Overview: >the role of the unconscious >the id, ego and super ego >defence mechanisms: repression, denial and displacement, psychosexual stages >most closely associated with the work of Freud
The role of the unconscious: >Freud suggested that the part of our mind that we know and aware of, is the conscious mind But most of our mind is made up of the unconscious >this has a significant influence on our behaviour and personality. The unconscious also stores threatening and disturbing memories that have been repressed or forgotten. We also have a preconscious - these are our thoughts and ideas when we dream or things that slip through our tongue e.g. calling a teacher mum
The structure of personality: Personality is a 'tripartite' (Freud) - made up of three parts: 1) THE ID > the id gets what it wants/ it operates on a pleasure principle/mass of unconscious drives/present at birth (the only one) Freud described babies as bundles of id/ the id is entirely selfish throughout life and demands instant gratification of its needs 2)THE EGO> reality principle/mediator between the other two parts of our personality/develops around the age of two/reduces conflict between the other two <it does this through defence mechanisms The defence mechanisms: -Repression = forcing a distressing memory out of the conscious mind -Denial - refusing to acknowledge some aspect of reality -Displacement = transferring feelings from true source of distressing emotion onto a substitute target 3) SUPER EGO> formed at the end of the phallic stage/around the age of 5/internalised sense of right and wrong/morality principle based on the moral standards of the child's same sex parent/punishes the ego for wrongdoing
Freud's Psychosexual stages: child development occurred in 5 stages/each stage has a different conflict that the child must resolve to progress onto the next stage/ any unresolved conflict leads to fixation where the child becomes stuck and carries certain behaviours and conflicts associated with that stage into adult life....it is therefore important that children complete all stages successfully, otherwise there are problems in adult life
Evaluation of the Psychodynamic approach: Explanatory power: -praised for making connections between childhood experiences and latter developments -Freud is accused of being very bizarre within his research The case study method: -intensive study on single individuals - difficult to make generalised and universal claims -interpretations made by Freud were highly subjective Untestable concepts: -Karl Popper argued that the psychodynamic approach does not meet the scientific criteria in the sense that it is not open to empirical testing - the Id/ego/ super ego happen at a unconscious level making them difficult, if not impossible to measure
Pedagogy: - The Id/Ego/Super ego - get students to draw or design in whatever way they wish each of these -The Id/Ego/Super ego - role play of each to the rest of the class -Psychosexual stages = story board creation OR a time line and create it big enough to stick around the classroom - each group has a different area to work on -Essay - to evaluate one aspect of Freuds theory =Apply it task in AQA Psychology book: Page 119