Psychodynamic Approach

Question 1

What are the key assumptions of the psychodynamic approach (3)
Key words: unconscious, instincts (Eros and Thanatos), childhood

Answer 1

• Freud believed that the origins of behaviour lie in the unconscious mind
• Instincts/ drives motivate our behaviour (Eros: life instincts include survival, pleasure and reproduction, Thanatos: death instincts include the drive of aggression, sadism and destruction and an unconscious desire to die)
• Early childhood experiences are vital in determining behaviour

Question 2

How does Freud explain his theory about the unconscious mind

Answer 2

Through the iceberg model, in which the unconscious and preconscious mind is demonstrated by the iceberg under water (the bigger part) to show the unconscious mind has a greater influence than the conscious mind

Question 3

Explain id

Answer 3

Operates solely in the unconscious, contains the driving force/ energy, driven by the pleasure principle, childlike and selfish

Question 4

Explain ego

Answer 4

Operates according to the reality principle, ensures the balance of influence between the id and the superego (if not balanced it could affect an individuals mental health)

Question 5

Explain superego

Answer 5

Operates according to the morality principle and helped the personality to form a moral code, causes feelings of guilt

Question 6

Define the preconscious mind and the unconscious mind

Answer 6

PC: lies just below the surface and is made up of thoughts that may surface at any point into the conscious, many memories live here
UC: thoughts that’ll not easily surface and may never do so, contains drives or instincts that motivate our behaviour but are inaccessible

Question 7

How does the ego protect itself

Answer 7

Through defence mechanisms which reduce anxiety, as anxiety weakens the influence of the ego

Question 8

(Defence mechanism)

How does repression work?

Answer 8

An unpleasant memory is pushed into the unconscious where it’s not accessible in the conscious mind, therefore can’t cause anxiety and there is no recall of the event but still affects our behaviour

Question 9

(Defence mechanisms)

How does denial work

Answer 9

The refusal to accept the reality of an unpleasant situation which reduces is associated anxiety, the person may believe the negative event hasn’t happened e.g. alcoholic denying they have a drink problem

Question 10

(Defence mechanisms)

How does displacement work

Answer 10

The focus of a strong emotion e.g. anger is expressed onto a neutral person e.g. a pet

Question 11

Explain the oral psychosexual stage in three parts: child experience, fixations and fixation consequences

Answer 11

Child experience: pleasure comes from the mouth e.g. eating, sucking
Fixations: may be caused by irregular feeding patterns, weaned from mothers milk too early or too late
Fixation consequences in adulthood:
1. Orally passive (gullible, dependent)
2. Orally aggressive (dominating)

Orally fixated people are more likely to smoke, bite fingernails and suck their thumbs

Question 12

Explain the anal psychosexual stage in three parts: child experience, fixations and fixation consequences

Answer 12

Child experience: pleasure is experienced from the anus e.g. expelling or withholding faeces
Fixation: may be caused by a child loving to use the potty so may overly do so, or if the parents are strict about potty training so child becomes anxious to use the potty
Fixation consequences in adulthood:
1. Anally retentive (orderly, neat)
2. Anally expulsion (generous, creative)

Question 13

Explain the phallic psychosexual stage in four parts: child experience, Oedipus complex, Electra complex and adulthood personality type

Answer 13

Child experience: sexual energy is focused on the genitals and on the opposite gender parent

Oedipus complex: young boy experiencing sexual feelings for his mother, see’s his father as a rival and feels threatened, causes the boy to have castration anxiety, to reduce this anxiety he befriends his father and identifies with him

Electra complex: for girls at this stage, the realisation they don’t have a penis creates penis envy, they blame their mother, young girls sexually desire their fathers, therefore go through the identification process with mother and substitute their desire for a penis with a desire for a baby

Phallic personality type: vain, impulsive

Question 14

Explain the latent psychosexual stage and the genital psychosexual stage

Answer 14

Latent: sexual desires are strongly repressed, the sexual energy is displaced throughout the body, calm time in development

Genital: satisfaction is derived from genitals and is the basis for mature and adult expressions of love

In these stages no fixation occurs and they don’t effect the adult personality

Question 15

Outline the case of ‘Little Hans’

Answer 15

Hans (5) developed a fear of horse as he noticed they had much larger penises than him.
His father wrote down what Hans said and passed the info onto Freud for him to analyse.
Freud interpreted the behaviour as problems in the phallic psychosexual stage of development.
Freud digested Hans had transferred his fears of his father (Oedipus complex) to horses (horses muzzle reflected father moustache and glasses)

Question 16

What were the three main criticisms of the case of Little Hans and Freud’s analysis

Answer 16

• Freud met the boy only once and info was forwarded in letters by the father so the source was potentially biased
• Freud had published his ideas about psychosexual stages prior to his analysis of Hans, therefore he could’ve been looking for evidence to support his theory
• Hans had seen a horse collapse in the street when he was young, this could’ve shocked him, this could’ve been the source of the phobia therefore disproving Freud’s analysis

Question 17

Give strengths (2) and weaknesses (2) of the Psychdynamic approach

Answer 17

Strengths: considered to be a pioneering approach in terms of methodological procedures for gathering evidence e.g. case studies, has led to successful treatments for depression and anxiety
Weaknesses: Freud’s ideas could be criticised for lacking validity and reliability e.g. case studies can’t be generalised to the general population, can be criticised for being too deterministic (only focuses on childhood experience rather than others influencers e.g. genes)