Psychodynamic approach

• What are the assumptions of the psychodynamic approach?


  • Focuses on unconscious mind as it explains behaviour
  • Conscious mind is the tip of the iceberg
  • Most of the mind is unconscious and this contains biological drives and instincts
• What is the mind made up of?

  1. Conscious mind
  2. Preconscious mind - thoughts and ideas we might become aware of via dreams + slips of tongue
  3. Unconscious mind
• What is the purpose of psychoanalysis?


  To reach the unconscious mind
• What are the 4 techniques to glimpse the unconscious?


  • 'Freudian Slips'
  • Dream analysis
  • Ink blot tests
  • Free association - talk about anything and everything and see what comes up
• What are the components of personality and what do they mean?

  • Id - the pleasure-driven, completely selfish part of the psyche and is innate
  • Superego - the moral part of the psyche, developed through socialisation between ages 3-5
  • Ego - The conscious, rational part of the psyche, regulating id and superego between ages 1-3
• What is it called when each component of the personality is balanced?

  Dynamic equilibrium
• Who developed the psychosexual stages?

  Sigmund Freud
• What are psychosexual stages?

  1. Oral
  2. Anal
  3. Phallic
  4. Latency
  5. Genital

  Marked by different conflicts that, if unresolved, result in a fixation associated to that stage in adulthood
• When is the oral stage and what is it?


  0-18 months

  Mouth is the pleasure centre
• What is the anal stage and when does it occur?


  18-36 months

  Pleasure derived from withholding/expelling faeces
• What is the phallic stage and when does it occur?

  3-6 years

  • Focus on the genitals
  • Parent of the opposite sex becomes object of affection:
  • Males develop Oedipus complex
  • Females develop Elektra complex - penis envy
• What is latency?


  Repression of earlier conflicts
• What is the genital stage and when does it occur?


  Alongside the onset of puberty - adolescence

  Sexual desires become conscious
• How can someone become fixated?


  At any stage, a fixation can occur when there is severe problems or too much pleasure.
• What is regression with an example?


  During times of anxiety, individuals may display behaviours that gave comfort at an earlier stage.

  Example - smoking = oral stage
• What is a fixation at any stage an indication of?

  
  

  abnormal behaviour
• What is the conflict Freud was most concerned about and what can it lead to?


  Oedipal conflict at phallic stage - most likely to develop neurosis
• What is the purpose of defence mechanisms?


  Helps ego balance id and superego
• What are the 6 categories of defence mechanisms?


  • Regression
  • Denial
  • Displacement
  • Projection
  • Regression
  • Sublimation
• What is repression?


  Pushing unacceptable and threatening thoughts from the conscious mind to the unconscious mind
• What is denial?


  Refusing to believe/admit certain emotions and things are happening
• What is displacement?


  Redirecting emotional response from threatening person or object to something/someone safer
• What are the strengths of the psychodynamic approach and psychoanalysis?


  • Explanatory power - Huge influence, dominant figure in psychology, and draws attention between childhood and adulthood
  • Developed new form of therapy - psychoanalysis
• What are the weaknesses of the psychodynamic approach?


  • Case study - cannot be applied to everyone
  • Untestable concepts - there could be falsification and not open to the empirical testing
  • Psychoanalysis has proved to be inappropriate for some - psychologists could implant memories
  • Psychic determinism - explains all behaviour, even accidents