The psychodynamic approach

• The role of the unconscious

  Freud suggested that the part of our mind that we know about and are aware of, the conscious mind, is merely the 'tip of the iceberg':

  • Most of our mind is made up of the unconscious - a vast storehouse of biological drives and instincts that influence our behaviour and personality
  • The preconscious contains thoughts and memories which are not currently in conscious awareness but we can access if desired
• The Oedipus complex


  In the phallic stage, Freud claimed that little boys develop incestuous feelings towards their mothers their mother and a murderous hatred for their rival in love - their father. Fearing that their father will castrate them, boys repress their feelings for their mother and identify with their father, taking on his gender role and moral values.
• The Electra complex


  Freud suggested that girls from 3-6 experience penis envy: they desire their father - as the penis is the primary love object - and hate their mother. Although Freud was less clear on the process in girls, they area thought to give up the desire for their father over time and replace this with a desire for a baby.