Psychodynamic Approach

• What are the assumptions of the Psychodynamic Approach?

  • The mind consists of multiple parts: the conscious mind, pre conscious mind and the unconscious mind
  • The structure of personality: ID, Ego and Superego
  • Defence mechanisms such as repression, denial and displacement
  • Early childhood experiences shape us as adults
  • Psychosexual stages
  • Failure to resolve conflicts in childhood can lead to psychological problems as an adult
• The role of the unconscious

  • Vast parts of the mind that are inaccessible to conscious awareness
  • Storehouse of biological drives which have a significant influence on our thoughts and behaviour
  • The unconscious contains threatening and disturbing memories that have been repressed and locked away
• How can traumatic events that have been repressed be accessed?

  They can be accessed through dreams or through ’slips of the tongue’
• What are the 3 parts of personality?

  1. ID
  2. Ego
  3. Superego
• What is the ID?

  • Pleasure principle
  • Primitive part of our personality that is present from birth
  • Unconscious biological drives, instincts and urges
  • Demands instant gratification and is selfish
• What is the Ego?

  • Reality principle
  • Tames the ID- mediator between the ID and Superego
  • Reduces the conflict between the demands of the ID and the Superego
  • Develops around age 2
  • Uses defence mechanisms
• What is the Superego?

  • Morality Principle
  • Formed at the end of Phallic Stage (age 5)
  • Represents our internalised sense of right or wrong
  • Moral standards of our same sex parent
  • Punished the Ego through guilt but rewards with pride
  • Direct opposition to ID
• Why are defence mechanisms used?

  They are used by the Ego in order to cope with the conflicting demands of the other two parts of the personality: ID and Superego
• What is Repression?


  Hiding an unpleasant or undesirable thoughts or memories from the conscious mind
• What is Denial?


  Rejecting or refusing to accept reality
• What is Displacement?


  Redirecting emotions from the actual target to a substitute (kicking a tree because you are upset about something that happened at work)
• What are Freud’s Psychosexual stages?

  • All children pass through 5 stages of psychosexual development
  • During each stage, the child fixates and gains pleasure from a specific part of the body
  • Any conflict unresolved leads to fixation where the child becomes ‘stuck’ and carries certain behaviours into adult life
• Name the 5 Psychosexual Stages

  1. Oral
  2. Anal
  3. Phallic
  4. Latency
  5. Genital
• What is the Oral Stage?

  • 0-1 years
  • Focus of pleasure: Mouth
  • Object of desire: Mother’s breast
  • Successful completion is weaning - eating independently
  • Consequence of unresolved conflict is oral fixation - smoking, drinking and biting nails
• What is the Anal Stage?

  • 1-3 years
  • Focus of pleasure: Anus
  • Pleasure from withholding and expelling faeces
  • Successful completion is being potty trained
  • Consequences of unresolved conflict is:
  • Anally retentive - perfectionist, obsessive and tidy
  • Anally expulsive - thoughtless and messy
• What is the Phallic Stage?

  • 3-5 years
  • Focus of pleasure: Genitals
  • Oedipus Complex - Boy wants his mother as his 'primary love subject' and wants his father out the way
  • Electra Complex - Girls experience penis envy
  • Consequences of unresolved conflict: Phallic personality - narcissistic, reckless and possibly homosexual
• What is the Latency Stage?

  • 6-puberty
  • Focus of pleasure: Earlier conflicts are repressed
  • Sexual urges are sublimated into sports and other hobbies
  • Focus on developing same sex friendships
  • Consequences of unresolved conflict: None
• What is the Genital Stage?

  • Puberty - Adulthood
  • Focus of pleasure: Genitals
  • Develop healthy adult relationships
  • Consequences of unresolved conflict: Difficulty forming heterosexual relationships
• AO3: Real World Application

  • Introduced the idea of psychotherapy
  • Psychoanalysis - is a form of therapy that treats mental disorders psychologically rather than physically
  • New therapy has designed techniques to access the unconscious such as dream analysis
  • Used in counselling and helps clients deal with repressed emotions
• AO3: Untestable Concepts

  • One limitation is that much of it is abstract and untestable
  • Karl Popper argued that the approach does not meet the criterion of falsification
  • It is not open to empirical testing and the possibility of being disproved
  • Concepts such as ID and Oedipus Complex are said to occur at an unconscious level making them difficult test
  • It is said to have psychic determinism as it simplifies human behaviour to unconscious desires
• AO3: Case Study

  • Freud's research involves many case studies such as Wolfman
  • Studies on single individuals makes it difficult to make universal claims about human behaviour
  • Hard to generalise results
  • However case studies provide a lot of insight and are holistic
• AO3 Psychodynamic: Research Support

  • Research support from Little Hans
  • It illustrates key concepts like the Oedipus complex and the role of unconscious conflict in influencing behaviour
  • Hans' phobia of horses was interpreted by Freud as a displacement of his repressed fear of his father
  • Supports the idea that unresolved unconscious conflicts during the phallic stage can manifest as psychological disorders
  • Gives the approach credibility, as it offers an explanation for how childhood experiences and unconscious processes can shape adult behaviour