Psychology 2

Front 1

Psychodynamic assumption: influence of childhood experiences

Back 1

shape our personality. psychosexual stages. fixation of libido on different body parts. problems = fixated, long-lasting effect. frustration/overindulgence.

oral 0-18 F(pessimism/envy/sarc) O(optimism/gullibility/neediness)

anal 18-36 F(stubborn/possessive/overly-tidy) O(messy/disorganised/reckless)
phallic complexes resolved F(vain/sexuality/difficulty building'n'maintaining relationships)

Latent 5-puberty (no pleasure focus)
Genital puberty onwards F(well developed personality, well adjusted if complexes resolved)

Front 2

Psychodynamic assumption: the unconscious mind

Back 2

much of what goes on is in unconscious. unconscious is irrational, pleasure-seeking (pleasure principle). expressed indirectly, symbolically, through dreams. contains unresolved conflicts between id and superego. conflicts create anxiety, ego protects self with ego def mechs. e.g. boy regresses to anal stage cause of maternal rejection. displacement/projection/repression.

Front 3

Psychodynamic assumption: tripartite personality

Back 3

Id impulsive present at birth, demands immediate satisfaction (pleasure principle).

ego rational conscious, 2 years, balances demands of id and superego, reality principle. Superego 4 years after ident with parents, embodies sense of right and wrong, ideal self.

Front 4

Psychodynamic explanation for relationships.

Back 4

importance of early healthy relationships to be able to form the same later in life.

Childhood experiences (psychosexual development) uses fixation to explain nature of relationships. e.g. overindulgence in oral = optimism/neediness) phallic superego conscience ego ideal F(unable to form/maintain rels). descr oedipus(creates anx/resolved by ident).

Defence mechanisms forming relationships may bring back unpleasant emotions from past. ego def mechs to avoid anx. person in denial about sexuality form rels not in line with true sexuality/become dysfc. dishonest in rel = rationalisation. def mechs affect rels.

Parent-child relationships bowlby affectionless thieves maternal sep. meaningful adult rels dependent on close rel with mother. prototype. 2.5 yrs crit, 5 yrs sens. mat depr hyp.

Front 5

How pshychodynamic assumptions apply to dream analysis.

Back 5

behv due to unconc drives. psychoanalysis 'unconc conc'. estab whether repression causing illness. unconc expresses through dreams. threatening nature of unconc thoughts disguised symbols. dream anlys decode content. traumatic childh memories buried in unconc surf during drms. demands of id relegated to dreams so don't build up. ego usually blocks, and ego def mechs usually e.g. displ. h/e in drms ego def mechs low.

Front 6

Main principles of dream analysis

Back 6

freud said unconc expr through dreams. dream content reveals unconc mind thoughts.

Dreams as wish fulfilment unconc fulfilment of wishes that can't be satisfied in conc mind. dreams protect sleeper (primary-process) allow expression of buried urges (wish fulfilment)

Symbolic nature of dreams content expressed symbolically (manifest) psychoanalyst interprets symbs. gun = penis. cave = vaghole. consider life context. fish = piscean friend. rev dreamwork proc for latent. not everything is sign.

Dreamwork latent transformed to manifest by dreamworks. condensation displacement representation symbolism secondary elab. proc applied to repr wishes to create dreams.

role of therapist reverse dreamwork proc. decode manif to latent. offer mult interpretations.

Front 7

Effectiveness of dream analysis

Back 7

Research evidence

(Solms, 2000) PET scans highlight active areas during sleeping. rational part inactive during REM. memory/motivation areas active. i.e. ego becomes suspended, id takes rein.

(Hopfield et al., 1983) research on neural networks - comp simuls mimic brain action. they show when memory is overloaded, are condensed (supports Freud's notion of condensation)

Methodological issues conducted in sleep labs. that sleep/dream state not authentic (electrodes). lacks eco val. many studies have subjects that lack sleep (REM) impairs bio functs (neurotr/horm) conf var.

Subjective interpretation interpreting manif is subj to therapist. report of dream content is subj to indiv. goes against obj scientific aims of psych.

Front 8

Ethical issues of dream analysis

Back 8

Therapist-client relationship imbalance of power. therapist takes expert role, offers insights, patient relies on him. leads to over-independence on therapist. esp depressed people who overrely on others.

False memory syndrome condition in which person's identity and rels are affected by strongly believed but false mems. fms come to light during DA when ther 'uncovers' past trauma. patient likely to believe as therapist is authority fig.

(Toon et al., 1996) therapists induce fms so longer therapy more money. fms create anx.

Emotional harm therapist's insights may be distressing. distress caused may be greater than distress experienced by current problems. therapists should warn clients.

Front 9

Bowlby (1944): methodology and procedures.

Back 9

Methodology

series of case studies. contr group. final analysis looked at association between two groups and experiences of separation.

Participants 44 children attending guidance clinic. described as 'thieves'. not all charged cause age. 31m 13f. 5-17 yrs. 22 grade 4 (mult years) 4 grade 1 (1 theft). IQ 50% 85-114, 15 higher, 2 lower.

Control group 44 children at clinic similar age/sex/iq emotionally disturbed but not thieves. all children referred to clinic for emot probs.

Mothers mothers of children involved. interviewed to assess history of children.

Procedures

Initial examination opportunity sample. each child given mental test by psychologist to asses intellg (binet scale) also noted emotional attitude. social worker interviewed mother recorded prelim dets of child's early psychiatric hist. both reported to psychiatrist (Bowlby) who then interviewed mother'n'child. team considered school + other reports, discussed concls.

