psychodynamic approach

• The id is a part of the structure of personality. It operates on the pleasure principle, seeking immediate gratification.
• Freud believed that most of our everyday actions and behaviour are a product of the unconscious mind.
• Repression involves pushing unwanted thoughts or feelings out of consciousness so they cannot be accessed.
• Freuds main ideas are:

  • The role of the unconscious
  • The structure of personality
  • Defence mechanisms
  • Psychosexual stages
• The superego represents society's moral values and acts as an internal conscience
• The ego mediates between the impulsive demands of the id and the reality of the external world.
• The defence mechanism displacement is the transfer of negative feelings onto an unrelated person/object.