Psychodynamic approach Flashcards
(24 cards)
What are the basic assumptions of the Psychodynamic approach
- force behind our behaviour is the unconscious mids
- instincts/drives that motivate our behaviour are present from birth
- early childhood experiences determine our personality
- psychoanalysis should be used to make the unconscious conscious
what is the unconscious mind?
The driving/motivating force behind our behaviour
The parts of the mind that is not accessible to the individual and holds thoughts that won’t easily surface. Traumatic memories also remain here and drive our behaviour
What is the conscious mind?
The part of our mind we can access
Protect the conscious self from anxiety/conflict
what is the preconscious mind?
Things we could be aware of if we wanted to or tried
What was Freuds most important assumption?
The primary driving falls in a persons mental life is the sexual instinct
what is the Id?
Born with Id
Contains all primitive urges sexual/aggressive. It demands
instant gratification of its desires.
The childlike selfish and hedonistic part of your personality
- Birth to 18 months
What is the ego?
Keeps a balance of influence between the ID and the super ego able to deliver the id’s drive for pleasure
- 18 months to 3 years
what is the super ego?
Develops during the Phallic Stage
A moral guardian and demands will be all the balls
Acts an individual conscience opposite of the id as it feels guilt and hold someone back from behaving in a certain way
- 3 to 6 years
What are defence mechanisms?
Everyday methods we unconsciously used to reduce anxiety
What leads to anxiety?
Unconscious conflict between the ID and the super ego
- Ego will try to use a defence mechanism to defend itself from
anxiety
What is repression?
A type of forgetting where are painful/disturbing memory is pushed into the unconscious mind where it isn’t accessible
The memory that exists for the persons amount of the anxiety that causes
What effects on behaviour does repression have?
No recall of the event/situation but the repressed memory still affects behaviour without the person being consciously aware of it
What is denial?
Refusal to accept the reality of an unpleasant situation
What effects and behaviour does denial have?
so maple leaf that a negative situation is positive and it their port shouldn’t cause anxiety
This this is a resistance to accept reality
What is displacement?
when the focus of a strong emotion is expressed on a neutral person/object
what effects does displacement have on behaviour?
Someone may exhibit strong emotion but focusing onto an uninvolved person/object
What is a strength of defence mechanisms
explanatory power
What is a limitation of defence mechanisms
lacks testability/falsifiability
Evaluate lack of falsifiability as a strength of defence mechanisms as an explanation of behaviour
- lack testability/falsifiability
- Define mechanisms are unconscious processes that can’t be study directly and can only be interfered from behaviour or from reported thoughts or experiences which are open to interpretation bias
-Limitation because this means that hypothesis to study them cannot be tested so scientific evidence for them can’t be gained
- therefore there can be no scientific evidence that defence mechanisms are a valid explanation of behaviour
Evaluate explanatory power as a strength of defence mechanisms as an explanation of behaviour
- they have some explanatory power
- Because some people can use them to understand their experiences since many can appreciate the idea of denial repression and displacement
- Strength because it enables people to understand their own behaviour therefore if device mechanisms are a valuable contribution to explain in behaviour
What is psychoanalysis?
A treatment for mental disorders and phobias
It aims to make the unconscious conflict conscious to strengthen the ego and help people cope more effectively
What happens in classical psychoanalysis?
therapist and patient build a therapeutic relationship. Therapist lets patient talk and do not judge them. They sit behind the patient.
What techniques are used in psychoanalysis?
dream interpretation
Free Association
Projective techniques
what is an example of free association?
analyst read a list of words to the patient and they say the first word that comes to mind
The patient’s response has not had time to be censored by the ego so they express unconscious urges.
a pause is a sign of ego censoring the response indicating an important threat to the ego.
