WJEC advanced information

• Assumptions: Explain the assumptions and apply these to explain relationship formation.

• Approach: Evaluate the approaches strengths and weaknesses, and compare to the four other approaches.

Assumptions

Influence of childhood experiences

• Freud believed that childhood experiences shape adult personalities.

  • He believed development occured in five developmental stages, known as childhood experiences or psychosexual stages.

  • Each stage is associated with a fixation on a certain part of the body, and problems at any stage cause issues with adult personality:

    • Frustration - When the needs of the stage are not met, and the child is undersatisfied.

    • Overindulgence - When the needs of the child have been oversatisfied, so they feel too comfortable to move on.

  • These are the stages:

Unconscious mind

• The mind is like an iceberg, the surface is only barely visible and the preconscious and unconscious mind are hidden.

• The unconscious mind is expressed through dreams, and determines much of our behaviour.

  • It contains unresolved conflicts, and are so threatening they appear in symbols.

• Unconscious mind is also responsible for ego defense mechanisms, which are done to protect from anxiety caused by id, ego and superego conflicts:

  • Regression - Returning to an earlier stage of development for comfort, such as sucking a thumb.

  • Displacement - Transfer of impulses to another object or person, such as anger towards sports.

  • Projection - Undesirable thoughts are attributed to someone else, such as blaming another student for their failure in an exam.

  • Repression - Pushing painful memories into the unconscious mind so they are forgotten, such as childhood abuse.

Tripartite personality

• Freud believed the adult personality was divided into three parts:

  • Id - The impulsive part of our personality that acts on our innate impulses. Immediate satisfaction is demanded, and this is known as the pleasure principle. Aim is to gain pleasure and satisfaction.

  • Ego - Conscious, rational part of the brain that develops around two years old, to work out how to balance the demands of the id in a socially acceptable way, known as the reality principle.

  • Superego - This is the last developed part of personalities, forming at around four years old. It embodies the child’s sense of right and wrong, and their ideal self. It is learned through identification with parents and others.

• The id and superego are often in conflict, and the ego resolves this conflict.

Relationship formation

Cupboard love theory

• This was theorised by Dollard and Miller (1950)

  • This proposes love exists due to the fulfillment of needs/wants by another person.

• This means the love is superficial, as positive emotions are only caused by associating the other person with positive activities, and the relationship may fall apart if these cease.

• For example, we may remain in a relationship to avoid feelings of loneliness and rejection. An example of this is dogs going to the person who feeds them, and children forming attachments to their parents.

Attachment theory

• Bowlby conducted the 44 thieves study, and concluded that prolonged separation from the mother caused affectionless character. He called this the maternal deprivation hypothesis.

• Using evolutionary theory, he named this close bond monotropy, and said it was necessary for survival. This is done quickly due to a child’s reliance on a parent.

• This can be shown as men’s hormone levels change as they develop a bond with their child, with a decrease in testosterone.

DINOSAUR evaluation

Determinist > free will

• Psychosexual stages mean that our future behaviour is cemented on whether we have an indulgence or frustration during a certain stage.

Idiographic < nomothetic

• Psychosexual stages are generalised over all people.

Nature = nurture

• The id is innate urges, while other aspects of personality are based on childhood experiences.

Other approaches

Cognitive

• Both nomothetic, equally nature vs nurture and have successful therapies.

• Cognitive is more scientific and reductionist.

Biological

• Biological more nature, reductionist and scientific.

• Both determinist, and nomothetic.

Behaviourist

• Both determinist, nomothetic and have successful therapies.

• Behaviourist is more scientific and leans towards nurture.

Positive

• Both non-scientific.

• Positive is more free will, holistic and nurture.

Scientific < non-scientific

• Freud’s theories cannot be falsified, as his statements are quite general.

• He used no scientific methods to arrive at his conclusions.

Applications

• Highlighted the importance of childhood when it was not considered important at the time he wrote.

• Said that physical symptoms could be caused by psychological factors.

• Psychoanalysis, a general term for all therapies under this term, has been widely used and has research to support its effectiveness.

• Acknowledged the effects of childhood trauma and unconscious conflicts.

Unique

• Has a large focus on childhood and its effects.

• Focus on unconscious mind.

Reductionist = holistic

• It is reductionist as it reduces human personality down to three elements and our childhood experiences.

• It is holistic as it recognises multiple ways in which behaviour occurs. It’s therapies don’t suffer from symptom substitution, as they treat the root cause.