Psychodynamic Approach - Paper 2

Question 1

Psychodynamic Approach - Key Assumptions

Answer 1

• Humans have basic instincts (unconscious urges).
• The mind has an internal structure (3 structures with their own separate motivations).
• Life is painful so we use defence mechanisms to shield our internal world (psyches) from the pain.
• Freud suggested that the conscious mind is merely the ‘tip of the iceberg’.
• Most of our mind is made up of the unconscious (vast storehouse of biological drives and instincts that has a significant influence on our behaviour + personality).
• Unconscious conflicts are usually rooted in our childhood.
• Free will is an illusion.

Question 2

What are the roles of the unconscious?

What is the preconscious?

Answer 2

• Protect the conscious self from anxiety or conflict, one way this can be achieved is employing defence mechanisms.
• Motivating force behind our behaviour and plays a significant role in the development of personality.

Preconscious = Includes the thoughts and ideas which you may become aware of during dreams or through slips of tongue (Freudian Slip - Parapraxes) (E.g. calling female teacher ‘mum’ instead of ‘miss’).

Question 3

What are the 3 parts of personality?

Answer 3

ID

EGO

SUPEREGO

Question 4

What is the ID?

Answer 4

• Present at birth and consists of basic drives and desires.
• Pleasure orientated and is completely selfish - Ruled by the ‘Pleasure Principle’.
• Resides wholly in the unconscious mind.

Question 5

How may the ID influence behaviour?

Answer 5

• A dominant ID could cause a person to be destructive and immoral (could result in psychopathic behaviour or being overly aggressive).

Question 6

What is the Ego?

Answer 6

Develops later (between 18months - 3 yrs) and initially tries to control the impulses from the Id.

• Largest part of the conscious, rational mind that mediates between the demands of the Id and Superego later in life.
• It is ruled by the ‘Reality Principle’.

Question 7

How may the Ego influence behaviour?

Answer 7

A well-adjusted person will develop a strong Ego that is able to cope with demands of both the Id and Superego by allowing each to be dominant at appropriate times.

• If Ego is weakened then either the Id or Superego (whichever is stronger) will dominate leading to abnormal behaviour.

Question 8

What is the Superego?

Answer 8

• The last part of the personality to develop (4-5yrs).
• It is driven by the ‘Morality Principle’ - what is right and wrong.
• We develop our own idea about what is right and wrong from our parents and others around us.
• The super-ego mainly resides in the unconscious.

Question 9

What is the definition of Psychosexual stages?

Answer 9

Each stage (apart from latency) is marked by different conflicts that the child must resolve in order to progress successfully to the next stage.

• Any psychosexual conflict that is unresolved leads to fixation where the child becomes stuck and carries certain behaviours and conflicts associated with that stage through to adult life.

Question 10

Outline the Psychosexual stages and ages of each.

Answer 10

Oral: 0-1 year.

Anal: 1-3 years.

Phallic: 3-5 years.

Latency: 6yrs - puberty.

Genital: Puberty onwards.

Question 11

What is the Oral stage and consequence of unresolved conflict?

Answer 11

Oral stage (0-1) = Focus on pleasure is around the mouth, mother’s breast is an object of desire.

Consequence of unresolved conflict = oral fixation (smoking, biting nails, sarcastic, critical).

Question 12

What is the anal stage and consequence of unresolved conflict?

Answer 12

Anal stage (1-3) = Focus of pleasure is the anus, child gains pleasure from withholding and expelling faeces.

Consequence of unresolved conflict =

• Anal Retentive = perfectionist, obsessive.
• Anal Expulsive = thoughtless, messy.

Question 13

What is the Phallic Stage and consequences of unresolved conflict?

Answer 13

Phallic stage (3-5) = Focus on pleasure is the genital area, child experiences the ‘Oedipus or Electra Complex’.

Consequence = Phallic personality - narcissistic, reckless, possible homosexual.

Question 14

What is the latency stage?

Answer 14

Latency stage (6-puberty) = Repressed sexual urges which are transformed into activities such as learning & friendship.

Question 15

What is the genital stage and consequence of unresolved conflict?

Answer 15

Genital stage (puberty onwards) = sexual desires become conscious alongside puberty.

Consequence = Difficulty forming heterosexual relationships.

Question 16

What are defence mechanisms?

Answer 16

The ego has a difficult job balancing the conflict in demands of the Id and the Superego but it does have help in the form of defence mechanisms.

Defence mechanisms = unconscious and ensure that the ego is able to prevent us from being overwhelmed by temporary threats or traumas.

Question 17

What is repression + example?

Answer 17

• Forcing out a distressing memory out of the conscious mind.

E.g. A person may not have a memory of a traumatic event they experienced such as being mugged.

Question 18

What is Denial + example?

Answer 18

Refusing to acknowledge some aspects of reality

E.g. a person refuses to acknowledge that they have a drinking problem even though it significantly impacts on their work.

Question 19

What is displacement + example?

Answer 19

Transferring feeling form true source of distressing emotion onto a substitute target.

E.g. Following a disagreement with their boss, a person might shout at a co-worker and slam the door on their way out of the office.

Question 20

Contributions of the Psychodynamic approach to understanding human behaviour.

Answer 20

Application = Development of Psychanalysis and the use of talking therapies in the treatment of mental health conditions.

Theory = One of the 1st Psychologists to emphasise the importance of childhood and how it affect later development.

Methodology = Extensive use of case study method, an in-depth method of investigation of a single person.
- However, unscientific methodology due to unfalsifiable concepts.

Question 21

Strength of the Psychodynamic Approach

Answer 21

P - The Psychodynamic approach has explanatory power.

E - Although Freud’s theory is controversial and often bizarre it has a huge influence on Western contemporary thought.

E - The approach has been used to explain a wide range of phenomena including personality development, abnormal behaviour, moral development and gender.

L - Alongside behaviourism, it was the dominant approach in Psychology for the 1st half of the 20th century, therefore the Psychodynamic approach is significant.

Question 22

Criticism of the Psychodynamic Approach

Answer 22

P - Limitation of Psychodynamic Approach is that it includes lots of untestable concepts.

E - The Philosopher of science, Karl Popper, argued that the Psychodynamic Approach doesn’t meet the scientific criterion of falsification (OTHERFP), because it can’t be proved or disproved.

E - Many of Freud’s concepts are said to occur at an unconscious level. This makes them difficult, if not impossible to test.

L - This affords Psychodynamic Approach the same status of Pseudoscience (“fake science”) rather than real science which is a limitation of the approach.

Question 23

Practical application of psychodynamic approach

Answer 23

P - A strenght is that the psychodynamic approach has practical applications in the real world.

E - Freud introduced a new therapy called psychoanalysis which is designed to access the unconscious mind using a range of techniques such as dream analyses.

E - Psychoanalysis is the forerunner to many modern dayy psychotherapies and ‘talking’ cures that have since been established.

L - This means that the psychodynamic approach is pioneering and its applications have gone on to have many practical benefits across the field of psychiatry.

Question 24

Issues and Debates of the Psychodynamic Approach.

Answer 24

P - Based on Psychic Determinism.

E - All behaviour is controlled by the unconscious conflict that is rooted in childhood.

E - Even something random, for example: ‘slip of the tongue’ is driven by unconscious forces and has deep symbolic meaning.

L - This is an extreme determinist stance and suggests that free will may no influence on behaviour, this is a limitation of the psychodynamic approach.