psychodynamic approach

• assumption no. 1

  the unconcious: the part of the mind we are unaware of that directs behaviour (contains instincts, drives and repressed disturbing memories) as studied by freud
• assumption no.2

  freud divided the personality into 3 different structures: ID (instincts, unconscious), Ego (rational, mediator), superego (morality, conscience)
• assumption no.3

  psychosexual stages: oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital - each stage associated with a conflict that must be resolved before the individual can advance to the next stage
• assumption no.4

  there are defence mechanisms which are unconscious strategies that the Ego uses to manage the conflicts of the Id and superego
• psychodynamic: the energy that drives the soul (conscious and unconscious)
• the psychodynamic approach is one of the earliest approaches in psychology (established after Wundt and before behaviourism), originating in the 19th century
• 1899

  the main figure in psychodynamic theory is Sigmund Freud

  victorian times: conservative, repressed society, male dominated society
• conscious: what we are aware of 


  unconscious: a vast storehouse of biological drives and instincts that influence our behaviour
• the role of the unconscious

  the unconscious also contains threatening and disturbing memories that have been repressed or locked away and forgotten

  these can be accessed during dreams or through 'freudian slips'
• 'freudian slip' example 


  you are accidentally calling a teacher 'mom' instead of 'miss'

  this is because the teacher steps into the role of the mother at school and her care towards the students represent that
• the role of the unconscious: dreams

  according to freud, dreams are 'the royal road to the unconscious'

  freud believed that dreams are meaningful and require interpretation

  dreams are basically motivated by wishes or fantasies that are not acceptable in real life
• the triparte structure of personality

  the ID

  the primitive part of our personality

  operates on the pleasure principle - the Id gets what it wants

  it is a seething mass of unconscious drives and instincts

  the Id is present at birth - freud described babies as being 'bundles of Id'

  throughout life the Id is entirely selfish and demands instant gratification of its needs
• the triparte structure of personality

  the ego

  works on the reality principle and is the mediator between the other two parts of the personality

  the ego develops around the age of 2 years and its role is to reduce the conflict between the demands of the Id and the superego

  it manages this by employing a number of defence mechanisms
• the triparte structure of personality

  the superego

  formed around the age of 5

  it is our internalised sense of right and wrong

  represents the morality principle and punishes the Ego for wrongdoing (through guilt)
• the 5 psychosexual stages

  each stage is characterised by a particular focus of sexual energy (libido)

  each stage presents the individual with a conflict

  normal development: to pass through one stage successfully and onto the next by resolving the conflict

  any conflict that is unresolved leads to fixated behaviours that the child carries up to adult life
• oral stage (0-1 years)


  focus of pleasure: mouth, mother's breast specifically

  development: abrupt weaning or telling infant off for putting things in the mouth may lead to a conflict

  fixation: oral fixation - smoking, biting nails, obsessive eating, sarcasm
• anal stage (1-3 years) 


  focus of pleasure: anus. child gains control over withholding and expelling faeces which brings pleasure

  development: telling off during potty training or rushing it creates a conflict

  fixation: anal retentive: associated with perfectionist and obsessive behaviour. anal expulsive: associated with thoughtless and messy behaviour
• phallic stage (3-6 years)


  focus of pleasure: genital area. become aware of sexual differences and begin to identify with the parent of the same sex

  development: boys develop unconscious sexual desires toward their mother. this conflict is resolved through the development of the superego

  fixation: development of narcissistic personality, recklessness, and a need to dominate others
• latency stage (6-13 years) 


  focus of pleasure: pleasure is not derived from one specific physical area. rather it's derived from intellectual pursuits and social interactions

  development: social and communication skills are developed, and earlier conflicts are repressed

  fixation: no fixation
• genital stage (13 years - death)


  focus of pleasure: genitals. development of individual sexual desires in relation to others

  development: striving to reach sexual maturity. conflict may come to struggling to balance their sexual desires with the demands of reality

  fixation: difficulty forming relationships with others
• the ego has to balance the conflicting demands of the Id and the superego

