THE PSYCHODYNAMIC APPROACH Flashcards
Who proposed the psychodynamic approach
Sigmund Freud
What were Freud’s 2 main beliefs
- Childhood has a large influence on personality, relationships in later life
- There is an unconscious part to our mind which contains inaccessible thoughts/memories
Outline the 3 levels to our mind and give an example of each
- proposed by Freud
- CONSCIOUS LEVEL - contains things that are recognised currently
e.g. thoughts - PRECONSCIOUS LEVEL - contains things that are not being recognised at this time, but can be accessed/recalled
e.g. memories - UNCONSCIOUS LEVEL - things that aren’t being recognised and cannot be recalled
e.g. shameful experiences, violent urges
Outline the 2 unconscious urges that drive us
- identified by Freud
EROS/LIBIDO - life instinct, manifests as sexuality
THANATOS - death instinct, manifests as aggression
What instinct is Eros/libido
What does it manifest as
- life instinct
- sexuality
What instinct is Thanatos
What does it manifest as
Death instinct
Aggression, destructiveness
- what is meant by a Freudian slip
- how could these be shown
- unintentional glimpses into the unconscious mind
- can be shown through dreams
- outline what Freud believed about dreams
- how did he use them in his work
- window to unconscious mind
- analysed his patients dreams to help them
- as he believed that our unconscious can cause problem if not explored
What is “Manifest content”
- Freud
The content that was in dreams
What is “Latent content”
- Freud
What content in a dream represented
Outline a strength of Freuds theory of unconscious
- real-life application
- theory of unconscious can be applied to real life situations through psychotherapy
- dream analysis can be used to discover the roots of psychological distress
- this can help improve the psychological functioning of patients
Outline a limitation of Freud’s theory of unconscious
- real life application
- psychotherapy does not help severe mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia
- these people find it hard to distinguish between reality and illusions
- therefore cannot engage in the therapy
Outline a limitation of Freud’s theory of unconscious
- psychic determinism
- theory is a form of psychic determinism
- theory believes that all behaviour is determined by unconscious processes
- this means it ignores the effects that environmental factors, free will, and biological factors have on behaviour
- this results in the theory being limited, due to its deterministic nature
State the parts if the Tripartite model of personality
- ID
- Superego
- Ego
Outline the role of the “id”
- conscious
- born with it
- instinctive
- selfish part, wants to please itself
Outline the role of the superego + how it forms
- morality principle, strives for perfection
- develops last at age 3-5
- learned through identification with same-sex parent
Outline the role of the ego
- conscious + rational
- develops at 18 months
- mediates between id and superego to make balanced decisions
What is meant by “ego-strength”
How well the ego copes with the 2 forces (id and superego)
What effect will an imbalanced “id” have on a personality
- reckless
- selfish
- impulsive
What effect will an imbalances “superego” have on a personality
- perfectionist
- guilt/shame
- suppression of emotions to remain moral
Outline a strength of the psychodynamic approach
- impact on psychology of a discipline
- has had a positive impact on discipline of psychology, arts, literature
- allows for deep understanding of human behaviour, personality, disorders
- highlights our childhood experiences
Outline a limitation of the psychodynamic approach
- untestable
- it can be argued that it does not meet scientific criteri
- concepts revolve around unconscious mind, which cannot be falsified
- this means they cannot be empirically tested
- this means that the approach could be pseudoscientific
