The Psychodynamic Approach

Question 1

Who developed the psychodynamic approach?

Answer 1

Sigmund Freud

Question 2

What does this approach assume?

Answer 2

1) Human behaviour has unconscious causes that we are not aware of,
2) From birth, humans have a need to fulfil basic biological motivations - for food, sleep, warmth, etc.,
3) Childhood experiences are a really important influence on the development of adult personality and psychological disorders.

Question 3

What are the three identified levels of consciousness by Freud?

Answer 3

1) Conscious,
2) Preconscious,
3) Unconscious.

Question 4

What is the conscious?

Answer 4

What we are aware of at any given time.

Question 5

What is the preconscious?

Answer 5

Made up of memories that we can recall when we want to.

Question 6

What is the unconscious?

Answer 6

Made up of memories, desires and fears which cause us extreme anxiety and have therefore been ‘repressed’ or forced out of conscious awareness. However, the unconscious still affects behaviour, for example, it causes freudian slips. This part of our mind can be accessed with the help of a psychoanalyst.

Question 7

What does Freud claim are the three parts of the personality?

Answer 7

1) The Id,
2) The Ego,
3) The Superego.

Question 8

What is the Id?

Answer 8

The basic animal part of the personality that contains our innate, aggressive and sexual instincts. Wants to be satisfied by any means possible, obeys the ‘pleasure principle’, accounts for unreasonable behaviour and appears at birth,

Question 9

What is the ego?

Answer 9

Exists in both conscious and unconscious parts of the mind and acts as a rational part known as the ‘reality principle’. Develops within the first three years after birth and balances the id and the superego to keep our behaviour in line,

Question 10

What is the superego?

Answer 10

In both the conscious and unconscious parts of the mind. Is the part of the mind that takes our morals into consideration and is involved in making us feel guilty. Develops around four to five years of age. Includes ideas about how to behave that we adopt from our parents.

Question 11

What are three of the several unconscious defence mechanisms used by the ego to resolve conflict?

Answer 11

1) Repression,
2) Denial,
3) Displacement.

Question 12

What is the repression defence mechanism?

Answer 12

Involves the ego stopping unwanted and possibly painful thoughts from becoming conscious.

Question 13

What is the denial defence mechanism?

Answer 13

Where a threatening event or an unwanted reality is simply ignored and blocked from conscious awareness.

Question 14

What is the displacement defence mechanism?

Answer 14

Happens when a negative impulse is redirected onto something else. This could be another person or an object.

Question 15

What are the five stages of development? what age are they at? what are they characteristics?

Answer 15

1) Oral - 0-18 months - sucking behaviour,
2) Anal - 18 months - 3.5 years - keeping or discarding faeces,
3) Phallic - 3.5 - 6 years - genital fixation, Oedipus and Electra complex,
4) Latent - 6 years - puberty - repressed sexual urges,
5) Genital - puberty- adult - awakened sexual urges.

Question 16

What happens if a child receives too much/ too little pleaure during a stage of development?

Answer 16

• They will become fixated at that stage,
• e.g. during the oral stage, a conflict could occur when being weaned off breast feeding, could result in a fixation in later life, characterised by traits such as nail biting, smoking, or abnormal eating behaviours.

Question 17

Freud (1909), method (Little Hans)

Answer 17

• Carried out a case study of a child called Hans who had a phobia of horses,
• Was observed by his father, who made notes of Hans’ dreams and stuff he said, and passed them onto Freud for analysis.

Question 18

Freud (1909), results

Answer 18

• Hans was afraid of horses because he thought they might bite him or fall on him,
• During the study he developed an interest in his penis,
• His mum told him not to play with it or she’d cut it off,
• Hans told his dad about a dream where he was married to his mum and his dad was now his grandfather.

Question 19

Freud (1909), conclusion

Answer 19

• Freud’s interpretation was that Hans had reached the phallic stage of development and showed evidence of the ‘oedipus complex’,
• Wanted to have an exclusive relationship with his mother and was jealous of his father,
• Hans had sexual feelings for his mother, shown partly by his dream of marrying her,
• The horse symbolised Hans’ father; to him, they both had big penises,
• His fear of horses is an example of displacement, a defence mechanism that protected him from his real fear of his father,
• Hans suffered from castration anxiety; he was afraid that he would be castrated by his father if he found out about his feelings for his mother,
• Symbolised by Hans’ fear that a horse would bite him.

Question 20

Freud (1909), evaluation

Answer 20

• Was a case study; provided lots of detailed data about one subject; results can’t be generalised,
• Findings provided evidence of Freud’s theories,
• Results were based entirely on observation and interpretation,
• Means a cause and effect relationship can’t be established; could be other explanations,
• Before the study Hans had been frightened by a horse falling down in the street; could explain fear of them,
• Freud analysed information from Hans’ father; results could be biased.