The psychodynamic approach

Question 1

What is the assumptions of the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 1

Is that behaviour can be explained by unconscious thoughts and motivations, and the effect of childhood experiences in shaping personality.

Question 2

Explain the conscious part of the mind.

Answer 2

The ‘tip of the iceberg’ Freud proposed that conscious awareness only makes up a small proportion of the mind.

Question 3

Explain the unconscious part of the mind.

Answer 3

The rest is made up of the unconscious- desires and drives that we are not aware of. Behaviour is motivated by unconscious drives and conflicts between different elements of the personality.

Question 4

Explain the preconscious part of the mind.

Answer 4

The part of the mind just below conscious awareness.
This is revealed through dreams, that represents the unconscious conflict which hasn’t been resolved, or a desire that hasn’t been satisfied. This is also shown through ‘Freudian slips’.

Question 5

Define the term Freudian slips.

Answer 5

Is what seem like mistakes, but are actually insights into desires we aren’t aware of. Accidentally calling a teacher ‘mum’ instead of ‘miss’ could be interpreted as the student seeing the teacher as a substitute parent figure in their unconscious.

Question 6

What is the structure of personality?

Answer 6

Freud suggested that there are three ‘parts’ to everyone’s personality, so it is ‘tripartite’. This include id, ego and superego.

Question 7

What is the id?

Answer 7

Present from birth, this is the ‘pleasure principle’, as it is selfish, motivated by primitive drives (sex and aggression) and demands instant gratification.

Question 8

What is the ego?

Answer 8

Starts around two years old.
Is the ‘reality principle’. It works to reduce the conflicting demands of the id and superego and recognises that instant satisfaction of needs isn’t possible. The ego uses tactics to balance the demands of the other two parts of the personality- these are defence mechanisms.

Question 9

What is the superego?

Answer 9

Develops at around five years of age, and is the ‘morality principle’. It is the internalised standards of right and wrong, and represents perfect moral behaviour. Punishes the Ego through guilt.

Question 10

What is the psychosexual stage

Answer 10

Freud claimed that children go through stages of development, where the id’s psychic energy is focused on a particular part of the body, so children gain pleasure from using that part of the body. Children progress through the stages, but may become fixated on a particular stage if they are over or under-indulged at that stage. This leads to possible problems in later life.

Question 11

What are the defence mechanism?

Answer 11

Repression - pushing unpleasant thoughts down into the unconscious mind.
Denial - refusing to accept the reality of the situation.
Displacement - transferring unpleasant or undesirable thoughts from one source to another.

Question 12

What are the strengths of the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 12

Real-world application.

Explanatory power.

Question 13

What is the real-world application of psychodynamic approach?

Answer 13

It introduced the idea of psychotherapy.
Psychoanalysis - The first attempt to treat mental disorders psychologically rather than physically.
The new therapy employed a range of techniques designed to access the unconscious, such as dream analysis.
Psychoanalysis claims to help by bringing their repressed memories into their conscious mind.
‘Talking therapies’, such as counselling have been established.

Question 14

Give a counterargument of the real-world application.

Answer 14

Claimed success for clients with mild neurosis.

Regarded as harmful for people experiencing more serious mental disorders.

Question 15

Why would psychoanalysis be inappropriate for schizophrenic patients?

Answer 15

Many of the symptoms of schizophrenia, such as paranoia and delusional thinking mean that those with the disorder have lost their grip on reality and can’t articulate required by psychoanalysis.

Question 16

Evaluate the use of the case study method for the psychodynamic approach.

Answer 16

Strength - Freud’s observations were detailed and carefully recorded.
Limitation - Critics have suggested that it’s not possible to make such universal claims about human nature based on studies of such small number of individuals who were psychologically abnormal.
Highly subjective

Question 17

What was Freud’s method for his investigation on Little Hans?

