Psychodynamic approach

• One of the earliest approaches in psychology, originating in the 19th century.
• Psychodynamic theory states that events in our childhood have a great influence on our adult lives, shaping our personality. Events that occur in childhood can remain in the unconscious and cause problems as adults
• Basic assumptions -

  Freud suggested that the part of the mind we know about and are aware of is made up of the conscious mind- is merely the tip of the iceberg
• Basic assumption-

  Most of our mind is made up of unconscious-a storehouse of biological drives that has a significant influence on personality and behaviour
• Basic assumption-

  The unconscious also contained threatening and disturbing memories that have been repressed or locked away and forgotten

  -Conscious: 'What are you doing right now?

  -Pre conscious: 'What did you have for breakfast'. This is where we can become aware of thoughts and ideas during dreams and slips of tongue. These are called parapraxes

  -Unconscious: 'Do you remember saying your first words'
• Basic assumptions-

  Freud argued that rather than having one integrated whole mind, our psyche is separated into 3 distinct parts, which often work against each other. Have you ever felt like you were being pulled in 2 directions. These 3 parts are ID, ego and superego
• Repression- 


  Forcing a distressed memory out of the conscious mind
• Denial- 


  Refusing to acknowledge some aspect of reality
• Displacement- 


  Transferring feelings from true source of distressing emotion onto a substitute target
• The ID-


  -Primitive biological part of the mind

  -Present in the new born infant and consists of basic biological impulses or drives such as hunger, thirst etc

  -ID is said to work on pleasure principle

  -Freud argued that these drives motivate us to behave in certain ways and humans are motivated to satisfy urges and wishes

  -Urges and wishes put us in a state of arousal and when they are satisfied arousal is reduced

  -Part of the conscious mind
• The Ego-

  -Develops as a child grows

  -Aims to gratify the ID's impulses in line with what is realistically possible by considering the environment its in

  -Works on reality principle

  -Job of defending the unconscious mind against displeasure by using defence mechanisms

  -Part of conscious mind
• The Ego- 


  -Difficulty balancing the conflicting demands of the ID and superego but it is helped out by use of defence mechanisms

  -These are unconscious and ensure that the ego is able to protect and prevent us being overwhelmed by temporary threats and traumas which the ID may impose on us

  -However, they often involve some form of distortion of reality and as a long term solution they are regarded as psychologically unhealthy and undesirable
• The Superego- 


  -Develops last

  -Judges whether actions are right or wrong

  -Effectively a conscience

  -Internalised representation of the values and morals of society

  -Internalised representation of same sex parent

  -Violating the superego's standards or even the impulse to do so causes anxiety

  -This anxiety is largely unconscious but may be experienced as guilt, works on morality principle

  -Part of conscious and unconscious mind
• Psychosexual stages- 


  Freud suggested children go through 5 stages of development. At each age the the libido (sexual energy) focuses on one area

  -Oral

  -Anal

  -Phallic

  -Latency

  -Genital

  If a child receives too much or too little satisfaction at any stage, they can become fixated. This means that as adults they will show ceratin characteristics
• Oral Stage - (0-18 months)


  -Focus of libido is mouth

  -The child is being breast fed and weaned

  -They are passive, receptive and dependent

  -Focus on exploring with their mouths

  -They will pick up and suck objects
• Anal stage- (1-3 years) 


  -Focus of libido is on the anus as this is when potty training takes place.

  -Ego develops as parents impose restrictions

  -Its the first time the child experiences any sort of control (expulsion/ retention of faeces)
• Phallic stage (3-6 years)- 


  -Focus on genitals

  -Curiosity and examination

  -Superego develops through resolution of the Oedipus or Electra complex

  -Identification with same sex parent leads to formation of gender identity
• Phallic stage (3-6 years)- Oedipus 


  -Greek mythical figure who killed his father and married his mother, although he was unaware of the relationships

  -Freud used this myth to explain his idea about the relationship between boys and their parents during the phallic stage

  -Freud explained this sexual focus by showing that genitals were the area for sexual pleasure at phallic stage at this age.

