APPROACHES - The Psychodynamic approach

psychodynamic approach

talks about the diffrent forces that operate in the mind that direct human behaviour

ID

completely unconscious, made up off all selfish instinct that demand immediate gratification

Ego

the ‘ reality check’ balances ut the conflicting needs of the ID and Super Ego

Super Ego

moralistic part of our personality that represents our ideal self

psychosexual stages

five developmental stages that all children pass through

main researcher

Sigmund Freud

what was his research

psychosexual stages

he says that every child must go through and resolve all these stages in order to progress successfully

any unresolved stages will lead to fixations that become associated intoo their adult life

what are the stages

1. Oral 0-1 years

   pleasure of the mouth mothers breast can be the desire. the consequence of unresolved conflict would be oral fixations on things such as smoking or biting nails ‘

2. Anal 1-3 Years

   pleasure of the Anus. child gains pleasure from expelling and withholding faeces.

3. phallic 3-6 years

   pleasure of the genital area. consequence would be phallic personality like being reckless or narcissistic

4. latency - earlier conflicts being repressed

5. genital - sexual desire becomes conscious alongside puberty

   consequence would be difficulty forming heterosexual relationships

strength of the approach

introduces the idea of psychotherapy. freud brought a range of new therapy to treat mental disorders psychologically rather than physically like using psychoanalyses and talking therapy.

limitations of the approach

most of the approach is untestable Karl popper argued that the psychodynamic approach cannot be falsified so its not open to empirical testing removing the possibility of being disproven.

therefore freuds theories where more established facts rather than real science