Outline and evaluate the Psychodynamic Approach. [16 Marks]
One of the main assumptions of the psychodynamic approach is that the mind is split into three
pieces. The conscious, the preconscious and the unconscious. The conscious is what we are aware
of. The preconscious is things we could be aware of through slip of the tongues and dreams. Lastly,
the unconscious contains biological drives and instincts which we are not aware of. Psychodynamic
psychologist, Sigmund Freud believe it is the unconscious drives and instincts which influence our
behaviour.
Freud also believed that our personality is split into three and it is the dynamic interaction between
all three that determines our behaviour. The first is the id which we are born with and works on the
pleasure principle. It contains unconscious selfish desires. Next is our ego which works on the reality
principle which tries to balance the conflict between the Id and Superego. The superego works on
the morality principle and this punishes the ego through guilt. Furthermore, the psychodynamic
psychologists believe that the ego uses unconscious strategies to balance conflicts between the id
and superego through repression, displacement and denial. These are known as defence
mechanisms.
The psychodynamic approach believes that there are five psychosexual stages that determine our
adult personality. Each stage is marked by a different conflict and the child must resolve each stage
in order to move to the next. They believe that if a child does not complete each stage and that the
conflict isn’t resolved then fixation takes place in which the child carries certain behaviours in their
adult life associated with that stage. These stages are: Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency period and genital.
Oral is when the mouth is the pleasure focus, this is at age 0-1. Anal is when a child is 1-3 in which
the child gets pleasure from withholding and excreting faeces. Phallic is 3-5 in which the pleasure is
focused on genitals. Then Latency is from 5-12 in which earlier conflicts are repressed and genital is
12+ in which sexual desires become conscious and puberty hits.
During the phallic stage is the Oedipus and Electra complex. The Oedipus complex is when a little
boy develops feelings for his mother and as a result has hatred towards his father. However, due to
the fear of having his penis cut off, the little boy represses his feelings for his father and identifies
with him. He then displaces his feelings by finding a woman who is similar to his mother. Girls
experience the same thing but with penis envy, this is when they have hate for their mothers but
later identify with them and displace their feelings for their father with the need to have a child,
normally a boy.
One strength of the psychodynamic approach is that it is supported by case study evidence. This is
through the story of Little Hans. Little Hans was a boy who was in his phallic stage. He had a phobia
of horses after seeing once collapse on the road. However, Freud believed that he had actually
repressed his feelings of hatred for his father and displaced the fear of being castrated onto horses,
which were just a symbolic representation of him going through the Oedipus complex. As a result,
this counts as a case study providing evidence for defence mechanisms and the Oedipus complex.
, However, many of feuds case studies have been criticised because his ideas were developed using
small samples such as Little Hans and Rat man. Critic’s suggested that is impossible to make universal
claims based on such a limited sample. Furthermore, although Freud’s observations were very
detailed, they were highly subjective. As a result, in comparison to other approaches, Freud’s
methods of collecting information lacks scientific rigour therefore not supporting the emergence of
psychology as a science
Another limitation of the psychodynamic approach is that it includes loads of untestable concepts.
This makes it hard to claim whether they are falsifiable, such as the id or Oedipus complex. These
occur at an unconscious level making them difficult and possibly impossible to test for. In order for
something to be considered a science they must meet the scientific criteria of falsification, be either
true or false. Freud’s theories cannot be proved for either category and as a result the approach
does not consider the scientific criteria and is considered a pseudoscience and therefore again not
supporting the emergence of psychology as a science.
One strength of the approach is due to its involvement in therapy. Freud suggested that we should
talk about mental disorders and that there is not always a biological cause. He introduced a new
form of therapy called psychoanalysis. This type of therapy was designed for someone to try and
access another’s unconscious mind through a range of techniques such as dream analysis and
hypnosis. Psychoanalysis is seemed more appropriate for those suffering from mild neruoes but has
been claimed as inappropriate for those suffering with severe mental disorders such as
schizophrenia. However, psychoanalysis is the forerunner to many of our modern therapies which
denotes how the approach has practical application in the real world.
However, the approach is highly deterministic. This is because it states that all our behaviour is due
to our unconscious conflicts which were rooted in our childhood. Furthermore, even something as
small as a slip of the tongue is thought to have a symbolic meaning and is driven by an unconscious
force. As a result the approach has excluded free will and claims that none of our choices or
biological factors have an influence on our behaviour, thus being highly deterministic and a
reductionist when it comes to explaining behaviour.
