the psychodynamic approach Flashcards
freud adopted the use of physic determinism this is the idea that
all behaviour is caused by unconscious internal conflicts over which we have no control
there are 3 levels of consciousness
the conscious
preconcious
unconscious
we are only aware of our conscious , contents of the precocious are revealed through
parapraxes slips of the tongue and dreaming
therefore since we are completely unaware of our unconscious , inferences of it working can be made through
the psychoanalysis and psychotherapy
the unconscious stores our biological drives and instincts ie hunger and sex , as well as
upsetting and disturbing thoughts repressed from the conscious
freud viewed the personality made up of three components a tripartite
these are the
id
ego
superego
the id is the
innate part of the personality and operates on the pleasure principles
the id constantly demands instant gratification and so is in conflict with the superego
the ego is
formed during the first 3 years of life and operates on the reality principle
the ego helps to resolve the conflict between the id and the superego through the use of defence mechanisms
the strength of the unconscious depend upon how the efficiently the ego resolves this conflict
what are the defence mechanisms in the id
represison
denial
displacement
the superego is
formed at the end of the phallic stage and operates on the morality principle
this contains the Childs internalised sense of right and wrong , based upon their same sex parent
the superego is in conflict with the id
Freud adopted a nomothetic approach by suggesting that there are a series of developmental stages through which
all children progress , and in the same order
each stage is characterised by a conflict which must be
resolved to pass to the next stage apart from latency
failure to resolve conflict results in fixation at that stage where
dysfunctional behaviours associated with that stage are carried towards adulthood
the ideas of the opedius/electra complexes were developed on the basis of case studies conducted on
little Hans where freud suggested that little Hans phobia of horses stemmed from a fear towards his father due to having sexual desires for his mother
little Hans case study is an example of idiographic approach to research but with a
nomethetic application
oral
age 0-1
focus mouth/tongue/lips
fixation smoking/overeating
weaning off breast feeding/formula
anal
age 1-3
focus anus
fixation orderliness/messiness
toilet training
phallic
age 3-6
focus genitals
fixation deviancy/sexual dysfunction
resolving oepedius/electra complex
latency
age 6-12
no focus
no fixation
develops defence mechanisms
genital
age 12+
focus genitals
fixation none if all stages successful
reaching full sexual maturity
a weakness is the unconscious concepts , since we are unaware of the unconscious , then it is not possible to objectively and sytematically measure it , therefore this means that according to Karl popper
that the psychodynamic approach does not meet the scientific criterion of falsification , leaving it unfalsifiable and a pseudoscience. this does little to improve the scientific credibility of psychology and indeed has left many with an inaccurate view of psychology and a scientific discipline
another weakness is the use of an ideographic approach / case studies , many of Freuds theories most notably the oedipus/electra complexes were based on data from individual case studies and interviews , there are several problems with this
- participants are usually of a specific psychological interest making findings hard to be generalised, lack ecological validity
- qualitative data is collected , meaning the researcher draws their own subjective conclusions , particularly the case if the researcher wants to match the aim , so results in researcher bias
therefore Freuds data and theories suffer from limited applications and generalisability
another weakness is psychic determinism , freud suggested that all behaviour is the product of unconscious, internal conflicts over which we have no control , this means that every action even accidental slips of the tongue have some sort of meaning and can give us insights into the unconscious , however thus adds to the
subjectivity of interpretations of these meanings and therefore is not in line with the scientific methods of investigating behaviour.
this is all in contrast to the hard determinism approach used by behaviourism , reciprocal determinism used by SLT , soft determinism in the cognitive approach , and biological determinism in the biological approach.
another strength is practical applications , psychotherapy and pscyhoanalysis are both rooted in the psychodynamic approach and still have found modern uses , for example kohlenberg et al 2002 found that
FECT / functional analytic cognitive therapy produced a greater focus on the client therapist relationship and is a promising approach for improving outcomes and interpersonal functioning
it also appears that a focus during sessions on clients problematic cognitions about the therapist adds to the efficacy
therefore Freuds psychodynamic approach has made a long lasting contribution towards treatment of various mental disorders such as depression
