Psychodynamic

• The Psychodynamic approach 


  Freud’s theory was originally developed in the 1800s, first translated into English in the 1920s. It is one of the most influential theories in modern Western society, particularly in relation to propaganda and marketing.
• Psychodynamicists:


  • Bowlby (monotropic and maternal deprivation) 
  • Freud (Oedipus etc…) 
  • Adorno (F scale)
• Key elements:


  • The role of the unconscious 
  • The structure of personality that is ID, Ego & Superego 
  • Defence mechanisms including repression, denial and displacement 
  • Psychosexual stages
• Assumption of the Psychodynamic approach:


  • This approach states that unconscious forces in our mind, determine our thoughts, feelings and behaviour (the term dynamic refers to the ongoing movement of these forces)
  • Our behaviour as adults is strongly influenced by our childhood experiences
  • Abnormal behaviour is the result of mental conflict 
  • The mind can be divided into three levels of consciousness, which can be illustrated by the iceberg analogy. The unconscious mind, which is hidden below the surface, has the most influence on our personality
• Freudian slip


  saying the opposite of what you mean
• The role of the unconscious 


  • Freud claimed 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 has a significant influence on our behaviour and personality 
  • The unconscious also contains threatening and disturbing memories that have been repressed or locked away and forgotten
• The structure of the personality:

  ID, Ego and Superego
• ID


  Selfish, hedonistic (self-indulgent), seeks pleasure no matter what the cost, gets what it wants no matter what

  • Primitive part of our personality
  • Operates on the pleasure principle (gets what it wants)
  • It is a mass of unconscious drives, instincts and repressed memories
  • Only part of your mind which is present at birth
• EGO


  Considerate, rational, realistic, good sense of right and wrong. Mediates between the other two, straddles the conscious and unconscious

  • Develops around the age of two years
  • Works on the reality principle and is the mediator between the other two parts of the personality
  • Makes the person aware of other people’s feelings and that it can't always have its own way
  • Its role is to reduce the conflict between the demand of the ID & the SUPEREGO
  • It manages this by employing a number of defence mechanisms
• Superego


  Uptight, follows parents rules rigidly, worries constantly & wants to be in control, socialisation

  • Formed around the age of 5
  • It is our internalised sense of right & wrong → based on the morality principle
  • Represents the moral standards of the child’s same sex parent and develops at the Phallic stage of psychosexual development
  • Punishes the ego for wrongdoing (through guilt)
• Defence mechanisms

  • The constant disagreements between the ID, the EGO and the SUPEREGO can lead to a lot of anxiety
  • So the mind develops various methods of defending itself (denial, shutting down)
  • E.g. You want that bar of chocolate but you know you're meant to be on a diet → you feel guilty of you have it but unsatisfied if you don't
• Repression


  Forcing a distressing memory out of the conscious mind
• Denial


  Refusing to acknowledge an aspect of reality
• Displacement:

  transferring feelings from true source of distressing emotion onto a substitute target
• Displacement

  transferring feelings from true source of distressing emotion onto a substitute target
• Psychosexual stages:


  • Freud believed that children are born with a libido → a sexual (pleasure) urge
  • There are a number of stages of childhood, during which the child seeks pleasure from a different object
  • To be psychologically healthy, we must successfully complete each stage 
  • Mental abnormality can occur if a stage is not completed successfully → the person becomes ‘fixated’
  • Fetishes: objects become sexually desirable
• The Oral stage


  1. 0-1 years approximately 
  2. The mouth is the main focus of pleasure during this stage 
  3. The child enjoys tasting and sucking 
  4. The mother’s breast is the object of desire 
  5. Successful completion of this stage is demonstrated by weaning → eating independently 
  6. Consequences of unresolved conflict: 
  7. Oral fixation
  8. Sarcastic, critical, sensitive to rejection
  9. Overeats and drinks, bite nails, suck their thumb, may smoke 
• The Anal stage

  1. 1 year to 3 years
  2. Defecation is main source of pleasure 
  3. Successful completion marked by potty training 
  4. Consequence of unresolved conflict:
  5. Anally retentive: very tidy, stubborn, likes order and being in control, perfectionist, obsessive 

  Anally expulsive: Thoughtless, messy, impulsive 
• The Phallic stage 


  1. Around age 3-5 years 
  2. Forms of pleasure is the genital area
  3. Once this stage has been resolved, they take on the values of the same sex parent and the Superego is developed 
  4. Consequences of unresolved conflict
  5. Phallic personality: narcissistic, reckless
  6. Possibly criminal
• The Latency stage


  1. Age 6 to puberty approximately 
  2. Earlier conflicts are repressed
  3. Sexual urges sublimated into sports and other hobbies
  4. Focus on developing same sex friendships
  5. No particular requirements for successful completion
  6. Lull before the storm of puberty
• The Genital stage


  1. Puberty into adulthood 
  2. Focus on genitals but not to same extent as the phallic stage 
  3. Task is to develop healthy adult relationships
  4. This should happen if the earlier stages have been negotiated successfully 
  5. Consequences of unresolved conflict 
  6. Difficulty forming heterosexual relationships
• Oedipus complex 


  Boy wants his mother as his ‘primary love object’ & wants his father out of the way, fear that the father will castrate them so they relinquish the sexual desire towards their mother in fear
• Electra complex


  Girls experience penis envy; they desire their father, as the penis is the primary love object and hate their mother → Freud believed that women are weaker than men as they don’t have a penis
• Case Study: Little Hans 


  • Freud believed that the case study of little hans supported his theory of psychosexual stages and the Oedipus complex in particular 
  • Pg 121 
• Evaluation: Strength

  Real world application

  • Strength 
  • Introduced the idea of psychotherapy (as opposed to physical treatment)
  • Freud introduce a new form of therapy known as psychoanalysis 
  • Designed to access the unconscious (such as dream analysis)
  • Help clients to bring repressed emotions into the conscious mind
  • This method is the ‘forerunner’ to many modern day talking therapies (e.g. counselling)
  • Has created a new approach to treatment that is used today
• Evaluation: Strength

  Explanatory power

  • Strength 
  • Freud’s theory has had a huge influence on psychology and contemporary thought 
  • The psychodynamic approach remained a key force in psychology for the first half of the 20th century → used to explain a wide range phenomena 
  • Significant in drawing attention to the connection between experiences in childhood and our later development and relationships 
  • Has a positive impact on psychology and also literature, art and other human endeavours
• Evaluation: Limitation

  Untestable concepts

  • Limitation 
  • Philosopher of science Karl Popper argued that the psychodynamic approach does not meet the scientific criterion of falsification 
  • It is not open to empirical testing 
  • Many of Freud’s concepts are said to occur at an unconscious level, making it difficult to test 
  • His ideas were based on the subjective study of single individuals, such as Little Hans, making it difficult to make universal claims about human behaviour