Psychodynamic Flashcards
(28 cards)
An assumption of the psychodynamic approach? What did Freud think?
The main assumption of the psychodynamic approach is that all behavior can be explained in terms of the inner conflicts of the mind. Freud highlights the role of the unconscious mind, the structure of personality, and the influence that childhood experiences have on later life. Freud believed that the unconscious mind determines most of our behavior and that we are motivated by unconscious emotional drives.
What does Freud consider the human personality to be made up of? What are these called?
According to Freud, our personality is composed of three parts (tripartite). These parts are the Id, Ego, and Superego.
What is the Id like?
Id: it is the biological part (instincts and drives) of the personality. It is present at birth. The Id is motivated by the pleasure principle; it demands instant gratification of its needs.
What is the Ego like?
Ego: develops from 1 - 3 years. It is motivated by the reality principle. It mediates the conflicts between the Id and superego. It uses defence mechanisms to achieve this.
What is the Superego like?
Superego: develops from 3 - 5 years. It is motivated by the morality principle. It punishes the ego with guilt for “wrongdoing”.
What is necessary for a person to be mentally healthy? What happens if this goes wrong?
To be mentally healthy the ego has to be able to balance the demands of the ego and the superego. If the superego is dominant, the individual might develop a neurosis e.g. depression. If the Id is dominant, the individual might develop a psychosis e.g. schizophrenia.
Three other ways in which the mind can be divided according to the psychodynamic approach?
Can be divided into the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious.
What is the conscious like?
The conscious: this is the part we are aware of and can access without any effort. It contains part of the ego.
What is the preconscious like?
The preconscious: this is a part of the mind that we cannot access without effort. It contains the ego and some of the superego.
What is the unconscious like?
The unconscious: this part of the mind cannot be accessed without the help of a trained psychoanalyst. It contains the superego and the Id. When unconscious conflicts between the Id and the superego cannot be resolved by the ego they create anxiety. To reduce this anxiety we use defense mechanisms such as repression.
Three defence mechanisms that the ego can use?
Repression, displacement, and denial.
What is repression used for?
Repression: Is used by the ego to keep disturbing memories out of the conscious mind and in the unconscious mind where they cannot be accessed, e.g. sexual or aggressive urges or painful childhood memories.
What is displacement?
Displacement: An impulse may be redirected from its original target onto a more acceptable one, e.g. being angry with your father and shouting at your little sister.
What is denial?
Denial: the existence of unpleasant internal or external realities is denied and kept out of conscious awareness, e.g. having lost your job and yet you go to work every day.
What are the five stages of psychosexual development?
Oral, anal, phallic, latent, genital.
At what age does the oral stage occur? Source of pleasure? Outcome?
Oral (0-1 year) Mouth – sucking, swallowing etc. If forceful feeding, deprivation or early weaning occur then fixation could lead to oral activities (e.g. smoking), dependency, and aggression.
At what age does the anal stage occur? Source of pleasure? Outcome?
Anal (1-3 years) The anus – withholding or expelling faeces. If toilet training is too harsh or too lax then fixation could lead to obsessiveness, tidiness, meanness; or to untidiness and generosity.
At what age does the phallic stage occur? Source of pleasure? Outcome?
Phallic (3-5 years) The penis or clitoris – masturbation. If abnormal family set-up leading to unusual relationship with mother/father then fixation could lead to vanity, self-obsession, sexual anxiety, inadequacy, inferiority, envy.
At what age does the latent stage occur? What happens at this stage?
Latent (5-puberty) Sexual drives are repressed. Fixation does not happen in this stage.
At what age does the genital stage occur? Source of pleasure? Outcome?
Genital (puberty-death) The genitals. The adult derives pleasure from masturbation and sexual intercourse. Fixation at this stage should occur in a mentally healthy adult.
Two applications of the psychodynamic approach? A notable thing about the latter?
The psychodynamic approach has given rise to one of the first “talking cure,” psychoanalysis, on which many psychological therapies are now based. Psychoanalysis is rarely used now in its original form but it is still used in a shorter version in some cases. This approach can be used to explain mental disorders such as depression and schizophrenia although these explanations are rarely used by mainstream psychology. One of the very influential concepts put forward by Freud is the lasting importance of childhood on later life and development.
Seven weaknesses of the psychodynamic approach?
The concepts of Id, ego, and superego are very abstract and difficult to test experimentally so evidence is obtained from case studies (Little Hans and Anna O). However, the sample used in these case studies is mainly Austrian so lacks population validity. These case studies used mainly unstructured interviews so yielded qualitative data. The need for interpretation of the material gathered means that it is biased on the part of the researchers as they tend to interpret the data in a way that supports their theory. Furthermore, the fact that two different researchers can reach completely different interpretations of the same case suggests that the methods lack objectivity. The theory is not falsifiable as if people behave in the way predicted by the theory it is viewed as support, if they don’t it is argued that they are using defence mechanisms. The individual is not seen as responsible for their disorders however as the conflicts which lead to the disorder are unconscious there is nothing they can do about it without an analyst, they are disempowered. It cannot explain the biological symptoms observed in some disorders such as enlarged ventricles in schizophrenics. The psychodynamic approach is determinist as it rejects the idea of free will. A person’s behavior is determined by their unconscious motives which are shaped by their biological drives and their early experiences.
Three strengths of the psychodynamic approach?
It has given rise to one of the first ‘talking cures’, psychoanalysis, on which many psychological therapies are now based. Psychoanalysis is rarely used now in its original form but it is still used in a shorter version in some cases. It could be argued that Freud was the first person to highlight the importance of childhood in mental health and this is an idea extensively used today. It recognises the influence of social and cultural factors as it proposes that we are driven by innate, biological instincts (nature) but that the way they are expressed is shaped by our social environment (nurture).
Where does the psychodynamic approach stand in terms of freewill and determinism? Why?
It is strongly determinist as it views our behavior as caused entirely by unconscious factors over which we have no control.
