PSYCHODYNAMIC APPROACH

ASSUMPTIONS

Most particularly, its the way we’re treated by our parents as children that shapes our behaviour and personality.

Psychodynamic psychologists assume that our behaviour is determined by unconscious forces of which we are unaware

ROLE OF THE UNCONSCIOUS

Freud suggested that the part of the mind we’re aware of (conscious mind) is just the ‘tip of the iceberg’. Most of the mind is made up of the unconscious which we aren’t consciously aware of. This houses our biological drives and instincts as well as threatening/disturbing memories that have been repressed. We can get glimpses of these repressions through slips of the tongue ‘freudian slip’

STRUCTURE OF PERSONALITY

Id, superego, ego

ID

Primitive part of our personality, which operates on pleasure principle. Its made up of our unconsious drives and instincts. The Id is the only part of the personality present at birth. It’s the selfish part of our personality - demanding immediate gratification

SUPEREGO

Formed at roughly the age of 5 and is our internalised sense of right and wrong. It works on the morality principle and is based on moral standards of the childs same sex parent. It punishes wrong doing through guilt

EGO

Works on the reality principle amd mediates between the other parts of the personality. It develops around the age of 2, and its role is to reduce conflict between the Id and superego. They do this by using defence mechanisms.

DEFENCE MECHANISMS

Repression, denial, displacement

REPRESSION

Forcing a distressing memory into the unconscious mind to protect the conscious from fear or anxiety

DENIAL

Refusing to accept/acknowledge some aspect of reality

DISPLACEMENT

Transferring distressing emotions from the true source onto a substitute target

PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES - FREUD

Freud says child development occured in 5 key stages

Each stage is associated with a different conflict that the child must resolve in order to move onto the next stage

Unresolved conflicts = fixation where child is stuck at stage

This leads to behaviours associated with this stage being cartied into adulthood

THE MAIN STAGES

Oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital

ORAL

• 0-1 The Ids demands are oral, e.g. sucking, biting, breastfeeding - primary source of interaction is through mouth

• Conflict in this stage can lead to mouth fixation

• Too little oral stimulation = ORAL DEPRIVATION

• Adults make up for this by smoking, nail biting and being sarcastic

• Too much oral stimulation = you’re ORALLY OVER INDULGED

• This is where a person is talkative with a habit to overeat/drink as well as being gullible

ANAL

• 1-3 years

• Pleasure is anus orientated + childs primary source of pleasure is bowel and bladder movement

• Early/harsh potty training = anal retentive personality who hates mess and is obsessively tidy/punctual

• Liberal potty training = anal explusive personality who is messi, disorganised and rebellious

PHALLIC

• 3-5yr

• Pleasure focus is in genital area

• Child experiences oedipus complex (boy) or electra complex (girl)

• Boys develop sexual feelings towards mother and hatred towards father

• Fear that father will castrate them as punishment, so they repress feelings toward mother and identify with father, taking on his values - superego develops

• Girls desire father + hate mother

• They experience penis envy + resolve this by identifying w mother and replacing desire for oenus with desire to have baby

• Consequences - reckless, narcissistic, possibly homosexual (not a consequence?)

• Freud - low temporal validity

LATENCY

• 6-puberty

• Sexual impulses repressed

• Mind focus on peer relationships, social communication, skills, self confidence

GENITAL

• sexual desires becoming conscious

• Fixation in earlier stages could lead to difficulty forming sexual relationships/sexual perversion

STRENGTH- SUPPORTING EVIDENCE FOR DISPLACEMENT + OEDIPUS COMPLEX - LITTLE HANS

• 4 year old

• Developed sever phobia of horses - specifically white with noseband and blinkers

• Freud suggests his fear was example of displacement. Repressed fear of father displaced onto horses. Noseband = dads moustache. Blinkers = glasses. By age 5, phobia lessened

• Shows he successfully resolved oedipus complex by identifying with dad according to Freud

STRENGTH - SUPPORTING EVIDENCE FOR REPRESSION - WILLIAMS 1994

• studiesd 129 adults who’d been treated for sexual abuse as a child age 10months - 12 years in a large city hospital

• Interviews conducted 17 years later after they all reached adulthood. 12% had no memories of childhood sexual abuse. 38% didnt recall the incident ir reason WHY they were at the hospital

• Suggests repression of traumatic memories

STRENGTH - PRACTICAL APPLICATION

• Psychodynamic approach led to development of psychoanalysis

• Employs range of techniques to access unconscious mind e.g. hypnosis + dream analysis

• Proven to successfully treat patients w mild neuroses BUT has been criticised as inappropriate/harmful for people suffering w harmful disorders e.g. schizophrenia

WEAKNESS X UNGENERALISABLE

• Freud relied heavily on case study method

• Theory was based on intensive study of individuals e.g. little hans

• Critics say its not possible to make universal generalisations about human nature based on small number of individuals