The Psychodynamic Approach - Evaluation Flashcards
One strength of the psychodynamic approach is that it is an interactionist explanation of behaviour…
E - this means that it takes into account the importance of both nature (innate factors) and nurture (social factors) in explaining behaviour and states that they both play a part
E - for example, personality is shaped during the psychosexual stages of development by innate biological instincts. This means the Id’s libido (nature), but the libido is satisfied via interactions with our parents (nurture)
C - taking an interactionist approach is important because it shows how the psychodynamic approach recognises the complexity of the causes of human behaviour
One weakness of the psychodynamic approach is that it is unscientific…
E - this is because many of the concepts central to the approach are subjective and therefore impossible to test scientifically
E - for example, Freud emphasised the importance of the unconscious mind as a main cause of behaviour, but this cannot be directly accessed. This means that it is impossible to gather any evidence to support the concept of the unconscious mind
C - this is a problem because the lack of scientific evidence makes the approach appear less credible
A strength of the psychodynamic approach is that it can be used as a form of therapy…
E - the goal of therapy is to unlock the unconscious mind to release repressed trauma into the conscious mind to be processed and be dealt with
E - For example, dream analysis in therapy is used to uncover the latent content of a dream by examining the manifest content. The therapist will shed light onto the latent content of the dream by “undoing” the dreamwork processes that made the dream. By bringing issues into the conscious mind, they can be dealt with and unconscious conflicts can be resolved, meaning abnormalities can be cured.
C - This is important because it shows how the psychodynamic approach can be used to improve people’s lives
A weakness of the psychodynamic approach is that it is deterministic…
E - determinism means that all behaviour has a cause beyond the control of the individual. Therefore, humans are unable to choose how to behave, so do not have free will
E - for example, it is thought that criminal behaviours are caused by a dominant Id, which is out of our control since it is in the inaccessible unconscious mind. The Id controls all our behaviour so we cannot control it
C - This is important because it shows how criminals have no control of their behaviour, meaning they are lacking accountability for their actions
Overall…
the psychodynamic approach has it’s pros and cons but the weaknesses outweigh the strengths. Since there is no scientific evidence to back up the approach, it is difficult to prove that it is a valid, credible way or explaining behaviour. The unconscious mind cannot be accessed at all, so there is no way of collecting any evidence.
