Psychodynamic Approach

• Assumptions


  - Freud suggested our mind has both conscious and unconscious areas. most unconscious areas that motivate our behaviour.

  - childhood is a critical period of development since early development is seen to drive behaviour and feelings in later life.

  - personality is composed of 3 parts -> constant conflict with each other.

  - personality develops in stages shaped as innate drives which are modified by different conflict at different times in childhood during psychosexual development.
• Role of the Unconscious

  Iceberg analogy describes the part of our mind that we are aware of as the 'tip of the iceberg' (conscious mind). whilst the much larger part (unconscious mind) is hidden underwater.

  - unconscious mind -> a vast storehouse of biological drives and instincts that has a significant influence on our behaviour and personality. also contains threatening and disturbing memories -> been repressed.

  Freudian slips - e.g. calling a female teacher 'mum' instead of 'miss
• Tripartite Personality


  id, ego, superego
• ID


  - known as pleasure principle.

  - primitive part of personality

  - operates solely in unconscious and present at birth.

  - contains libido -> a person's sexual drive and instincts.

  - throughout life -> entirely selfish and demands instant gratification.
• Ego


  - known as reality principle

  - conscious + rational part

  - develops around 2.

  - mediator between impulsive demands of ID and Super-ego -> manages this by employing defence mechanisms.
• Super-ego


  - known as mortality principle

  - represents the ideal self: how ought to be.

  - last part to develop - around age 5.

  - internalised sense of right and wrong..

  - represents moral standards of child's same - sex parent and punishes the ego for wrong - doing through guilt
• Psychosexual Stages of Development

  Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency and Genital
• Oral


  birth - 1 1/2 years

  focus of pleasure is the mouth (mother's breast is object of desire).

  fixation - Freud believed that this could manifest as smoking or nail biting.
• Anal


  1 1/2 - 3 years

  focus of libido - anus as child learns to respond to demands of society (e.g. bladder and bowel control)

  major conflict - potty training

  fixation - anal retentive (overly clean) and anal repulsive (overly messy)
• Phallic


  3-6 years

  child starts to notice gender.

  erogenous zones become genitals according to Freud, unconscious sexual desires for opposite sex parent start to develop.

  fixation - linked to narcissism, recklessness + homosexuality.
• Latency


  6yrs - puberty

  earlier conflicts are temporary repressed.
• Genital


  puberty onwards

  sexual desire emerges alongside puberty.

  individual becomes interested in dating

  + marriage.

  if a person has progressed through the other stage successfully, they should be well balanced.

  fixation - feelings of inadequacy, poor sexual relations, anxious feelings of opposite sex.
• Oedipus and Electra Complex

  Oedipus

  - Freud - phallic stage of development.

  boys begins to desire his mother - wants her complete attention.

  sees his father as a rival, experiences jealousy of his mother's desire for father and wishes he was dead.

  boy looks for ways to be similar to the father and employs defence mechanism identification.

  Electra

  - phallic stage

  beings to admire and desire her father - can't be like him.

  penis envy - resolved by girl repressing her desire for her father and substituting the wish for a penis with a baby.

  feelings are repressed - girl identifies with her mother and internalises gender identity
• Defence Mechanisms


  unconscious strategies ensuring the ego is able to prevent us from being overwhelmed by temporary threats or traumas
• Repression


  involves putting unpleasant thoughts into unconsciousness. this prevents unacceptable desires, motivations or emotions becoming conscious.
• Projection


  involves blaming someone else, when people's own faults or wishes are attributed to someone else.
• Denial


  individual refuses to accept reality so to avoid having to deal with any painful feelings that may be associated with event.

  person acts as if the traumatic event hadn't happened.
• DIsplacement


  involves transferring or re-directing thoughts and feelings in situations where the person feels unable to express them in presence of person they should be directed towards.

  'take it out' on a helpless victim/object.
• Regression


  involves behaving in childish ways
• Weakness - Unscientific


  Karl Popper, argued this approach doesn't meet the scientific criterion of falsification.

  concepts are subjective so difficult to test scientifically.

  not possible to scientifically study concepts such as unconscious mind or tripartite personality - concepts are abstract and can't be operationalised or made easily measurable.

  - lacks validity and reliability as it's unfalsifiable.
• Weakness - Gender Biased


  alpha bias

  over-emphasised differences between male and female behaviour, focuses on explaining the behaviour of males e.g. Oedipus complex.

  concept of penis envy suggests male superiority.

  argued Freud exaggerated gender differences, possibly reinforcing the idea women were second-class citizens.

  - dismissing women is problematic.
• Weakness - Psychic Determinism


  unconscious thoughts and feelings caused entirely by unconscious factors over which we have no control.

  these can transfer to the conscious mind in the form of Freudian slips - Freud believed these provided an insight into unconscious mind and every behaviour was determined by unconscious conflicts.

  - approach contradicts the idea we have free will and doesn't hold individuals responsible for their behaviour.
• Weakness - Limited empirical support


  criticised for being idiographic.

  Freud's concept of Oedipus complex was largely detailed from study of a single case.

  meaningful bias can't be made without further examples, so no adequate baseline to compare behaviour.

  conclusions often rely on subjective interpretation of researcher so open to generalisations.

  - low in population validity as nature of examining unique cases.
• Strength - Influence of Approach


  Freud's theory is controversial in several ways - nevertheless had a huge impact on Psychology.

  first demonstrate the potential of psychological, rather than biological treatments for disorders such as depression and anxiety.

  used to explain a wide range of phenomena including personality development, abnormal behaviour moral development and gender identity.

  - important in drawing attention to connection between experiences in childhood such as our relationship with our parents, and later development.