One of the main assumptions of the psychodynamic approach is that the mind is split into three
pieces. The conscious, the preconscious and the unconscious. The conscious is what we are aware
of. The preconscious is things we could be aware of through slip of the tongues and dreams. Lastly,
the unconscious contains biological drives and instincts which we are not aware of. Psychodynamic
psychologist, Sigmund Freud believe it is the unconscious drives and instincts which influence our
behaviour.
Freud also believed that our personality is split into three and it is the dynamic interaction between
all three that determines our behaviour. The first is the id which we are born with and works on the
pleasure principle. It contains unconscious selfish desires. Next is our ego which works on the reality
principle which tries to balance the conflict between the Id and Superego. The superego works on
the morality principle and this punishes the ego through guilt. Furthermore, the psychodynamic
psychologists believe that the ego uses unconscious strategies to balance conflicts between the id
and superego through repression, displacement and denial. These are known as defence
mechanisms.
The psychodynamic approach believes that there are five psychosexual stages that determine our
adult personality. Each stage is marked by a different conflict and the child must resolve each stage
in order to move to the next. They believe that if a child does not complete each stage and that the
conflict isn’t resolved then fixation takes place in which the child carries certain behaviours in their
adult life associated with that stage. These stages are: Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency period and genital.
Oral is when the mouth is the pleasure focus, this is at age 0-1. Anal is when a child is 1-3 in which
the child gets pleasure from withholding and excreting faeces. Phallic is 3-5 in which the pleasure is
focused on genitals. Then Latency is from 5-12 in which earlier conflicts are repressed and genital is
12+ in which sexual desires become conscious and puberty hits.
During the phallic stage is the Oedipus and Electra complex. The Oedipus complex is when a little
boy develops feelings for his mother and as a result has hatred towards his father. However, due to
the fear of having his penis cut off, the little boy represses his feelings for his father and identifies
with him. He then displaces his feelings by finding a woman who is similar to his mother. Girls
experience the same thing but with penis envy, this is when they have hate for their mothers but
later identify with them and displace their feelings for their father with the need to have a child,
normally a boy.
One strength of the psychodynamic approach is that it is supported by case study evidence. This is
through the story of Little Hans. Little Hans was a boy who was in his phallic stage. He had a phobia
of horses after seeing once collapse on the road. However, Freud believed that he had actually
repressed his feelings of hatred for his father and displaced the fear of being castrated onto horses,
which were just a symbolic representation of him going through the Oedipus complex. As a result,
this counts as a case study providing evidence for defence mechanisms and the Oedipus complex.
, However, many of feuds case studies have been criticised because his ideas were developed using
small samples such as Little Hans and Rat man. Critic’s suggested that is impossible to make universal
claims based on such a limited sample. Furthermore, although Freud’s observations were very
detailed, they were highly subjective. As a result, in comparison to other approaches, Freud’s
methods of collecting information lacks scientific rigour therefore not supporting the emergence of
psychology as a science
Another limitation of the psychodynamic approach is that it includes loads of untestable concepts.
This makes it hard to claim whether they are falsifiable, such as the id or Oedipus complex. These
occur at an unconscious level making them difficult and possibly impossible to test for. In order for
something to be considered a science they must meet the scientific criteria of falsification, be either
true or false. Freud’s theories cannot be proved for either category and as a result the approach
does not consider the scientific criteria and is considered a pseudoscience and therefore again not
supporting the emergence of psychology as a science.
One strength of the approach is due to its involvement in therapy. Freud suggested that we should
talk about mental disorders and that there is not always a biological cause. He introduced a new
form of therapy called psychoanalysis. This type of therapy was designed for someone to try and
access another’s unconscious mind through a range of techniques such as dream analysis and
hypnosis. Psychoanalysis is seemed more appropriate for those suffering from mild neruoes but has
been claimed as inappropriate for those suffering with severe mental disorders such as
schizophrenia. However, psychoanalysis is the forerunner to many of our modern therapies which
denotes how the approach has practical application in the real world.
However, the approach is highly deterministic. This is because it states that all our behaviour is due
to our unconscious conflicts which were rooted in our childhood. Furthermore, even something as
small as a slip of the tongue is thought to have a symbolic meaning and is driven by an unconscious
force. As a result the approach has excluded free will and claims that none of our choices or
biological factors have an influence on our behaviour, thus being highly deterministic and a
reductionist when it comes to explaining behaviour.
