psychodynamic approach Flashcards
who developed the psychodynamic approach to psychology ?
Sigmund Freud
what does the conscious mind contain?
everything you are currently thinking about right now
what does the subconscious mind contain?
everything you are not currently thinking about, but can be easily accessed
what is the common factor between the conscious and subconscious ?
we can easily access both of them
what is the key assumption of the psychodynamic approach ?
most behaviour is caused by the unconscious mind
what does the top of the ice burg represent in Freud’s ice burg analogy
conscious- this holds everything we are currently thinking about
what does the middle of the ice burg represent in Freud’s analogy
subconscious-this holds everything that we are currently thinking of, but can be easily assessed.
what does the bottom of the iceberg represent in Freud’s analogy
unconscious-this holds everything we are not currently thinking of, said to influence most of our behaviour
in the psychodynamic approach everyone’s personality has
a tripartite system: Id, ego and super Ego
what are the parts of the tripartite personality
id, ego and super ego
the impulses caused by the Id come from our unconscious mind what does this mean?
this means that we don’t consciously think about them
what is the Id responsible for ?
impulses and urges for instant gratification
what is the first part of the tripartite personality ?
the Id
what part of the mind is our Id ?
entirely in our conscious mind
what part of the mind is our super ego in?
all parts of our mind: unconscious mind, conscious and sub conscious mind
what is the second part of personality ?
super ego
what is the super ego responsible for
morals and following rules
what does it mean if the ego is full aware of the decisions being made ?
this means that it is usually in the conscious mind
what is the ego
it is in the conscious mind and subconscious mind. it mediates between the id and the super ego it sometimes agrees with the id. it sometimes compromises between the id and and the super ego
what part of our behaviour id responsible for?
most of our behaviour
according to Freud what are the three parts of the mind
conscious, subconscious and the unconscious
where can the tripartite personalities be found in the mind?
The ego is mostly in the conscious mind, with a bit of the subconscious; the Id is entirely in the unconscious and the super-ego can be found in all three parts
what is the ego’s role?
the ego’s role is to mediate between the super ego and the id
how should the ego defend against the unconscious mind
through defence mechanisms
what is displacement?
is when the ego redirects the Id’s energy towards something else
what is repression
this is when the ego pushes away the impulse into the unconscious mind
what is denial
this is when the ego gives into the id, refusing to believe it has
what is the id responsible for
impulses and urges for instant gratification
what are the five psychosexual stages
1) oral
2) anal
3) phallic
4) latent
5) genital
according to the psychodynamic approach what is the unconscious mind affected by?
repressed childhood experiences
how did Freud model how childhood experiences affect behaviour
using the 5 psychosexual stages
what do Freud’s 5 psychosexual stages show
how repressed childhood experiences affect adult behaviour
what does oral mean
of the mouth
what is the first psycho sexual stage
the oral stage
in the oral stage what is the child focused on?
in the oral stage, a child’s urge for instant gratification is focused on the mouth
what is the second psycho sexual stage
the anal stage
when does the anal psycho sexual stage take place
18 months to 3 years
in the anal stage what what is the child focused on?
in the anal stage, a child’s urge for instant gratification is focused on the anus
when does the oral psycho sexual stage take place
from birth to 18 months
what is anus retentive
this means that a child becomes nervous about learning to use the toilet, they become anally retentive
what does anus expulsive mean
this when a child becomes super keen to use the toilet, they are anally expulsive
when does the phallic psycho sexual stage take place
from 3 to 6 years old
what is the third psycho sexual stage
the phallic stage
what happens during the phallic stage?
boys are sexually attracted to their mother and focused on the penis. Girls do not trust their mother and are sexually attracted to their father. Girls get penis envy and boys get castration anxiety
what is the Oedipus complex
this is where they become jealous of their father and affectionate of their mother
according to the psycho dynamic approach, the repressed traumatic experiences in the unconscious mind will….
influence the child’s behaviour throughout their adult life
what are psycho sexual fixations?
repressed psychological trauma affects behaviour
what would Freud conclude if a patient was overly fussy and careful with money?
the patient has a fixation in the anal stage, and is anally retentive
what would Freud conclude if a patient was overly emotional and messy?
he would conclude that that they had repressed trauma from their anal stage. specifically, the patient would be anally expulsive
what complex’s do boys and girls go through at the phallic stage?
