EVALUATION - psychodynamic approach Flashcards
what is meant by having explanatory power ?
the ability to explain human behaviour
explanatory power
the psychodynamic approach remained a key force in psychology for the first half of the 20th century and has been used to explain a wide range of phenomena including personality development, abnormal behaviour, moral development and gender identity
- also significant in drawing attention to the connection between experiences in childhood such as our relationships with our parents and our later development
use of case study method
unscientific method
- he only met the boy once in a therapeutic setting and the info was forwarded by his father so source may be biased
- cannot generalise to the whole of humanity as it only happened in 2 person
concepts within the psychodynamic approach are untestable
- does not meet the scientific criterion of falsification and it is not open t empirical testing ( and the possibility of being disproved )
- many concepts are explained by using the unconscious which makes them difficult if not impossible to test
- ideas were based on the subjective study of single individuals such as little Hans which makes it difficult to make universal claims about human behaviour
- pseudoscientific
real world application
- introduced the idea of psychotherapy
- brought to the world psychoanalysis
- employed a range of technique’s designed to access the unconscious such as dream analysis
- bring patients repressed emotions into their conscious mind so they can be dealt with
- psychoanalysis is the forerunner to modern day talking therapies such as counselling
why is psychoanalysis so significant ?
it was a first attempt at to treat mental disorders psychologically rather than physically
psychic determinism
Freud believed there was no such thing as an ‘accident’
- even something random as a ‘ slip of the tongue’ is driven by the unconscious forces and has deeper meaning
