psychodynamic approach Flashcards
unconscious, structure of personality, psychosexual stages, defence mechanisms (21 cards)
who proposed the psychodynamic approach?
Sigmund Freud
what is the majority of our mind made up of?
the unconscious
what is contained in our unconscious?
instincts, desires and fears that have all been repressed
how do we access our unconscious?
through dreams and parapraxes
the only time our unconscious is accessible, even though it constantly impacts behaviour
define the conscious mind
it contains current thoughts
define the preconscious mind
it contains thoughts and memories which can be accessed
what is Freud’s theory for the structure of personality
the tripartite personality
made up of three components
define Id
we have our Id from birth
it acts on the pleasure principal so demands gratification of selfish wants and needs
define Ego
develops by the age of 2
operates on the reality principal so compromises with the Id and Superego to reach a decision
via defence mechanisms
define Superego
developed by the age of 5
based on the morality principal so acts as our sense of right and wrong
it punishes the Ego for making wrong decisions through guilt
define psychosexual stages
unconscious stages of development marked by conflict that must be resolved to move successfully to the next stage
what happens as a result of unresolved conflict in a psychosexual stage?
a fixation is developed
the consequential behaviours caused by the unresolved conflict will be carried forward into adulthood
name the psychosexual stages
oral
anal
phallic
latency
genital
what is the purpose of defence mechanisms?
to stop us feeling overwhelmed in the short term
they are not so useful for the long term
give the three defence mechanisms
denial - refusing to accept and acknowledge an aspect of reality
displacement - transferring feelings of distress onto a substitute target
repression - forcing a memory out of your consciousness
psychodynamic approach AO3 - strength 1
research support, Little Hans study
Oedipus complex and castration fear, manifested in a fear of horses
ecological validity due to case study
psychodynamic approach AO3 - CA 1
idiographic case study
cannot be generalised to a wider population
Freud did the research himself, supporting his own theory
lacking objectivity
psychodynamic approach AO3 - strength 2
development of treatments
talking therapies, such as psychoanalysis
uncovering unconscious thoughts
still relevant as it is used in modern psychology
psychodynamic approach AO3 - CA 2
talking therapies are only effective when treating mild neuroses
not applicable to everyone, especially those with little grip on reality and so cannot articulate their thoughts properly
psychodynamic approach AO3 - weakness 1
psychic determinism, lack of free will
everything we do is predetermined by our unconscious mind
negative impact on mental health
psychodynamic approach AO3 - CA 3
still useful as we can prevent damaging behaviour
ensuring there is no unresolved conflict during the psychosexual stages
e.g smoking as an oral fixation due to unresolved conflict in the oral stage
