the psychodynamic approach Flashcards
1
Q
what is the psychodynamic approach?
A
a perspective that describes the different forces, most of which are unconscious, that operate on the mind and direct human behaviour and experience
2
Q
what are the 3 parts of the mind?
A
- the concsious
- the preconscious
- the unconcious
3
Q
what is the conscious?
A
part of the mind that we know about and are aware of
4
Q
what is the preconscious?
A
contains thoughts and memories which are not currently in conscious awareness but we can access if desired
5
Q
what is the unconscious?
A
- a storehouse of biological drives and instincts that has a significant influence on our behaviour and personality
- contains threatening and disturbing memories that have been repressed, locked away or forgotten
6
Q
how can unconsious thoughts be accessed?
A
- during dreams
- through ‘slips of the tongue’ (what freud referred to as parapraxes)
7
Q
what are the 3 parts of the tripartite personality?
A
- id
- ego
- superego
8
Q
what is the id?
A
- operates on pleasure principle
- operates on unconscious level
- only the id is present at birth
- throughout life, the id is entirely selfish and demands instant gratification of its needs
9
Q
what is the ego?
A
- operates of reality principle
- operates mainly on conscious and preconscious levels
- develops around the age of 2
- role is to reduce the conflicts between the demands of the id and superego
- it manages this by employing a number of defence mechanisms
10
Q
what is the superego?
A
- operates on morality principles
- operates on all 3 levels of consciousness
- forms at the end of the phallic stage, around the age of 5
- it is our internalised sense of right and wrong
- represents the moral standards of the child’s same-gender parent
- punishes the ego for wrongdoing through guilt
11
Q
what are defence mechanisms?
A
unconscious strategies the ego uses to manage the conflict between the id and the superego
12
Q
what are 3 examples of defence mechanisms?
A
- represssion
- denial
- displacement
13
Q
what is repression?
A
forcing a distressing memory out of the conscious mind
14
Q
what is denial?
A
refusing to acknowledge some aspect of reality
15
Q
what is displacement?
A
transferring feelings from true source of distressing emotion onto a substitute target
16
Q
what happens if you overuse defence mechanisms?
A
- it may lead to poor mental health
- as a long-term solution, they are regarded as psychologically unhealthy and undesirable
17
Q
what happens if there is an an imbalance between the id, ego and superego?
A
- bad mental health, abnormal behaviour, leads to mental imbalances
- if the ego is too weak, it cannot regulate the other parts of the personality
- if the id is too strong, the individual may be selfish, out of control, a seeker of instant gratification
- if the superego is too strong, the individual may be seen as pompous, rigid, strict, anxious and obsessive
18
Q
what are the psychosexual stages?
A
- 5 developmental stages that all children pass through
- at each stage there is a different conflict, the outcome of which determines future development
19
Q
what happens if any psychosexual stages are unresolved?
A
- fixation
- the child becomes ‘stuck’ and carries certain behaviours and conflicts associated with that stage through to adult life
20
Q
what are the 5 psychosexual stages?
A
- oral
- anal
- phallic
- latency
- genital
21
Q
when do each of the 5 stages occur?
A
- oral: 0-1 years
- anal: 1-3 years
- phallic: 3-5 years
- latency: 5 years-puberty
- genital: puberty onwards
22
Q
during the oral stage, what is the focus of pleasure and what marks successful completion of this stage?
A
- mouth is the main focus of pleasure
- the child enjoys tasting and sucking ie. breastfeeding
- successful completion of this stage is demonstrated by weaning (eating independently)
23
Q
what is the consequence of unresolved conflict during the oral stage (ie. oral fixation)
A
- oral receptive (not allowed to feed freely): passive, needy, sensitive to rejection, overeats and drinks, bite nails, may smoke
- oral aggressive (allowed to feed too often / too long): hostile and verbally abusive, sarcastic
24
Q
during the anal stage, what is the focus of pleasure and what marks successful completion of this stage?
