The Psychodynamic Approach

Question 1

Assumptions

Answer 1

Behaviour is strongly influenced by childhood experience

Abnormal behaviour is a result of mental conflict

Question 2

The role of unconscious

Answer 2

40-50% of the mind is made of the unconscious - a vast storehouse of biological drives and instincts that have a significant influence on behaviour and personality

Also contains repressed memories that are threatening or disturbing
Under the conscious mind is the preconscious mind which includes unaware thoughts and ideas which may become aware through dreams or parapraxis (‘slips of the tongue’)

Question 3

The structure of personality: tripartite model

Answer 3

The ID: primitive part that operates on the pleasure principle present from birth
The Ego: works on the reality principle as a mediator between the id and superego through defence mechanisms developed by the age of two
The Superego: represents the morality principle by punishing the ego for wrong doing through guilt formed by the age of five

Question 4

Intrapsychic conflict:

Answer 4

The ego needs to balance the demands of the id and superego - if it fails it results in anxiety

Question 5

Defence mechanisms

Answer 5

used by the ego to protect itself from the conflict of the id and superego

Repression: forcing a distressing memory out of the conscious memory

Denial: refusing to believe something because it is too painful to accept reality

Displacement: transferring feelings from the true source of distressing emotion onto a substitute target

Question 6

Psychosexual development

Answer 6

Children pass through a series of age-dependent stages during development

Failure to successfully navigate a stage’s particular conflict/task results is known as fixation

Question 7

Psychosexual stages

Answer 7

Oral = 0-1
Anal = 1-3
Phallic = 3-5
Latency 
Genital

Question 8

Psychosexual stages: oral

Answer 8

Description: Focus of pleasure = Mouth - mother’s breasts are the object of desire

Consequence of unresolved conflict: Oral fixation - smoking, biting nails, sarcastic

Question 9

Psychosexual stages: anal

Answer 9

Description: Focus of pleasure = Anus - withholding and expelling faeces

Consequence of unresolved conflict:
Anal retentive - perfectionist, obessive
Anal expulsive - thoughtless, messy

Question 10

Psychosexual stages: phallic

Answer 10

Description: Focus of pleasure = Genetial area
Oedipus (boys’ feelings for their mother a hatred for their father) or electra complex (girls experience penis envy a desire their father and hate their mother)

Consequence of unresolved conflict: Phallic personality - narcastic, reckless, possibly homosexual

Question 11

Psychosexual stages: latency

Answer 11

Description: Earlier conflicts are repressed

Consequence of unresolved conflict: Leads to children unable to remember much of their early years

Question 12

Psychosexual stages: genital

Answer 12

Description: Sexual desires become conscious alongside the onset of puberty

Consequence of unresolved conflict: Difficulty forming heterosexual relationships

Question 13

Explanatory power

Answer 13

Huge influence on psychology and western thought - remained the dominant force in psychology for the first half of the 20th century
Approach is significant to drawing attention to the connection between childhood experiences and adulthood

Question 14

Practical application

Answer 14

Freud brought a new form of therapy - psychoanalysis employing a range of techniques to access the unconscious such as hypnosis and dream analysis
Freudian therapists have gained successes with patients suffering from mild neuroses

Question 15

The case study method - lacks scientific credibility

Answer 15

Freud’s theory was based on the intensive study of single individuals who were often in therapy e.g Little Hans
It is not possible to make universal claims about human nature based on studies of a small number of individuals who were psychologically abnormal
Interpretations of observations are also highly subjective - other researchers may not draw up the same conclusions

Question 16

Psychic determinism

Answer 16

Freud believed in relation to human behaviour there was no such thing as an ‘accident’ - every a ‘slip of the tongue has meaning’ is driven by unconscious forces and had deep symbolic meaning

All behaviour is determined by unconscious conflicts rooted in childhood so free will is an illusion

Question 17

Androcentrism

Answer 17

In Freud’s psychoanalysis female sexuality was ignored e.g the Oedipus complex focused on men and adapted to fit females

Question 18

Cultural bias

Answer 18

Sue and Sue proposed that the psychodynamic approach has little relevance for non-Western cultures
In China, they avoid thoughts that cause distress rather than discuss them openly which contrasts with Western belief that open discussion and insight are helpful in therapy
Open discussion may cause anxiety rather than relieve it