The Psychodynamic Approach

Assumptions
1. Behaviour is influenced by different levels of consciousness and ego defences
  1. Mind is like an iceberg, most of it is hidden
    1. Conscious, Preconscious and Unconscious
      1. Conscious mind is logical, unconscious is ruled by pleasure-seeking
  2. Conflicts between the tripartie, causes anxiety. Ego Defence Mechanisms try to resolve these
    1. DISPLACEMENT Transfer of impulses from one thing to another
    2. PROJECTION undesirable thoughts are transferred to someone else
    3. REPRESSION pushing memories deep into our unconscious
2. Behaviour is influenced by the 'tripartite personality'
  1. Id
    1. Present at birth
      1. Demands satisfaction; PLEASURE PRINCIPLE
        Main aim is to gain pleasure
  2. Ego
    1. Develops at 2 y/o
      1. Rational thinking; REALITY PRINCIPLE
        Balances the demands of the Id to be viewed as socially acceptable
  3. Superego
    1. Develops at 4 y/o
      1. Sense of right and wrong
        Seeks to perfect and civilise behaviour
Freud's Theory of Personality Development
1. Core of the Personality
  1. Id, Ego and Superego are constantly conflicting
  2. EGO STRENGTH is how well your ego deals with the conflicts of the Id and Supergo
    1. Can be damaged or enhanced by childhood experiences
    2. Dominated by the Id = antisocial
  3. Freud says a healthy personality has a balance between the 3
2. Psychosexual Stages
  1. At each stage a LIBIDO is attached to an organ
  2. 1. Oral
    1. 0-1.5 y/o
      1. Pleasure is gained from suckling and eating
    2. Accept affection, better relationships
    3. Oral aggressive (aggressive, envy) Oral Receptive (optimistic, gullible)
  3. 2. Anal
    1. 1.5-3 y/o
      1. libido = anus. Pleasure from excreting
    2. Deal with authority, organised
    3. Anal Retentive (stingy, neat) Anal Expulsive (messy, careless)
  4. 3. Phallic
    1. 3-6 y/o
      1. Libido = genitals
        Oedipus/ Electra complex. Resolution through coming to identity with same sex parent
    2. Development of a conscience and mature moral development
    3. Phallic character (reckless, self-assured, problems with sexual identity. Could lead to homosexuality)
  5. 5. Genital
    1. puberty
      1. libido = genitals. Focus on developing independence
    2. Genital Character (ideal, mature adult)
  6. 4. Latency
    1. 6-puberty
      1. Nothing happens
3. Experiences through these stages would result in different personality traits.
  1. Leads to fixation in a stage if one doesn't progress properly
4. Ego Defence Mechanisms and Personality
  1. Ego defences may affect personality
  2. 'Normal' ego defences are humour, sublimation and suppression
  3. Ego defences associated to mental illnesses are denial and distortion
Strengths and Weaknesses
1. Strengths
  1. Nature and Nurture
    1. Takes into account both nature and nurture
      1. Personality is explained in terms of innate drives (nature) but also childhood experiences (nurture)
        Interactionist makes it a key strength as it considers both views
  2. Usefulness
    1. Highlights the fact that childhood plays a key role in behaviour
      1. Psychoanalysis has been widely used.
        Freud has pioneered understanding mental disorders and their causes
2. Weaknesses
  1. Determinist
    1. Freud's idea of innate forces deciding our behaviour shows we have no free will in choosing our behaviour
      1. This is a weakness as we are able to change our behaviour if we want to
        Impies people can not be held responsible for their behaviour
  2. Falsifiability
    1. Freud's theory cannot be proven wrong
      1. Popper (1935) said falsification is the only way to determine whether something is true or not
        All males repressing homosexuality cannot be disproved for example
        However, not impossible to generate testable hypotheses. Study into guilt and wrongdoing (MacKinnon 1938)
Dream Analysis
1. Unconscious mind expresses itself in dreams
  1. Reveals what's in a person's unconscious
    1. AIM: applying meaning to dreams
2. Dreams as Wish Fulfilment
  1. Fulfilling desires that can not be fulfilled in the unconscious mind
    1. Dreams protect the sleeper
3. Dreams as repression
  1. Id = primary process thought
    1. instinct-driven unconscious thoughts
  2. Unconscious thoughts unacceptable for our conscious are repressed into dreams
  3. Freud: If we didn't dream, the repression of these thoughts would lead us to insanity
4. Using dream analysis in therapy
  1. Reversing the process of the manifest content
    1. Free association can be used to uncover latent content
      1. Discussing dreams with a psychoanalyst
  2. Psychoanalysts don't give their interpretation
    1. They relate it to the P's life experiences, and give them the choice to make sense
5. Research evidence
  1. Solms (2000) used PET scans to see what parts of the brain are active during dreaming
    1. Rational part of the brain inactive during REM sleep, meaning the Id is given a free reign
  2. Hopfield et al (1983). Neural networks condenses memories which supports Freud's idea that unconscious desires are repressed
6. The symbolic Nature of Dreams
  1. Manifest Content
    1. The things we remember. Images, thoughts
  2. Latent Content
    1. Real meaning of the dream. Hidden unconscious desires
  3. In order to understand dreams, you have to relate it in terms of the P's life
7. Dreamwork
  1. the process in which Latent content is transformed into manifest content
  2. 5 processes are used to find the content of repressed thoughts
  3. Condensation
    1. Thoughts are rich in detail, but are condensed to images, which can stand for many ideas/thoughts
  4. Displacement
    1. Emotional content of a dream is separated from it's real meaning to avoid us experiencing disturbed thoughts
  5. Representation
    1. A thought is translated into visual images
  6. Symbolism
    1. A symbol replaces an action, person or idea
  7. Secondary Elaboration
    1. Unconscious collect different thoughts/images and translates them into a logical story
Methodology
1. Case Studies
  1. Idiographic, focus on the individual
    1. Individuals are unique
  2. Little Hans
    1. Developed a fear that his father would castrate him for having incestuous thoughts towards his mother
      1. Oedipus Complex
    2. Interviews with his father, with questions supplied by Freud
      1. Hoped to combat his phobia of horses
  3. Strengths
    1. A true insight into behaviour is obtained; rather than a 'snapshot'
      1. Rich, qualitative data is obtained, which we can infer stronger conclusions
        Idiographic research emphasises the uniqueness of an individual
  4. Weaknesses
    1. Almost impossible to generalise
      1. Results are subjective to the experiementer, as data is qualitative. Prone to bias.
        Freud's sample were taken from middle-class Viennese women, with mental problems and in a sexually supressed culture
        Gender, culture and historical bias
2. Clinical Interviews
  1. Psychoanalysis uses clinical interviews, where the P is encouraged to talk about their emotions
  2. P's are asked predetermined Q's, and then the rest of the Q's are based on their replies
    1. Freud used this technique during dream analysis and free association
  3. Strengths
    1. Good relationships are created, therefore the P is more likely to open up
      1. Psychologists can analyse both verbal/non-verbal communication
        Qualitative data is obtained
  4. Weaknesses
    1. Hard to summarise as qualitative data makes it hard to distinguish trends. Generalisability problems
      1. Subjectivity and interviewer bias, as the interviewer will interview the way he sees fit, and interpret the answers according to their hypothesis

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The Psychodynamic Approach

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