother.
- Many of the children continued to meet with Bowlby weekly over a six-month period to establish a detailed case study to be recorded for the findings.
- After establishing a detailed case study, Bowlby then provided each of the children with a ‘diagnosis.’
What were the Findings of Bowlby’s Study: 44 Juvenile Thieves?
- Bowlby and his team categorised the the thieves into ‘personality types A-F.’
A: Emotionally ‘normal’ - 2 children.
B: Depressed - 9
C: Circular (or bipolar’ - 2
D: Hyperthemic (or ADHD) - 13
E: Affectionless - 14
F: Schizoid (Schizophrenic) - 4 - 14 of the thieves were diagnosed as ‘Affectionless’ compared to 0 of the controls.
- 12 of the ‘Affectionless’ thieves also had experienced maternal deprivation (such as Nansi F. an 8 year old who’s mother had to work, leaving her home with her grandmother.)
- The research found that 17 of the thieves had experienced early maternal deprivation and so had 2 of the control group, therefore it would be more accurate to conclude that maternal deprivation leads to emotional instability rather than delinquency.
Describe the components of ‘Dream Analysis Therapy.’
(acronym: clever dogs run swiftly, seeking excitement)
The client recalls their dream to the therapist. The therapist will then work with the client to reverse the process of dreamwork and transform the manifest content back into latent content, using context from the clients life. Dreamwork is how to mind transforms the latent content (underlying meaning of the dream) to the manifest content (how to latent content is presented in the dream).
There are five main processes in dreamwork.
* Condensation: the mind condenses the complexity of latent content down to brief pieces of manifest content.
* Displacement: when the emotional significance of the latent content is separated from the content itself and attached to something different.
* Representation: thought is represented by a visual image.
* Symbolism: symbol represents an action, person or idea.
* Secondary elaboration: the unconscious collects all the images within the dream and fits them together to create a logical story, further disguising the latent content.
Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the psychodynamic approach.
(Essay Plan Structure) (hint: mud)
Paragraph 1: One strength of the psychodynamic approach is that it can be described as both Nomothetic (findings are generalisable) and Idiographic (focused on individuality): making the approach Multi-Method. For example, the psychodynamic approach can be seen as Nomothetic through Bowlby’s which concluded that children who experience maternal deprivation in childhood are likely to experience emotional disturbance and become delinquent: these findings can therefore be generalised to children as a whole. Secondly, the approach can also be seen as idiographic through various assumptions, such as the theory of the unconscious mind, suggesting that every individual will have their own repressed trauma, for example. This is a strength as it allows us to create general laws, aiding societies understanding of behaviours, whilst still recognising individual differences: therefore allowing us to understand behaviours without imposed ethical issues.
Paragraph 2: One weakness of the psychodynamic approach however is that it is unscientific, meaning that its theories lack empirical evidence to support them. For example, Freud proposed the idea that every person’s mind is split into three parts: the unconscious, the pre-conscious and the conscious, which led to the development of the assumption of the unconscious mind. However, there is no empirical evidence that the unconscious mind actually exists and is based solely on theory. This is therefore a weakness as this undermines the overall goals of psychology as a science: to test, understand and predict behaviours.
Paragraph 3: Another aspect of the psychodynamic approach is that it is deterministic, meaning that it suggests all behaviours are pre-determined by external factors, which can serve as both a strength and a weakness. For example, the assumption of childhood experience highlights the ideas of determinism as it suggests a persons personality is entirely shaped during childhood (eg. under gratification during the anal stage of psychosexual development would lead to a controlling/overly tidy personality.) This could be seen as a strength as it allows us to identify factors which lead to certain behaviours, therefore making them easier to control. However, it could also be argued to be damaging as this may lead to prejudices towards certain groups of people (eg. people who experienced maternal deprivation at a young age could be labelled as ‘delinquent’ due to Bowlby’s study of 44 Juvenile thieves).
