The Psychodynamic Approach Flashcards
What is the Psychodynamic Approach?
- A perspective that describes the different forces (dynamics), most of which are unconscious, that operate on the mind & direct human behaviour & experience
What did Sigmund Freud suggest?
There are three parts to the mind:
- The conscious mind- what we are aware of, the part of the mind we are using to form conscious thoughts
- The preconscious mind- sits just below the surface of the conscious mind: it is where memories can be retrieved if needed
- The unconscious mind- largest part of the iceberg and sits below the surface, may hold disturbing & threatening memories plus the effects of trauma
How did Freud believe unconscious thoughts could be accessed?
- During dreams
- Or through slips of the tounge
- e.g. ‘ I loathe my husband sm’ rather than ‘I love my husband sm’
What are the 3 structures Freud came up with of personality?
- The Id
- The Ego
- The Superego
- All develop at different points in a person’s life and each is qualitatively distinct from the other
- They are not separate entities: they work together but not necessarily in harmony
What is the Id?
- Present from birth (Freud describes babies as being ‘bundles of id’)
- The id is the primitive part of our personality and operates on the pleasure principle
- It is selfish and demanding, gets what it wants
- It contains unconscious biological drives, instincts and and urges
- The Id is very important in early life to ensure infants survival, is why an infant will cry until its needs are met
What is the Ego?
- Develops around the age 2
- The ego operates on the reality principle, rather like a sensible adult
- It is the mediator between the Id & Superego, having to mediate between them at all times
e.g. ‘I’d like to have that but it may take time to get it & I must accept that it may never happen’
What is the Superego?
- Develops around the age of 5 (end of phallic stage)
- The superego operates on the morality principle *
- It is our internalised sense of right & wrong, it is our conscience
- Represents the moral standards of the same-sex parent
- It punishes the ego through feelings of guilt when it does something wrong and it rewards the ego with feelings of pride when it does something right
- It tries to civilise our behaviour and suppress the unacceptable urges of the Id
- rather like a disapproving teacher or parent e.g. ‘Why would anyone want that? It’s wrong and it means that you are weak to want it’
What did Freud state about a healthy personality?
- For a healthy personality there had to be a balance between the Id, Ego and Superego
However; - If the Id is more dominant, the person can become impulsive & uncontrollable as they are acting on their most basic wants with no concern for consequences
- If the Superego is more dominant, the person can become incredibly moralistic & judgmental, not accepting anything they consider against their moral judgment
What are psychosexual stages?
- According to Freud, children go through 5 psychosexual stages
- They must go through all 5 stages to become well-adjusted adults
- During each stage the child fixates on a different part of the body
- During each stage the child goes through conflict which they must resolve to move through stage successfully
- If they don’t resolve conflict in each stage, can result in adult fixation
What are the 5 Psychosexual Stages?
- Oral
- Anal
- Phallic
- Latency
- Genital
What is the Oral stage?
- Occurs 0-1 years old
- Mouth is focus of pleasure
- Conflict can arise when weaning off bottle or breast
Consequences of unresolved conflict:
Oral Fixation: Smoking, overeating, biting nails etc
What is the Anal stage?
- Occurs 1-3 years old
- Anus is focus of pleasure
- Conflict can arise when toilet training
Consquences of unresolved conflict:
Anal retentive: Neatness, perfectionism
Anal expulsive: Messiness, insensitivity
What is the Phallic stage?
- Occurs 3-6 yrs old
- The genital area is the focus of pleasure
- Conflict can arise & cause the Oedipus or electra complex
Consequences of unresolved conflict:
Vanity,overambition, narcissism
What is the latency stage?
- Earlier conflicts become repressed
(no consequences)
What is the Genital stage?
- Genitals are the focus of pleasure
- Sexual desires become conscious with the onset of puberty
Consequences of unresolved conflict:
Difficulty forming heterosexual relationships
What is the oedipus complex?
- Boys desire closeness with the opposite sex parent i.e. their mother
T- he same-sex parent (the father) is a rival who the boy wants out of the way - Boys fear that their father will castrate them (castration anxiety loss of penis)
- To reduce anxiety boys use defence mechanisms and identify with their father
- This reduces the threat & the boy internalises male characteristics & comes out of the Oedipus complex
What is the electra complex?
- Girls desire closeness with the opposite sex parent i.e. their father
- Girls do not fear their same-sex parent (the mother) as they believe that they have already been castrated; instead they experience penis-envy
- Girls fear losing their mother’s love
- To reduce anxiety the girls identify with their mother
- This reduces the threat and girls internalise female characteristics and come out of the Electra complex
What was the study of Little Hans?
- Freud supported his concept of Oedipus complex with case of little Hans
- Hans was a 5 yr old boy who developed a phobia of horses after seeing one collapse in the street
- Freuds suggested that Hans phobia was displacement in which his repressed fear of his father was transferred (displaced) onto other horses
- Thus, horses were merely a symbolic representation of Han’s real unconscious fear- the fear of castration experienced by the Oedipus complex
What are defence mechanisms?
- Used by the ego to help it balance the conflicting demands of the Id & Superego
These mechanisms are unconscious & ensure the ego is able to prevent us from being overwhelmed by temporary traumas and/or threats
What are the 3 defence mechanisms?
- Repression
- Denial
- Displacement
What is repression?
- Unpleasant memories are pushed down into the unconscious mind and so are unable to cause anxiety
What is denial?
- Refusal to accept the reality of an unpleasant situation, which stops the situation from causing anxiety
e.g. I am sure that my partner loves me even though she frequently stays out all night
What is displacement?
- The focus of a strong emotion is expressed onto a neutral person or object, which reduces anxiety as it allows the expression of that strong emotion
e.g. I shout at my husband because I cannot shout at my boss
Give one strength of the Psychodynamic Approach?
- Real world application
- Freud brought to world a new form of therapy- psychoanalysis
- This was 1st attempt to treat mental disorders psychologically rather than physically
- New therapy employed a range of techniques to help clients by bringing their repressed emotions into their conscious mind so they can be dealt with
Shows value of the psychodynamic approach in creating a new approach to treatment
Give another strength of the Psychodynamic Approach.
- Freud’s theory is controversial but it has had a huge influence on psychology & Western contemporary thought.
For example, the psychodynamic approach remained the dominant force in psychology for the first half of the 20th century to explain a wide range of phenomena such as personality development, abnormal behaviour, moral development & gender. - The approach has also been significant in drawing attention to the connection between experiences in childhood, such as our relationship with our parents, & later development.
Give one limitation of the Psychodynamic Approach.
- Much of the approach is untestable
- Karl Popper argued that the PA does not meet scientific criteria of falsification
- Many of Freuds concepts (such as id & oedipus complex) are said to occur at an unconscious level making them almost impossible to test
- Furthermore his ideas were based on subjective data of single individuals such as little Hans making it difficult to make claims about human behaviour
