Psychodynamic Approach | Sigmund Freud | AQA Psychology

i wonder what you've heard about sigmund freud something to do with interpreting dreams perhaps or lying on a couch and sharing your innermost thoughts and wasn't he the guy who said everything was to do with sex and i'm sure somebody said he was on cocaine welcome back to barity mind my name's tom and i'm a psychology teacher and on this channel we explore the world of psychology so that we can better understand ourselves and others in this video we're going to explore the psychodynamic approach in psychology and the work of sigmund freud this video is part of a series looking at the topic called approaches in psychology each of these approaches explains human behavior from a different perspective for the psychodynamic approach you need to understand the role of the unconscious the structure of personality with the id ego and superego defense mechanisms including repression denial and displacement and the psychosexual stages of development and stick around towards the end where as usual we'll look at some questions about the content of this video so that you can check your understanding let's dive in so let's talk about sigmund freud i've often found having taught many students over the years that not only do they have a large number of questions once they hear about freud's ideas and i'm sure you will too by the end but also that having some understanding of the context of sigmund freud and his work can help you to have a bigger picture a framework a story with which you can better appreciate freud's ideas for those of you studying a level psychology this contextual information i'm about to give is not something you need to know for the exam and you won't be asked questions about it it's just to give you some background information to help your overall understanding of what we are about to explore sigmund freud was from austria born in 1856 and died in london in 1939. it would be quite the understatement to say that sigmund freud was an interesting bloke for example when he was 17 years old he published his first ever research paper at the university of vienna medical school on the topic of the sexual organs of eels maybe an early sign of where some of his future theories might end up once freud completed his undergraduate studies at the university of vienna he specialized in researching the brain and the nervous system freud's background in biology led him to consider how unconscious biological drives and desires influence our conscious mind and our behavior one man who had a significant impact on freud's thinking was physiologist ernst brooker he suggested that human beings are basically energy systems and as such must follow the principles of the conservation of energy according to the laws of thermodynamics i know bear with me the idea here is that energy cannot be destroyed only moved or transformed the total amount of energy stays the same freud applied this concept to the mind and called it not thermodynamics but psychodynamics he saw the mind as psychological energy something he called libido something we will come back to later it was freud's first case study of a patient referred to as anna oh that went on to shape freud's understanding of the mind and the underlying unconscious forces that might be at play a friend of freud by the name of joseph brewer was trying to treat anna oh who appeared to be suffering from a range of symptoms what they noticed was that anao was unable to talk about or explain where her symptoms may have originated but when in a dreamy hypnotic state this all changed she could talk about it and it emerged that many of these memories related to childhood taking all the ideas of psychic energy freud proposed that their memories that anna oh had from childhood must be painful perhaps traumatic and no longer accessible to the conscious mind and instead we're in the unconscious the psychic energy of the trauma had been pushed into the unconscious and was showing itself in physical symptoms the physical symptoms were related to the psychological issues a few years later freud then went on to write one of his most famous books the interpretation of dreams in 1900 which was in part thought to be brought about following the death of his father to summarize from the observations and case studies of several people whether that be anao or others freud's ideas around the unconscious mind and how it influences our behavior developed into his psychodynamic theory in particular the events that occur in our childhood can remain in our unconscious and greatly influence our lives as adults so with all that said let's now explore freud's psychodynamic theory the mind is like an iceberg it floats with one seventh of its bulk above water the psychodynamic approach compares the mind to an iceberg our conscious mind what we are aware of at any one time represents only the tip of the iceberg that is above the water that we can see the pre-conscious includes thoughts that may become conscious at some point for example through dreams and slips of the tongue the pre-conscious is the part of the iceberg that is just under the water but still partly visible and the largest part of the iceberg is what is under the surface the part we can't see this represents the unconscious the part we are unaware of it is the unconscious that is the most significant part in influencing and shaping our behavior according to freud one role of the unconscious is that it is the driving motivating force behind our behavior and personality the unconscious contains our biological instincts and drives and these instincts and drives control our behavior there's more to say on this than i'm covering in this video but some of these instincts include survival and sexual instincts as well as aggression later on childhood memories can become part of our unconscious too which can influence our behavior one way to get a glimpse into the unconscious mind is through what are called