approaches: psychodynamic approach Flashcards

Question

outline the latency stage

Answer 1

(6-12 years) Earlier conflicts are repressed no consequence

Answer 2

**(12 years +)** **Sexual desires become conscious** alongside the onset of **puberty** consequence if unresolved: **Difficulty forming heterosexual relationships**

Answer 3

In the **phallic stage**, **little boys develop feelings towards their mother and a hatred towards their father who is their rival.** * Fearing that the father will castrate them, boys repress their feelings for their mother and **identify with their father, taking on his gender roles and moral values**. This is called internalisation. * This **forms their superego.**

Answer 4

Little Hans supports the concept of the Oedipus complex. This was a case study of a **5 year old boy who developed a phobia of horses** after seeing one collapse in the streets. Freud suggested that Hans’ phobia was a **form of displacement in which his repressed fear of his father was displaced onto horses**. Thus horses were a **symbolic representation of Hans real unconscious fear: the fear of castration** experienced during the Oedipus complex

Answer 5

In the phallic stage, **girls experience penis envy:** they desire their father and hate their mother. Girls are thought to give up their desire for their father over time and replace this with the desire for a baby and **identify with their mother whereby they take on their mothers norms and values**. This is called identification.

Answer 6

One weakness of this approach is that it is unscientific This **theory proposes concepts such as the Oedipus complex and the unconscious part of our mind** > such concepts cannot be observed or measured WEAKNESS of the theory because it is **not open to empirical testing** as we cannot test such concepts. This means the psychodynamic approach **does not meet the criteria of falsification** and so is not a scientific discipline. > it is psuedoscientific

Answer 7

A weakness of this approach is that it uses subjective methods. This approach uses **case studies** such as Little Hans Case studies are an intense study of a single individual. This will provide detailed qualitative data. However, because such methods only look at one unique individual **you cannot generalise the findings** to the entire population, Another issue is that such methods are **subjective, as the information gained is open to interpretation.** So different researchers will get different results. WEAKNESS as research from case studies lacks relevance as it does not apply to the general population

Answer 8

The psychodynamic approach takes a very **negative stance on the human condition** For instance, it r**ejects the notion of free will arguing it is an illusion**, taking a **hard deterministic approach**. He believed that humans were slaves to their past and claimed that **all humans exists somewhere between ‘common unhappiness and absolute despair’.** : By ignoring free will, it can be suggested that Freud offers an **incomplete explanation of human behaviour** WEAKNESS of the approach when put into context of the other approaches in psychology such as the humanistic approach that see’s humans as positive, free to work towards their potential and in control of their lives (free will)

Answer 9

A strength of the psychodynamic approach is that it has introduced the idea of **psychotherapy** Psychoanalysis was the first attempt to treat mental disorders psychologically rather than physically. The aim was to **access the unconscious part of the mind, bringing up repressed emotions so they can be dealt with.** An example is **dream therapy.** Freud believed that the content of dreams is related to wish fulfilment and suggested that dreams have two types of content: manifest content and latent content. The manifest content is the actual literal subject matter of the dream while the latent content is the underlying meaning of these symbols. The **therapists job is to reveal the latent dream.** STRENGTH as **psychoanalysis is the forerunner to many modern day ‘talking therapies’** such as counselling. This shows the value of the psychodynamic approach in creating new treatment COUNTER: Such treatment may not be appropriate and even harmful for people with serious mental illness such as schizophrenia. As symptoms involve paranoid and delusional thinking, suggesting they lost their grip on reality and cannot articulate their thoughts in the way required by psychoanalysis. **This suggests his therapy may not be useful for all.**

approaches: psychodynamic approach Flashcards

(33 cards)