Psychodynamic approach

  1. Wundt and the origins of psychology

know as the father of psychology, who turned psychology from philosophical roots inot controlled research

used a technique called introspection to study human mind scientifically

introspection- ‘looking into’ process by which a person gains knowledge about their mental and emotional states

psychodynamic approach

personality

  • the ID - responsible for instant gratification (temptation for a cigarette, urge to check social media)

    come entirely form the unconscious mind - responsible for most of our behaviour

  • the super-ago - wants to follow rules and morals

    sometimes can be conscious, preconscious or unconscious mind

  • the ego - decides how a person will actually behave by siding with either the ID or the super-ego, we use the term ‘mediates’ to describe whether the ego follows the ID or the super-ego.

    sometimes it ‘compromises’ by finding a middle ground

    it is also found in the conscious mind and preconscious mind

    Because of the fact that the unconscious mind takes up the majority of the mind, the ID has stronger urges than the super-ego - this can make us feel frustrated when the go gives into the super-ego or feel guility when the ego gives into the ID, therefore we have developed defence mechanisms

    defence mechanisms are used when we feel an impulse from our ID, our ego has to decide whether to give into those impulses, while also mediating the super-ego, therefore, tje go uses defence mechanisms to defend against the unconscious mind/ID

  • displacement - when the ego redirects the anger from the ID towards something else

  • repression - when the ego pushes the impulses of the ID back into the unconscious mind

  • denial - when the ego ignores the super-ego and refuses to believe it has given in to the ID. This means there are no feelings of guilt

    Freud believed that the unconsciouus mind effected by repressed childhood experiences. these repressed memories shape the impulses of the person later in life

  • Old, Age, Pensioners, Love, Golf

    The five psychosexual stages

  • oral- lasts from birth to 18 months- main impulse is to put things in the mouth

  • anal- from the ages of 18 months to 3 years- urge for instant gratification focuses on the anus - potty training

    anally expulsive- obsessed with the potty

    anally retentive- anxiety around the potty

  • phallic- lasts from ages 3 to 6- ID main focus is the penis

    boy becomes attracted to his mother and jealous of his father - Oedipus complex

    castration anxiety- fear that father will overpower him and remove his penis

    belief that girls also focus on the penis and become angry that they cant have one - causing them to get angry at their mothers as they believe that their mother removed their penis (penis envy)

    girls become sexually attracted to their father and do not trust their mother (electra complex)

  • latent- occurs between ages 6-12 (latent meaning hidden), impulses spread out throughout body

  • genital- 12+, relates to sexual reproduction, ID focus on reproductive organs

    girls focus on their own sexual organs

    ID biggest desire = sex

    according to freud, distressing experiences caused in the first three psychosexual stages are called psychological traumas which is repressed in the unconscious mind, this means that it can influence behaviour in adult life - this leads to fixation

    the fixations

oral- has habits such as smoking and biting nails

anally expulsive- overly emotional, prone to anger, messy

anally retentive- neat and organised, careful with money

phallic- jealous, anxious

Case study- Little Hans (5 years old)

looked into patients dreams as he believed dreams were actually the unconscious mind

  • little hans was scared of horses

  • believed hans was in the phallic stage

  • hans didn’t like his father or his newborn sister, freud concluded he had oedipus complex

  • believed he had a unconscious fear of his father however it had been redirected at horses - displacement

    evaluation:

  • case study- looked at one individual, hard to generalise to wider populations

    case studies are non-experimental method- no IV manipulated- hard to establish cause and effect relationship

  • no direct observation- data gathered through letters from Han’s father - self report method- people responses may not be objective/no empirical evidence