Based on work of Sigmund Freud, unconscious mind controls behaviour, people are born with basic instincts+needs and behaviour is partly controlled by unconscious mind due to this
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Role of the unconscious
Likens mind to an iceberg, Freud believed that most of our everyday actions and behaviours are a product of the unconscious mind
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Freudian slips
sometimes reveal themselves during dreams or in slips of the tongue, ometimes the unconscious mind comes out when the ego can’t censor the id
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The structure of personality
Seperated into the Id, Ego, and the Superego
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The Id
in the unconscious, follows the pleasure principle, demands immediate satisfaction regardless of circumstance and present from birth
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The Ego
develops around the age of 2 years, resolves the conflict between the demands of the id & the superego and follows the reality principle, manages demands with defence mechanisms
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The Superego
develops at about 5 years old, is sense of right and wrong and is based on the morality principle, punishes ego for ‘wrongdoing’ with guilt
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Role of defence mechanisms
Operate unconsciously, work by distorting reality to reduce anxiety, stops individual from becoming aware of any unpleasant thoughts and feelings associated with a traumatic situation
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Examples of defence mechanisms
Denial, repression, displacement
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Psychosexual development
Personality develops through childhood, need to pass through 5 stages successfully to develop a strong EGO, sexual energy is expressed and discharged in diff ways with diff body parts, unresolved conflict leads to fixation
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Oral (Birth to 1 year)
0-1 years, id present, mouth:pleasure focus, desire object:breasts, conflict:weaning, starts developing ego due to delayed gratification, fixation: smoking/drinking, sarcasm
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Anal (1 to 3 years)
Pleasure focus:anus in withholding+expelling faeces, conflict:potty training, fixation:anally retentive/expulsive personality
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Phallic (3 to 5 years)
Pleasure focus:genital area, conflict:Oedipus/Electra conflict+castration anxiety/penis envy, boys see father as rival+must identify with him, girls love father+replace envy with desire to have child leads to identify with mother, fixation:phallic P
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Latency (6 to puberty)
Period during which earlier conflicts are repressed to allow children to focus their energy, sexual urges directed to hobbies, need to develop same sex friendships
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Genital (Puberty 12+)
Need to develop healthy adult relationships
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Strength of approach
Influential at the time, shifted psychological thinking, suggested new methodological procedures for empirical evidence,
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Strengths and weaknesses of using case studies
In-depth detailed analysis, however limited no. of patients from own inner circle e.g. middle-aged/midde-class women, cannot generalise to other people
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Implications of placing importance on childhood experiences
Any problems in adulthood can be blamed on how parents raised you, emphasises sexual factors in determining personality
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How did it lead to a greater acceptance of abnormality?
Due to view that everyone suffered from internal conflicts, different to previous ideas that madness was caused by possession
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What sort of treatments could be developed from psychodynamic approach?
Psychoanalysis: range of techniques designed to access the unconscious e.g. free association+dream analysis, however is inappropriate for serious mental disorders
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Do all cultures value insight into the unconscious?
Very western standard, in China people avoid the causes of their distress to prevent it being made worse, little relevance for other cultures
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Which feature of science does this approach fail to meet?
Not falsifiable as not open to empirical testing, many features occur at unconscious level making it impossible to test
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Other cards in this set
Card 2
Front
Role of the unconscious
Back
Likens mind to an iceberg, Freud believed that most of our everyday actions and behaviours are a product of the unconscious mind
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