The Psychodynamic Approach

Question 1

What is the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 1

A perspective that describes the different forces (dynamics), most of which are unconscious, that operate on the mind and direct human behaviour and experience

Question 2

What is the unconscious?

Answer 2

The part of the mind that we are unaware of but which directs much of our behaviour

Question 3

What is the ID?

Answer 3

Entirely unconscious, the ID is made up of selfish aggressive instincts that demand immediate gratification

Question 4

What is the Ego?

Answer 4

The ‘reality check’ that balances the conflicting demands of the ID and Superego

Question 5

What is the Superego?

Answer 5

The moralistic part of our personality which represents the ideal self - how we ought to be

Question 6

What are defence mechanisms?

Answer 6

Unconscious strategies that the ego uses to manage the conflict between the ID and superego

Question 7

What are psychosexual stages?

Answer 7

Five developmental stages that all children pass through. At each stage there is a different conflict, the outcome of which determines future development

Question 8

What things are stored within the unconscious?

Answer 8

Biological drives and instincts that have a significant influence on our behaviour and personality

Threatening and disturbing memories that have been repressed or locked away and forgotten

Question 9

How can repressed memories be accessed?

Answer 9

Freudian slips (parapraxes) or during dreams

Question 10

What is contained within the preconscious?

Answer 10

Thoughts and memories which are currently not in conscious awareness but we can access if desired

Question 11

How did Freud describe the structure of personality?

Answer 11

As a tripartite

Question 12

What principle does the ID operate on?

Answer 12

The pleasure principle

Question 13

What is the pleasure principle?

Answer 13

The ID gets what it wants

Question 14

Which part of the personality is present at birth?

Answer 14

ID

Question 15

Which principle does the ego operate on?

Answer 15

Reality principle

Question 16

What age does the ego develop?

Answer 16

Two years

Question 17

When is the superego formed?

Answer 17

At the end of the phallic stage, around the age of five

Question 18

What principle is the superego operated on?

Answer 18

The morality principle

Question 19

Freud claimed that child development occurred in how many stages?

Answer 19

Five

Question 20

What does an unresolved psychosexual conflict lead to?

Answer 20

Fixation

Question 21

What is fixation?

Answer 21

The child becomes ‘stuck’ and carries certain behaviours and conflicts associated with that stage through to adult life

Question 22

What are the five psychosexual stages?

Answer 22

Oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital

Question 23

What is the first psychosexual stage and what ages does it occur?

Answer 23

Oral, 0-1 years

Question 24

What happens in the oral stage?

Answer 24

Focus of pleasure is the mouth, mothers breast is the object of desire

Question 25

What is the consequence of unresolved conflict in the oral stage?

Answer 25

Oral fixation - smoking, biting nails, sarcastic, critical

Question 26

What is the second psychosexual stage and when does it occur?

Answer 26

Anal, 1-3 years

Question 27

What happens in the anal stage?

Answer 27

Focus of pleasure is the anus. Child gains pleasure from withholding and expelling faeces

Question 28

What is the consequence of unresolved conflict in the anal stage?

Answer 28

Anal retentive - perfectionist, obsessive

Anal expulsive - thoughtless, messy

Question 29

What is the third psychosexual stage and when does it occur?

Answer 29

Phallic, 3-6 years

Question 30

What happens in the phallic stage?

Answer 30

Focus of pleasure is the genital area.
Child experiences the Oedipus or electra complex

Question 31

What is the consequence of unresolved conflict in the phallic stage?

Answer 31

Phallic personality - narcissistic, reckless, possibly homosexual

Question 32

What is the fourth psychosexual stage?

Answer 32

Latency

Question 33

What happens in the latency stage?

Answer 33

Earlier conflicts are repressed

Question 34

What is the final psychosexual stage?

Answer 34

Genital

Question 35

What happens in the genital stage?

Answer 35

Sexual desires become conscious alongside the onset of puberty

Question 36

What is the consequence of unresolved conflict in the genital stage?

Answer 36

Difficulty forming homosexual relationships

Question 37

What is repression as a defence mechanism?

Answer 37

Forcing a distressing memory out of the conscious mind

Question 38

What is denial as a defence mechanism?

Answer 38

Refusing to acknowledge some aspect of reality

Question 39

What is displacement as a defence mechanism?

Answer 39

Transferring feelings from true source of distressing emotion onto a substitute target

Question 40

What is one strength of the psychodynamic approach? (Treatment)

Answer 40

Real world application - introduced the idea of psychotherapy. Value in the approach in creating a new approach to treatment

Question 41

What is a limitation of the psychodynamic approach? (Mental disorders)

Answer 41

Psychoanalysis is regarded as inappropriate and even harmful for people experiencing serious mental disorders

Question 42

What is a strength of the psychodynamic approach? (Explanatory power)

Answer 42

Ability to explain human behaviour - positive impact on psychology

Question 43

What is a limitation of the psychodynamic approach? (Untestable)

Answer 43

Much of it is untestable. Popper argued that the approach does not meet the scientific criteria of falsification. Suggests that the theory was pseudoscientific.