Psychodynamic approach Flashcards
What did Freud believe behaviour was determined by?
More psychological factors than biological factors or environmental reinforcement.
He assumed humans are born with basic instincts and needs and that the majority of behaviour is controlled by the unconscious mind
What metaphor did freud use to describe the mind?
An iceberg
Explain the iceberg metaphor
The tip of the iceberg (representing the conscious mind) being visible but the much larger part (representing the unconscious mind) being underneath the water hidden
When does the unconscious mind reveal itself?
By slips of the tongue (‘Freudian slips’) in creativity and neurotic symptoms
What did Freud believe the mind actively prevents?
Traumatic memories reaching the conscious from the unconscious and causing anxiety
How did Freud believe that the mind actively prevents traumatic memories from the unconscious from reaching the conscious awareness and causing anxiety?
Defence mechanisms
Freuds 3 structures of personality?
ID, Superego and Ego
Who developed the psychodynamic approach?
Freud
What are the 3 core assumptions?
- The unconscious which humans are unaware determines humans behaviour
- Personality has 3 parts: the id, ego and superego
- Early childhood experiences determines adult personality
Who was Freud?
Psychiatrist and neurologist
What does the psychodynamic approach assume?
- That human behaviour has unconscious forces that we’re not aware of
- From birth, humans have a need to fulfil basic biological motivations e.g. for food and warmth
- Childhood experiences are a really important influence on the development of adult personality and psychological disorders
What are the 3 levels of unconscious according to Freud?
Conscious, preconscious and unconscious
What is the conscious level of consciousness?
What we are aware of at any given time. e.g. what we are seeing, smelling hearing or thinking
What is the preconscious level of consciousness?
Made up of memories that we can recall when we want e.g. childhood memories
What is the unconscious level of consciousness?
Made up of memories, desires and fears which cause us extreme anxiety and have therefore been ‘repressed’ or forced out of conscious awareness. However, the unconscious still influences behaviour, e.g. it causes Freudian slips and influences the content of our dreams. This part of our mind can be accessed with the help of a psychoanalyst, using methods the Freud developed.
Explain the ID principle of personality?
- Present at birth
- Contains instinctive drives like libido and Thanatos
- Requires instant gratification and operates of pleasure principle
Explain the ego principle of personality?
- Develops at 2/3 years during anal stage
- Operates of reality principle = mediates between impulsive demands of the ID and reality of external world
- Exists in conscious and unconscious
- Balances the impulsive demands of ID and moralistic demands of superego
Explain the superego principle of personality?
- Develops at 4/5 years during phallic stage
- Operates on morality principle and moral code
- Takes our morals into account and makes us feel guilty.
What part of the personality prevents anxiety by controlling two others?
The ego
How does the ego avoid anxiety?
By controlling the conflict between the ID and superego, because otherwise it could lead to intra-psychic conflict and thus anxiety.
It uses defence mechanisms to maintain a balance
What are the 3 defence mechanisms used by the ego?
- Repression
- Denial
- Displacement
What is denial?
When you fail to acknowledge some aspect of reality to avoid having to deal with any painful feelings that may be associated with the event.
e.g. continuing to turn up for work even though you may have been fired.
What is displacement?
Transferring feelings from the true source of distressing emotion onto a substitute target. This gives hostile feelings a route for expression
e.g slamming the door after an argument with someone
In what level of consciousness do defence mechanisms work?
Unconscious
What is minimisation?
Telling yourself it’s not a big deal even though it is
What is repression?
Forcing a distressing memory out of the conscious mind. Rather than staying quietly in the unconscious they continue to influence behaviour without the individual being aware of the reasons behind their behaviour
e.g. an individual forgetting the trauma of their favourite pet dying
What are the 5 psychosexual stages of development according to Freud?
- Oral
- Anal
- Phallic
- Latent
- Genital
At what age does the oral stage occur?
0-18 months
At what age does the anal stage occur?
1-3 years
At what age does the phallic stage occur?
3-6 years
At what age does the latent stage occur?
6 years to puberty
At what age does the genital stage occur?
puberty to adult
What are defence mechanisms?
Unconscious strategies that protect our conscious mind from anxiety. They involve distortion of reality in some way so that we are better able to cope with a situation
What does libido focus on during the oral stage? Behaviour shown?
Focus on the mouth/ explore with their mouths, sucking
What does libido focus on during anal stage? Behaviour shown?
The anus during potty training
Ego starts to develop
What does libido focus on during the phallic stage? Behaviours shown?
Genital fixation
Oedipus and electra complex forms
What does libido focus on during the latency stage? And what behaviours are shown?
