The Psychodynamic Approach

The Psychodynamic Approach

1. Assumptions

   • Behaviour is influenced by different levels of consciousness and ego defences
     • Mind is like an iceberg, most of it is hidden
       • Conscious, Preconscious and Unconscious
         • Conscious mind is logical, unconscious is ruled by pleasure-seeking
     • Conflicts between the tripartie, causes anxiety. Ego Defence Mechanisms try to resolve these
       • DISPLACEMENT Transfer of impulses from one thing to another
       • PROJECTION undesirable thoughts are transferred to someone else
       • REPRESSION pushing memories deep into our unconscious
   • Behaviour is influenced by the 'tripartite personality'
     • Id
       • Present at birth
         • Demands satisfaction; PLEASURE PRINCIPLE
           • Main aim is to gain pleasure
     • Ego
       • Develops at 2 y/o
         • Rational thinking; REALITY PRINCIPLE
           • Balances the demands of the Id to be viewed as socially acceptable
     • Superego
       • Develops at 4 y/o
         • Sense of right and wrong
           • Seeks to perfect and civilise behaviour

2. Freud's Theory of Personality Development

   • Core of the Personality
     • Id, Ego and Superego are constantly conflicting
     • EGO STRENGTH is how well your ego deals with the conflicts of the Id and Supergo
       • Can be damaged or enhanced by childhood experiences
       • Dominated by the Id = antisocial
     • Freud says a healthy personality has a balance between the 3
   • Psychosexual Stages
     • At each stage a LIBIDO is attached to an organ
     • 1. Oral
       • 0-1.5 y/o
         • Pleasure is gained from suckling and eating
       • Accept affection, better relationships
       • Oral aggressive (aggressive, envy) Oral Receptive (optimistic, gullible)
     • 2. Anal
       • 1.5-3 y/o
         • libido = anus. Pleasure from excreting
       • Deal with authority, organised
       • Anal Retentive (stingy, neat) Anal Expulsive (messy, careless)
     • 3. Phallic
       • 3-6 y/o
         • Libido = genitals
           • Oedipus/ Electra complex. Resolution through coming to identity with same sex parent
       • Development of a conscience and mature moral development
       • Phallic character (reckless, self-assured, problems with sexual identity. Could lead to homosexuality)
     • 5. Genital
       • puberty
         • libido = genitals. Focus on developing independence
       • Genital Character (ideal, mature adult)
     • 4. Latency
       • 6-puberty
         • Nothing happens
   • Experiences through these stages would result in different personality traits.
     • Leads to fixation in a stage if one doesn't progress properly
   • Ego Defence Mechanisms and Personality
     • Ego defences may affect personality
     • 'Normal' ego defences are humour, sublimation and suppression
     • Ego defences associated to mental illnesses are denial and distortion

3. Strengths and Weaknesses

   • Strengths
     • Nature and Nurture
       • Takes into account both nature and nurture
         • 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
     • Usefulness
       • Highlights the fact that childhood plays a key role in behaviour
         • Psychoanalysis has been widely used.
           • Freud has pioneered understanding mental disorders and their causes
   • Weaknesses
     • Determinist
       • Freud's idea of innate forces deciding our behaviour shows we have no free will in choosing our behaviour
         • 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
     • Falsifiability
       • Freud's theory cannot be proven wrong
         • 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)

4. Dream Analysis

   • Unconscious mind expresses itself in dreams
     • Reveals what's in a person's unconscious
       • AIM: applying meaning to dreams
   • Dreams as Wish Fulfilment
     • Fulfilling desires that can not be fulfilled in the unconscious mind
       • Dreams protect the sleeper
   • Dreams as repression
     • Id = primary process thought
       • instinct-driven unconscious thoughts
     • Unconscious thoughts unacceptable for our conscious are repressed into dreams
     • Freud: If we didn't dream, the repression of these thoughts would lead us to insanity
   • Using dream analysis in therapy
     • Reversing the process of the manifest content
       • Free association can be used to uncover latent content
         • Discussing dreams with a psychoanalyst
     • Psychoanalysts don't give their interpretation
       • They relate it to the P's life experiences, and give them the choice to make sense
   • Research evidence
     • Solms (2000) used PET scans to see what parts of the brain are active during dreaming
       • Rational part of the brain inactive during REM sleep, meaning the Id is given a free reign
     • Hopfield et al (1983). Neural networks condenses memories which supports Freud's idea that unconscious desires are repressed
   • The symbolic Nature of Dreams
     • Manifest Content
       • The things we remember. Images, thoughts
     • Latent Content
       • Real meaning of the dream. Hidden unconscious desires
     • In order to understand dreams, you have to relate it in terms of the P's life
   • Dreamwork
     • the process in which Latent content is transformed into manifest content
     • 5 processes are used to find the content of repressed thoughts
     • Condensation
       • Thoughts are rich in detail, but are condensed to images, which can stand for many ideas/thoughts
     • Displacement
       • Emotional content of a dream is separated from it's real meaning to avoid us experiencing disturbed thoughts
     • Representation
       • A thought is translated into visual images
     • Symbolism
       • A symbol replaces an action, person or idea
     • Secondary Elaboration
       • Unconscious collect different thoughts/images and translates them into a logical story

5. Methodology

   • Case Studies
     • Idiographic, focus on the individual
       • Individuals are unique
     • Little Hans
       • Developed a fear that his father would castrate him for having incestuous thoughts towards his mother
         • Oedipus Complex
       • Interviews with his father, with questions supplied by Freud
         • Hoped to combat his phobia of horses
     • Strengths
       • A true insight into behaviour is obtained; rather than a 'snapshot'
         • Rich, qualitative data is obtained, which we can infer stronger conclusions
           • Idiographic research emphasises the uniqueness of an individual
     • Weaknesses
       • Almost impossible to generalise
         • 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
   • Clinical Interviews
     • Psychoanalysis uses clinical interviews, where the P is encouraged to talk about their emotions
     • P's are asked predetermined Q's, and then the rest of the Q's are based on their replies
       • Freud used this technique during dream analysis and free association
     • Strengths
       • Good relationships are created, therefore the P is more likely to open up
         • Psychologists can analyse both verbal/non-verbal communication
           • Qualitative data is obtained
     • Weaknesses
       • Hard to summarise as qualitative data makes it hard to distinguish trends. Generalisability problems
         • Subjectivity and interviewer bias, as the interviewer will interview the way he sees fit, and interpret the answers according to their hypothesis