Psychodynamic Approach A01

little hans study and other freudian things, psychosexual stages and conscious mind

The conscious mind contains…

Everything you are thinking about right now

The preconscious mind contains…

Everything you are not thinking about right now, but can be easily accessed

The unconscious mind contains…

Information we can never consciously access.

Key assumption of the psychdoynamic approach

Most of our behaviour is caused by the unconscious mind.

Recall Freud’s Iceberg analogy of the conscious mind.

Conscious, we think about right now.

Preconscious, we aren’t thinking about but can easily access.

Unconscious, we can never consciously access.

According to Freud, what structure does the personality have?

Tripartite strcuture

Recall the tripartite personalities

Id, instant gratification to follow temptations and impulses from unconscious

Superego, follows rules and morals from all states of tripartite

Ego, mediates the Id and Superego, found in conscious and preconscious

Recall the ID

Found in the unconscious which means it's responsible for most of our behaviour. It wants to follow urges, temptations and impulses (being suddenly violent, food cravings)

Recall the SUPER-EGO

Found in conscious, preconscious and unconscious. Follows rules and morals.

Recall the EGO

Found in the conscious and preconscious. Responsible for mediating between the id and superego and choosing which to follow. Often finds a compromise between the two.

Recall DISPLACEMENT

Defence mechanism where the EGO redirects the ID’s impulses onto something else

Recall REPRESSION

Defence mechanism where the EGO pushes and locks away the ID’s impulses into the unconscious.

Recall DENIAL

Defence mechanism where the EGO gives into the ID and denies it ever doing so.

Name the psychosexual stages and their timestamps in order.

Oral (0-18 months), anal (18m-3y), phallic (3y-6y), latent (6y-12y), genital (12y+)

Define FIXATION

When an individual is ‘stuck’ in a psychosexual stage due to repressed psychological trauma from their childhood.

Define Oedipus Complex

During the phallic stage when the boy experiences sexual attraction for their mother and is envious of the father.

Define Castration Anxiety

During the phallic stage when the boy is worried their father will cut off their penis

Define Electra Complex

During the phallic stage when the girl experiences sexual attraction for their father and doesn’t trust their mother

Define Penis Envy

During the phallic stage when the girl is angry they don’t have a penis and is angry that their mother took it from them

Which three psychosexual stages can fixation develop from?

Oral, anal and phallic

Name the 4 fixations and their effect on adult behaviour.

Oral fixation- overly dependent and has habits like smoking, biting nails

Anally retentive- neat and organised, careful with their money

Anally expulsive- messy and over-emotional, often easily angered, bad with their money

Phallic fixation- jealous and angry

What is the key assumption of the psychodynamic approach?

Most behaviour is influenced by the unconscious

Define Defence Mechanism

How the EGO copes with uncomfortable feelings that come from the ID after making a decision, such as regret, guilt or frustration

What do the latent and genital stages have in common?

Psychosexual fixations will not develop from these stages

Difference between genital and phallic stages

Both boys and girls focus on the penis during the phallic stage but during the genital stage they focus on their own reproductive organs

What study was used to support the psychodynamic approach?

Little Hans Case study

Define Case study

a case study is a detailed investigation into a patient’s behaviour and experiences

Define Objective

not succumbing to people’s feelings and opinions

Name 3 limitations of the Little Hans study

• Self report method, no use of empirical or objective evidence. Letters from Hans’ father may contain lies or emphasised opinions

• Case study cannot be generalised to other people

• Case study was nonexperimental, didn’t manipulate any independent variable which means a cause and effect relationship cannot be confirmed

Name 2 supports to the Little Hans study

• Little Hans supported Freuds psychosexual stages as Hans was 5 years old and very interested in his own penis. This gives evidence for the presence of the phallic stage

• Little Hans also supports Freuds Oedipus complex as he was jealous of his sister and wanted his mother’s attention. Freud also thought that Little Hans had a fear of his father and inferred this from Han’s fear of horses.