Seminar 2 - Critiquing psychoanalytic & humanistic approaches

Question 1

Humanistic theory: general critiques

Answer 1

Through the positive focus is very attractive, theory may be too optimistic about human behaviour
Majority of theories are not supported by evidence, based on assumptions
- hierarchy of needs
Certain constructs hard to define, even by humanists
- self-actualisation

Question 2

Psychodynamic theory: general critiques

Answer 2

Focus on psychiatric patients: not generalisable to the rest of the population
No clear way of refuting aspects of psychodynamic theory: often not testable or falsifiable
Theories often not based in scientific, empirical research

Question 3

Freud: Right vs Wrong

Answer 3

Right:
- unconscious cognitive processes
- talking therapies
- repressed memories
- defence mechanisms
- profound cultural legacy
Wrong:
- psychosexual stages of development
- penis envy/castration anxiety
- Oedipus/Electra complexes

Question 4

Defence mechanisms

Answer 4

Techniques of ego to deal with unwanted thoughts and desires and reduce or avoid anxiety
Repression
- push threatening material out of consciousness
- forceful forgetting
- requires constant expense of energy
Sublimation
- channelling impulses into socially acceptable actions
- usually rewarding
Displacement
- channelling impulses to nonthreatening objects
- displaces impulses do not lead to rewards
Denial
- refusal to accept that certain facts exist
Reaction formation
- acting in a manner opposite to threatening unconscious desires
Projection
- attributing negative thoughts/emotions to someone else

Question 5

Evidence for defence mechanisms

Answer 5

Baumeister, Dale and Sommer (1998)
- found support for many (but not all) defence mechanisms
Some ideas correct, some require minor or major revision, and others have little support

Sublimation: no evidence
Denial: some evidence
- people make more external attributions for failure than success
- people think they are less likely than the average person to suffer misfortunes like career failure or debilitating illness
Reaction formation: good evidence
- Adams, Wright & Bohr (1996) assessed homophobia and showed men videotapes featuring homosexual intercourse
- homophobic men said they were not aroused, but physiological measures showed they were more aroused than others
- these ppt’s subjective response was the opposite of what their bodies actually indicated

Question 6

Issues with Freud

Answer 6

Not a psychologist, a neurologist
Theories not based through research but observation
Sexist, male based
Spent training as medical doctor determining if eels had male reproductive organs
- inconclusive