Psychodynamic Approach

What drives behaviour according to Freud?

Unconscious motives

Where do adult problems originate according to Freud?

Childhood experiences

What are the three parts of personality?

Id - ego - superego

How do the parts of personality interact?

They are in constant conflict

What is psychic determinism?

All behaviour has a cause - usually unconscious

What is the unconscious?

Thoughts - memories - desires outside awareness that still influence behaviour

What does the unconscious protect the conscious mind from?

Anxiety and trauma

What are defence mechanisms?

Unconscious ego strategies that reduce anxiety

What causes the anxiety that defence mechanisms reduce?

Conflict between the id and the superego

What is repression?

Pushing threatening memories into the unconscious

What is an example of repression?

No memory of childhood abuse but difficulty trusting people in adulthood

What is denial?

Refusing to accept reality

What is an example of denial?

Someone with alcohol dependence insisting they have no problem

What is displacement?

Redirecting emotion onto a safer target

What is an example of displacement?

Shouting at a partner after being criticised by a boss

When is the id present?

From birth

What principle does the id follow?

The pleasure principle

What drives the id?

Instinctive sexual (libido) and aggressive urges

When does the ego develop?

About 18 months to 3 years

What principle does the ego follow?

The reality principle

What is the ego's role?

Mediating between the id and superego and the external world

When does the superego develop?

About 3 to 6 years

What principle does the superego follow?

The morality principle

What does the superego represent?

Internalised moral standards from parents and society

What emotion does the superego produce when rules are broken?

Guilt

How many psychosexual stages are there?

Five

What are the psychosexual stages in order?

Oral - anal - phallic - latency - genital

What is libido?

Psychic energy

What is an erogenous zone?

The body area where libido is focused at a stage

What are the age and focus of the oral stage?

0 to 1 - mouth

What are the age and focus of the anal stage?

1 to 3 - anus and toilet training

What are the age and focus of the phallic stage?

3 to 6 - genitals

What happens in the latency stage?

Sexual urges are repressed and social and cognitive development continue

What happens in the genital stage?

Sexual maturity from puberty and intimate relationships develop

What is fixation?

Libido stays stuck at a stage because of unresolved conflict

What causes fixation?

Too little (frustration) or too much (overindulgence) gratification

What are adult consequences of oral fixation?

Smoking and overeating

What are adult consequences of anal fixation?

Orderliness and perfectionism or messiness

What is the Oedipus complex?

A boy's unconscious desire for his mother and rivalry with his father

What is castration anxiety?

A boy's fear that his father will punish him

How is the Oedipus complex resolved?

By identifying with the father which forms the superego

What is the Electra complex?

A girl's unconscious attraction to her father (proposed by Jung)

What is penis envy?

A girl blaming her mother for her lack of a penis

How is the Electra complex resolved?

By identifying with the mother

What was Little Hans' phobia?

Horses

What did Freud interpret the horse as?

A symbol of Hans' father

Did Freud analyse Little Hans directly?

Mainly via observations and letters from Hans' father

Which defence mechanism did Freud say Hans used?

Displacement

What is a weakness of the Little Hans evidence?

Subjective interpretation of a single case that is hard to replicate

Why is the psychodynamic approach criticised as unscientific?

Its concepts cannot be tested or falsified

Who argued that a scientific theory must be falsifiable?

Popper

Why is Freud's theory hard to falsify?

Any denial can be explained as repression

What is the consequence of this criticism?

The approach may be considered pseudoscience

What is alpha bias?

Exaggerating differences between men and women

How does Freud show alpha bias?

He treated female development as inferior (weaker superego)

What evidence challenges Freud's view of women's morality?

Crime statistics show men are more criminal and not women

What is a counter-argument to the gender bias criticism?

Freud worked in Victorian society

What is temporal validity?

Whether findings remain valid over time

What application came from the psychodynamic approach?

Psychoanalysis

Which techniques does psychoanalysis use?

Dream analysis - free association - hypnosis

What does psychoanalysis aim to treat?

Root causes and not just symptoms

What is a limitation of psychoanalysis?

It is time-consuming and unsuitable for severe disorders such as schizophrenia

Who found long-term psychodynamic therapy effective?

De Maat et al. (2009)

What did Gagnepain et al. (2014) support?

Memories can be suppressed outside awareness

Why does reliance on case studies limit the approach?

Small samples may not represent the wider population

How does the psychodynamic approach conflict with free will?

It says behaviour is determined by unconscious conflicts

What are the three AO3 paragraphs for a psychodynamic 16-marker?

Research (unfalsifiable) - Issues (gender bias) - Application (psychoanalysis