The Psychodynamic Approach (AQA A Level Psychology)

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  • What is an assumption of the psychodynamic approach regarding a person's early childhood experiences?

    An assumption of the psychodynamic approach is that experiences in early childhood play a key role in determining an individual's mental/emotional state and outcomes in later life.

  • Which analogy did Freud use to conceptualise the different levels of consciousness?

    a) A tree

    b) A house

    c) An iceberg

    d) A banana

    Freud used an iceberg analogy to conceptualise the different levels of consciousness.

  • What is held in the preconscious mind?

    The preconscious mind holds dreams and 'Freudian slips' and sits just below the surface of the conscious mind.

  • True or False?

    People are generally aware of and in touch with their unconscious mind.

    False.

    The unconscious mind is the part of the mind that holds information and feelings that the individual may be unaware of.

    E.g., secret fears or desires, repressed memories or emotions, the effects of trauma.

  • Which one of the following is not a component of the tripartite structure of personality?

    a) Ego

    b) Oedipus

    c) Id

    d) Superego

    b.

    Oedipus is not a component of the tripartite structure of personality.

  • The id operates according to:

    a) the fun factor

    b) the reality principle

    c) the pleasure principle

    d) the Oedipus complex

    c.

    The id operates according to the pleasure principle.

  • Define superego.

    The superego represents an internalised sense of right and wrong, the conscience/morality/ethics/judgemental aspect of the self.

  • A strength of psychodynamic theory is that it is high in:

    a) reliability

    b) ethical validity

    c) external validity

    c.

    A strength of psychodynamic theory is that it is high in external validity.

    It makes sense to see the link between parental treatment of the child and conflicted behaviour in the adult.

  • True or False?

    Freud's theories of the unconscious mind and structure of personality are extremely difficult to operationalise, test and measure.

    True.

    Freud's theories of the unconscious mind and structure of personality are extremely difficult to operationalise, test and measure.

    This is because the concepts and mechanisms involved are highly subjective and open to interpretation.

  • Freud's theory suffers from psychic determinism. Define psychic determinism.

    Psychic determinism assumes that unconscious conflicts guide behaviour; the idea that nothing happens by chance and that mental events always have an underlying cause that can be uncovered through psychoanalysis.

  • According to Freud, the ego uses defence mechanisms to help balance the conflicting demands of:

    a) the id and the superego

    b) the id and the ego

    c) the id and the oedipus complex

    a.

    According to Freud, the ego uses defence mechanisms to help balance the conflicting demands of the id and the superego.

  • Which one of the following is not a defence mechanism?

    a) Repression

    b) Denial

    c) Reproachment

    d) Displacement

    c.

    Reproachment is not a defence mechanism.

  • 'I shout at my children because I cannot shout at my boss' is an example of:

    a) repression

    b) regression

    c) denial

    d) displacement

    d.

    'I shout at my children because I cannot shout at my boss' is an example of displacement.

  • Which ages does the anal phase span?

    The anal phase spans the ages of 1-3 years.

  • If a child becomes 'stuck' at one of the psychosexual stages this is known as ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎.

    If a child becomes 'stuck' at one of the psychosexual stages this is known as fixation.

    This happens if the child's upbringing is dysfunctional or if they have suffered some sort of trauma or adverse experience.

  • Define the Oedipus complex.

    The Oedipus complex is the psychosexual stage in which boys initially feel an unconscious desire for closeness to their mother and hate/fear their father due to castration anxiety.

  • Which behavioural cues suggest that someone is fixated in the anal retentive stage?

    a) Neatness, perfectionism, neuroticism 

    b) Messiness, insensitivity, chaos

    c) Sarcastic comments, addiction, neediness

    a.

    Neatness, perfectionism, neuroticism suggest that someone is fixated in the anal retentive stage.

  • True or False?

    Psychotherapy is largely ineffective in helping people to deal with inner conflicts which result in defence mechanisms.

    False.

    Psychotherapy can enable people to come to terms with and recognise the underlying conflicts and trauma that may result in defence mechanisms.

    This is highly applicable to counselling for a range of conditions, e.g., phobias, sexual fetishes, anger issues.

  • Psychodynamic theory is unfalsifiable which means that:

    a) it can be tested using objective methods

    b) it can only measure observable behaviour

    c) it resists hypothesis-testing and a scientific approach

    c.

    Psychodynamic theory is unfalsifiable which means that it resists hypothesis-testing and a scientific approach.

    It is based on subjective methods and measures which are open to interpretation.

  • There are alternative explanations for behaviour: someone who is conflicted may have ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ this behaviour from parental role ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ rather than it being the result of unconscious drives.

    There are alternative explanations for behaviour: someone who is conflicted may have learned this behaviour from parental role models rather than it being the result of unconscious drives.