Psychology - The Psychodynamic Approach

The Psychodynamic Approach – Sigmund Freud et al

The main assumptions of the psychodynamic approach:

The psychodynamic approach involves any theory in psychology which focuses upon functioning being based upon the interaction of drives and forces within a person as well as that between the different structures of their personality.

There are 4 main assumptions of the psychodynamic approach. These are:

• -  Our behaviour and feelings are powerfully affected by unconscious motives
• -  Our behaviour and feeling as adults are rooted in our childhood experiences
• -  All behaviour has a cause so therefore all behaviour is determined
• -  Personality is made up of three parts:

   - The id

   - The ego

   - The super-ego

The assumption that our behaviour and feelings are powerfully affected by unconscious motives comprises mental processes that are usually inaccessible to the conscious mind but actually influence our judgement, feelings and behaviour. This was the theory was stated by Wilson in 2002, but in 1915 another psychologist, Sigmund Freud, said that the unconscious mind is the primary source of all human behaviour. He used a metaphor of an iceberg, describing that the most important parts of the human mind our parts that cannot be seen, much like an iceberg where most of it is hidden under the water.

The second assumption, that our behaviour and feelings as adults are as a result of childhood experiences suggests that events that occur in one’s childhood have a great influence on the adult life by shaping people’s personalities. These events that occur in childhood are theorized as remaining in the unconscious mind which then causes problems later on when the child has become an adult. These events according to the psychodynamic approach occur within what they call the psychosexual development.

The psychodynamic theory strongly believes that all behaviour has a cause and therefore is determined. The assumption suggests that our behaviour is caused entirely by unconscious factors over which we have no control. In theory this implies that unconscious thoughts and feelings can transfer to the conscious mind through parapraxes, which are more commonly known as Freudian slips. By this we, as people, reveal what is really on our minds by saying things that we didn’t really mean to say out loud. Freud believe that these tongue slips provided an insight into the unconscious mind as well as that there were no accidents as every behaviour is significant.

The final assumption, that personality is made up of three parts or tripartite, is made up of the id, the ego and the super-ego. The id is defined as being the primitive and instinctive com*ponent of personality which consists of all biological components of personality which are present in the individual since birth. These biological components included the Ero and Thanatos instincts or libido and aggressive instincts. The ego is developed in order to mediate between unrealistic id and the external real world. The assumption suggests that the decision making component of personality. The super-ego incorporates the values…