  -Freud concluded that boys had unconscious sexual feelings for their mother
• Phallic stage (3-6 years)- Oedipus

  -Freud's conclusion lead to feelings of guilt and also fear of father, whose place boy wanted to take

  -The fear took the form of castration anxiety.

  -Such as fear and guilt is hard to reconcile so the boy resolves the conflict (the desires of the ID conflicting with the conscience of the superego) by identifying with and becoming his father
• Phallic stage (3-6 years)- Oedipus 


  -Identification is a key concept in this stage, by identifying with his father, the boy takes on the fathers beliefs and values.

  -This identification leads the boy to develop a super ego, also develops his gender identity doing what his father does because he is his father

  -The boy therefore, takes on the masculine behaviour of the father in order to resolve the Oedipus complex
• Phallic stage (3-6 years)- Electra 


  -Girls realise that they don't have a penis, and so start to develop penis envy

  -They know that their father has a penis, and so they develop sexual feelings towards him

  -They start to see their mother as a rival for the father. As the mother also does not posses a penis girl blames mother for her own lack of a penis believing that her mother has castrated her
• Phallic stage (3-6 years)- 


  -Similarly to boys, girls realise they can possess their father by identifying with their mother.

  -However, because penis envy is not a fearful and castration anxiety, the girl doesn't identify with her mother as strongly, and so has a weaker superego

  -According to Freud, females never completely resolve the Oedipus complex, and so are not as moral as boys

  -Girl replaces penis envy with desire for a baby
• Latency stage (7-puberty) -


  -Earlier conflicts are repressed

  -Sexual urges sublimated into sports and other hobbies and a focus on developing same sex friendships

  -No particular requirements for successful completion

  -Lull before the storm of puberty
• Genital stage (puberty onwards) - 


  -Focus on genitals but not same as phallic stage

  -The task is to develop healthy adult relationships; this should happen if earlier stages have been negotiated successfully

  -A consequence of unresolved conflict would be difficulty forming heterosexual relationships
• Little Hans- 


  -Developed a phobia of horses

  -Hans was 5 years old and developed a fear after seeing a horse pulling a carriage, fall over and kick his feet in air. Hans was terrified and thought horse was dead

  -Freud said little hans was experiencing the oedipus complex. He displaced his fears of his father onto horses. Blinkers on the horse reminded him of his father's glasses, and black around horses mouth of his dads beard

  -Horses were merely a symbolic representation of Han's real unconscious fear of castration experienced in Oedipus complex
• Evaluation-


  -However, this approach is very determinist.

  -Freud believed, in relation to human behaviour that there was no such thing as an 'accident'

  -Even something as apparently random as a slip of the tongue is driven by unconscious forces and has a deep symbolic meaning

  -This would imply that humans lack free will and therefore have no control over their own behaviour
• Strength -

  -Although Freud's theory is controversial in many ways it has nevertheless had a huge influence on psychology and Western contemporary thought

  -Alongside behaviourism, this approach has remained a dominant force in Psychology for the first half of 20th century and has been used to explain a wide range of phenomenia including personal development,abnormal behaviour, more development and gender

  -Approach is also significant in drawing attention to connection between experiences in childhood, such as parental relationships and later development
• Weakness-

  -Freud's theory was based on intensive study of single individuals who were often in therapy E.G Little Hans

  -Although Freud's observations were incredibly detailed and carefully recorded, critics have suggested that it is not possible to make universal claims about human nature based on studies of such a small number of individuals who were deemed psychologically abnormal and therefore results are not able to be generalised to wider population
• Strength- 


  -Has useful applications especially in therapy; most therapies are based on based on the ideas put forward by Freud, the idea that we should talk about deep rooted issues in order to resolve them.

  -Many therapists such as Relate marriage guidance counselling are based on the therapies suggested by this approach

  -Lindgren (2010) found psychoanalysis to be very effective with young adults
• Weakness-

  -Argued Freud's theories are untestable and therefore, according to Karl Popper do not meet the criteria to be considered scientific.

  -Many of Freud's concepts such as the ID and Oedipus complex occur at an unconscious level and testing them is almost impossible

  -According to Popper this makes the approach a pseudoscience rather than a real science