Section 5 : The Approaches in Psychology - The Psychodynamic Approach

Question 1

Who developed the psychodynamic approach

Answer 1

Sigmund Freud

Question 2

What does Psycho refer to

Answer 2

The mind

Question 3

What does dynamic refer to

Answer 3

Change or activity

Question 4

What does the psychodynamic approach emphasise

Answer 4

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

Question 5

What does the psychodynamic approach assume

Answer 5

-Human behaviour has unconscious causes that we are not aware
-Form birth, humans have a need to fulfil basic biological motivations
-Childhood experiences are really important influence on the development of adult personally and psychological disorders

Question 6

What is hysteria

Answer 6

A disorder involving physical symptoms such as headaches, paralysis and blindness but with no apparent cause.

Question 7

Freud was interested in….

Answer 7

Hysteria

Question 8

What did freud conclude about his parent

Answer 8

That they had an unconscious mind as they couldn’t give any conscious reasons

Question 9

What were the three levels of consciousness he identified

Answer 9

-Concious
-Preconcious
-Unconcious

Question 10

What does conscious refer to

Answer 10

This is what we are aware of at any given time, hearing, seeing, smelling, thinking

Question 11

What does preconscious refer to

Answer 11

This is made up of memories that we can recall when we want to E.g. recall what we did on the weekend

Question 12

What does unconscious refer to

Answer 12

This is made up of memories, desires and fear which causes us extreme anxiety and therefore been repressed or forced out of conscious awareness

Question 13

What will influence behaviour

Answer 13

Even if repressed the unconscious still influences behaviour

Question 14

The unconscious part of the mind can be accessed with…

Answer 14

The help of a psychoanalyst using methods Freud developed

Question 15

What are the three parts of the personality

Answer 15

id
ego
superego

Question 16

What is the id

Answer 16

-The basic animal part of the personality that contains our innate, aggressive and sexual instincts
-Wants to be satisfied by any means possible
-obeys the ‘pleasure principle’
-accounts for unreasonable behaviour and appears at birth

Question 17

What is the ego

Answer 17

-exists in both conscious and unconscious part of the mind
-acts as a rational part known as ‘reality principle’
-develops within the first 3 years after birth
-balances id and superego to keep behaviour in line

Question 18

What is the superego

Answer 18

-both in conscious and unconscious parts of mind
-part of mind that takes our morals into consideration - involved in making us feel guilty
-develops around four to five years old
-it includes ideas about how to behave that we adopt from our parents

Question 19

What did Freud believe about the three different parts of the personality

Answer 19

That they can be all in conflict

Question 20

Give an example of the parts of the personality in conflict

Answer 20

-Conflict between the id and superego
-id wants instant satisfaction
-superego tries to impose morals

Question 21

What do conflicts in the parts of the personality lead to

Answer 21

Anxiety. The ego then will mediate between the id and superego to reduce this anxiety

Question 22

What are the several unconscious defence mechanisms

Answer 22

Repression
Denial
Displacement

Question 23

What does the unconscious defence mechanism repression refer to

Answer 23

-involves the ego stopping unwanted and possibly painful thoughts from becoming concious
-E.g. someone who experienced a traumatic event may not recall it later. The memory was repressed

Question 24

What does the unconscious defence mechanism refer to

Answer 24

-where a threatening event or an unwanted reality is simply ignored and blocked from conscious awareness
-E.g. drug addict may deny that they have a problem

Question 25

What does the unconscious defence mechanism displacement refer to

Answer 25

-happens when a negative impulse is redirected onto something else
-could be another person or an object
-e.g. boss made you angry at work, you might redirect your anger by kicking a door at home

Question 26

What were the five stages that Freud developed

Answer 26

Oral
Anal
Phallic
Latent
Genital

Question 27

What age are you if your at the oral stage

Answer 27

0-18 months

Question 28

What age are you if your at the anal stage

Answer 28

18 months - 3.5 years

Question 29

What age are you if your at the phallic stage

Answer 29

3.5 - 6 years

Question 30

What age are you if your at the latent stage

Answer 30

6 - puberty

Question 31

What age are you if your at the genital stage

Answer 31

Puberty - adult

Question 32

What are the characteristics of someone in the oral stage

Answer 32

Sucking behaviour

Question 33

What are the characteristics of someone in the anal stage

Answer 33

Keeping or discarding faeces

Question 34

What are the characteristics of someone in the genital stage

Answer 34

Gential fixation

Question 35

What are the characteristics of someone in the latent stage

Answer 35

Repressed sexual urge

Question 36

What are the characteristics of someone in the genital stage

Answer 36

Awakened sexual urges

Question 37

What does each psychosexual stage does it focus on

Answer 37

Obtaining pleasure through a certain part of the body

Question 38

What affects how much pleasure is obtained through a stage a person is in

Answer 38

How a parent would raise their kid

Question 39

How does a child become fixated at a stage

Answer 39

If a child doesn’t receive enough pleasure or they receive too much during a stage if development they will become fixated at that stage

Question 40

What could severe fixation lead to

Answer 40

A psychological disorder

Question 41

What was Freuds case studies

Answer 41

As a part of psychoanalysis Freud carried out case studies on patients using several methods to reveal conflicts, fears and desires buried in their unconscious mind

Question 42

What was the method of Freud 1909 - Little Hans

Answer 42

-case study on a child called Hans who had a phobia of horses
-Hans was observed by his father who made notes of Hans dreams and stuff he said
-he passed these observations to Freud

Question 43

What were the results of Freud 1909 - Little Hans

Answer 43

-Hans was afraid of horses as he thought they might bite or fall on him
-Hans developed an interest in the horses penis
-Hans’ mum told him not to play with it or she’d cut it off
-Hans told his dad about a dream where he was married to his mum and his dad was now his grandfather

Question 44

What was the conclusion of Freud 1909 - Little Hans

Answer 44

-Hans reached the phallic stage and showed evidence of the Oedipus complex
-The horse symbolised hans father as they both had big penises
-Fear of horses is an example of displacement - protected from his real fear of his father
-Hans suffered from castration anxiety - he was afraid that his father would find out about his feeling for his mother

Question 45

Give the evaluations for Freud 1909 Little Hans

Answer 45

-Results cannot be generalised
-Findings provided evidence to support Freuds theories
-Results based entirely in observation and interpretation - cause and defect can’t be established
-Results could be biased as Freud analysed information from Hans’s father

Question 46

What are the strengths of the psychodynamic approach

Answer 46

-First theory to focus on psychological causes of disorders
-one of first approaches to suggest mental health disorders may be linked to unresolved conflicts related to biological needs
-offers therapy which may also uncover unconscious conflicts
-freuds theories places emphasis on how experience in early childhood can affect later development

Question 47

What are the weaknesses of the psychodynamic approach

Answer 47

-based on subjective interpretations, unreliable and open to bias
-related to unconscious mind which can be accessed, his theories are unfalsifiable
-psychoanalyst may take a long time, expensive conflicts uncovered may cause distress and possibly inaccurate
-focused on the patients past rather than on problems that they are currently suffering
-can’t be studied, approach is based on case studies
-not possible to established cause and effect as they used unscientific research methods