the psychodynamic approach

Question 1

What is the structure of personality?

Answer 1

The id, ego and superego make up the tripartite personality.

Question 2

3 features of the id and quote.

Answer 2

Pleasure principle, acts on instinct, present at birth.
“I want to do that now”.

Question 3

3 features of the superego and quote.

Answer 3

Morality principle, sense of right and wrong, develops at 5 years (phallic stage).
“It’s not right to do that”.

Question 4

3 features of the ego and quote.

Answer 4

Reality principle, tames the ID and reduces conflict, develops at 2 years (anal stage).
“Maybe we can comprimise”

Question 5

What did Freud compare the mind to? Describe this.

Answer 5

An iceberg- conscious mind is above, unconscious mind is below.

Question 6

Describe the conscious and unconscious mind.

Answer 6

Conscious- directly aware and able to access it all.
Unconscious- not directly aware and unable to access it all. Traumatic events or memories are repressed here>reveals itself in dreams, fantisies and slips of the tongue, “Freudian slip”.

Question 7

From the top of the iceberg to the bottom, what is the order of the tripartite personalities.

Answer 7

Ego, superego, id.

Question 8

Why do we use defence mechanisms?

Answer 8

To reduce the anxiety- when unconcious conflicts between the id and superego cannot be resolved by the ego, they create anxiety.

Question 9

What are the 3 defence mechanisms?

Answer 9

Denial, repression and displacement.

Question 10

What is denial? E.g?

Answer 10

Refusing to acknowledge some aspect of reality. E.g. still turning up to work, despite being sacked.

Question 11

What is repression? E.g.?

Answer 11

Forcing an unpleasant memory out of the unconscious mind.
E.g. a person forgetting the trauma of their favourite pet dying.

Question 12

What is displacement? E.g.?

Answer 12

Transferring feelings from the true source of distress onto a substitute. E.g. slamming the door after an argument with your argument.

Question 13

What does fixation mean?

Answer 13

When one’s desire is tied to another object of desire, that is connected to an earlier phase in one’s psychosexual development.

Question 14

Acronym for the 5 stages of psychosexual stages?

Answer 14

Old
Age
Pensioners
Love
Guinness (the drink)

Question 15

What is the 1st stage? Between what years? What’s the pleasure centre? What is the consequence of unresolved conflict?

Answer 15

Oral stage
0-1 years
Mouth
Smoking, nail biting

Question 16

What is the 2nd stage? Between what years? What’s the pleasure centre? What is the consequence of unresolved conflict?

Answer 16

Anal
1-3 years
Anus
Retentive (perfectionist) or expulsive (messy)

Question 17

What is the 3rd stage? Between what years? What’s the pleasure centre? What is the consequence of unresolved conflict?

Answer 17

Phallic
3-5 years
Genital area
Narcissistic, reckless.

Question 18

What is the 4th stage? Between what years? What happens here?

Answer 18

Latency
5-puberty
Earlier conflicts are repressed

Question 19

What is the 5th stage? Between what years? What happens here? What is the consequence of unresolved conflict?

Answer 19

Genitals
Puberty onwards
Sexual desires become conscious
Struggle to form hetrosexual relationships

Question 20

What is penis envy?

Answer 20

-Theorised by Freud, a stage in which young girls experience anxiety upon realisation that they do not have a penis.
-This stage begins the transition from an attachment to the mother to competition with the mother for attention, recognition and affection of the father.
-The similar reaction of a boy’s realisation that women do not have a penis is castration anxienty.

Question 21

What is castration anxienty?

Answer 21

A boy’s fear of loss or damage to the genital organ as a punishment for:
-Incestuous wishes toward the mother
-Murderous fantasies towards the rival father.

Question 22

Which research method is most commonly used by Freud?

Answer 22

Case studies.

Question 23

2 strengths of case studies.

Answer 23

-Rich in detail
-Only possible (ethically right) method of research

Question 24

2 weaknesses of case studies.

Answer 24

-Researcher bias
-Not representative

Question 25

What is the belief of psychoanalysis?

Answer 25

All people possess unconscious thoughts, feelings, desires, and memories.

Question 26

What is the aim of psychoanalysis?

Answer 26

To release repressed emotions and experience (making the unconscious>conscious).

Question 27

Weakness of psychoanalysis?

Answer 27

Not appropriate for individuals suffering from more serious disorders e.g. schz. Many symptoms of schz>sufferes have lost their grip on reality>cannot articulate their thoughts and feelings in the same way as others>psychoanalysis cannot work for every mental illness.

Question 28

PET for untestable concepts.

Answer 28

P: This approach uses many untestable concepts. E.g. Frued’s concepts.
E: Popper argued: for something to be deemed scientific, it needs to meet ‘falsification’.
T: This approach isn’t open to scientific testing, giving psychology a ‘pseudoscience’ stance.

Question 29

How is this approach determistic?

Answer 29

-Suggests human behaviour is governed by unconscious drives and early traumatic experiences which are repressed into the unconscious mind.
-An individual does not have free will over their behaviour, instead, under the influence of PHYSICIC determinism.

Question 30

What does androcentrism mean?

Answer 30

Being centred on, or dominated by males.

Question 31

What is the oedipus complex?
When does it end?

Answer 31

-A desire for sexual involvement with the parent of the opposite sex
-A sense of rivalry with the parent of the same sex
-Ends when the child identified with the parent of the same sex and repressed its sexual instincts

Question 32

How is the oedipus complex subject to gender bias? (2)

Answer 32

-Focused on men
-States girls are never going to be as successful as men

Question 33

How does this approach take an interactionist view?

Answer 33

Believes we are born with the ID (present from birth), but we develop factors based on upbringing.