Psychodynamic Approach

Question 1

conscious mind

Answer 1

only a small part of the mind - ‘tip of the iceberg’

Question 2

unconscious mind

Answer 2

biggest area of mind - holds innate drives and instincts, plus threatening and disturbing thoughts locked away - accessed through dreams

Question 3

preconscious mind

Answer 3

just below conscious - memories that aren’t directly available but can be accessed

Question 4

tripartite personality

Answer 4

id, ego, superego

Question 5

id

Answer 5

pleasure principle - primitive, innate drives, selfish

present from birth and remains throughout life

Question 6

ego

Answer 6

reality principle - between id and superego, uses defence mechanisms to reduce conflicts between them
forms at 2/3 yrs old

Question 7

superego

Answer 7

morality principle - sense of right and wrong, based on moral standards of same sex parent, punishes ego for wrongdoings through guilt
forms at 5 yrs old

Question 8

defence mechanisms

Answer 8

repression, denial, displacement

Question 9

repression

Answer 9

forcing memories out of conscious

Question 10

denial

Answer 10

refusal to acknowledge memories

Question 11

displacement

Answer 11

directing emotions at another target

Question 12

psychosexual stages

Answer 12

oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital

Question 13

oral

Answer 13

0-1yrs
focus of pleasure - mouth
object of pleasure - mother’s breasts
consequences of unresolved conflict - oral fixation e.g. smoking, bad-mouthed, biting nails

Question 14

anal

Answer 14

1-3yrs
focus of pleasure - anus
faeces being expelled or withhold gives pleasure
consequences of unresolved conflict - anal retentive (OCD, perfectionist), or anal expulsive (messy, thoughtless)

Question 15

phallic

Answer 15

3-5yrs
focus of pleasure - genital area
Oedipus complex for boys, Electra complex for girls
consequences of unresolved conflict - recklessness, narcissistic, homosexual

Question 16

latency

Answer 16

5yrs-puberty
conflicts from earlier stages are repressed
no consequences

Question 17

genital

Answer 17

puberty
sexual desires become conscious
puberty begins
consequences of unresolved conflict - difficulty forming heterosexual relationships

Question 18

Oedipus complex

Answer 18

boys at phallic stage
incestuous feelings towards mother, hatred of father
father is seen as rival for love
boys repress these feeling for fear of being castrated
take on moral values of father instead

Question 19

Electra complex

Answer 19

penis envy
girls desire father and mate mother
replaced by desire to have a baby and identify with mother

Question 20

Little Hans

Answer 20

5yr old boy scared of horses after seeing one collapse in the street
Freud suggested this was a form of displacement - horse symbolises father and his fear of castration

Question 21

Explanatory power - EVAL

Answer 21

freud has huge influence on contemporary thinking, leading psych approach in 20th century
psychodynamic approach used to describe many occurrences - abnormal behaviour, childhood experience correlation with development, ability to from relationships

Question 22

Case study method - EVAL

Answer 22

little Hans, rat-man and dora are used by freud to make universal claims about human behaviour although based on one individual or small group
subjective interpretation of behaviour
lacks scientific rigour

Question 23

Untestable concepts - EVAL

Answer 23

Karl Popper - philosopher - psychodynamic approach doesn’t meet scientific falsification criteria - lack of empirical testing
theories near impossible to test - thought of as pseudoscience