Answer 17

Did a longitudinal case study.
Study describes Hans’ fears 3-5. Little Hans was 5 at the time of this study but they used information from when he was 3.
Qualitative data was gathered by Little Hans’ father through observations of and conversations with his son. This information was then sent to Freud by letter, who replied with interpretations of Hans’ behaviour and with advice.

Question 18

What did Hans’ father reported?

Answer 18

At the age of three, Hans started to develop an active interest in his ‘widdler’ and he started to masturbate. This caused his mother to threaten to send for Dr A. to cut it off.
At three and a half Hans developed a fear of white horses and being bitten by them. Relating to two key incidents: Firstly, overhearing a man say to his child “Don’t put your finger to the white horse or it will bite you”; secondly, seeing a horse that was pulling a carriage fall down. As a result, Hans’ phobia was generalised to carts and buses.

Question 19

What were the results of Freud’s (1909) case study?

Answer 19

Experiencing the Oedipus complex he was subconsciously scared of his father. This fear was manifested in a fear of horses, particularly those with dark around the mouth (representing his father’s beard) and blinkers (which represented his glasses).
Hans’ obsession with his ‘widdler’ was another sign of being in the phallic stage of development and experiencing the Oedipus complex.

Question 20

What is the Oedipus complex?

Answer 20

A sexual desire for his mother and rivalry with his father.

Question 21

What are the strengths of Freud’s (1909) Little Hans study?

Answer 21

Provided support for his theory of psychosexual development and childhood sexuality.
In-depth qualitative data - allowing detailed conclusions.

Question 22

What are the limitations of Little Hans study?

Answer 22

The data was gained by Hans’ father, who was also a fan of Freud, it may lack objectivity.
Since he was familiar with the concept of the Oedipus complex he may have asked Little Hans leading question.
The sample was only a single individual the study lacks population validity - ungeneralised to all children. Especially true as Hans was a middle class European boy in the early 20th Century.
As Little Hans was a five-year old boy he was unable to give informed consent. Hans’ personal information within the research article would be invasion of privacy.

Question 23

What are the limitations of the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 23

The case study method.
Untestable concepts.
Psychic determinism.

Question 24

State how the psychodynamic approach is an untestable concept.

Answer 24

The philosopher of science Karl Popper argue that it doesn’t meet the scientific criterion of falsification and it isn’t open to empirical testing because Freud’s concepts say it occur at an unconscious level, making them difficult, if not impossible, to test.

Question 25

How is the psychodynamic approach deterministic?

Answer 25

Freud believed there’s no such thing as an accident. Even something random as a ‘slip of the tongue’ is driven by unconscious forces and has deep meaning. Critics claim this is an extreme view because it dismisses any possible influence of free will on behaviour.

Question 26

Briefly describe one role of the unconscious according to the psychodynamic approach [2 marks].

Answer 26

The unconscious is the driving force behind our behaviour.

The unconscious protects the conscious self from anxiety.

Question 27

Describe the oral psychosexual stage.

Answer 27

0 - 1 years old.
Focus of pleasure is the mouth, mother’s breast is the object of desire.
Consequences:
Oral fixation - smoking, biting nails, sarcastic, critical.

Question 28

Describe the anal psychosexual stage.

Answer 28

1 - 3 years old.
Focus of pleasure is the anus. Child gains pleasure from withholding and expelling faeces.
Anal retentive - perfectionist, obsessive.
Anal expulsive - thoughtless, messy.

Question 29

Describe the phallic stage.

Answer 29

3 - 5 years old.
Focus of pleasure is the genital are. Child experiences the Oedipus or Electra complex.
Consequences:
Phallic personality - narcissistic, reckless, possibly homosexual.

Question 30

What is latency psychosexual stage?

Answer 30

Earlier conflicts being repressed.

Question 31

What is genital psychosexual stage?

Answer 31

Sexual desires become conscious alongside onset of puberty.
Consequence:
Difficulty forming heterosexual relationships.