THE PSYCHODYNAMIC APPROACH

main conclusions

• found by sigmund freud, “talking cures”

• all out behaviours are motivated by unconscious motives and events that occurred in early childhood

• “the child is father to man”

• psychoanalysis is a type of analysis, usually through interpreting dreams

4 parts of this approach

1. role of the unconscious mind

2. structure of personality

3. defence mechanisms

4. psychosexual stages of development

1. role of the unconscious mind

metaphor of a “mental iceberg”

1. conscious mind: thoughts we are aware of, everyday perceptions and thoughts

2. preconscious mind: just beneath the surface, accessible memories and stored knowledge

3. unconscious mind: very hard/impossible to retrieve and the biggest part of our mind. consists of fears, instincts, painful or embarrassing moments, trauma

unconscious mind role

• role is to direct and motivate behaviour without conscious awareness

• protects us from distressing, traumatic, painful or embarrassing material that would damage the psyche if recalled into the conscious

2. structure of personality

freud proposed the tripartite personality

1. ID: selfish beast

2. EGO: executive of the personality

3. SUPEREGO: the conscious and ego ideal

ID

• selfish beast

• unconscious mind, don’t fully know our desires and they are suppressed

• born with ID, babies don’t feel guilt

• pleasure seeking (hedonistic): biological needs like desires, aggressive or sexual impulses

eg. staying up late past your usual bedtime to have fun with your friends

EGO

• it’s cognitive abilities manage and control the ID, balances it with the superego and reality

• driven by the “reality principle”

eg. wanting to stay asleep in the morning but forcing yourself to get up and go to work

SUPEREGO

• conscious mind and ego ideal

• driven by “morality principle”

• causes pride and guilt feelings

• develops around 5-6

eg. calling police instead of being a bystander

3. defense mechanisms

Ego’s job is to defend us from dangerous or harmful impulses, feeling or behaviours. conflicts in life causes unconscious defence mechanisms that protect the ego by distorting reality

4 types of defense mechanisms

1. displacement: redirecting the impulse to a powerless substitute, unconscious process. usually anger or aggression

2. repression: a memory or event of a particular moment is too much for the individual to bear and is pushed deep into the unconscious so that they don’t have to deal with the trauma

3. denial: blocking events from awareness, refusing to accept the reality of a situation. primitive and dangerous defense

4. regression: going back to ways or times that are associated with happiness/safety/security due to high stress and anxiety

4. psychosexual stages of development

age 0-1: name, pleasure source, personality, conflicts, adult behaviour

• ORAL

• mouth

• ID

• by sudden or delayed weaning

• smoking, nail biting

• oral receptive personality= very gullible

• oral aggressive personality= sarcastic, hostile

age 1-3: name, pleasure source, personality, conflicts, adult behaviour

• anal

• Sphincter muscles of anus and urinary tract

• Ego

• Potty training

• Anal retentive: perfection, tidy, organised, stubborn

• Anal explulsive: messy, lack of control, impulsive

age 3-6: name, pleasure source, personality, conflicts, adult behaviour

• phallic

• Genitals

• Superego

• Overcoming oedipus complex for boys, electra complex for girls

• Phallic personality: vain, reckless, narcissistic

• Expulsive: weak, passive

age 6-puberty: name, pleasure source, personality, conflicts, adult behaviour

• latency

• Shift towards social interactions

• Earlier conflicts are repressed

age puberty+: name, pleasure source, personality, conflicts, adult behaviour

• genital

• Genitals

• N/A

• N/A

• Difficulty forming heterosexual relationships and issues with gender identity

Oedipus complex

• Friends explanation of gender development in males

• subconscious sexual desire for mother, jealous/rivalry with father

• Typically during phallic stages

• Affection towards mother and hostilities to father, competition

• He realised his father is stronger physically & worries about castration

• Castration anxiety is resolved by identifying with father including gender behaviours

Electra complex

• friends gender development in females

• In the phallic stage the girl has a strong desire for her father and realises she doesn’t have penis (penis envy)- desire of being a boy

• Blames mother for her castration

• Resolved as a girl represses feeling by identifying with mother to remove tension

Case study little hans

• Age 5, developed a phobia of horses after seeing one collapsed on the street

• Freud suggested this was a represses fear of this father & was displaced onto horses

• Horses were symbolic representing of castration anxiety during oedipus complex

Evaluations

Weaknesses:

• subjective and unscientific methods of measurements eg. Inkblot and TAT tests

• Refuting research eg.

• Neglects free will, advocates psychic determinism

• Relies on case studies

• Lacks generalisability

Strength:

• practical applications

• Helps healthy child development

• Research support