Therapy many children continued to meet psychiatrist weekly for 6 months, mothers discussed problems with soc wrk. such meetings enabled det case history to be rec, and for psychiatrist to diagnose child's emot probs.

Front 10

Bowlby (1944): findings and conclusions.

Back 10

Findings

Diagnosis to determine what caused 44 thieves to steal, he distinguished between personl types. bowbly recognised diffic due to not fully formed personalities. 6 personalities: normal/depressed/schiz/affectionless/circular(unstable between depr and overactivity)/hyperthymic(constantly overactive).

The affectionless character clear pattern emerged in relation to deliquency. 14 were affectionless, of which 12 suffered early mat sep.

Betty I. foster@7month-fh-fh home 5yr.

Derek B. hosp@18m diptheria 9m.

Kenneth W. 3-9yrs grandfather no ctrl.

such seps rare for other thieves (3/30). (2/44 ctrl)

Other factors (what causes deliq?) 17/27(non-sep) had "either extremely irritable/anxious/fussy or rigid/domineering/oppressive mothers". 5/27 had hating fathers. h/e sim reported by ctrl so may explain emot probs but not deliq.

Conclusions wouldn't have become offenders had they not harmful experiences (sep or bad mothers). bowlby subd to psychoanalytic view childhood exp vit to devlp. focsd on mot/chi rel eff on emot devlp. dmg to rel = undvp superego so redc sense of r/w. juv deliq conseq of other factors (poverty/housing/recr facilities) study emphasised early experiences.

Implications of treatment if correct, impl is treatment offered to deliqs, though slow n diffic. earlier diagnosis = betr trtmnt. pref appr is prev>trtmnt. mat sep may be unavdbl.

Front 11

Bowlby (1944) evaluation: methodology and procedures

Back 11

No causal findings tempting to conclude mat sep caused emot probs in many thieves. h/e var was not manip. only demonstr is relat between 2 vars. may be other vars that caused emot probs. e.g. discord in house 'caused' mat sep and affct. maybe affct caused mat sep. no causal concl.

Biased data bowbly lots of rich qual data based on ext intervs. 25 pages detlng case histories of thvs. +=many inisights into events that preceded emot probs. bowlby's perception biased by own belfs (his belf on early exp imprt). parents recollection inacc to lean tw portraying events positively.

The sample all 88 emot distrbd. cant generalise to all children. may be non-deliqs who have no emot distrb, deliq may be soc not emot. bowlby said examine children in court for stealing to determine whether all deliq cases have similar explan.

Front 12

Bowlby (1944) evaluation: alternative evidence

Back 12

research has shown mat sep alone may not cause longterm damage if given good sub emot care.

(Rutter and Sonuga-Barke, 2010) lack of emot care before age 6m can be recovered from as in case of romanian orphans.

bowlby's basic conc supp by research. lack of emot care during key devlp periods has lasting/serious conseqs (physical/intellectual retardation/diff in rels).

(Michael Rutter et al., 2010) compared romanian oprhans adopted before/after 6m. after = lagged behind ctrl group of UK childrn physically/cognitively/socially).

Front 13

Bowlby (1944) evaluation: ethical issues and social implications

Back 13

Confidentiality and privacy not afforded confidentiality. report gives fname L-initial. case history consid dets of lives, so easily identble. not clear whether parents/child knew would be publ. info collct thr routine intervs as trtmnt.

Valid consent parents usually consent for child. h/e today children also informed nature/purp of resrc. data colct routine trtmnt at clinic, decis to use data retrospective. (1936-39 - 1946) diffc to obt consent 5 yrs ltr. ethical guidelines published later.

Front 14

What are the strengths of psychodynamic approach?

Back 14

Nature and nurture takes both into acc. freud adult personlty product of innate drives (nat) and childhood expr (nurt). id is instinctual, biological aspect. id driven by eros (life drive) + thanatos (death drive). nurt infl is psychosexual stages. fixation = predictable adult chars. interactionist nature.

Usefulness highlights fact childhood experiences are important. adult personality greatly influenced.

freudian ideas influenced theraps for ment disrdrs. freud 1st to explain psychogological factors could explain physical symptse.g. paralysis. psychoanalysis widely used to help ppl overcome psychological problems. evid to support this.

generally, useful for understanding health prblms e.g. ment hlth caused by childhood trauma/unconc confl.

Reflects the complexity of human behaviour other approaches are reductionist. freud's explanations reflect complexity of bhv and exp. holistic (bhv aff by mult factors). behv therap symp sub. freud's psychoanalysis seeks deep meanings.

Front 15

What are the weaknesses of psychodynamic approach?

Back 15

Reductionist and oversimplified can also be seen as reductionist. 'mechanistic reductionism' simplifies complex humn behv to mechanics of mid (id ego superego) and early childhood expr. Ignores biochemistry/genetics. 1950s/60s autism was 'due to' mothers being distant. such psychodynamic explanation was oversimplification.

Determinist approach freud saw infant behv detrmnd by innate forces (libido) and adult behv determnd by childhood expr. no free will in who we become/bhv. personality predetermnd by unchangeable forces. we r infact able to change. determnst may give plausible excuse (i can't help the way i am) (it's not my fault) not responsbl for behv.

Cannot be proven wrong diffc to falsify. good theories can be tested.

(Karl Popper, 1934) falsification only way to be certain (swan analysis).

"all men have repressed homosexual tendencies" (can't be falsified i.e. too far repressed to see)

h/e, not impossible. research looked into rel between guilt/wrongdoing freud predicted inverse rel.

(MacKinnon, 1938) found indivs who cheated at task expressed less guilt when questioned about life.