Psychodynamic approach

• Freud's theory suggests that we have three levels of consciousness - conscious, preconscious and unconscious
• Assumption 1 of the psychodynamic approach

  The psyche is split into the tripartite (ID, Ego and the Superego)
• Assumption 2 of the psychodynamic approach

  The experiences and individual has especially throughout childhood affects how a personality develops in the future.
• Assumption 3 of the psychodynamic approach

  Unconscious activity plays a large role in an individual’s behaviour.
• preconscious: associated with a part of the mind below the level of immediate conscious awareness, but still accessible to consciousness through dreams. the preconscious includes unfiltered thoughts and feelings which are not repressed in the unconscious.
• unconscious: the inaccessible part of the mind. a storehouse for the biological drive and instincts as well as threatening or disturbing memories that have been repressed.
• conscious: awareness of one's thoughts and feelings.
• the ID (existing from birth) operates solely in the unconscious. it contains the libido, biological drives and demands for immediate gratification. it operates on the pleasure principle.
• the Superego, (developed at 4-5 years old) is divided into the conscience and the ego-ideal. it is the internalisation of societal rules, determining what behaviour is permitted and acceptable. it is responsible for causing guilt, operates on the morality principle.
• The Ego (age 2-4) mediated between the ID and reality. It delays gratifying the ID‘s demands until appropriate. It operates on the reality principle.
• Freud’s theory of psychosexual development states that children pass through five stages of sexual development where they focus on different erogenous zones. The child must successfully resolve conflicts during these stages otherwise fixation occurs. Fixations can lead to personality disorders later in life
• oral stage (age 0 - 1): the infant experiences pleasure when suckling. If this need isn’t met then oral aggression may develop leading to an adult who bites their nails or has a drinking problem.
• anal stage (age 1 - 3): the child gains pleasure by controlling bowel movements. Failure to toilet train leads to anal retentive behaviours such as hoarding money or being overly neat.
• phallic stage (age 3 - 6): the child becomes aware of genitalia and begins to identify themselves as male or female. Oedipus complex – boys become sexually attracted to mother and feel threatened by father. Electra complex – girls become jealous of mothers and want fathers attention. Resolution involves identification with parent of same gender.
• latency period (6 - puberty): no overt sexuality. Children begin to identify more strongly with parents of same gender.
• genital stage (puberty - adulthood): the individual resolves remaining conflicts and focuses on heterosexual relationships.
• phallic stage - age 3-6 years. The genitals become the centre of pleasure. Boys experience castration anxiety when they realise their mother has no penis. This results in Oedipus complex. Girls experience penis envy due to realising she doesn’t have a penis. This results in Electra complex.
• fixation is when a person remains stuck at one stage due to unresolved conflict, resulting in maladaptive behaviour.
• Acronym for psychosexual stages

  Old Age Pensioners Love Guinness
• defence mechanisms are what the ego produces in order to reduce feelings of anxiety experienced due to conflicts between the ID and superego.
• repression: the unconscious mental blocking of unacceptable thoughts, feelings, or impulses. An example of this is an abused child repressing the memory of being abused.
• denial: refusing to accept reality to avoid dealing with negative feelings. For example, someone who has lost their job may deny it by saying ‘I don’t believe that happened’.
• displacement: redirecting emotions from one object onto another. For example, if someone is angry with their boss but can’t express it so instead takes out anger on their partner.
• A strength of the psychodynamic approach: a pioneering approach in understanding behaviour. Psychoanalysis and case studies introduced a new and effective method of research. Freud helped to move psychology away from biology and towards the study of the mind, leading to successful treatments of depression and anxiety through psychotherapy.
• another limitation of the psychodynamic approach: culture bias. it has little relevance to people from non-western civilisations. Some cultures such as in china have a different view on anxiety and depression, avoiding them rather than speaking openly about them. Therefore the study lacks population validity and cannot be generalised to the whole population.
• A strength of the psychodynamic approach is that it can comprehensibly explain human behaviour. This is because it is not only applicable to therapy but for other aspects of behaviour such as in literature (Shakespeare‘s plays having repressed meanings and messages). Therefore the approach provides a new insight into human behaviour from a new perspective.
• Another limitation of the psychodynamic approach is that it is oversimplified. It does not consider biological factors. It focuses solely on psychological explanations without considering how they interact with physiological processes. Therefore it fails to offer a complete explanation of human behaviour and is too simple in its explanation.