Psychodynamic Approach

• Main assumptions

  • Developed by Sigmund Freud​
  • The unconscious is the driving force for all behaviour​
  • Early childhood experiences are responsible for who we are as adults​
  • Sexual instinct from birth​
  • Accessing the unconscious is the only way to resolve issues (typically via dream analysis)
• Most of our mind is made up of the unconscious. ​

  The unconscious contains our biological drives & instincts and influences our behaviour and personality
• The part of our mind that we’re consciously aware of is the tip of the iceberg
• The preconscious is an area of our mind that contains thoughts and ideas which we may become aware of.​

  Freudian slips
• The ID​

  • Pleasure principle​
  • Entirely unconscious​
  • Present at birth​
  • Selfish & demanding​
  • Libido – sexual energy​
  • Instant gratification​
  • Fights with the Superego
• The EGO

  ​

  • Reality principle​
  • Mediator between ID and Superego​
  • Develops around 2years​
  • Employs defence mechanisms​
  • Conscious and unconscious​
  • Reduces intra-psychic conflict​
  • Delayed gratification (ego strength)​
• The SUPEREGO​

  • Moral principle​
  • Mostly unconscious​
  • Develops around 5 years​
  • Entirely selfless​
  • Child internalises morals of same sex parent​
  • Fights with the ID​
  • Causes feelings of guilt
• If within the psyche, the ego fails to balance the demands of the ID and the SUPEREGO, conflicts may arise and this can result in the development of certain personality types
• If within the psyche, the ego fails to balance the demands of the ID and the SUPEREGO, conflicts may arise and this can result in the development of certain personality types
• If the SUPEREGO is not kept in check by the EGO – then a person deprives themselves of any sort of desires (even socially accepted ones).​

  Can result in anxious behaviour, for example Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
• The ego can use defence mechanisms in a few different situations​

  1. When there is difficulty balancing the demands of the ID and the Superego​
  2. When an individual is going through a threatening or traumatic time
• Repression

  Forcing a distressing memory into the unconscious mind to protect the conscious self from trauma (when someone is unable to process the event/emotions) 
• Denial

  Refusing to acknowledge some aspect of reality in order to protect emotional security
• Displacement

  Transferring feelings from the true source of the distressing emotion onto a substitute target in order to achieve catharsis
• Freud believed that children goes through a series of stages where the instinctive energy of the ID looks for gratification from different areas of the body – erogenous zones. If a child is under or over gratified at any stage the child may become ‘fixated’ (leave some psychic energy at that stage) and this could affect their adult behaviour
• Oral stage

  • Birth to 18 months​
  • Pleasure from mouth (via eating and drinking)
• Anal stage

  • 18 months to 3 years​
  • Pleasure from anus (via withholding or expelling faeces)
• Phallic stage

  • 18 months to 4/5 years, pleasure from the genitals​
  • Gender differences are noticed – child relates to same sex parent
• Latency stage

  • 6 years to adolescence​
  • Sexual drives lay dormant
• Genital stage

  • Adolescence​
  • Sexual urges reawaken, interest turns to relationships
• The Oedipal complex refers to boys having feelings towards their mother and wanting to replace their father as her partner. This leads to castration anxiety which makes them identify with their father.
• Electra complex refers to girls feeling jealousy towards their mothers and wishing they were dead so they could take their place as their fathers' partners. They then develop penis envy because they feel inferior due to not being male.
• Oral fixation examples include smoking and nail biting
• Anal fixation examples include anal expulsive which is messiness and retentive which is obsessive
• Phallic personality leads to narcissism and recklessness
• Much of Freud’s theory is unscientific (untestable)

  • For example – As his explanation of human behaviour is untestable, it does not meet the criteria for ‘falsification’. It is therefore closed off to empirical testing and unable to be disproved, as many of Freud’s concepts occur at an unconscious level (ID, Oedipus complex) making them impossible to test scientifically. Freud’s evidence comes from case studies with subjective data.​
  • TIALB – it suggests that as we cannot test his theory, it could be labelled as a pseudoscience
• Evidence to support.

  • For example – Little Hans, phobia of horses, underwent psychoanalysis for treatment. Freud determined that a fear of his father has been displaced onto horses, a more acceptable target – seen in similarities between the 2 (e.g. blinkers = glasses, bridle = beard)​
  • TIASB – the case study highlights both the psychodynamic theory of displacement and the Oedipus conflict & subsequent resolution (when Hans began to identify with his Father & internalise his views the horse phobia disappeared).