psychodynamic approach

• what is the id?

  • drives us to satisfy selfish urges
  • acts according to the pleasure principle
  • exist from birth
• what is the ego?

  • acts rationally
  • balances the id and superego
  • acts according to the reality principle
  • develops at 2-4 years
• what is the superego?

  • acts according to the morality principle
  • contains the child's internalised sense of right and wrong
  • attempts to control id with feelings of guilt
  • develops at 4-5 years
• what is the role of defence mechanisms?

  • when unconscious conflicts between the id and superego cannot be resolved by the ego
  • they create anxiety
  • to reduce this anxiety, we use defence mechanisms
• what are the 3 defence mechanisms?

  • denial
  • repression
  • displacement
• what is denial?

  refusing to acknowledge some aspect of reality
• what is repression?

  forcing an unpleasant memory out of the conscious mind
• what is displacement?

  transferring feelings from the true source of distress onto a substitute
• what are the psycho-sexual stages?

  1. oral stage - 0-1 years old, focus of pleasure is the mouth, child is breastfed by mother
  2. anal stage - 1-3 years old, focus of pleasure is anus, child is toilet training and focus on withholding and expelling faeces
  3. phallic stage - 3-6 years old, focus of pleasure is genitals, children experience the oedipus complex or electra complex
  4. latency stage - 6-12 years old, previous conflicts are resolved and development of defence mechanisms
  5. genital stage - 12 to adulthood, focus of pleasure is genitals, child's sexual desires become conscious
• what is fixation?

  where dysfunctional behaviours associated with the psycho-sexual stage are carried forwards to adulthood
• what is the role of the unconscious mind?

  traumatic events and memories from childhood are repressed here
• What a strength of the psychodynamic approach?

  • real world application
  • psychoanalysis and psychotherapy both stem from the psychodynamic approach
  • this has led to the development of psychoanalysis therapy which aims to release repressed emotions and experiences
  • this shows the usefulness of the psychodynamic approach in society
• what is a weakness of psychoanalysis therapy?

  • not appropriate for people suffering from more serious disorders like schizophrenia
  • many of the symptoms associated with schizophrenia such as delusional thinking means that these people can't articulate their thoughts and feelings like normal people
  • so psychoanalysis therapy cannot work for every mental illness
• give a weakness of the psychodynamic approach?

  • has many unconscious concepts and theories
  • since we are unaware of the unconscious, it is impossible to objectively and systematically measure it
  • so the psychodynamic approach is unfalsifiable
  • this decreases the scientific credibility of psychology
• give consequences of unresolved conflict at the oral stage

  • smoking
  • biting nails
• give consequences of unresolved conflict at the anal stage

  • anal retentive (perfectionist)
  • anal expulsive (messy)
• give consequences of unresolved conflict at the phallic stage

  • narcissistic
  • reckless
  • vanity
• give consequences of unresolved conflict at the genital stage

  struggle to form heterosexual relationships
• which psycho-sexual stage has no unconscious conflict?

  latency