Psychodynamic perspective Flashcards
What classic study follows the psychodynamic perspective??
Freud - little Hans.
What are the three main assumptions of the psychodynamic perspective??
We are strongly influenced by the structure and drives of our unconscious mind.
Are development is affected by early relationships.
Important information about the unconscious can be found in how we express ourselves outwardly.
What is the form of our unconscious mind??
ID - unconscious, human instincts.
Super Ego - moral centre , internalised cultural rules.
Ego - personality, satisfy ID demands.
How is our development affected by early relationships??
Affected by parents.
Oedipus and Electra complex.
How parents handle the situation has impact on the child later development.
If they handle The Oedipus complex badly the child may be over or under confident sexually.
How do psychodynamics study the unconscious mind??
Psychologists look for clues in dreams, therapy and slips of the tongue.
Strengths of psychodynamic:
Explain a wide variety of behaviours including the more bizarre ones.
Psychodynamic perspective takes account of both innate instincts (nature) and environment (nurture), in the form of parenting.
Weakness’ of the psychodynamic perspective??
Poor research methodology - on the scientific due to small samples in case studies, unrepresentative samples (not everyone is involved in therapy), case studies can’t be replicated so lack reliability.
Researcher bias.
Theoretical ideas may be vague and hard to test - hard to measure the ‘unconscious mind’.