the phallic stage is where the id focuses on the penis where boys go through the Oedipus complex and girls go through the Electra complex
if the Oedipus and the Electra complex are not resolved the child will develop….
a phallic fixation
if a female patient was a particularly jealous person Freud would conclude that
she had an unresolved Electra complex
is a patient is has habits of biting their nails and smoking what fixation are they at?
oral fixation
what will an anally expulsive fixation cause
will cause an adult to be overly emotional
what will cause a fixation?
psychological trauma during any of the first 3 psychosexual stages will lead to a fixation as a adult.
when does the latent stage occur
from age 6-12
what is the fourth psychosexual stage
latent stage
what is the five psychosexual stage
the genital stage
when does the genital stage occur
at age 12, continuing into childhood
what does libido mean
desire for sex
during the genital stage what is the id focused on?
the id is focused on a person’s own reproductive organs
what are the five psychosexual stages?
oral , anal , phallic, latent and genital
what is the slogan for the five psycho sexual stages
old age pensioners love Guinness
what do the genital and latent stage have in common
they do not involve psychosexual fixations
what are case studies
a detailed investigation into a patients behaviours and experiences
why did Freud analyse patients dreams
he believed that dreams give us insight into the unconscious mind.
what is the oedipus complex
when a boy becomes sexual attracted to his mother and jealous of his father
describe the case study of little Hans
Freud saw little has as a case study that fits the model of the psychosexual stages because he was in the correct stage for his age the phallic and had an unresolved Oedipus complex.
what did Hans have a fear of ?
of horses which Freud believed reflected his father.
how did Freud collect evidence from the little Han’s case study?
Han’s father sent Freud notes about Han’s dreams and behaviour
what did Freud conclude about Han’s?
conclude that Han’s had an Oedipus complex
limitations of Freud’s case study of little Han’s?
- is that the results may not generalise to other people
- not based on any objective, empirical evidence
- didn’t test cause and effect.
what is limitation of the self report method?
peoples responses may not be objective
what type of method is a case study?
non-experimental
what type of method did Freud use for the case study?
self-report method
why is there no fixation at the latent stage ?
Because the id’s impulses are not focused on a specific part of the body, Freud states that no fixations will occur during this stage.
explain why little Han’s study is unscientific
The Little Hans study is unscientific, because the study could not be generalised to other people. Also, there was no testing of cause and effect, because there was no objective empirical evidence being collected, and Freud was not manipulating any independent variables with a control group.
what are strengths of the psychodynamic approach
- The first strength of the psychodynamic approach is its historical importance because Freud was the first psychologist to investigate psychological causes for psychological disorders. the concept of childhood experiences as a cause of psychological disorders is still used in psychodynamic therapy today
- it strikes a balance between being idiographic and nomothetic. the psychodynamic approach is idiographic because it uses case studies to focus on individual experiences. and it is nomothetic as it proposes general theories about behaviour, such as tripartite structure of personality
how did Freud explain that psychological disorders were caused?
psychological disorders were caused by repressed childhood traumas, locked away in the unconscious
according to Freud, and the psychodynamic approach, what causes different disorders ?
different psychosexual fixations
what did Freud believe was the cause of psychological disorders ?
Freud was the first psychologists to identify childhood experiences as causes of psychological disorders
how the psychodynamic approach somewhat nomothetic?
the tripartite of personality is meant to apply to everyone, so the psychodynamic approach is somewhat nomothetic
the interpretations of dreams weren’t based on ?
empirical evidence, because there is not way of directly observing the unconscious mind
what is the consequence of using case studies ?
we can’t generalise the results
what do case studies lack if we are unable to generalise them?
population validity
limitations of the psychodynamic approach?
- it isn’t very scientific as it lacks population validity. the theories aren’t falsifiable and it is not based on empirical evidence.
limitations of the psychodynamic approach?
- it isn’t very scientific as it lacks population validity because the research is based on case studies and we can’t generalise the results.
- it is not based on empirical evidence this means Freud’s theories aren’t falsifiable as it is not possible to observe the unconscious mind.
- another limitation is that it involves androcentric bias .Freud’s concept of penis envy assumes that girls always want the same things boys want. Freud’s research is based on outdated stereotypes
what is castration anxiety?
when boys are nervous that their father is going to remove their penis
what is physic determinism
when repressed trauma in the unconscious mind determines our behaviour
what type of data did Freud use in his case studies
qualitative data
