Psychology - Approaches to Psychology - The Psychodynamic Approach

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What is the Psychodynamic Approach?
A perspective that descrives the different forces (dynamics), most of which are unconscious, that operate on the mind and direct human behaviour and experience
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What is the Unconscious?
The part of the mind that we are unaware of but which continues to direct much of our behaviour
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What is the Id?
Entirely unconscious, the id is make up of selfish aggressive instincts that demand immediate gratification
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What is the Ego?
The 'reality check' that balances the conflicting demands of the id and the superego
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What is the Superego?
The moralistic part of our personality which represents the ideal self: how we ought to be
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What are Defence Mechanisms?
Unconscious strategies that the ego uses to manage the conflict between the id and the superego
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What are the Psychosexual Stages?
Five developmental stages that all children pass through. At each stage there is a different conflict, the outcome of which determines future development
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What Three Things Did Sigmund Freud Suggest the Mind was Made up of?
Conscious - what we are aware of. Pre-conscious - thoughts we may become aware of through dreams and 'slips of the tongue'. Unconscious - a vast storehouse of biological drives and instincts that influence our behaviour
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What is the Tripartite Structure of Personality?
Id, Ego and Superego
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How do the Five Psychosexual Stages Determine Adult Personality?
Each stage has a different conflict that the child has to resolve in order to move onto the next stage. Any conflict that is unresolved leads to fixation where the child becomes 'stuck' and carries behaviours associated with that stage
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What are the Five Psychosexual Stages?
Oral (0-1 years) - mouth, mother's breast. Anal (1-3 years) - anus, pleasure from withholding/eliminating faeces. Phallic (3-5 years) - genital area. Latency - earlier conflicts = repressed. Genital (puberty) - sexual desires = conscious
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What is the Oedipus Complex?
Phallic stage - little boys develop incestuous feelings towards their mother and a murderous hatred towards their father. Later boys repress feelings for mother and identify with father, taking on gender role/moral values. Girls = penis envy
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What Unconscious Strategies/Defence Mechanisms are Used by the Ego to Keep the Id 'in check' and reduce anxiety?
Repression - forcing a distressing memory out of the conscious mind. Denial - refusing to acknowledge reality. Displacement - transferring feelings from their true source onto a substitute target
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AO3 - The Approach has Explanatory Power
Freud's theory - bizarre/controversial - huge influence on Western contemporary thought. Used to explain behaviours (moral, mental disorders). Influence of childhood on adult personality. With behaviousism - dominant approach - first half of 20th C.
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AO3 - Case Study Method that Freud Relied on has Been Criticised
Ideas came from case studies (e.g. Little Hans) - impossible to make universal claims - human nature (simple sample). Observations = detailed/carefully recorded - subjective - other researchers wouldn't draw same conclusions. Lacks scientific rigour
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AO3 - Includes Lots of Untestable Concepts
Karl Popper - psychodynamic approach doesn't meet scientific criterion of falsification - can't be proved/disproved. Oedipus concept/Id - occur at unconscious level - impossible to test. Approach named a 'pseudoscience' ('fake' science)
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AO3 - Practical Application in the Real World
Freud introduced psychoanalysis - access unconscious mind by hypnosis/dream analysis. Psychoanalysis - suitable for people with mild neuroses - criticised - innapropriate with severe disorders e.g. schizophrenia. Influenced psychotherapies of today
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AO3 - It is Based on Psychic Determinism
Explains all behaviour as determined by unconscious conflicts that are rooted in childhood. Even a 'slip of the tongue' is driven by unconscious forces - deep symbolic meaning. Determinist - suggests free will may have no influence on behaviour
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

What is the Unconscious?

Back

The part of the mind that we are unaware of but which continues to direct much of our behaviour

Card 3

Front

What is the Id?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What is the Ego?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

What is the Superego?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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