The psychodynamic approach Flashcards
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
2
Q
what is the mind made up of?
A
- complex system made up of three parts:
- conscious
- preconscious
- unconscious
3
Q
what is the conscious mind?
A
- thoughts we are aware of and can talk about
- ideas
- decisions
- emotions
4
Q
what is the preconscious mind?
A
- thoughts are not immediately accessible
- but can be brought into conscious awareness
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
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
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
8
Q
what is the adult personality made up of?
A
- id
- ego
- superego
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
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
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
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
13
Q
what did freud believe about childhood?
A
- early childhood experiences shape the structure of personality
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
15
Q
what are the psychosexual stages?
A
- oral stage
- anal stage
- phallic stage
- latency stage
- genital stage
16
Q
when does the oral stage happen?
A
- 0-1 years old
- develops during breast feeding
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
what is penis envy?
- 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
what is the latency stage?
- sexual energy is dispersed across the body
- previous conflicts desires and memories from early childhood are repressed into the unconscious
27
when does the latency stage happen?
- 6-12 years old
28
what is the genital stage?
- happens at puberty
- sexual desire is conscious and in full adult form
29
when does the genital stage happen?
- 12+ years old
- puberty
30
what are the defence mechanisms?
- denial
- displacement
- repression
31
what is the role of defence mechanisms?
- 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
what is denial?
- individual refuses to accept the reality of the situation theyre in
32
what is displacement?
- when a strong emotion is moved from one source of the emotional
- placed onto a substitute target
- usually a weaker target
33
what is repression?
- unpleasant memory or painful emotions are placed into the unconscious mind
- no longer accessible to the conscious mind
34
Evaluations: strength/ limitation, outdated but has significant influence on psychology
- 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
Evaluations: strength, how he helped cognitive psychologists
- 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
Evaluations: strengths, freuds theories have face validity
- 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
Evaluations: strength, practical applications to his theory
- 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
Evaluations: limitations, lack scientific credibility
- 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
Evaluations: limitations, lack of falsifiability
- 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