freudian slips or slips of the tongue i'm sure at some point you've experienced this a freudian slip is when we make a mistake in our speech that reveals our unconscious thoughts and desires for example if you have ever seen the tv show friends you may remember this famous scene when ross is about to get married to emily ross repeat after me hi ross i ross take the emily take the rachel here we see a freudian slip rossi's deep unconscious desires are for rachel not emily and at the moment of saying his vows the slip of the tongue reveals what's really going on deep down in his unconscious according to freud these slips of the tongue can provide insight into the underlying desires in our unconscious another role of the unconscious is that it protects the conscious self from anxiety fear trauma and conflict the unconscious is where memories or ideas that are too painful or too much for the conscious mind to deal with are placed think back to the case of anna oh i mentioned earlier these traumatic memories which can often occur in childhood are placed there by the psychological defense mechanism repression defense mechanisms coming up another way we can catch a glimpse of our unconscious mind according to freud he's through analyzing our dreams freud suggested that the events that took place in our dreams are symbolic and can give us insight into the unconscious meaning behind them freud wrote the interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind and he also wrote that dreams are disguised fulfillments of repressed wishes if some of our fears anxieties and worries have been repressed out of the conscious mind and into our unconscious mind they may show themselves in our dreams all of this to say that for the psychodynamic approach the role of the unconscious mind is crucial to understanding human behavior later on freud's view of the mind in terms of the conscious pre-conscious and unconscious was developed into a three-part structure of the mind which we come to next freud believed that the personality had a three-part structure to it the id the ego and the super-ego that's why it's sometimes referred to as the tripartite structure of personality these three are in constant conflict with each other and the outcome of this interaction determines our behavior the id is known as the pleasure principle only the eighties present at birth and it's entirely unconscious and demands instant gratification or we might say immediate satisfaction i want it and i want it now my pocket is [Music] it drives you to act on your urges and desires without restraint to fulfill your basic drives for things like food comfort and sex these instincts are coined to freud are the survival and sexual instincts something freud referred to as libido a psychic energy the superego is known as the morality principle mainly in our unconscious but can influence our conscience thoughts we're not born with the superego it develops around the age of four to five years during the phallic stage of the psychosexual stages of development and more on that shortly the superego represents our morals our ideals and standards that we've internalized and become part of us from parents society and other significant figures in our lives it acts as the conscience our moral guide if we fail to live up to the morals of the super ego we feel guilt and shame there's an awful thing to say the super ego is trying to suppress the unacceptable urges of the id when the superego develop it conflicts with the id's demands then there is the ego this is known as the reality principle its job is to control the urges and desires that they are expressed in acceptable ways it develops after the id as the child interacts more with the world the ego begins to develop the job of the ego is to reduce the conflict between the two opposing forces of the aid and the superego he acts as the mediator for example imagine you're a student who's working part-time in a local restaurant you're about ready to head home after a long shift when the owner of the restaurant says you need to stay an extra couple of hours because they are understaffed no absolutely not the libido psychic energy that is driving his desires might want you to respond by saying something unprofessional and storm out your superego on the other hand may respond by saying that you should stay and do the extra work because that's what a good employee does and to ignore the owner he's disrespectful and may cost you your job the ego is the reality principle must try to balance this conflict so the ego might lead you to say to the restaurant owner i'll stay the extra couple of hours but i want the hours back next week so i can leave early and still get paid according to the psychodynamic approach if either the id or the superego are dominant then this can lead to anxiety and other psychological unhealthy states someone with a dominant id might develop to be a person who's highly impulsive who lacks self-control and might end up being involved in criminal behavior [Applause] on the other hand someone with a dominant superego might be very judgmental critical and self-righteous or equally someone highly anxious and depressed at their failures to meet the morals ideals and standards set by the superego healthy personality according to freud is a balance with the ego moderating the demands of both the id and the superego we will now explore the outworking of the role of the unconscious and the structure of the personality in the next sections on the cycle sexual stages of development and defense mechanisms we said early that one role of the unconscious is that it is the driving and motivating force behind our behavior and personality we learned with the tripartite structure of personality that the id is present from birth with the ego and superego developing later freud claimed that personality development took place through a series of five stages they're called the psychosexual stages to emphasize the importance of libido and