Psycodymanic Approach Flashcards
Main assumption
- Unconscious plays an important role
- id, ego, superego and a psychic conflict occurs between them
- early childhood most important in shaping our behaviour as adults
3 parts in which the mind is divided into
- conscious
- unconscious
- preconscious
Conscious mind
Thoughts present in our mind
Preconscious
- located between conscious and unconscious
- functions as a guard between them allowing some thought to pass from unconscious to conscious mind
Easily being able to recall telephone number
Unconscious
- “Repressed” and often threading and disturbing
- all thoughts in our unconscious can influence behaviour
3 parts of the personality
- ID
- ego
- superego
Id
- pleasure principle
- demands instant satisfaction
- present birth-18months
Ego
- Reality principle
- rational mediates between demands id and superego
- develops 18 months-3years
Superego
- Mortality principle
- morals
- 3 - 6 years
Psychic conflict
Id and superego in direct conflict with one and other
How does the psychic conflict influence behaviour
Defence mechanisms
Define Defence mechanisms
- Developed by ego to protect against the anxiety created by the demands of id, superego and reality
- work unconsciously to distort reality
3 defence mechanisms
- repression
- denial
- displacement
Repression
- Forcing a distressed memory out of the conscious mind into the unconscious so i does not cause anxiety
- may include forbidden desires
Denial
Refusal to accept reality or fact acting as if a painful event or feeling did not happen
Displacement
Taking out frustrations and feelings on people or objects that are less threading than the actual target of those feeling
Define the psychosexual stages
Child development occurs in 5 stages, child must resolve i order to progress to the next stage
- if unresolved leads to fixation
Fixation
Child carries certain behaviours through to adult life
Oral stage
0-1 years old
- pleasure from oral fixation
- if child is weaned from their mother milk too early or too ate becomes fixated eg smoking in adulthood
Anal stage
- 1-3 years old
- Pleasure gained from expelling or retaining faeces
- devolved through potty training
- anal retentive personality: organised
- anal expulsion personality: messy
Phallic
- 3-5 years
- Oedipus theory - where boys develop fascination for the opposite sex parent
- successful completion means strong firm gender identify
- fixation causes homosexuality, jealously in adulthood
Latency
- social developments Same sex friendships
- no fixation occurs
Genital
- Sexual desires become conscious
- no fixation occurs
Freud’s research
- case study’s
- little Hans - fear of horses
- Hans experienced the Oedipus complex
- he wanted to possess his mother and saw his father as a rival
- displaced his fear of his father onto horses
- the horse was a symbolic representation of Hans real unconscious fear of castration
Weakness
- case study’s :although Freud study where vet detailed however the studies cannot be replicated an so lacks reliability, also lacks population validity as its not possible to generalise fining about human nature based on a small number of individuals, highly subjective
- negative approach unlike humanistic approach which is praised for being positive, unlike psychodynamic which claims e are all victims of our past and as a result existed in a sate of unhappiness and despair disregards all free will we have
Debate
Psychic determinism
We are governed by our unconscious conflicts rooted in early childhood and free will we think we have is an illusion
Strength
Explanatory power, shows importance of childhood on future adult development which is a beneficial link and can explain why ppl who suffer from psychological problems can recount childhood difficulties
