The psychodynamic approach Flashcards

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1
Q

what is psychodynamics?

A
  • created by freud
  • study of the unconscious mind
  • the unconscious drives that develop in childhood and their interactions
  • how these forces influence behaviour, personality and mental states
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2
Q

what is the mind made up of?

A
  • complex system made up of three parts:
  • conscious
  • preconscious
  • unconscious
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3
Q

what is the conscious mind?

A
  • thoughts we are aware of and can talk about
  • ideas
  • decisions
  • emotions
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4
Q

what is the preconscious mind?

A
  • thoughts are not immediately accessible
  • but can be brought into conscious awareness
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5
Q

what is the unconscious mind?

A
  • largest part of the mind
  • thoughts and memories not accessible to awareness
  • influence our behaviours and feelings
  • contains desires, impulses and repressed memories
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6
Q

what is the role of the unconscious?

A
  • behaviours shaped by unresolved unconscious conflicts between parts of our personality and experiences in early developmental stages
  • psychosexual stages
  • problems in these stages= fixation
  • stuck in a stage showing negative personality traits
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7
Q

how does the unconscious protect the conscious mind?

A
  • protects the conscious mind from potentially harmful thoughts
  • traumatic memories, fears or intense desires
  • reduces anxiety by using defence mechanisms
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8
Q

what is the adult personality made up of?

A
  • id
  • ego
  • superego
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9
Q

what is the id?

A
  • newborns only have the id
  • selfish and aims to satisfy personal needs
  • operates on pleasure principle
  • continues trying to gain pleasure throughout its whole life in the unconscious mind
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10
Q

what is the pleasure principle?

A
  • seeking immediate gratification for its wants
  • which is why its associated with hedonism
  • always trying to gain pleasure
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11
Q

what is the ego?

A
  • develops around 18 months
  • primarily conscious component of personality known as reality principle
  • uses rational thinking to manage the id’s demands
  • mediates between id and superego
  • critical step in individuals ability to interact with the world
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12
Q

what is the superego?

A
  • develops around 3 y/o
  • ’ morality principle’ emerges
  • internalises the norms and values of their parents and society
  • changes behaviour by causing guilt when their actions conflict with strict standards
  • moderates behaviour based off strict moral and social expectations
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13
Q

what did freud believe about childhood?

A
  • early childhood experiences shape the structure of personality
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14
Q

what is the oral stage?

A
  • baby gets pleasure through mouth bc of breast feeding
  • during weaning baby learns they cant control the environment and develop delayed gratification
  • fixation= immature personality
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15
Q

what are the psychosexual stages?

A
  • oral stage
  • anal stage
  • phallic stage
  • latency stage
  • genital stage
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16
Q

when does the oral stage happen?

A
  • 0-1 years old
  • develops during breast feeding
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17
Q

what is the anal stage?

A
  • kids gets pleasure from holding onto and expelling faeces
  • fixation= if parents too strict when punishing potty training mistakes
  • anal retentive= overly organised and fussy adult
18
Q

what does the anal stage happen?

A
  • 1-3 years old
  • learning to be potty trained
19
Q

what is the phallic stage?

A
  • libido is now in genitals
  • boys experience oedipus complex and castration anxiety
  • realises cant compete with father
  • starts to identify with father and imitate them so develops male gender identity
20
Q

what is castration anxiety?

A
  • fear the father will find out that the boy has a sexual desire for their mother and remove their genitals for it
21
Q

when does the phallic stage happen?

A
  • 3-5 years old
22
Q

what is the oedipus complex?

A
  • boys have a sexual desire for their mother
23
Q

what is the electra complex?

A
  • Jung’s female equivalent of the oedipus complex
  • girls attachment to their father and dislike of their mother
24
Q

why did freud reject the electra complex?

A
  • he said for both boys and girls
  • their primary objective desire is their mother
25
Q

what is penis envy?

A
  • girls assumed they used to have a willy and think they lost it due to castration
  • resent their mother for the loss
  • desire for a penis replaced by seire for a baby
  • this is how they develop female gender identity
26
Q

what is the latency stage?

A
  • sexual energy is dispersed across the body
  • previous conflicts desires and memories from early childhood are repressed into the unconscious
27
Q

when does the latency stage happen?

A
  • 6-12 years old
28
Q

what is the genital stage?

A
  • happens at puberty
  • sexual desire is conscious and in full adult form
29
Q

when does the genital stage happen?

A
  • 12+ years old
  • puberty
30
Q

what are the defence mechanisms?

A
  • denial
  • displacement
  • repression
31
Q

what is the role of defence mechanisms?

A
  • strategies involving the unconscious mind that the ego can use to manage unresolvable conflicts
  • mechanisms reduce anxiety felt between conflict between the id and the superego
32
Q

what is denial?

A
  • individual refuses to accept the reality of the situation theyre in
32
Q

what is displacement?

A
  • when a strong emotion is moved from one source of the emotional
  • placed onto a substitute target
  • usually a weaker target
33
Q

what is repression?

A
  • unpleasant memory or painful emotions are placed into the unconscious mind
  • no longer accessible to the conscious mind
34
Q

Evaluations: strength/ limitation, outdated but has significant influence on psychology

A
  • now considered outdated
  • emphasis on importance of childhood experiences having a lasting impact in adulthood
  • bowlby built freudian concepts to develop his attachment theories
35
Q

Evaluations: strength, how he helped cognitive psychologists

A
  • first to develop somewhat scientific concept of unconscious mind
  • cognitive theorists now acknowledge the existence of processes outside conscious awareness
  • that affect, perception, memory and language
36
Q

Evaluations: strengths, freuds theories have face validity

A
  • boys often have stronger attachment to their mother
  • early trauma can influence anxiety
  • use defence mechanisms
  • most ppl have desires and anxieties they cant consciously explain
37
Q

Evaluations: strength, practical applications to his theory

A
  • psychoanalytic theory= type of talking theory been shown in meta analysis of 27 studies w over 5000 pp
  • many individuals claim to have been successfully treated
  • psychodynamic ideas where psychoanalysis is the basis= validity
38
Q

Evaluations: limitations, lack scientific credibility

A
  • developed through case studies
  • interpreting clients introspections, memories and dreams
  • little Han’s parents fan of freud so wanted to support his ideas
  • biased recall of little hanz childhood
39
Q

Evaluations: limitations, lack of falsifiability

A
  • cant demonstrate if the theory is wrong using empirical testing
  • he framed his theories in ways that made them untestable
  • criminal bc of superego= include any background of their
  • this can act as evidence for his theory
  • adaptability = unable to falsify