Psycodymanic Approach

Question 1

Main assumption

Answer 1

• 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

Question 2

3 parts in which the mind is divided into

Answer 2

• conscious
• unconscious
• preconscious

Question 3

Conscious mind

Answer 3

Thoughts present in our mind

Question 4

Preconscious

Answer 4

• 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

Question 5

Unconscious

Answer 5

• “Repressed” and often threading and disturbing
• all thoughts in our unconscious can influence behaviour

Question 6

3 parts of the personality

Answer 6

• ID
• ego
• superego

Question 7

Id

Answer 7

• pleasure principle
• demands instant satisfaction
• present birth-18months

Question 8

Ego

Answer 8

• Reality principle
• rational mediates between demands id and superego
• develops 18 months-3years

Question 9

Superego

Answer 9

• Mortality principle
• morals
• 3 - 6 years

Question 10

Psychic conflict

Answer 10

Id and superego in direct conflict with one and other

Question 11

How does the psychic conflict influence behaviour

Answer 11

Defence mechanisms

Question 12

Define Defence mechanisms

Answer 12

• Developed by ego to protect against the anxiety created by the demands of id, superego and reality
• work unconsciously to distort reality

Question 13

3 defence mechanisms

Answer 13

• repression
• denial
• displacement

Question 14

Repression

Answer 14

• Forcing a distressed memory out of the conscious mind into the unconscious so i does not cause anxiety
• may include forbidden desires

Question 15

Denial

Answer 15

Refusal to accept reality or fact acting as if a painful event or feeling did not happen

Question 16

Displacement

Answer 16

Taking out frustrations and feelings on people or objects that are less threading than the actual target of those feeling

Question 17

Define the psychosexual stages

Answer 17

Child development occurs in 5 stages, child must resolve i order to progress to the next stage
- if unresolved leads to fixation

Question 18

Fixation

Answer 18

Child carries certain behaviours through to adult life

Question 19

Oral stage

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Anal stage

Answer 20

• 1-3 years old
• Pleasure gained from expelling or retaining faeces
• devolved through potty training
• anal retentive personality: organised
• anal expulsion personality: messy

Question 21

Phallic

Answer 21

• 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

Question 22

Latency

Answer 22

• social developments Same sex friendships
• no fixation occurs

Question 23

Genital

Answer 23

• Sexual desires become conscious
• no fixation occurs

Question 24

Freud’s research

Answer 24

• 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

Question 25

Weakness

Answer 25

• 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

Question 26

Debate

Answer 26

Psychic determinism
We are governed by our unconscious conflicts rooted in early childhood and free will we think we have is an illusion

Question 27

Strength

Answer 27

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