Psychodynamic

• Psychodynamic approach states shaping behaviour is a result of unconscious psychological processes, formed during early childhood
• The Unconscious


  One of three aspects of the mind, including the conscious (awareness) and preconscious (memories), that is not open to awareness and stores socially unaccepted thoughts, painful emotions and instincts
• Id


  Operates on the pleasure principle, in which needs must be satisfied, being selfish and demanding gratification

  • Had from birth
• Ego


  Works on the reality principle, being the mediator between the Id and Superego, reducing conflict through defence mechanisms

  • Developed at around 2 years
• Superego


  Works on the morality principle, determining right and wrong, obeying learnt rules from society, punishing wrongdoings through guilt

  • Formed in phallic stage around 5 years
• Defence Mechanisms


  Unconscious process that reduces anxiety felt by the ego by distorting reality through:

  • Repression - forcing memories out
  • Denial - refusing to accept reality
  • Displacement - moving emotions to alternative source
• Oral Stage


  Libido focus of the mouth, seeking pleasure from oral activities, with adult fixations on smoking, talkative etc

  • Developed at 0-18 months, alongside the Ego
• Anal Stage


  Libido focus on the anus, seeking pleasure in controlling and releasing bowels, with adult fixation linked to retentive and expulsive personalities (tidy/stubborn or messy/oversharing)

  • Develops during 18mth - 3yrs
• Phallic Stage


  Libido focus on the genitals, seeking pleasure in theirs and others genitals, with adult fixation being exhibitionistic and dominancy

  • Developed at the age 3 - 6 years, alongside Superego
• Oedipus Complex


  Boy develops sexual desires for mother, and get rid of father, but scared of taking away his desire, develops castration anxiety, repressing incestrous desires and identifying with father
• Electra Complex


  Girl has sexual attraction towards father, mother is a competitor, recognising she lacks a penis leading to penis envy, repressing the desire of her father by replacing the penis for a baby, and identifies with mother
• Latency Stage


  Libido focus is dormant, with no motivation for sexual impulses, focusing more on school and relations, with adult fixation on difficulty emotionally, socially and intelligence

  • Develops from ages 6 years - puberty
• Gential Stage


  Libido focus of making sex, becoming sexually mature forming intimate relations direct at heterosexual pleasure, with adult fixation being a display of previous faults and sexual dysfunction

  • Develops during pubity - adulthood
• (+) A03: Influential


  Freud's ideas strongly influenced Bowlby's attachment theories, suggesting periods of maternal deprivation lead to long lasting negative psychological effects, having economic implications
• (+) A03: Ideographic Support


  Freud's study into Little Hans with a phobia of horses, showing interest in male genitals including animals with his mother threatening to cut his own off, Freud linked his phobia to the horse's large penis, linking to Oedipus complex with the horse relating to his father, giving research support to Freud's theories
• (-) A03: Untestable Concepts

  Argued by Popper, the approach doesnt meet scientific criterion for falsification, as it cant be tested as the theories occur at an unconscious level, making the approach a pseudoscience
• (-) A03: Psychic Determinism


  Goes against the idea of free will due to behaviours being determined through stages at set childhood periods via the unconscious thought processing