Psychodynamic perspective

unconscious process

many important influences on behaviour come from a part of the mind we have no direct awareness of, the unconscious

Psychodynamic conflict

different parts of the the mind are in constant dynamic struggle with each other (often unconsciously) and the consequences of this struggle are important in understanding behaviour

Emotional drives

Freud believed behaviour is motivated by sexual and aggressive drives. The drive creates psychic energy that will build up (like steam in a steam engine) and create tension and anxiety if it cannot be released in some form

Development

Personality is shaped by relationships ,experiences and conflict overtime, particularly during childhood

Levels of consciousness

1. Conscious -immediate awareness

2. pre-conscious -accessible memories

3. unconscious - No awareness (repressed trauma)

How the unconscious reveals itself

• Free association -laying on the couch and speaking whatever comes to mind until the unconscious mind started to reach the surface

• Projective tests -you give people inkblot images and ask them to reveal what they immediately see

• Slips of the tongue -when you say something but meant to say something else

Instinctual drives

• Eros -the life instinct

• Thanatos -the death instinct

Tripartite model of personalities

• Super ego -your morality principle

• Ego -your reality principle

• ID -your impulsive principle

Strengths

• Research is useful in explaining why people develop mental health disorders

• Research is useful in developing treatments for mental health disorders

• Case studies enable research to get a lot of data on participants

Weaknesses

• Research is often not as scientific as focusing on the unconscious mind. This means often the research is not falsifiable (able to be proven wrong)

• Using small groups of people stops us from establishing a consistent effect

• Using specific groups of people (e.g with rare MH conditions) could limit generalisability