psychodynamic approach Flashcards
(2 cards)
1
Q
what are the strengths of the psychodynamic approach?
A
- ability to explain a range of human behaviours
- Freud’s ideas may be controversial and quite abstract but nevertheless had a huge influence on psychology
- the approach has been used to explain a wide range of phenomena like personality development, psychological disorders and gender identity
- also significant in drawing attention to the connection between experiences in childhood like our relationships with our parents and our later development
- led to development for a therapy to treat anxiety disorders laying the foundation for psychotherapy in modern psychiatry
- from the basis of bringing repressed emotions to the conscious mind to be dealt with
- inspired modern talking therapies like counselling showing the value of the psychodynamic approach in creating a new approach to treatment
- ability to explain a range of human behaviours
2
Q
what are the weaknesses of the psychodynamic approach?
A
- not testable as concepts such as the unconscious are not easy to operationalise and open to empirical testing
- Karl Popper said the approach does not meet the scientific criterion of falsification - cannot be disproved
- shows that it lacks scientific rigour due to retrospective nature of psychoanalysis
- makes it impossible to test therefore the approach can be determined as subjective
- key concepts are not directly observable and have to be inferred from indirect things like dream analysis
- lacks generalisability due to lack of evidence and reliance of case studies like Hans