A
- focus of pleasure is the anus
- child gains pleasure from withholding and expelling faeces
- successful completion is marked by potty training
25
what is the consequence of unresolved conflict during the anal stage (ie. anal fixation)
- **anal retentive:** very tidy, stubborn, likes order and being in control, perfectionist, obsessive
- **anal expulsive:** messy, disorganised, thoughtless, doesn't like to follow rules
26
what occurs during the phallic stage?
- focus of pleasure is the genital area
- become inquisitive as to the differences between boys and girls
- during this stage the awareness of sex differences is the basis of the oedipus and electra complexes
27
what is the consequence of unresolved conflict during the phallic stage?
- phallic personality: narcissistic, reckless
- failure to resolve this stage leads to oedipus and electra complexes
28
describe the oedipus complex (3-5 years)
- boy develops intense attachment to their mother
- sees father as rival
- fears father knows this and will castrate him as punishment
- identifies with father to stop castration anxiety
- represses the feelings he has for his mother and identifies with the father
- establishes superego
29
describe the electra complex (3-5 years)
- girl is very close to her mother when she is little, until she discovers that she does not have a penis
- this makes her feel inferior and blames her mother for allowing her to be castrated
- desires father, as penis is her object of desire
- one way for her to be equal is to have a baby as a penis substitute
- as a result she never identifies with her mother
- never fully resolves complex - 'weaker superego than males'
30
what happens during the latency stage?
- sexual urges sublimated into school, sports and other hobbies
- earlier conflicts are repressed or resolved
- focus on developing same sex friendships
31
what happens during the genital stage?
- sexual desire becomes conscious
- resolution occurs through settling into a 'loving', one-to-one, hetersexual relationship
- failure to resolve this stage leads to perversion and difficulty forming heterosexual relationships
32
describe the case study of little hans, which supports the oedipus complex
- hans was a 5-year-old boy who developed a phobia of horses after seeing one collapse in the street
- freud suggested that his phobia was a form of displacement in which his repressed fear of his father was transferred onto horses
- thus, horses were merely a symbolic representation of hans's real unconscious fear - the fear of castration experienced during the oedipus complex
33
evaluation: real-world application with psychotherapy
- freud brough a new form of therapy: psychoanalysis
- this was the first attempt to treat mental disorders psychologically rather than physically
- the new therapy employed a range of techniques designed to access the unconscious, such as dream analysis
- psychoanalysis claims to help clients by bringing their repressed emotions into their conscious mind so they can be dealt with
- psychoanalysis is the forerunner to many modern-day therapies, such as counselling, that have since been established
- this shows the value of the psychodynamic approach in creating a new approach to treatment
34
evaluation: freudian therapy and theory does not apply to all mental disorders
- although freudian therapists have claimed success for many clients with mild neuroses, psychoanalysis is regarded as inappropriate, even harmful, for people experiencing more serious mental disorders such as schizophrenia
- many of the symptoms of schizophrenia, such as paranoia and delusional thinking, mean that those with the disorder cannot articulate their thoughts in the way required by psychoanalysis
35
evaluation: able to explain human behaviour
- freud's theory had a huge influence on psychology and contemporary thought
- it has been used to explain phenomena including personality development, the origins of psychological disorders, moral development and gender identitity
- the approach is also significant in drawing attention to the connection between experiences in childhood, such as our relationship with our parents, and our later development
- this suggests that, overall, the psychodynamic approach has had a positive impact on psychology, as well as on literature, art and other human endeavours
36
evaluation: much of it is untestable
- karl popper argued that the psychodynamic approach does not meet the scientific criterion of falsification
- it is not open to empirical testing as it does not have the possibility of being disproved
- many of freud's concepts (such as the id and the oedipus complex) are said to occur at an unconscious level, making them difficult, if not impossible, to test
- his ideas were also based on the subjective study of single individuals, such as little hans, which makes it difficult to make universal claims about humans behaviour
- this suggests that freud's theory was pseudoscientific rather than established fact
37
evaluation: psychic determinism
- freud believed there is no such thing as an 'accident'
- even something as random as a 'slip of the tongue' is driven by unconscious forces and has deep meaning
- critics claim this is an extreme view as it dismisses any possible influence of free will on behaviour