  it does that by using defence mechanisms to prevent traumatic memories from becoming conscious and causing anxiety
• defence mechanisms often involve distortion of reality

  as a long term solution they are considered psychologically unhealthy
• repression: unconscious blocking of unacceptable thoughts and impulses

  these repressed thoughts and impulses continue to influence behaviour without the individual being aware of the reasons behind their behaviour

  e.g a child who is abused by a parent may have no recollection of these events but has trouble forming relationships
• denial: refusal to accept reality so as to avoid having to deal with any painful feelings that might be associated with that event

  the person acts as if the traumatic event never happened, something that those around them find to be quite bizarre

  e.g you know you have an exam coming soon but you pretend you don't because you can't deal with the amount of anxiety this will cause
• displacement: transferring of one's thoughts or emotions (typically of hostile nature) onto an individual or object irrelevant to the issue

  it occurs when someone feels incapable of expressing their anger directly to its rightful target

  this provides an escape for the hostile feelings but mistakenly directed towards an innocent individual or object
• oedipus complex (phallic stage)

  1. boy develops sexual desire for mother (important source of pleasure)
  2. boy jealous of father (who sexually possesses mother) but fears father will castrate him if he finds out about his desires
  3. state of conflict, deals with this by internalising father's social and sexual identity
  4. boy substitutes desire for his mother for other women and moves on to latent stage
• electra complex (phallic stage)

  1. girls realise they have no penis
  2. because of this she sees herself as powerless and wishes she had one (penis envy)
  3. starts to desire father because he has one, becomes jealous and hostile to mother as she believes she has been castrated by her
  4. development of superego causes her to identify and internalise with her mother and repress desire for a penis
• 1. case study of little hans, procedure: self report techniques

  qualitative data was gathered by little hans father through observations and conversations with his son

  this information was then sent to freud by letter who replied with interpretations of hans behaviour and with advice
• 2. case study of little hans

  hans father reported:

  just before the age of 3, hans developed an active interest in his 'widdler' and he started to touch himself

  this caused his mother to threaten him to call a doctor to cut it off
• 3. case study of little hans

  a short time afterwards hans witnessed a horse collapsing and dying in the street while he was out with his nanny

  this triggered a fear of horses and being bitten by them. hans said that he was especially afraid of white horses with black around the mouth who were wearing blinkers
• 4. case study of little hans

  hans also has 2 significant fantasies which he had shared with his father. in the first, hans has several imaginary children.

  when his father asked him who their mother was hans replied 'why, mummy, and you're their grandaddy!'
• 5.case study of little hans

  in the second fantasy which occurred the next day, hans imagined that a plumber had come and first removed his bottom and 'widdler' and then gave him another one of each but larger
• 6. case study of little hans

  when hans turned 5 his father took him to visit freud and he was interviewed by him

  hans expressed his fear that the horses might stumble and create a loud noise with their hooves, particularly those pulling heavily loaded carts
• case study of little hans: findings and conclusions

  hans was experiencing the oedipus complex (sexual desire for his mother, rivalry with his father) he was subconsciously scared that his father might castrate him
• case study of little hans: findings and conclusions

  his fear was displaced in a fear of horses (displacement) particularly those with dark around the mouth (representing his father's beard) and blinkers (which represented his glasses)
• case study of little hans: findings and conclusions

  hans obsession with his widdler was proof that he was in the phallic stage (3-5) where the focus of pleasure is the genital area

  hans fantasies represented the desire to take his mother away from his father and becoming a father himself
• little hans, was one boy from vienna, he does not represent all other children from other cultures and upbringings

  a weakness of this case study is that it relies on one individual and therefore we cannot generalise beyond the sample
• we have interviews and hours of well recorded observations which offers great detail to understand how his phobia was developed and was resolved

  a strength is that qualitative data are rich in detail allowing insightful interpretations of development
• hans father gathered a lot of data from his son through intense questioning over personal matters

  due to the nature of the study, there may have been an invasion of privacy and psychological harm
• lack of internal validity caused by demand characteristics

  e.g little hans may have been affected by leading questions from his father (a follower of freud) and therefore answered in a way that would please him