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The Psychodynamic Approach
Evaluation – Strengths and Weaknesses
Strength 1
The approach is interactionist (takes into account both sides of nature vs nurture
debate)
...


Weakness 1
Freud’s theory is difficult to falsify (non-scientific)
...


For Freud, the ID is instinctual and is the nature (biological) aspect of our personality,
the part we are born with
...
Freud
also argued that we are biologically programmed to go through the psychosexual
stages
...
For example, his
views that all men have repressed homosexual tendencies cannot be
disproved because it can always be argued that the tendencies are so
repressed that they are not apparent
...
This will lead to predictable adult personality characteristics
...


Another example would be penis envy
...


Freud theory, therefore, considers the influence of nature and nurture
...
This is a more holistic explanation of behaviour compared to other
psychological approaches and does reflect the complexity of human behaviour and
experiences
...

Strength 2
The approach has been proved it be useful in several ways
...

For example, research has been useful in highlighting the fact that childhood is a
critical period in our development
...
For example, Bowlby illustrated
the need for children to have developed a warm and continuous bond by the age of 3-6

This is a weakness because it means the theory cannot be proven wrong,
therefore, the approach is not scientific
...
For
example, Freud predicted a negative correlation between guilt and
wrongdoing
...


Weakness 2
The approach is hard deterministic, this means that we have no free will
(choice) in who we become or how we behave
...

Freud suggested that our behaviour can be controlled by the tripartite
personality
...
This follows the seek of instant gratification (“Pleasure

to avoid negative psychological effects later on in life
...

This is a strength because it can relate to the real-life practical implications
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4% of the clients have benefitted from working on
dreams”
...
There are two distinctive drives, the libido (pleasure) and Thanatos
(aggression)
...
For example, being fixated in the anal stage means that you either had
too much or too little gratification
...
You’ve received not enough gratification
...
The approach seems to imply that we
cannot be held responsible for our own behaviours
...

Conclusion: On balance, the psychodynamic has some credit in terms of Bowlby’s idea about how prolonged deprivation can be linked to social and emotional problems
later on in life
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