the psychodynamic approach Flashcards
What is the structure of personality?
The id, ego and superego make up the tripartite personality.
3 features of the id and quote.
Pleasure principle, acts on instinct, present at birth.
“I want to do that now”.
3 features of the superego and quote.
Morality principle, sense of right and wrong, develops at 5 years (phallic stage).
“It’s not right to do that”.
3 features of the ego and quote.
Reality principle, tames the ID and reduces conflict, develops at 2 years (anal stage).
“Maybe we can comprimise”
What did Freud compare the mind to? Describe this.
An iceberg- conscious mind is above, unconscious mind is below.
Describe the conscious and unconscious mind.
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”.
From the top of the iceberg to the bottom, what is the order of the tripartite personalities.
Ego, superego, id.
Why do we use defence mechanisms?
To reduce the anxiety- when unconcious conflicts between the id and superego cannot be resolved by the ego, they create anxiety.
What are the 3 defence mechanisms?
Denial, repression and displacement.
What is denial? E.g?
Refusing to acknowledge some aspect of reality. E.g. still turning up to work, despite being sacked.
What is repression? E.g.?
Forcing an unpleasant memory out of the unconscious mind.
E.g. a person forgetting the trauma of their favourite pet dying.
What is displacement? E.g.?
Transferring feelings from the true source of distress onto a substitute. E.g. slamming the door after an argument with your argument.
What does fixation mean?
When one’s desire is tied to another object of desire, that is connected to an earlier phase in one’s psychosexual development.
Acronym for the 5 stages of psychosexual stages?
Old
Age
Pensioners
Love
Guinness (the drink)
What is the 1st stage? Between what years? What’s the pleasure centre? What is the consequence of unresolved conflict?
Oral stage
0-1 years
Mouth
Smoking, nail biting
What is the 2nd stage? Between what years? What’s the pleasure centre? What is the consequence of unresolved conflict?
Anal
1-3 years
Anus
Retentive (perfectionist) or expulsive (messy)
What is the 3rd stage? Between what years? What’s the pleasure centre? What is the consequence of unresolved conflict?
Phallic
3-5 years
Genital area
Narcissistic, reckless.
What is the 4th stage? Between what years? What happens here?
Latency
5-puberty
Earlier conflicts are repressed
What is the 5th stage? Between what years? What happens here? What is the consequence of unresolved conflict?
Genitals
Puberty onwards
Sexual desires become conscious
Struggle to form hetrosexual relationships
What is penis envy?
-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.
What is castration anxienty?
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.
Which research method is most commonly used by Freud?
Case studies.
2 strengths of case studies.
-Rich in detail
-Only possible (ethically right) method of research
2 weaknesses of case studies.
-Researcher bias
-Not representative
What is the belief of psychoanalysis?
All people possess unconscious thoughts, feelings, desires, and memories.
What is the aim of psychoanalysis?
To release repressed emotions and experience (making the unconscious>conscious).
Weakness of psychoanalysis?
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.
PET for untestable concepts.
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.
How is this approach determistic?
-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.
What does androcentrism mean?
Being centred on, or dominated by males.
What is the oedipus complex?
When does it end?
-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
How is the oedipus complex subject to gender bias? (2)
-Focused on men
-States girls are never going to be as successful as men
How does this approach take an interactionist view?
Believes we are born with the ID (present from birth), but we develop factors based on upbringing.
