Psychodynamic approach

• psychodynamic approach

  = perspective that describes the different forces, most of which are unconscious, that operate on the mind and direct human behaviour and experience.
• role of the unconscious

  Freud suggested most of our mind is made up of the unconscious.

  • unconscious= vast store of biological drives and instincts that has a significant influence on our behaviour and personality.
  • Also contains threatening and disturbing memories that have been repressed and forgotten.- can be accessed during dreams or through 'slips of the tongue'
  • underneath the surface of our conscious mind is the preconscious which contains thoughts and memories which are not currently in conscious awareness but we can access if desired.
• structure of personality

  tripartite:

  • ID= operates pleasure principle, made up of selfish aggressive instincts that demand immediate gratification. Unconscious.
  • Ego= works on the reality principle. Reduces conflict between the demands of the ID and superego. Employs defence mechanisms.
  • superego= based on morality principle, represents moral standards and ideal-self.
• psychosexual stages

  Freud claimed that child development occurred in 5 stages.

  Each stage is marked by a different conflict which the child must resolve in order to progress to the next stage.

  • any psychosexual stage that is unresolved leads to fixations where the child becomes stuck and carries certain behaviours and conflicts associated with that stage through to adult life.
• Psychosexual stages

  Freud

  
• defence mechanisms

  = unconscious strategies that the ego uses to manage the conflict between ID and Superego.

  • repression= forcing a distressing memory out of the conscious mind.
  • denial= refusing to acknowledge some aspects of reality.
  • displacement= transferring feelings from true source of distressing emotion onto a substitute target.
• Evaluation- real world application

  -introduced the idea of psychotherapy.

  • Freud brought new form of therapy- psychoanalysis. This was the 1st attempt to treat mental disorders psychologically rather than physically.
  • range of techniques to access the unconscious (dream analysis)= help bring repressed emotions into their conscious minds so they can be dealt with.
  • helped form modern day therapies like counselling.
  • value of psychodynamic approach to creating new treatment.
• Evaluation- counterpoint

  Although Freudian therapies have been successful on clients with mild neuroses, psychoanalysis is regarded as inappropriate, even harmful for people experiencing more serious mental disorders

  • Eg: many symptoms of schizophrenia such as paranoia and delusional thinking, mean that those with the disorder have lost their grip with reality and cannot articulate their thoughts in the same way required by psychoanalysis.
  • doesn't apply to all disorders.
• Evaluation- explanatory power

  strength= ability to explain human behaviour

  • psychodynamic approach remained a key force in psychology for the first half of the 20th century.
  • it has been used to explain a wide range of phenomena including personality development, abnormal behaviour, moral development and gender identity.
  • significant in drawing attention to the connection between experiences in childhood and our later development.
  • so has a positive impact on psychology.
• Evaluation- untestable concepts

  limitation= much of the approach is untestable.

  • Popper argued the approach does not meet the scientific criterion of falsification.
  • it is not open to empirical testing.
  • Many of Freuds concepts are said to occur at an unconscious level, making them difficult to test. His ideas were based on the subjective study of single individuals like little Hans, which makes it difficult to make universal claims about human behaviour.
  • suggests Freud's theory was pseudoscientific rather than established fact.