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Psychology: Approaches > Pyschodynamic > Flashcards

Pyschodynamic Flashcards

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1
Q

What does this approach emphasise?

A

The active nature of mental processes and their role in shaping personality and behaviour.

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2
Q

Who developed this approach?

A

Sigmund Freud

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3
Q

What are the main assumptions?

A
  • Human behaviour has unconscious causes we aren’t aware of.
  • Humans have a need to fulfil basic biological motivations.
  • Childhood experiences influence the adult personality and psychological disorders.
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4
Q

What are the three levels of consciousness?

A
  • Conscious.
  • Preconscious.
  • Unconscious.
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5
Q

What is the conscious?

A

What we are aware of at any given time.

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6
Q

What are examples of the conscious?

A

What we see, hear, smell or think.

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7
Q

What is the preconscious?

A

Memories we can recall when we want to.

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8
Q

What are examples of the preconscious?

A

Addresses, telephone numbers, childhood memories.

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9
Q

What is the unconscious?

A

Memories, desires and fears that cause extreme anxiety and have therefore been repressed or forced out of conscious.

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10
Q

How does the unconscious affect our behaviour?

A

Through ‘Freudian Slips’ and the content of our dreams.

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11
Q

How can the unconscious be accessed?

A

Through a psychoanalyst.

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12
Q

What are the three parts of personality?

A
  • The Id.
  • The ego.
  • The superego.
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13
Q

What is the id?

A
  • Contains our innate, aggressive and sexual instincts.
  • Obeys the ‘pleasure principle’.
  • Accounts for unreasonable behaviour.
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14
Q

What is the ego?

A
  • Exists in both the conscious and unconscious part of our mind.
  • Acts as the rational part, known as the ‘reality principle’.
  • Develops within the first three years of life.
  • Balances the id and the superego.
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15
Q

What is the superego?

A
  • Exists in both the conscious and unconscious part of our mind.
  • Takes our morals into consideration.
  • Plays a role in making us feel guilty.
  • Develops around the age of five or four.
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16
Q

What did Freud believe about the three parts of personality?

A

They can be in conflict leading to anxiety.

17
Q

How is anxiety reduced by the three parts of personality?

A

The ego mediates between the id and superego by using an unconscious defence mechanism.

18
Q

What are the three unconscious defence mechanisms?

A
  • Repression.
  • Denial.
  • Displacement.
19
Q

What is repression?

A

The ego stopping unwanted and painful thoughts from becoming conscious.

20
Q

What is denial?

A

A threatening event or unwanted reality being ignored or blocked from conscious awareness.

21
Q

What is displacement?

A

A negative impulse being redirected onto another person or an object.

22
Q

What are the five stages of psychosexual development?

A

Oral, anal, phallic, latent, genital.

23
Q

What age is the oral stage?

A

Zero to eighteen months.

24
Q

What age is the anal stage?

A

Eighteen months to three and a half years.

25
Q

What age is the phallic stage?

A

Three and a half years to six years.

26
Q

What age is the latent stage?

A

Six years to puberty.

27
Q

What age is the genital stage?

A

Puberty to adult.

28
Q

What are the characteristics of the oral stage?

A

Sucking behaviour.

29
Q

What are the characteristics of the anal stage?

A

Keeping or discarding faeces.

30
Q

What are the characteristics of the phallic stage?

A

Genital fixation.

31
Q

What are the characteristics of the latent stage?

A

Repressed sexual urges.

32
Q

What are the characteristics of the genital stage?

A

Awakened sexual urges.

33
Q

What are the strengths of the psychodynamic approach?

A
  • First theory to focus on psychological causes of disorders, before it was focused on physical causes.
  • First approach to suggest that mental health disorders may be linked to unresolved conflicts related to biological needs.
  • Offers methods of therapy which may uncover unconscious conflicts.
  • Patients can understand the cause of their problems and resolve them.
  • Places emphasis on how early childhood experiences can affect later development.
34
Q

What are the weaknesses of the psychodynamic approach?

A
  • Freud’s claims are based on subjective interpretations of his patients’ dreams and are therefore unreliable and open to bias.
  • Freud’s theories are related to the unconscious which can’t be accessed, making his theories unfalsifiable.
  • Psychoanalysis may take a long time and can be expensive.
  • Childhood conflicts may be emotionally distressing and possibly inaccurate, depending on the reliability of the patient’s memory.
  • Based on case studies so it can’t be generalised.
  • The unscientific research methods mean it’s not possible to establish cause and effect.

Psychology: Approaches (4 decks)

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