Psychodynamic approach

• Who developed the psychodynamic approach?

  Freud
• What are the levels the mind is made of?

  1. Conscious mind- things we are aware of
  2. Preconscious - Anything that could be brought into the conscious mind
  3. Unconscious - Things outside our awareness that are unacceptable or unpleasant
• Explain the structure of the personanlity.

  Tripartite

  • Id - Pleasure principle
  • Ego - Reality principle
  • Superego - Morality principle
• What is the Id?


  Pleasure principle which is present from birth. Unconscious drives and instincts. Id gets what it wants and is selfish and demands instant gratifications of its needs.
• What is the ego?


  Works on the reality principle. Balances the id and superego.

  Role is to reduce conflict between the demands of id and superego which is done by employing defense mechanisms.
• What is the superego?


  Morality principle which is formed at the end of the phallic stage. It is our internalised sense of what is right and wrong.
• What happens when the balance between the structures of personality cannot be achieved?

  Abnormal behaviour, e.g. anxiety disorders which occur from an overdeveloped superego (Conscience).
• What are the 5 psychosexual stages?

  Oral (0-1)

  Anal (1-3)

  Phallic (3-6)

  Latency (6-12)

  Genital (puberty onwards)
• Psychosexual stages:

  Each stage is associated with a particular conflict that must be resolved before advancing to the next stage. The resolution of these conflicts requires the expenditure of sexual energy, and the more energy expended at a particular stage, the more the important characteristics of that stage remain as he/she matures psychologically, which can cause a fixation, e.g., in the oral stage, the fixation is smoking or overeating.
• Oral stage...

  Fixation?

  Pleasure comes from the mouth and sucking (babies who suck their thumb etc).

  Fixation is smoking or overeating.
• Anal stage...

  Fixation?

  Pleasure involves membranes of anal region. Toilet training is the major demand.

  Ego starts to develop - children become aware of demands of others.

  Fixation - Overly messy or fastidious (anally retentive)
• Phallic stage...

  Fixation?

  The primary source of pleasure involves the genitals.

  Oedipus complex - therefore develops castration anxiety, and identifies with the father to resolve this.

  Fixation? Masturbation
• Latency stage...

  Development of other activities means less concentration of the sexual area. Previous conflicts repressed, resulting in little being remembered from childhood.
• Genital stage....

  Primary source of pleasure is now through the pursuit of heterosexual relationships. Fixation and conflict may prevent this with the consequence that sexual peversions may develop.

  Fixations at the oral stage may results in a person gaining sexual pleasure from kissing and oral sex rather than sexual intercourse.
• What is the Oedipus complex?

  It is a child's (male) feelings of desire for their opposite-sex parent and jealousy toward their same-sex parent.
• What happens during the phallic stage in boys according to the Oedipus complex?

  • Develop incestuous feelings towards their mother
  • Hatred towards their father as a rival in love
  • Fear of castration leads to repression of feelings for mother
  • Identification with father, adopting his gender role and moral values
• What do girls experience during the phallic stage?

  Girls experience penis envy, desiring their father and hating their mother.
• What is the Electra complex?

  • Girls desire their father
  • Hatred towards their mother
  • Over time, they give up desire for their father
  • Replace it with a desire for a baby
  • Identify with their mother in the process
• According to Freud how does the ego deal with conflict and problems in life?

  By employing a range of defence mechanisms :

  • Repression
  • Denial
  • Displacement
• What is repression? 


  Traumatic memories are forced into the unconscious so they can no longer cause pain or guilt.
• What is denial? 


  Denial of a event so it cannot cause anxiety.
• What is displacement?


  Redirection of an emotion at an "easier" target.
• What are strengths of the psychodynamic approach?


  • It has explanatory power—it has been used to explain a wide range of behaviours and has drawn attention to the influence of childhood on adult personality.
  • It has practical application in the real world. Psychoanalysis was the first attempt to treat mental disorders psychologically and not physically and it is the forerunner to modern-day "talking therapies". However, it doesn't work on some mental disorders, such as schizophrenia.
• What are the limitations of the psychodynamic approach?


  • There were not many case studies - His interpretations of the case studies were highly subjective, and it is unlikely that another researcher would come to the same conclusions.
  • Not scientific or falsifiable - It cannot be proved or disapproved as the unconscious which makes it unfalsifiable. It cannot be tested which makes the theory a pseudoscience.
  • Based on psychic determination - Theory suggests that free will may has no influence on free will.