Psychodynamic Approach

Cards (32)

  • Psychodynamic Assumptions

    Unconscious mind drives behaviour
    Childhood is critical in development
    Behavioural issues arise from unresolved, unconscious childhood conflicts
  • 3 Parts of Mind
    Conscious (aware of)
    Preconscious (thoughts/memories not always accessible)
    Unconscious (unaware of)
  • 3 Parts of Personality
    Id, ego and superego
  • Id
    Pleasure Principle
    Selfish and indulgent
    Develops from birth (oral stage)
  • Ego
    Reality principle
    Balances id and superego
    Develops at 3-5 years (phallic stage)
  • Superego
    Morality principle
    Responsible for guilt and safety
    Develops at 18 months - 5 years (anal and phallic stages)
  • Libido
    Energy from primal survival/sexual instincts
  • Fixation
    Energy left behind in previous psychosexual stage
    Either frustration or over-indulgence
  • Internalisation
    Taking on the attitudes of another
  • Psychosexual stages

    Oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital
  • Age in oral stage
    0 - 18 months
  • Focus of libido in oral stage

    Mouth (breast-feeding)
  • Fixations in oral stage

    Frustration: envy, pessimism, sarcasm
    Over-indulgence: optimism, gullibility
  • Age in anal stage 

    18 months - 3 years
  • Focus of libido in anal stage

    Anus (potty training)
  • Fixations in anal stage 

    Frustration from strict potty training: stubbornness, tidiness
    Over-indulgence from lenient potty training: messiness, disorganisation
  • Age in phallic stage

    3 - 5 years
  • Focus of libido in phallic stage

    Genitals (due to Oedipus/Electra complexes)
  • Fixation in phallic stage

    Frustration when haven't identified with same-sex parent: pride, recklessness, arrogance
    Over-indulgence: abnormal desires, relationship issues
  • Age in latency stage

    5 years - puberty
  • Latency focus

    None - just repress phallic stage
  • Age in genital stage

    Puberty onwards
  • Focus of libido in genital stage

    Genitals (for healthy sexual relationships)
  • Oedipus Complex

    Boy becomes attracted to mother
    He wants to possess her and is afraid of his father - castration anxiety
    He internalises his father in order to overcome anxiety
    He shifts his attraction onto other women similar to his mother
  • Electra Complex

    Girl attracted to her mother
    Upon discovering she has no penis, she becomes angry and resentful
    She believes it is her mother's fault she was castrated - penis envy
    She becomes attracted to her father and believes he can give her a substitute penis in the form of a baby boy
    She internalises her mother's behaviour to attract her father
    Her attention shifts onto men similar to her father
  • Carl Jung
    Freud's student
    Created Electra Complex
  • Denial
    Refusal to admit an unpleasant truth
  • Repression
    Forgetting an unpleasant memory or the strong emotion associated with it
  • Displacement
    Shifting an emotion directed at one person towards another person/thing
  • Evaluation: Psychodynamic Approach

    Practical applications eg psychoanalysis
    Theories cannot be observed therefore cannot be falsified
    Overly deterministic - no such thing as an accident
    Only one case study (Little Hans) - lacks generalisability
  • Little Hans
    Freud's case study for the psychodynamic approach
  • Defence Mechanisms

    Denial, repression, and displacement.
    Unconscious mechanisms to protect the preconscious and conscious from distressing and unpleasant unconscious thoughts and feelings.
    Controlled by ego