psychodynamic approach

• • Freud adopted the use of psychic determinism = This is the ideathat all behaviour is caused by unconscious internal conflicts, overwhich we have no control.
• • There are 3 levels of consciousness: The conscious, preconscious and unconscious.
  • We are only aware of our conscious. Contents of the preconsciousare revealed through parapraxes, slips of the tongue and dreaming.
• Freud viewed the personality as made up of three components i.e. ‘tripartite’. These are the Id, ego and superego.
• id = This is the innate part of the personality, and operates on the pleasure principle. Therefore, the Id constantly demands instant gratification 
• 1. Ego = Formed during the first 3 years of life, and operates on the reality principle. The ego helps to resolve the conflict between the id and the superego through the use of defence mechanisms (repression, denial and displacement).
• 1. Superego = Formed at the end of the phallic stage, and operates on the morality principle. This contains the child’s internalised sense of right and wrong, based upon their same-sex parent.
• the 5 psychosexual stages (in age order):

  oral

  anal

  phallic

  latency

  genital
• • Each psychosexual stage is characterised by a conflict, which must be resolved to pass to the next stage
  • Failure to do so results in ‘fixation’ at that stage, where dysfunctional behaviours associated with that stage are carried forwards to adulthood.
• limitation - Since we are unaware of the unconscious, then it is not possible to objectively and systematically measure it. Therefore, this means that, according to Karl Popper, that the psychodynamic approach does not meet the scientific criterion of falsification, leaving it unfalsifiable and a pseudoscience. 
• defence mechanisms - unconscious strategies the ego uses to manage conflicts between the ID and superego
• 3 defence mechanisms:

  denial - refusing to acknowledge some aspects of reality

  repression - forcing a distressing memory out of your conscious mind

  displacement - transferring feelings of distress onto a target (another person)
• role of the unconscious:

  the unconscious is the driving/motivating force behind our behaviour/personality

  the unconscious protects the conscious self from anxiety/fear/trauma/conflict.
• One strength of the psychodynamic approach is the development of psychotherapy. Freud’s theory led to the development of psychological therapies to treat mental disorders as opposed to drug therapy. Psychoanalysis claims to help clients bring repressed emotions into the unconscious mind to be dealt with. Shows how psychodynamic approach can be used in the real world despite being pseudoscientific
• consequence of fixation in each psychosexual stage:

  oral - oral fixation- smoking and biting nails

  anal - anal retentive -obsessive perfectionist. anal expulsive - messy and thoughtless

  phallic - narcissistic and reckless

  genital - difficulty forming heterosexual relationships