Psychodynamic approach

• ID


  Present from birth

  Operates on the unconscious mind alone

  Operates on the pleasure principle

  Demands gratification

  Irrational and selfish part of the personality
• Ego


  Develops at 2 years old

  Conscious and unconscious mind

  Operates on the reality principle

  Awareness of the realities of the external world

  Rational part of the personality

  Mediates between ID and superego
• Superego


  Develops between 3-6 years

  Conscious and unconscious mind

  Operates on the morality principle

  Internalised sense of right and wrong

  Passed onto us from our same - sex parent

  Represents moral standards
• Defence mechanisms - denial


  Refusing to acknowledge some aspect of reality to avoid having to deal with the painful feelings
• Defence mechanisms - displacement 


  Redirecting thoughts or feelings from the true source of distress onto a different target
• Defence mechanisms - repression


  Forcing a distressing memory out of the conscious mind into the unconscious mind.

  Repressed thoughts influence behaviour even though the individual isn't aware.
• Defence mechanisms


  Conflicts between the ID and superego at an unconscious level

  Defence mechanisms reduce anxiety by distorting reality
• Psychosexual stages


  Oral

  Anal

  Phallic

  Latency

  Genital
• Oral stage


  0-1 years

  Focus of pleasure: mouth - child gains pleasure from suckling

  Conflict: weaning from liquid to solid food - difficulties lead to oral fixation.

  If this is not resolved:

  • smoking
  • sarcasm
  • overeating + drinking
  • biting nails
• Anal stage


  1-3 years

  Focus of pleasure: anus - gains pleasure withholding and expelling faeces

  Conflict: potty training - difficulties can lead to anal fixation

  Early or harsh potty training can lead to anal retentive traits:

  • perfectionist/obsessive

  Late or liberal potty training can lead to anal expulsive behaviours:

  • messy/disorganised
• Strength


  Development of the psychodynamic approach represented a huge shift in psychological thinking.

  Alongside behaviourism, this approach remained the dominant force in psychology for the first half of the 20th century.

  It has been used to explain things like: personality development and development of psychological disorders.

  It has been significant in drawing attention to the connection between childhood experiences and later behaviour.

  This suggests that the psychodynamic approach has had a significant influence on Psychology.
• Weakness


  Karl Popper argued that the psychodynamic approach doesn't meet the scientific criteria of falsification.

  Many of Freud's concepts, like defence mechanisms, are said to occur at an unconscious level making them hard to test and disprove.

  Therefore this affords psychodynamic theory the status of pseudoscience (fake science) rather than an established fact.
• Weakness


  Deterministic - much of our behaviour is determined by unconscious conflicts rooted in childhood. Freud believed that there was no such thing as an accident. Even something as random as a slip of the tongue is driven by unconscious forces and has a deep meaning.

  This is seen as an extreme view as is dismisses any possible influence of free will on behaviour.
• Phallic stage


  3-5 years

  Focus of pleasure: genital area

  Conflict: development of feelings for the opposite sex parent and hatred for same sex parent.

  Failure to resolve: phallic personality - homosexuality, reckless, narcissistic
• Latency


  5-12 years

  Conflicts of previous stages are repressed

  Sexual urges sublimated into sports - focus on developing same - sex friendships
• Genital


  12+ years

  Sexual urges become conscious

  Onset of puberty