The Psychodynamic Approach

Question 1

Describe the 4 assumptions of the psychodynamic approach

Answer 1

1. The driving force behind our behaviour is our unconscious mind.
2. Instincts/drives motivate our behaviour.
3. Early childhood experiences determine our personality and adult behaviour.
4. Psychoanalysis should be used to make the unconscious conscious.

Question 2

Discuss the role of the unconscious mind

Answer 2

• Protects the conscious self from anxiety, trauma, conflict etc.
• Stores desires, wishes and memories which the conscious has repressed (eg. traumatic, unacceptable)
  -Repressed thoughts may still motivate behaviour. This also means we may not be always able to understand the real causes of our behaviour.

Question 3

Name the 3 components of the structure of personality

Answer 3

• Id
• Ego
• Superego

Question 4

Define and explain the id

Answer 4

• Pleasure principle
• Active from birth
• Wants instant gratification
• Primitive, selfish and childlike

Question 5

Define and explain the ego

Answer 5

• Reality principle
• Moral
• Present from around 18 months
• Keeps balance of influence between the id and the superego

Question 6

Define and explain the superego

Answer 6

• Morality principle
• Acts as an individuals conscience
• Holds guilt

Question 7

Name the three defence mechanisms

Answer 7

• Denial
• Repression
• Displacement

Question 8

Outline denial and how it affects behaviour

Answer 8

Denial is the refusal to accept the reality of an unpleasant situation.
This affects behaviour by an individual believing a negative situation is positive.

Question 9

Outline repression and how it affects behaviour

Answer 9

Repression is a type of forgetting. The memory still exists but just at an unconscious level.
This affects behaviour by an individual having no recall of the event but still affects behaviour without the person being conscious of it.

Question 10

Outline displacement and how it affects behaviour

Answer 10

Displacement is when a strong emotion is expressed onto a neutral object/person.

Question 11

Evaluate the use of defence mechanisms as a way of explaining human behaviour

Answer 11

+ Explanatory power
- Lacks falsifiability

Question 12

What is the psychodynamic explanation of phobia

Answer 12

Displacement - when unconscious conflict is displaced onto an object.

Question 13

What is psychoanalysis

Answer 13

• The first psychotherapy
• Developed to treat neuroses (milder mental disorders, eg. phobias)
• Aims to make the unconscious conflict conscious to strengthen their ego and help them cope.
• Techniques include: dream interpretation, free association and projective techniques.

Question 14

Evaluate psychoanalysis

Answer 14

• Time consuming and expensive
• Only effective as a placebo
• Limited use, only able to treat neuroses

Question 15

What is the proposed psychosexual stages by Freud

Answer 15

We go through a set of stages of psychological and sexual development. We have a focus on the libido during these (sexual energy)

Question 16

What is the first psychosexual stage and its effect on adult behaviour

Answer 16

Oral
- (0-1yr)
- Focus of libido is the mouth
- Mother’s breast is the object of desire
- Effect on adult behaviour is oral fixation (smoking, nail biting etc)

Question 17

What is the second psychosexual stage and its effect on adult behaviour

Answer 17

Anal
- (1-3yr)
- Focus of libido is the anus
- Child gains pleasure from withholding and expelling faeces
- Effect on adult behaviour is either obsessive and perfectionist OR thoughtless and messy

Question 18

What is the third psychosexual stage and its effect on adult behaviour

Answer 18

Phallic
- (3-5yr)
- Focus of libido is the genitals
- Child experiences either the Oedipal or Electra complex
- Effect on adult behaviour is narcissistic, reckless, and possibly homosexual

Question 19

What is the fourth psychosexual stage

Answer 19

Latency
- (6-12yr)
- Previous conflicts during the phallic stage are repressed

Question 20

What is the fifth psychosexual stage and its effect on adult behaviour

Answer 20

Genital
- (12+)
- Focus of libido is the genitals
- Sexual desires become conscious with the onset of puberty
- Effect on adult behaviour is difficulty forming heterosexual relationships

Question 21

Define and explain gratification and fixation in terms of the psychosexual stages

Answer 21

Gratification: children require specific satisfaction or pleasure during each stage.

Fixation: when a child gets too little or too much gratification during a stage.

At the end of each stage there is an unconscious conflict which needs to be resolved before moving onto the next.

Question 22

What is the Oedipal complex seen in the phallic stage

Answer 22

• Boy begins to gain sexual feelings for his mother.
• Boy becomes jealous of his father and has fears he will castrate him (castration anxiety).
• Boy is in a state of conflict and deals with this by identifying with his father (who becomes his superego).
• The boy substitutes his feelings for his mother with desires for other women.

Question 23

What is the Electra complex seen in the phallic stage

Answer 23

• The girl realises she has no penis and blames her mother. She begins to develop sexual feelings for her father.
• The girl becomes jealous of her mother.
• The girl realises she cannot have her father and cannot have a penis and begins identifying with her mother (who becomes her superego).
• The girl substitutes her desire for a penis with the desire for a baby (preferably a boy) and substitutes her desire for her father with a desire for other men.

Question 24

Evaluate the psychodynamic theory of psychosexual stages

Answer 24

+ Has contributed to society
- Gender biased
- Very difficult to test scientifically
- Based upon case studies not empirical evidence.

Question 25

Describe the case study of Little Hans

Answer 25

- Little Hans developed a phobia of running horses. - This was recorded by his father and analysed by Freud who wrote a 150 page analysis back. - Freud interpreted Hans was in the phallic stage of the psychosexual stages because of his infatuation of the horse having a bigger penis than him. - He also noted that Hans resented his father when he returned from being away and noticeably enjoyed having his mothers presence to himself. - Freud argued this was the Oedipal complex.

Question 26

Evaluate the psychodynamic approach

Answer 26

+ Supported by evidence (Little Hans) + Has made significant contribution to our understanding of psychological disorders and it inspired further research in this area. + Has produced a successful treatment (psychoanalysis) - Not easy to empirically test - Evidence on which Freud based his theory on is unscientific. - Determinist.