Psychodynamic explanation

ID, ego and superego

ID, ego and superego

ID- birth to 2yrs

Ego- developed at 2 yrs

Superego- developed between 3-5

ID

Contained within the unconscious mind

Governed by pleasure principle

Selfish

Immature

Impulsive

Ego

Make rational plans about how to get what they need

Should be dominant

Reality principle

Anal

Psychological

Rational intellect

Superego

Sense of morality

Conscience- makes us feel guilty about thoughts and wishes that conflict w societal norms

Social |+ phallic

Moral code= norms passed down by society

Morality principle

Dictates between right and wrong

Focuses on ideal situation instead of reality

Unconscious mind

Contains repressed thoughts and feelings. Traumatic experiences are actively pushed here by a defense mechanism: REPRESSION

Unconscious shows itself: dreams, hypnosis, world association, parapraxes

Personality theory

Conflict between desires and emotions of ID and superego

Tension becomes os great it cause the individual to stop functioning/ become psychotic

Ego- displaces the tension of the conflict and fear of the conflict onto an external stimuli

This causes phobia of that object

Defence mechanism

Conflict between ID + superego.

Ego- resolves conflict- protects us from becoming aware of anything that could overwhelm the unconscious mind w -ve emotions.

DM allow the ID’s socially unacceptable impulses to be expressed in a socially acceptable way

Example- case study

Dream work and wish fulfilment

DM used by ego- DREAMWORK

Turns unconscious desires into symbols which can be linked together in dreams

Purpose of dreams= wish fulfilment- dreams help express id’s desires

Manifest content of dreams can be interpreted to reveal the latent content

Psychosexual stages of development

Division of first 5 years Ito 3 stages.

Each stage focuses on a different erogenous zone + each stage is associated with a conflict

Conflicts can be resolved if into resolved- lead to development of certain personality traits through fixation

Stages

Birth to 1yrs- oral stage

2yrs- anal stage

3-5 yrs- phallic stage

Oral stage

Birth- 18 months

Mouth- erogenous zone

Pleasure- sucking and biting

Conflict- weaning (moving from milk to solid foods)

Anal stage

2yrs

Anus and rectum= erogenous zone

Pleasure: withholding/ expelling faeces/ urine

Conflict- potty training

Phallic stage

3-5 yrs

Genitals- erogenous zone

Pleasure- touching genitals receiving attention from opposite sex

Conflict- Oedipus complex: moving from -ve emotions to +ve emotions towards the same sex

Oedipus complex

Male infants (3-5 yrs)- fear their dad as they want to spend all the time with mom plus want all the attention from mum to themselves

Fear of castration as a punishment- leads to castration anxiety

-ve emotions towards father Is RESOLVED through DM: IDENTIFICATION

Child develops +ve emotions towards father- wishes to be like them

If conflict is unresolved- -ve emotions moved to unconscious mind (repression)- Oedipus complex

Resolving of Oedipus complex

RESOLVED: moves onto super ego

UNRESOLVED: weakened superego and immoral and impulsive behaviour

PPQ answer

Fear is repressed into the unconscious to protect the ego

Phobia can be a redirected fear from an intensely scary experience placed onto an object

Denied/repressed impulses of ID which occur in psychosexual stages of development

Conflict between desires of ID + SUPEREGO

Conflict is repressed into the unconscious and the phobic stimuli’s represents this conflict

Deterministic

Proposes that anxiety and fear related disorders develops due to unresolved conflict during psychosexual stages- nothing can be done to overcome/avoid it