specifically the expression of sexual energy as the driving force in development these stages are called the oral anal phallic latency and genital stages for a daft way to remember them just think old age people like gardening libido is active at every stage but directed to different areas of the body normal development for the child is to pass through one stage successfully and on to the next at each stage there's a conflict that needs to be resolved some individuals get fixated they get stuck at a particular stage due to an unresolved conflict to any of the stages this means that the libido energy is fixed or stuck at that developmental stage if this is the case freud suggested that the child carries behaviors or conflicts from that stage through to adult life first stage oral stage zero to one years libido energy is directed towards the mouth the mouth is the first area to be associated with pleasure and satisfaction mainly because of feeding at this stage the conflict to be resolved relates to weaning the child must become less dependent on the caregiver for food for example the mother's milk and transition to other foods if weaning is not handed sensitively the child will become fixated at this stage as an adult this may show itself in behaviors such as sucking a thumb smoking drinking and overeating to gain oral stimulation second stage anal stage two to three years libido energy is directed towards the bladder and bowels basically wee-wees and poo-poos this time the pleasure and satisfaction come from controlling bladder and bowel movement at this stage the conflict is toilet training which enables them to develop control and independence if toilet training is not handled sensitively by which you mean the parents who are not supportive and encouraging whilst the child goes through the process of toilet training then the child could become fixated at this stage perhaps the parents punished the child or made them feel shame and embarrassment if they made a mess and as an adult this could be seen in what freud called having an anal expulsive personality where they are messy and wasteful individuals or having an anal retentive personality where they may be excessively organized tidy obsessive and concerned with bodily cleanliness third stage phallic stage three to five years the libido energy is on the genital area of the body the word phallic relates to the word phallus which means penis for freud this is the central focus of this stage this time the pleasure and satisfaction come from the genitals at this stage the conflict involves either the oedipus or electra complex you need to know both specifically because they become important in other parts of the a-level course where freud's theories are applied to different topics and bear with me because this is going to get a bit weird and uncomfortable but you can blame freud for that for both the edu person electra complex the child sees their same-sex parent as a threat and rival for the opposite sex parents affections so the boy sees his dad as a threatened rival because the boy desires his mother and wants her love and affection and the vice versa the girl sees her mother as a threat and rival because the girl desires her father and wants his love and affection the boys go through the oedipus complex whilst the girls go through the electra complex now the oedipus complex gets its name from greek mythology oedipus accidentally fulfilled the prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother his true father had sent him a way to die in a mountainside so the prophecy wouldn't come true but eventually the prophecy comes true and it's only after oedipus has killed his father and married his mother that he learned who they were from that idea freud proposed that during the phallic stage of development the boy desires his mother and is afraid because he recognizes the father as a powerful rival the boy develops castration anxiety because he fears his father will castrate him both literally you know where and figuratively in terms of his role as a man for desiring his mother to resolve this anxiety the boy gives up the love for his mother and identifies with his father identifying with the stronger aggressor this identification with his father results in the boy adopting the male identity and assuming male characteristics hopefully you're still with me you're really weird now let's consider the electra complex the electra complex also gets its name from greek mythology elektra and her brother planned the death of their mother because of her murder of their father the electra complex was given to describe a girl's sexual competition with her mother for sexual possession of the father from that idea the psychodynamic approach proposed that during the phallic stage of development the girl becomes aware that she does not have a penis and believes she's already been castrated the girl blames her mother for her lack of her penis and sees herself and her mother as powerless the girl desires a penis the symbol of male power this penis envy leads her to desire the father because he has what she desires however the girl then converts her desire for penis into the desire for a baby she identifies with her mother and adopts the female role to bring us back to the structure of personality it is during the phallic stage that the superego is thought to develop when the child identifies with their same-sex parent through the resolution of the edo person electra complexes they then go on to internalize the moral standards values and characteristics of their same-sex parent the process of both identification and internalization are key this identification with the same-sex parent resolves the conflict and leads to normal development through the phallic stage however if the adidas and electro complexes are not successfully resolved i.e they do not identify with their same-sex parent freud suggested in later adult life this can be seen in men always looking for a mother figure