The Psychodynamic Approach Flashcards
Who came up with the psychodynamic approach?
Freud
Assumptions of the psychodynamic approach
- Behaviour results from unconscious processes
- Psychodynamic conflict (between the 3 components) explains behaviour
- Behaviour is motivated by emotional drives (sexual and aggressive)
- Childhood experiences are important and shape our adult personality
The component of the conscious mind
Ego
The components of the unconscious mind
Id and super ego
The id
- A primitive aspect of our personality based on the pleasure principle
- Present from birth
- Satisfying our desires
- Wants immediate gratification
- Unconscious
- The id is responsible for pleasure seeking behaviour and unreasonable behaviour
The ego
- The mediator between the other two elements
- Based on the reality principle (deals with reality)
- Develops from our experience of not getting our own way
- Spans all three levels of consciousness
The superego
- Our internal sense of right and wrong
- Based on the morality principle (inner parent)
- Develops around age 5
- Represents the moral standards set by our same-sex parent
- It spans all three levels of consciousness
- It is responsible for feelings of guilt
The three main psychosexual stages
Oral
Anal
Phallic
Age - oral stage
0-1 years
Age - anal
1-3 years
Age - phallic
3-5 years
What is the pleasure centre for the oral stage?
The mouth
What is the pleasure centre for the anal stage?
The anus
What is the pleasure centre for the phallic stage?
The genital area
Possible causes of fixation - oral
- Early weaning
- Deprivation of love or food
Possible causes of fixation - anal
- Lax toilet training
- Harsh toilet training
Possible causes of fixation - phallic
- No father figure
- Very dominant mother
Possible results of fixation - oral
- Biting nails
- Smoking
- Sarcasm
Possible results of fixation - anal
- Obsessiveness
- Meanness
- Tidiness
Possible results of fixation - phallic
- Self-obsession
- Sexual anxiety
- Envy
The Oedipus complex
- Boy starts to desire his mother
- Boy sees father as a rival for mother’s attention
- He fears that if his father finds out about his feelings for his mother, he will castrate him
- The boy is in a state of conflict. He resolves this by internalising and identifying with his father
- This leads to the development of the superego. The boy substitutes his desire for his mother into desire for other women
The Electra complex
- She starts to desire her father who has a penis
- The girls sees her mother as a rival for her father
- The girl begins to develop penis envy. She blames her mother for removing her penis
- To resolve this, the girl identifies with her mother so she can have her father
- The superego develops, as does gender identity. She replaces penis envy with desire for a baby
Defence mechanisms
Unconscious methods used to protect the ego
The three defence mechanisms
- Repression
- Denial
- Displacement
Repression
Forcing a distressing memory out of the conscious mind
e.g. Lucy can’t remember her favourite pet dying
Example mark scheme descriptions:
- Repression can lead to unpleasant memories causing distress
- Repression causes people to have difficulty accessing unpleasant memories
- Repression involves unpleasant memories being kept from conscious awareness
Denial
Refusing to believe events or admit emotions that provoke anxiety
e.g. Tom continues to turn up for work even though he has been sacked
Displacement
Diverting emotions from their true source towards a substitute, less dangerous one
E.g. Ravi is angry with his parents so he snaps at his mates at school.
Strengths of the psychodynamic approach
- Real world application due to the introduction of psychotherapy to treat mental disorders psychologically
- It’s ability to explain human behaviour. This approach was a key force in psychology during the first half of the 20th century. Has been used to explain personality development, abnormal behaviour, moral development and gender identity.
- The first approach to look at psychological causes
- Linked to biological needs
- Looked at how experiences affect development later on
Weaknesses of the psychodynamic approach
- Psychoanalysis is rewarded as inappropriate for people experiencing more serious mental disorders such as schizophrenia
- Psychoanalysis can be time consuming and expensive
- Much of the approach is untestable and is not open to the possibility of being disproved.
- Too much emphasis on the past
- No establishment of cause and effect
- Subjectivity
The other psychosexual stages
Latency
Genital
What causes fixation in the first place?
Not having the proper nurturing and parenting during a stage.
What influenced Freud’s perspective?
Sexual repression and limited understanding and education around human sexuality at the turn of the 20th century
What acted as proof for Freud?
His own recollections and interpretations of patients’ experiences and dreams were sufficient proof that psychosexual stages were universal events in early childhood
Latency
- Age 6 to puberty
- Sexual feelings are dormant as children focus on other pursuits e.g. school, friendships, hobbies
- Children generally engage with peers of the same sex which consolidates a child’s gender-role identity
Genital stage
- From puberty onwards
- A sexual reawakening occurs as the incestuous urges resurface but the person redirects these urges to a more socially acceptable partner who often resemble
the other-sex parent - Poeple who successfully completed the previous stages (with no fixations) are said to be well-balanced, healthy adults.
Why was the psychodynamic approach subjective?
- Freud examined patient’s dreams so he had the potential for subjectivity
- His conclusions were unreliable and had bias
Outline a psychodynamic explanation for the development of the superego (3)
- Occurs at the Phallic stage of psychosexual development
- Arises through identification with same-sex parents and internalisation of his/her moral standards
- Via resolution of the Oedipus/Electra complex
- Part of the tripartite personality
