The Psychodynamic approach Flashcards
wo found the psychodynamic approach
Freud
what`s Freud’s main theory
that our unconscious is bigger than our conscious, it influences our bahviour more that biology or environment
people are born with very basic needs and instincts
Freud and childhood
the childhood memories are important, becasue this period is when you form your sense of self
events from childhood become unconscious and then influence the behaviour
conscious is
in Freud’s oppinion
the part of ourselves that we know about and have access to
e.g. thoughts
pre-conscious
in Freud’s oppinion
ideas and thought we can become aware of through are dreams = slips of toungue
unconscious
in Freud’s oppinion
mental procceses that are inacceptable to conscious, we are notaware of them, but they influence feelings, thoughts, behaviour, motives and decisions
structure of personality
ID
EGO
SUPEREGO
about ID
- operates solely
- pleasure principle
- contains libido, reproductive instincts
- demands immidiate gratification
about Superego
has to parts
1. conscious
* internalisation of socila rules
* if rules are broken = feeling of guilt
* develops after sociolozation
2. ego-ideal
* what a person strives for
* the model is usually influenced by parents standards
conflicts with ID
Ego
- balances out the demands of Id and the Superego
- Reality Principle
- if no balance between the two = abnormal bahviour
what is a Defence Mechanism
when we are placed in the situation we are not able to cope with rationally - our defense mechanism is triggered
it is unconscious
it reduces anxiety
first type of Defence mechanism
repression - we repress traumatic event, we push them into uncoscious, preventing ourselves form feeling guilt or pain or stress
second Defence Mechanism
desplacment - unconscious redirection of your emotion onto an ‘easier’ neutral object
third defence mechanism
denial - not accepting that something has happend or happening, so it doesn’t cause anxiety
‘a drug addict will deny his addiction, say he’s got it under control’
list psychosexual development stages
(5 of them)
- Oral
- Anal
- Phalic
- Latnecy
- Gentile
1st stage of Psychosexual development
ORAL
0-2y
mouths and toungue is the primary sourse of pleasure
if can’t meat the demand of the stage: nail biting, smoking, sarcastic manners
2nd stage of Psychosexual development
ANAL
2-3y
ego develops, child becomes aware of demnds of other people around,
main demand of that stage - toilet training, learning to control bodily waste
if can’t meat the demand of the stage: obssesive, thoughtless personality
3rd stage of Psychosexual
PHALIC
3-6y
chil goes through Oedipus complex - in boys its sexual desire for moms; they start to compete with dad in a holistic way, but then gain Castration anxiety and startd identifying with their dad and feelings towards mom become more and more repressed
if can’t meat the demand of the stage: homosexual, narcissists,
4th stage of Psychosexual development
LATENCY
6-12y
development of other activities happen, means less consentration on sexual areas,
previous conflict is repressed so much that it resolves in very little to non recall from childhood
5th stage of psychosexual development
Gential
puberty and older
the primary sourse is in persuit of heterosexual relationships
if can’t meat the demand of the stage:can have difficulty forming heterosexual relationships id stages before weren’t complete
strength
eval 1 top
issues and debates
the strength of the Psychodynamic approach is that it considers both nature and nurture
strength
eval 1 point
issues
for example the side of nature is when Freud states that we all have an innate drive to sex and aggression
we also go through the same psychosexual stages. meaning its nature drive and innate tendency to do so
however, he also supports the nurture argument, as we have Ego and Superego which interract with environment. Superego is overall the influence of environment on us, as it demands to mmet the expectation and requests of environemnt (other ppl)
and the repression as a defence mechanism - also happens because of the experience which comes from environment
strength
eval 1 top
comparing to other approaches, they often consider just one side
biological - nature
slt - nurture
eval 2 top
scientific
researchers argued that this approach utilises untestable not scientific methods
eval 2 point
scientific m
Karl Popper argued the the whole approach is build on the circlular argument that has no emiprical testing ad therefore cant be disproved.
this approach doesnt meet the criteria for falsification
for example concept like Oedipus concept happens not at the conscious level, making this pseudoscience
eval 2 tail
scientific m
nevertheless, Fisher and Greenberg: suuport the excistance of unconscious motivation in human behaviour and the defence mechanism addsscientificcredibility to psychoanalytic explanation of human behaviour
eval 3 top
issues - weakness
freud’s view on females and female sexuality were less developed than his view on males
eval 3 point
issues - weakness
despite the fact that Frued’s theory was based on sexuality, he decided not to take into account females and concentrate on man
causing Androcentrism and beta bias
this lead psychoanalytics like Karen Horney, to criticise it and judge for ignoring development of women and how it might vary form men
eval 3 tail
issues - weakness
dismissing women and their sexuality completley from the theory has a negative impact - not only because Frued treated females (not studyin them before), but also because his theory is still influential today
eval 4 top
issues - weakness 2
sue and sue argueed that this approach doent have the same value in the non-western culture
causing cultural bias
eval 4 point
issues - weakness 2
because Freu studied just one country - he created beta bias in culture - assuming all are the same
while, according to that theory if uncinscious causes snxiaty and stress and leads to depession, in western culture we prefer to solve it though supportive theraputic environemnt and talking
however, in places like China - they dont like and wouldn’t talk about the issue if they depression, they avoid thoughts that cause distress.
eval 4 tail
issues - weakness 2
this contrasts with western believe about open discussion and therapy, but also adds to the cultural bias of psychodynamic approach and limits very strongly its apllcation