and women for a father figure i.e they become overly dependent on their mother or father relationship and freud also suggested it could lead to having confusion with gender identity fourth stage latency stage six to 12 years latent means existing but not yet developed hidden or concealed at this stage the libido sexual energy is generally calm it's not active the development of the ego and superego at this point helps to make this stage calm and fixation does not normally occur at this stage fifth stage genital stage 13 years on into adult life libido becomes more active again during the onset of puberty at this stage you develop strong sexual interest in the opposite sex and the development of the ego and superego continue to control and balance the urges to help behavior be appropriate to the expectations of parents and society in summary whilst what freud proposed about the cycle sexual stages of development might make you seriously consider whether he did actually take cocaine one thing freud has been credited for is how he recognized the impact of childhood experiences on adult development finally we come to defense mechanisms we said earlier that one role of the unconscious is that it protects the conscious self from anxiety fear trauma and conflict it is important to note that these defense mechanisms are unconscious resources used by the ego to manage the conflict between the id and the superego they can provide breathing space in which to come to terms with conflict are alternative ways of coping however they often involve some form of distortion of reality and as a long-term solution they're regarded as unhealthy and undesirable there are numerous different types of defense mechanism three of which you need to know that we'll cover now repression this is where a distressing memory is forced out of the conscious mind into the unconscious mind for example a child who is abused by a parent may have no recollection of these events but has trouble forming relationships when they're older rather than staying quietly in the unconscious these repressed thoughts and impulses continue to influence behavior without the individual being aware of the reasons behind their behavior quick side note here sometimes students confuse repression with suppression repression is entirely unconscious the unwanted thoughts and desires are pushed out of awareness suppression on the other hand is about consciously intentionally trying to forget or not think about something denial this is when you refuse to acknowledge some part of reality in other words you refuse to accept reality to avoid having to deal with any painful feelings that might be associated with the event you act as if the painful event never happened for example an alcoholic will often deny they have a drinking problem even after being arrested several times for being drunk and disorderly displacement this is when you transfer feelings from the true source of the distressing emotions onto a substitute target it involves redirecting the thoughts or feelings in situations where the person feels unable to express them in the presence of the person they should be directed towards instead they may take it out on someone else or an object for example a student may be upset and angry about the ending of a long-term relationship and when they come home they are disrespectful angry and slam the door when their parents ask them to tidy their room housekeeping i'll come back later so now let's test your understanding of what we've covered about sigmund freud and the psychodynamic approach a question will appear with a few seconds for you to pause the video before the answer appears here we go question one explain how freud used the image of an iceberg to describe the mind question two name two roles of the unconscious question three name each part of the structure of personality question four what principle was given to each part of the structure of personality and can you name what they are responsible for question five if someone had a dominant id and a weak superego what behaviors might they display question six name all the psychosexual stages of development in order question seven if a child was fixated at the oral stage how might this show itself in their adult behavior question 8 what conflict do boys and girls go through during the phallic stage question nine what two key processes happen during the successful resolution of the oedipus and electra complexes question 10 define what is meant by defense mechanisms question 11 can you identify which defense mechanism is being used for each in the list below [Music] so hopefully now you've got something of a better understanding of the psychodynamic approach and sigmund freud and i'm sure you've probably got a whole host of questions to ask about freud too which parts of his theory did you find that made the most sense that you can actually relate to and perhaps which parts would you find the weirdest from freud's work perhaps it will make you bear in mind how much your behavior may be influenced by your unconscious processes and what happened in your childhood and if you're interested in a critical analysis of freud's work and theory then check out this next video where we go on to evaluate it i hope you found this video helpful and we'll see you in the next one

Channel: Bear it in MIND

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Keywords: freud, sigmund freud, psychology, unconscious mind, libido, id, ego, superego, psychosexual stages, oedipus complex, electra complex, psychosexual stages of development, A-level psychology, AQA psychology, Approachs in psychology, AQA psychology A-level, Defence mechanisms, repression, denial, displacement, mind iceberg, Phallic stage, psychodynamic approach, psychoanalysis, dream analysis, dream analysis sigmund freud, psychology revision, tutor2u psychology, psych boost

Id: VMupSaMoPK8

Length: 24min 20sec (1460 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 19 2022