AO1

• Assumptions:

  • The main assumption of the psychodynamic approach is that all behavior can be explained in terms of the inner conflicts of the mind.
  • Freud highlights the role of the unconscious mind, the structure of personality and the influence that childhood experiences have on later life.
  • Freud believed that the unconscious mind determines most of our behavior and that we are motivated by unconscious emotional drives.
• Tripartite Personality- According to Freud our personality is composed of three parts (tripartite)

  • Id
  • Ego
  • Superego
• Id: it is the biological part (instincts and drives) of the personality. It is present at birth. The Id is motivated by the pleasure principle; it demands instant gratification of its needs.
• Ego: develops from 1 - 3 years. It is motivated by the reality principle. It mediates the conflicts between the ID and superego. It uses defence mechanisms to achieve this.
• Superego: develops from 3 - 5 years. It is motivated by the morality principle. It punishes the ego with guilt for “wrong doing”.
• To be mentally healthy the ego has to be able to balance the demands of the id and the superego. If the superego is dominant, the individual might develop a neurosis e.g. depression. If the I is dominant, the individual might develop a psychosis e.g. schizophrenia.
• Defense Mechanisms

  • Repression
  • Displacement
  • Denial
• Repression: Is used by the ego to keep disturbing memories out of the conscious mind and in the unconscious mind where they cannot be accessed, e.g. sexual or aggressive urges or painful childhood memories.
• Displacement: An impulse may be redirected from its original target onto a more acceptable one, e.g. being angry with your father and shouting at your little sister.
• Denial: the existence of unpleasant internal or external realities is denied and kept out of conscious awareness, e.g. having lost your job and yet you go to work every day.
• Psychosexual Stages of Development

  • Oral (0-1 year)
  • Anal (1-3 years)
  • Phallic (3-5 years)
  • Latent (5-puberty)
  • Genital (puberty-death)
• Psychosexual Stages of Development

  Oral (0-1 year) Mouth – sucking, swallowing etc. If forceful feeding, deprivation or early weaning occur then fixation could lead to oral activities (e.g. smoking), dependency, and aggression.
• Psychosexual Stages of Development

  • Anal (1-3 years) The anus – withholding or expelling faeces. If toilet training is too harsh or too lax then fixation could lead to obsessiveness, tidiness, meanness; or to untidiness and generosity.
• Psychosexual Stages of Development

  Phallic (3-5 years) The penis or clitoris – masturbatio if abnormal family set-up leading to unusual relationship with mother/father then fixation could lead to Vanity, self-obsession, sexual anxiety , inadequacy, inferiority, envy,
• Psychosexual Stages of Development

  • Latent (5-puberty) Sexual drives are repressed. Fixation does not happen in this stage.
• Psychosexual Stages of Development

  Genital (puberty-death) The genitals. The adult derives pleasure from masturbation and sexual intercourse. Fixation at this stage should occur in a mentally healthy adult.