The psychodynamic approach

Question 1

Who came up with the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 1

Freud.

Question 2

Assumptions of the psychodynamic approach.

Answer 2

-Our behaviour and feelings are powerfully affected by unconscious motives.
-The unconscious mind compromises mental processes that are inaccessible to consciousness but they influence judgments, feelings or behaviours.
-Our feelings, motives and decisions are powerfully influenced by our past influences.

Question 3

Name the three aspects of the tripartite personality.

Answer 3

The ID
The Superego
The Ego

Question 4

What is the ID?

Answer 4

The primitive part of personality which operates on the pleasure principle. The ID demands gratification of its needs throughout life .

Question 5

When does the ID develop?

Answer 5

At birth.

Question 6

What is the ego?

Answer 6

The reality principle which is the mediator between the other two parts of personality. it aims to reduce conflict between the ID and the super ego.

Question 7

When does the ego develop?

Answer 7

2-4 years after birth.

Question 8

What is the superego?

Answer 8

The morality principle which is our internalised sense of wrong and right. This represents the moral standards of the child’s same sex parent.

Question 9

When does the superego develop?

Answer 9

Around 5 years after birth.

Question 10

What is the conscious mind?

Answer 10

What we are aware of.

Question 11

What is the preconscious mind?

Answer 11

Thoughts we may be able to recall through dreams or if desired but are not available in conscious awareness.

Question 12

What is the unconscious mind?

Answer 12

A vast store of biological drives, desires and instincts that influence our behaviour but we are not aware of it.

Question 13

Give some examples of things stored in the unconscious mind.

Answer 13

Fears, violence, unacceptable sexual desires.

Question 14

Give some examples of things stored in the pre-conscious mind.

Answer 14

Memories, stored knowledge

Question 15

Give some examples of things stored in the conscious mind.

Answer 15

Thoughts and perceptions.

Question 16

What are defence mechanisms?

Answer 16

psychological strategies that are unconsciously used to protect a person from anxiety due to unacceptable thoughts or feelings.

Question 17

What is repression.

Answer 17

Forcing a distressing memory out of the conscious mind.

Question 18

What is denial?

Answer 18

Refusing to acknowledge reality.

Question 19

What is displacement?

Answer 19

Transferring feelings from their source onto a substitute target.

Question 20

What are freud’s psychosexual phases?

Answer 20

Freud claimed that child development occurs in five stages and each stage is marked with a different conflict that a child must resolve.
Any unresolved conflict may lead to fixation where the child becomes ‘stuck’ in a certain phase and carried out certain behaviours all through adult life. E.g nail biting.

Question 21

When does the oral stage occur?

Answer 21

0-1 years.

Question 22

When does the anal stage occur?

Answer 22

1-3 years.

Question 23

When does the phallic stage occur?

Answer 23

3-4 years.

Question 24

When does the latency stage occur?

Answer 24

6 years-puberty.

Question 25

When does the genital stage occur?

Answer 25

Beyond puberty.

Question 26

What are the 5 psychosexual stages?

Answer 26

Oral
Anal
phallic
latency
genital

Question 27

What happens in the oral stage?

Answer 27

Children derive pleasure from oral activities such as sucking.

Question 28

Consequence of unresolved conflicts in oral stage.

Answer 28

Oral fixation- smoking, biting nails, sarcastic, critical.

Question 29

Consequences of unresolved conflicts in anal stage?

Answer 29

Anal retentive
Anal expulsive

Question 30

What does it mean to be anal retentive?

Answer 30

A perfectionist, obessive.

Question 31

What does it mean to be anal expulsive?

Answer 31

Messy, thoughtless.

Question 32

What happens in the anal stage?

Answer 32

Child gains pleasure from withholding and expelling faeces.

Question 33

What happens in the phallic stage?

Answer 33

Boys are more attracted to their mother whereas girls are more attracted to their father.

Question 34

Consequence of unresolved conflicts in the phallic stage.

Answer 34

Narcissism, recklessness.

Question 35

What happens in the latency stage?

Answer 35

Children tend to spend more time with same-sex peers.

Question 36

What happens in genital stage?

Answer 36

Individuals are attracted to opposite sex peers.

Question 37

Consequence of unresolved conflicts in the genital stage.

Answer 37

Difficulty forming heterosexual relationships.

Question 38

Strength of psychodynamic approach (introduced ideas of psychotherapy).

Answer 38

One strength of the psychodynamic approach is that it introduced the idea of psychotherapy.
This was the attempt to treat mental disorders psychologically rather then physically. This attempts to assess the unconscious mind. E.g sleep analysis
This therapy can be seen as a forerunner to many modern ‘talking therapies’.
This shows the value of the approach as it costed a new approach to treatment.

Question 39

Strength of psychodynamic approach (explains human nature).

Answer 39

Another strength of Freuds psychodynamic apprised is that it has the ability to explain human nature.
Although his theory is controversial in many ways and sometimes bizarre, it has had a huge impact on psychology. The theory has been used to explain a wide range of phenomena including personality development, moral development and gender identity. The approach draws attention to the connection between experiences in childhood such as relationships to our parents.
This is a strength of the approach as it has had a positive impact on psychology.

Question 40

Limitation of psychodynamic approach (untestable).

Answer 40

One limitation of the psychodynamic approach is that it is mostly untestable. The psychodynamic approach arguably does not meet the scientific criteria of falsification. Many of freuds concepts are said to occur at an unconscious level, making them difficult if not impossible to test. This suggests that freuds theory is pseudoscientific rather than an established fact.