THE PSYCHODYNAMIC APPROACH

Question 1

Assumptions of psychodynamic approach

Answer 1

• human behaviour has unconscious causes that we are not aware of.
• childhood experiences are really important influence on adult personality and psychological disorders.

Question 2

psychoanalytic and psychodynamic

Answer 2

• freuds theory were psychoanalytic but psychodynamic refers to his theories and those of his followers.

Question 3

three levels of consciousness developed by freud

Answer 3

pre conscious, conscious and unconscious.

Question 4

pre conscious

Answer 4

pre-conscious is made up of memories we can recall when we want which includes our address, phone number, childhood memories etc.

Question 5

conscious

Answer 5

this is what we are aware of at any given time.

Question 6

unconscious

Answer 6

• made up of memories, fears and desires which cause us extreme anxiety and therefore have been repressed out of the conscious mind.
• according to freud the unconscious mind is the primary source of human behaviour.
• our feelings, motives and decisions are powerfully influenced by past experiences stored in the unconscious.

Question 7

hysteria

Answer 7

hysteria is a disorder involving physical symptoms likr : headache, paralysis etc but has no physical cause. freud concluded that theu had no conscious reasons so it was because of an unconscious mind which was the cause of hysteria.

Question 8

psychic determinism

Answer 8

psychodynamic theory is entirely reductionist theory as it believes that our behaviour is entirely caused of unconscious emotional drives over which we have no control.

Question 9

freudian slips

Answer 9

unconscious thoughts and feelings can transfer to the conscious mind by freudian slips. we reveal what is sth in our mind by saying something we didnt mean to.

Question 10

tripartite personality

Answer 10

personality comprises of three parts, the id, the ego and the super ego.

Question 11

the id

Answer 11

id is the basic animal part of the personality, that contains innate, aggressive and sexual instincts. it obeys the pleasure principle and it accounts for unreasonable behaviours and appear at birth.

Question 12

ego

Answer 12

the ego exists in both conscious and unconscious parts and acts a s a rational part known as reality principle. it develops within first three years of birth and balances id and superego to keep our behaviour in line.

Question 13

superego

Answer 13

• both in conscious and unconscious part of mind.
• develops around 4 to 5 yrs .
  consists of two parts the ego ideal which sets the moral standards and the conscience which produces guilt.
• part of mind that takes moral into considerations and make us feel guilty

Question 14

psychodynamic stages

Answer 14

ego and superego develops as a child goes through five stages of psychosexual development.

Question 15

psychosexual stages

Answer 15

oral , anal , phallic, latent and genital.

Question 16

oral

Answer 16

0 - 18 months, sucking behaviour.

Question 17

anal

Answer 17

18 months - 3.5 years, keeping or discarding faeces

Question 18

phallic

Answer 18

3.5 - 6 years, genital fixation - oedious and electra complex

Question 19

latent

Answer 19

6 yrs to puberty, repressed sexual urges.

Question 20

genital

Answer 20

puberty - adult, awakened sexual urges.

Question 21

fixation

Answer 21

if a child receive enough or too much pleasure during a stage of development, they will become fixated at that stage.

Question 22

defence mechanisms

Answer 22

ego tries to reduce anxiety using defence mechanisms.
- repression, denial and displacement

Question 23

repression

Answer 23

repression involves ego stopping unwanted thoughts and painful experiences from being conscious.

Question 24

denial

Answer 24

denial is where a threatening event or an unwanted reality is blocked from conscious awareness.

Question 25

displacement

Answer 25

negative impulse is redirected somewhere else.

Question 26

case study for psychodynamic approach

Answer 26

little hans study (1909)

Question 27

strengths of the psychodynamic approach

Answer 27

• freuds theory places emphasis on how experiences in early childhood can affect later development.
• it offers methods of therapy like psychoanalysis which may also uncover unconscious conflicts.
• one of the first approach to suggest that mental health disorders may be linked to unresolved conflicts related to biological needs.

Question 28

limitations of psychodynamic approach

Answer 28

• lack of empirical evidence because his concepts like id, ego and superego is difficult to test scientifically.
• freuds theory is related to unconscious mind, which cannot be accessed, his theories are unfalsifiable.
• approach is based on case study so findings cannot be generalised.
• unscientific research methods, no cause and effect relationship.