the psychodynamic approach

the role of the unconscious

Freud → the conscious mind is merely the ‘tip of the iceberg’.

Most of our mind is made up of the unconscious - a vast storehouse of biological drives and instincts that has a significant influence on our behaviour and personality. The unconscious also contains threatening and disturbing memories that have been repressed. These can be accessed during dreams or through ‘slips of the tongue’ (what Freud referred to as parapraxes). An example of such a slip is calling a female teacher 'mum' instead of 'miss'.

Just bubbling under the surface of our conscious mind is the preconscious which contains thoughts and memories which are not currently in conscious awareness but we can access if desired.

the structure of personality

Freud described personality as ‘tripartite’, composed of three parts:
1 - the Id is the primitive part of our personality. It operates on the pleasure principle - the Id gets what it wants. It’s a seething mass of unconscious drives and instincts. Only the Id is present at birth (Freud described babies as being ‘bundles of Id’). Throughout life the Id is entirely selfish and demands instant gratification of its needs.
2 - the Ego works on the reality principle and is the mediator between the other two parts of the personality. The Ego develops around the age of 2yrs and its role is to reduce the conflict between the demands of the ld and the Superego. It manages this by employing a number of defence mechanisms.
3 - the Superego is formed at the end of the phallic stage, around the age of 5. It’s our internalised sense of right and wrong. Based on the morality principle it represents the moral standards of the child's same-gender parent and punishes the Ego for wrongdoing (through guilt).

psychosexual stages

Freud → child development occurred in 5 stages. Each stage (apart from latency) is marked by a different conflict that the child must resolve in order to progress successfully to the next stage.

any psychosexual conflict that is unresolved leads to fixation where the child becomes 'stuck' and carries certain behaviours and conflicts associated with that stage through to adult life.

oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital

defence mechanisms

strategies that the Ego uses to manage the conflict between the Id and the Superego.

These are unconscious and ensure that the Ego is able to prevent individuals from being overwhelmed by temporary threats or traumas.

However, they often involve some form of distortion of reality and as a long-term solution they are regarded as psychologically unhealthy and undesirable.

denial - refusing to acknowledge reality

displacement - taking out your emotions on a substitute object

oral (0-1yrs)

focus of pleasure is the mouth, mother’s breast can be the object of desire.

consequence of unresolved conflict: oral fixation - smoking, biting nails, sarcastic, critical.

anal (1-3yrs)

- focus of pleasure is the anus. child gains pleasure from withholding and expelling faeces.
- consequences of unresolved conflict:
→ anal retentive - perfectionist, obsessive
→ anal expulsive - thoughtless, messy

phallic (3-6yrs)

focus of pleasure is the genital area

consequence of unresolved conflict: phallic personality - narcissistic, reckless

latency

earlier conflicts are repressed

genital

sexual desires become conscious alongside the onset of puberty

consequence of unresolved conflict: difficult forming heterosexual relationships

AO3 - strength of the psychodynamic approach: real-world application

it introduced the idea of psychotherapy (as opposed to physical treatments).

Freud brought to the world a new form of therapy - psychoanalysis. This was the first attempt to treat mental disorders psychologically rather than physically. The new therapy employed a range of techniques designed to access the unconscious, such as dream analysis. Psychoanalysis claims to help clients by bringing their repressed emotions into their conscious mind so they can be dealt with. Psychoanalysis is the forerunner to many modern-day ‘talking therapies’, such as counselling, that have since been established.

This shows the value of the psychodynamic approach in creating a new approach to treatment.

COUNTER: Although Freudian therapists have claimed success for many clients with mild neuroses, psychoanalysis is regarded as inappropriate, even harmful, for people experiencing more serious mental disorders (e.g. sz). Many of the symptoms of sz, such as paranoia and delusional thinking, mean that those with the disorder have lost their grip on reality and can’t articulate their thoughts in the way required by psychoanalysis.

This suggests that Freudian therapy (and theory) may not apply to all mental disorders.

AO3 - strength of the psychodynamic approach: its ability to explain human behaviour.

Freud's theory has had a huge influence on psychology and contemporary thought. Alongside behaviourism, the psychodynamic approach remained a key force in psychology for the first half of the 20th century and has been used to explain a wide range of phenomena including personality development, the origins of psychological disorders, moral development and gender identity. the approach is also significant in drawing attention to the connection between experiences in childhood, such as our relationship with our parents, and our later development.

This suggests that, overall, the psychodynamic approach has had a positive impact on psychology - and also on literature, art and other human endeavours.

AO3 - limitation of the psychodynamic approach

One limitation of the psychodynamic approach is that much of it is untestable.

The philosopher of science Karl Popper argued that the psychodynamic approach does not meet the scientific criterion of falsification. It is not open to empirical testing (and the possibility of being disproved). Many of Freud's concepts (such as the Id and the Oedipus complex) are said to occur at an unconscious level, making them difficult, if not impossible, to test. Furthermore, his ideas were based on the subjective study of single individuals, such as Little Hans, which makes it difficult to make universal claims about human behaviour.

This suggests that Freud's theory was pseudoscientific (not a real science) rather than established fact.