Repressed sexual urges
Superego develops
What does libido focus on during genital stage? Behaviours shown?
Awakened sexual urges
What can a lack of pleasure/ too much pleasure at one stage of psychosexual development mean might happen?
The child may become fixated at that stage. This will lead to the child carrying a certain behaviour and conflict associated with that stage through to adulthood
What is the consequence of fixation at oral stage?
Oral fixation = biting nails, smoking, sarcastic, critical
What is the consequence of fixation at anal stage?
Anally retentive (parents too harsh with toilet training) = perfectionist, stubborn, obsessive, passive aggressive , very tidy.
Anally expulsive (parents too laid back) = messy, thoughtless
Consequence of fixation at phallic stage?
Phallic personality = narcissistic, reckless, possibly homosexual
Consequence of fixation at latency stage?
None
Consequence of fixation at genital stage?
Difficulty forming heterosexual relationships
What is psychoanalysis?
A term used to describe the personality theory and therapy associated with Sigmund Freud
What does psychodynamic mean?
Refers to any theory that emphasises change and development in the individual. The best known psychodynamic theory is Freudian psychoanalysis
What is the unconscious?
The part of the brain that contains repressed ideas and memories as well as primitive desires and impulses that has ever been allowed to enter the conscious mind
Which case study did Freud carry out?
Little Hans
What were the aims of Freuds little Hans study?
To reveal the conflicts, fears and desires buried in the unconscious mind so they could be faced to allow the patient to understand and resolve them
What was the method for Freud’s little Hans study?
Child called Hans has fear of horses, who was observed by his father, who made notes of Hans’s dreams and stuff he said. Father passed these onto Freud for analysis
What were the conclusion of the little Hans study?
Freud concluded he was in the phallic stage of development, as he showed evidence of the oedipus complex. - he wanted an exclusive relationship with his mother and was jealous of the father
The horse symbolised the father because to him they both had big penises. And the blinkers on the horse that fell over reminded Hans of his fathers glasses, and the black around his mouth reminded Hans of his fathers beard and moustache
His fear of horses is an example of displacement that protected him from his real fear of his father
Hans suffered from castration anxiety - he feared he would be castrated by his father if he found out about his feelings for his mother. Symbolised by Hans’ fear the horse would bite him
What were the results of the little Hans study?
Hans was afraid of horses because he thought they might bite him or fall on him. During the study he developed an interest for his penis. His mum told him not to play with it or she’d cut it off. Hans told his dad about a dream where he was married to his mother and his dad was now his grandfather
Evaluation of little Hans’ study?
- Hans’s father already knew of the oedipus complex and Freud when he went to meet Freud. Results are biased
- Lots of detailed data about one subject
- Results can’t be generalised
- Cause and effect relationship cannot be established as results were based on observation and interpretation
- Other explanations not explored for anxiety, like his mum threatening him and the horse falling over in the street
What is the oedipus complex?
(Freud used this myth to explain his ideas about the relationship between boys and their parents during phallic stage)
Boys had unconscious sexual feelings for their mother. Leads to feelings of fear of father and guilt, whose place they want to take
Fear from castration anxiety
What is the electra complex?
Girls realise they don’t have penis so get penis envy.
Develop sexual feelings for father so want the mother out of the way as seen as rival. Girl blames mother for a lack of a penis.
Because penis envy isn’t as fearful as castration anxiety, girls do not identify with mother as strongly so has a weaker superego
Freud says women never completely resolve this complex and so are not as moral as boys, and penis envy is replaced by a desire for a baby
What is identification?
key concept of the phallic stage. E.g. boys identify with the father so takes on his beliefs and values. This identification leads to the boy developing a superego and also identifies with his gender identity. He takes on masculine behaviour of the father to resolve the oedipus complex
Strengths of the psychodynamic approach
- Freuds ideas are used by some therapists today to treat mental health issues, so has application to real world
- Freudian concepts can be scientifically measured such as repression. (2 men called Levinger and Clark illustrated that emotionally charged words were forgotten quicker than neutral words were - these word were repressed)
- Significant in drawing attention to childhood experiences like parental relationships and later development
Limitations of psychodynamic approach
- Freuds patients mostly women, so theories could be limited due to gender bias in theories
- Case study method used (observations of people who were deemed psychologically abnormal and in therapy) so cannot be generalised
- Takes negative view on behaviour. Seeing child development as needing to deal with conflict and are at mercy of their parents actions
- Psychotherapy said to be useful technique for recovering from mental illness, but patients may recover spontaneously alone, so may not be needed demonstrating the limitations of technique in treating mental disorders
