The psychodynamic approach

• What are the principles of the psychodynamic approach?

  • Behaviour is governed by our unconscious mind
  • Childhood experiences effect our later life
  • Our personality is structured in a way that there are constant conflicts happening
  • We employ defence mechanisms
  • We go through psychosexual stages, which will affect our later behaviour if there is conflict
• What are the 3 parts of the mind are used in this approach?

  • Unconscious mind
  • Subconscious mind
  • Conscious mind
• What does unconscious mind do?

  Stores biological drives and instincts that have significant influence on behaviour (30-40% of our mind)
• What does the subconscious mind do?

  Thoughts and ideas which we may become aware of during dreams (50-60% of our mind)

  • 2 ways of assessing the subconscious mind: dream analysis and the Rorschach/inkblot test
• What does the conscious mind do?

  Behaviour we are aware of and think about (10% of our mind)
• What are the 3 aspects of the personality that can be described as tripartite?

  • Id
  • Ego
  • Superego
• What is Id?


  Id: devil (from birth)

  • Operates on the pleasure principle and consists of unconscious drives and instincts
  • Demands instant gratification
• What is Ego?


  Ego: mediator (from age 2)

  • Operates on the reality principle and is the mediator between the id and the superego
  • Reduces conflict by using defence mechanisms
• What is Superego?


  Superego: angel (from age 5)

  • Operates on the morality principle (what is right and wrong)
  • Mirrors the moral standards of the person’s same-sex parent
• The Superego is divided into 2, what are they?

  • Ego-ideal: What a person strives towards
  • Conscience: Determines what behaviours are acceptable and causes feelings of guilt
• What are Defence Mechanisms?

  They are unconscious strategies that protect our conscious mind from anxiety.
• What are the 3 types of defence mechanisms?

  • Denial
  • Repression
  • Displacement
• What is Denial?

  Refusal to accept reality

  • The person acts as if the traumatic event has not happened.
  • (e.g., an alcoholic will often deny they have a drinking problem even after being arrested multiple times for being drunk and disorderly).
• What is Repression?

  The unconscious blocking of unacceptable thoughts and impulses

  • Rather than staying quiet in the unconscious, these repressed thought and impulses continues to influence behaviour without the individual being aware.
  • (e.g., a child who is abused by a parent may have no recollection of these events, but has trouble forming relationships)
• What is Displacement?

  The redirecting of thoughts and feelings (usually hostile) in certain situations

  • Instead, they may take it out on an innocent object or victim.
• What is Psychosexual stages?

  Freud believed that personality developed through a sequence of 5 stages.

  • Emphasises the most important driving force in development is the need to express sexual energy-libido
• What are the 5 psychosexual stages?

  • Oral
  • Anal
  • Phallic
  • Latent
  • Genital
• What is the Oral stage?

  Age: 0-2 years

  The mouth is the focal point of sensation and is the way a child expresses early sexual energy.

  • (e.g., through sucking and biting)
• What is the Anal stage?

  Age: 2-3 years

  The beginnings of ego development, as the child becomes aware if the demands if reality and the need to conform to the demands of others.

  The major issue at this stage is potty training as a child learns to control the expulsion of bodily waste.
• What is the Phallic stage?

  Age: 3-6 years

  Sexual energy is now focused on the genitals.

  Major conflict of this stage is oedius complex- where the male child unconsciously wishes to possess their mother and get rid of their father.

  As a result of this desire, boys experience castration anxiety (punishment from father) and in an attempt to resolve this problem, the child identifies with their father.
• What is the Latent stage?

  Age: 6-12 years

  The child develops a mastery of the world around them. During this stage, the conflicts and issues of the previous stages are repressed with the consequence that children are unable to remember much of their early years.
• What is the Genital stage?

  Age: 12+ years

  The culmination of psychosexual development and the fixing of sexual energy in the genitals. This eventually directs us towards sexual intercourse and the beginnings of adult life.
• What is a limitation of the psychodynamic approach?

  Not-falsifiable

  • Freud ideas were able to prove the it was wrong.
  • There is no way to observe any of his constructs (all of the conscious mind)
  • You aren't able to observe repressed memories.
• What is another limitation of the psychodynamic approach?

  Practical application

  • Psychoanalysis - where therapists tries to unlock repressed memories, and deal with them in a therapeutic environment.
  • Dream therapy - where they can interpret dreams.
• What is a strength of the psychodynamic approach?

  Case studies

  Case studies are idiographic methods - generates rich qualitative data.

  • e.g., Little Hans, he gained a phobia of horses due to him being jealous of his father. So he displaced those feelings onto horses, which is how he developed that phobia.
• What is another limitation of the psychodynamic approach?

  Gender bias

  • Freud ignored the role of women
  • He also ignored women's sexuality

  This is called androcentric