psychodynamic approach

• Freud suggested mind is made up of:

  • conscious = what we are aware of ('tip of the iceberg'), contains part of ego
  • preconscious = thoughts we may become aware of through dreams and 'slips of the tongue', contains ego and some of superego
  • unconscious = a vast storehouse of biological drives and instincts that influence our behaviour, contains superego and id
• tripartite structure of personality

  • Id = primitive part of the personality operates on the pleasure principle - demands instant gratification. present at birth
  • Ego = works on the reality principle - mediator between id and superego (uses defence mechanisms to do this). develops age 1-3
  • Superego = internalised sense of right and wrong - based on morality principle. punishes the ego. develops age 3-5
• psychosexual stages

  • the stages determine adult personality
  • each stage is marked by a different conflict that the child must resolve to move onto the next
  • any conflict that is unresolved leads to fixation where the child becomes 'stuck' and carries behaviours associated with that stage through adult life
• the 5 psychosexual stages:

  • oral (0-1 years) pleasure focus = mouth (mother's breast is object of desire)
  • oral fixations
  • anal (1-3 years) pleasure focus = anus (child gains pleasure from withholding or expelling faeces)
  • anal retention
  • phallic (3-6 years) pleasure focus = genital area
  • vanity/self obsession
  • latency (6-puberty) = earlier conflicts are repressed
  • genital (puberty) = sexual desires become conscious
• oedipus complex

  • a psychosexual conflict at the phallic stage
  • in phallic stage = little boys develop incestuous feelings towards their mother and a murderous hatred for their father
  • later boys repress their feelings towards their mother and identify with their father (taking on his gender role and moral values) - due to a fear that his father would castrate them
• electra complex

  • similar to oedipus = girls during phallic stage desires her father and realises that she doesn't have a penis
  • she then experiences penis envy and blames mother for their 'castrated state' which creates tension
  • but feelings are then repressed to remove tensions and instead of penis envy, she now desires a baby
• defence mechanisms

  • when unconscious conflicts between the Id and Superego cannot be resolved by the ego, they create anxiety
  • to reduce this anxiety, we use defence mechanisms
  • unconscious strategies used by the ego:
  • repression = forcing a distressing memory out of the conscious mind
  • denial = refusing to acknowledge reality
  • displacement = transferring feelings from their true to source onto a substitute target
• strength = it introduced psychotherapy

  • Freud's psychoanalysis was the first attempt to treat mental disorders psychologically rather than physically
  • psychoanalysis claims to help deal with everyday problems by providing access to their unconscious, employing techniques (such as dream techniques)
  • => psychoanalysis is the forerunner to many modern-day 'talking therapy' (eg counselling)
• counterpoint to introducing psychotherapy

  • although psychoanalysis is claimed successful for clients with mild neuroses, it is inappropriate, even harmful, for more serious mental disorders (such as schizophrenia)
  • => freudian therapy (and theory) may not apply to mental disorders where a client has lost touch with reality
• strength = has explanatory power

  • Freud's theory is controversial and often bizarre, but it has had huge influence on Western contemporary thought
  • it has been used to explain a wide range of behaviours (moral, mental disorders) and drew attention to the influence of childhood on adult personality
  • => overall, the psychodynamic approach has had a positive influence on psychology and modern-day thinking
• limitation = approach includes untestable concepts

  • Karl Popper = argued that the psychodynamic approach does not meet the scientific criterion of falsification, in the sense of that it cannot be disproved
  • Many of Frued's concepts (such as the Id or Oedipus complex) occur at an unconscious level making them difficult, if not impossible, to test
  • Freud's ideas lack scientific rigour, the theory is pseudoscience ('fake' science) rather than real science
• extra evaluation = psychic determinism

  • approach suggests that much of our behaviour is determined by unconscious conflicts
  • freud believes there was no such thing as an 'accident'
  • BUT = few psychologists would accept this view as it leaves no room for free will beyond early childhood
  • suggests Freud's view were too extreme as most people do have a sense of control over their behaviour