Psychodynamic approach

• Freud

  • Freud suggested that the part of our mind that we know about and are aware of (the conscious) is the tip of the iceberg
  • most of our mind is made of the unconscious = a store of biological drives that has influence on our behaviour/personality
  • it contains disturbing memories that have been repressed
• The ID

  • primitive part of our personality
  • operates on the pleasure principle
  • the Id gets what it wants
  • it is the unconscious drives and instincts
  • only the Id is present at birth - bundles of id
  • throughout life the Id is entirely selfish
• The Ego

  • works on the reality principle
  • Ego develops at age 2
  • mediator - role is to reduce conflict between demands of Id and super ego
• The Super Ego

  • formed at the end of the phallic stage around age 5
  • internalised sense of right and wrong
  • based on morality principle
  • represents moral standards of the child’s same-gender parents and punishes ego for wrongdoing through guilt
• psychosexual stages

  • oral - focus of pleasure in mouth
  • anal - focus of pleasure in anus
  • phallic - focus of pleasure in genital area
  • latency - earlier conflicts are repressed
  • genital - sexual desires become conscious alongside onset of puberty
• Psychosexual stages

  • Freud claimed child development occurred in 5 stages
  • each stage is marked by a conflict that the child must resolved to move onto the next stage
  • any psychosexual conflict that isnt resolved
  • leads to fixation where the child becomes stuck and carries certain behaviours associated with that stage through adulthood
• Consequences of unresolved conflict

  • oral- biting nails, sarcastic
  • anal retentive- perfectionist, obsessive
  • anal expulsive- thoughtless and messy
  • phallic personality - narcissistic, reckless
  • genital- difficulty forming heterosexual relationships
• Defence mechanism

  • ego has difficult job balancing conflict of Id and superego
  • these defence mechanisms are unconscious
  • and ensure the ego is able to prevent us being overwhelmed by temporary threats or traumas
• A03 - Real world application

  • a new form of therapy, psychoanalysis was the first attempt to treat mental disorders psychologically rather than physically
  • it claimed to help clients by bringing their repressed emotions into their conscious so it can be dealt with
  • this is the basis of many modern day therapies
• A03 - real world application criticised

  • although freudian therapists have claimed success for many clients with mild neuroses
  • psychoanalysis is regarded as inappropriate, and even harmful for people experiencing more serious mental disorders like schizophrenia
• A03 - Psychic determinism

  • Freud suggested that all behaviour is a product of our unconscious internal conflicts.
  • meaning that every action is just a slip of the tongue or something we can't control
  • have no free will
• A03 - Untestable

  • it doesn’t meet the scientific criteria of falsification
  • many of Freuds concepts are said to occur at an unconscious level making it very difficult to test
  • his ideas were based on the subjective study of single individuals making it difficult to generalise