The Psychodynamic Approach

Question 1

What were the suggestions that Sigmund Freud made?

Answer 1

-Suggested that people are born with basic instincts, drives and behaviours controlled by the unconscious mind
- Believed that childhood is extremely important and that most behaviour is rooted in early experiences
- The relationship between a child and parents is a crucial determinant of mental health

Question 2

What is the conscious?

Answer 2

The small amount of mental activity we are aware of

Question 3

What is the preconscious?

Answer 3

Memories we could be aware of if we tried to

Question 4

What is the preconscious?

Answer 4

Memories we could be aware of if we tried to

Question 5

What is the unconscious?

Answer 5

• Memories we are not aware of
• Vast storehouse of biological drives and instincts that have a significant influence on behaviour and personality
• Contains threatening and disturbing memories that have been repressed that can be accessed in dreams or parapraxes

Question 6

What are parapraxes?

Answer 6

‘A slip of the tongue’, where you were meant to say one thing but accidentally say something else

Question 7

What are the 3 parts of the Psyche (personality)?

Answer 7

The Id, ego and superego

Question 8

What is the Id?

Answer 8

Entirely unconscious, primitive part of personality that is made up of selfish aggressive instincts that demand immediate gratification

Question 9

What is the ego?

Answer 9

The ‘reality check’ which acts as a mediator between the other two parts of the personality

Question 10

What is the superego?

Answer 10

The moralistic part of the personality that has an internalised sense of right and wrong, divided into conscience (causes guilt)

Question 11

What are the 3 levels of consciousness?

Answer 11

Conscious, preconscious and unconscious

Question 12

What are defence mechanisms used for?

Answer 12

The ego balancing conflicting demands of the Id and superego, they are unconscious and ensure the ego is able to prevent us from being overwhelmed by temporary threats or traumas

Question 13

What are the 3 defence mechanisms?

Answer 13

Denial, repression and displacement

Question 14

What is denial?

Answer 14

The refusal to accept reality to avoid having to deal with painful feelings that might be associated with a particular event - person acts as if event never happened

Question 15

What is repression?

Answer 15

The unconscious blocking of unacceptable thoughts and impulses that continue to influence behaviour without the individual being aware of the reasons behind the behaviour

Question 16

What is displacement?

Answer 16

Involves the redirecting of thoughts or feelings in situations where a person feels unable to express them in presence of the person they should be directed towards

Question 17

What are Freud’s psychosexual stages?

Answer 17

• He suggested that problems in childhood can cause psychological abnormalities in adulthood
• Emphasise that the most important driving force in a person’s development is libido, and pleasure comes from its discharge

Question 18

What is libido?

Answer 18

The need to express sexual energy

Question 19

What are the 5 psychosexual stages?

Answer 19

Oral, anal, phallic, latent and genital

Question 20

What is the oral stage?

Answer 20

0-1 - the mouth is the main point of sensation and the way a child expresses early sexual energy (sucking, biting)

Question 21

What is the anal stage?

Answer 21

1-3 - the focus of pleasure is the anus so a child gains pleasure from withholding and expelling faeces - major conflict of stage is toilet training as if overemphasised can become perfectionist

Question 22

What is the phallic stage?

Answer 22

3-6 - the focus point of pleasure is the genital area - major conflict of this stage is Oedipus complex

Question 23

What is the latent stage?

Answer 23

6-12 - child develops a mastery of the world around them so during this stage conflicts from previous stages are repressed and usually cannot remember early years

Question 24

What is the genital stage?

Answer 24

12+ - sexual desire becomes conscious alongside onset of puberty which eventually directs us towards sexual intercourse and beginnings of new adult life

Question 25

What is the Oedipus complex?

Answer 25

During phallic stage, little boys develop incestuous feelings towards their mother and murderous hatred towards father, and take on father’s gender role and moral values

Question 26

What is the the Electra complex?

Answer 26

During phallic stage, little girls experience penis envy, where they desire their father as the penis is the primary love object and hate their mother

Question 27

How does the Little Hans study support the Oedipus complex?

Answer 27

• Hans (5 years old) had phobia of horses after one fell in the street
• Freud suggested his phobia formed as a displacement for the fear of his father
• The horses were a symbolic representation of Hans’ real unconscious fear: fear of castration experienced during the Oedipus complex