Psychodynamic Approach

• The ID is the primitive part of our personality. Operates on the pleasure principle- the ID gets what it wants. Throughout the life the ID is entirely selfish and demands instant gratification of its needs.
• The Ego works on the reality principle and is the mediator between the other two parts of the personality. The Ego develops around the age of two years and its role is to reduce the conflict between the demands of the ID and Superego.
• The Superego is our internalised sense of right and wrong. The moralistic part of our personality which represents the ideal-self and how we ought to be.
• Defence mechanisms are unconscious strategies that the Ego uses to manage the conflict between the Id and Superego.
• The psychosexual stages are five developmental stages that all children pass through. At each stage, there is a different conflict, the outcome of which determines future development.
• The unconscious contains threatening and disturbing memories that have been repressed, or locked away and forgotten. These can be accessed during dreams.
• Just bubbling under the surface of our conscious mind is the preconscious which contains thoughts and memories which are not currently in conscious awareness but we can access if desired.
• Real-world application:

  One strength of the psychodynamic approach is that it introduced the idea of psychotherapy. Psychoanalysis is the forerunner to many modern-day 'talking therapies' such as counselling. This shows the value of the psychodynamic approach in creating a new approach to treatment.
• Real-world application:

  A limitation is that psychoanalysis is regarded as inappropriate, even harmful, for people experiencing more serious mental disorders (such as schizophrenia). This suggests that Freudian therapy (and theory) may not apply to all mental disorders.
• Explanatory power:

  A strength of Freud's theory is its ability to explain human behaviour. The approach remained a key force in psychology and has been used to explain a wide range of phenomena including personality development, gender identity etc. It is also significant in drawing attention to the connection between experiences in childhood, such as our relationship with out parents, and our later development. This suggests that the approach has had a positive impact on psychology- and also on literature, art and other human endeavours.
• Untestable concepts:

  A limitation is that much of it is untestable. Many of Freud's concepts are said to occur at an unconscious level, making them difficult, if not impossible, to test. Furthermore, his ideas were based on the subjective study of single individuals, such as Little Hans, which makes it difficult to make universal claims about human behaviour. This suggests that Freud's theory was pseudoscientific (not a real science) rather than established fact.