OUTLINE AND EVALUATE THE PSYCHODYNAMIC APPROACH
The psychodynamic approach grows from the work of Freud who theorised about the
personality. He believed the part of the mind we are most aware of is the conscious mind
but it’s the unconscious that influences our behaviour. The unconscious contains
information we are unaware of like instincts and sometimes traumatic memories. The
personality is split into three parts: the id, the ego and the superego. The id lies in the
conscious mind and is described as the pleasure principle which is selfish and demands
immediate gratification. the superego also lies in the unconscious mind and is described as
the morality principle. Finally, the ego lies in the unconscious mind and is described as the
reality principle, and it uses defence mechanisms to prevent damage to itself. These defence
mechanisms consist of: Denial which is not addressing something due it being too painful to
accept. Displacement which is where someone transfers feelings from the true source
of emotion onto a substitute target. Thirdly repression which is where memories are forced
into the unconscious as they have an association with a high level of stress or trauma. The
psychodynamic theory states that events in or childhood have a great influence on our adult
lives by shaping our personality. The theory suggests that all children go through five stages
of development. The oral stage, anal stage, phallic stage, the latent stage and finally the
genital stage.
A weakness of the psychodynamic approach is that Freud's theory is controversial and is
seen as bizarre in many ways causing it to have very low creditability. However, it has real
world application as it has had an influence on psychology and Western contemporary
thoughts as it has been used to explain a wide range of phenomena including moral
development and gender.
A weakness of the psychodynamic approach is that it is culturally biased as all the people
Freud studied were from the Viennese middle-class, and his universal generalisations were
based on this highly unrepresentative sample. This means that the therapy he developed
named “the talking cure” is also culturally biased as it’s only suitable for cultures where the
discussion of personal problems is encouraged. However, these theories are very much
products of their time and place and the fixation on the Oedipus complex is intensely
androcentric which is common for society back then.
A strength of the psychodynamic approach is that is has intuitive appeal as few would deny
that there are, in fact, unconscious motivations and demonstrable defence mechanisms that
everyone uses from time to time especially in children when their Id’s aren’t fully developed
and so need to be protected from harm more often. However, this theory fails to include
biological elements that may explain the reactions to traumatic events meaning it isn’t a full
explanation of behaviour.
The psychodynamic approach grows from the work of Freud who theorised about the
personality. He believed the part of the mind we are most aware of is the conscious mind
but it’s the unconscious that influences our behaviour. The unconscious contains
information we are unaware of like instincts and sometimes traumatic memories. The
personality is split into three parts: the id, the ego and the superego. The id lies in the
conscious mind and is described as the pleasure principle which is selfish and demands
immediate gratification. the superego also lies in the unconscious mind and is described as
the morality principle. Finally, the ego lies in the unconscious mind and is described as the
reality principle, and it uses defence mechanisms to prevent damage to itself. These defence
mechanisms consist of: Denial which is not addressing something due it being too painful to
accept. Displacement which is where someone transfers feelings from the true source
of emotion onto a substitute target. Thirdly repression which is where memories are forced
into the unconscious as they have an association with a high level of stress or trauma. The
psychodynamic theory states that events in or childhood have a great influence on our adult
lives by shaping our personality. The theory suggests that all children go through five stages
of development. The oral stage, anal stage, phallic stage, the latent stage and finally the
genital stage.
A weakness of the psychodynamic approach is that Freud's theory is controversial and is
seen as bizarre in many ways causing it to have very low creditability. However, it has real
world application as it has had an influence on psychology and Western contemporary
thoughts as it has been used to explain a wide range of phenomena including moral
development and gender.
A weakness of the psychodynamic approach is that it is culturally biased as all the people
Freud studied were from the Viennese middle-class, and his universal generalisations were
based on this highly unrepresentative sample. This means that the therapy he developed
named “the talking cure” is also culturally biased as it’s only suitable for cultures where the
discussion of personal problems is encouraged. However, these theories are very much
products of their time and place and the fixation on the Oedipus complex is intensely
androcentric which is common for society back then.
A strength of the psychodynamic approach is that is has intuitive appeal as few would deny
that there are, in fact, unconscious motivations and demonstrable defence mechanisms that
everyone uses from time to time especially in children when their Id’s aren’t fully developed
and so need to be protected from harm more often. However, this theory fails to include
biological elements that may explain the reactions to traumatic events meaning it isn’t a full
explanation of behaviour.
