Order # 13488

Psychodynamic Approach: Behavior Perspective

In the field of psychology, there are five major perspectives that most people base their arguments and thoughts on while explaining issues. These are neuroscience perspective that explains the behaviors of people based on their biological components. The behavioral perspective that focuses on the measurable observable characteristics of an animal. A cognitive perspective defines the way people think, know, and understand the world around them. The psychodynamic perspective that believes that the person's unconscious mind, childhood experiences, and sex impulses define their character (Bornstein, 2015). Lastly, the humanistic perspective that emphasizes the people's higher functioning and psychological growth that pushes them to reach their full potential. Apparently, all these perspectives of psychology try to explain human nature but the psychodynamic perspective clearly explains human nature according to me.

By definition, human nature refers to the natural characteristics that differentiate humans from other living things. These characteristics are produced by our feelings, thoughts, and individual experiences in the environment we live in. The psychodynamic perspective of psychology was introduced by Sigmund Freud and his main focus was on the inner person (Luyten et al., 2017). He defined human nature as behavior motivated by the inner forces, conflicts, and memories of which a human has little awareness or control. And the behaviors adopted in childhood influence the character of a person throughout their life. Sigmund developed the psychodynamic perspective based on a collection of theories and stories that he was told by his anxiety or depression patients during counseling therapy (Bornstein, 2015). Some of the main assumptions in the psychodynamic approach include the argument that a person's feelings and behavior are affected by their unconscious motives, they are rooted in their childhood experiences, and they usually have a cause which one may not be aware of and may refer to it as the slip of the tongue. Also, the psychodynamic theory assumes that personality comprises of the id, ego, and super-ego.

A better understanding of the psychodynamic perspective of philosophy requires real-life examples. There are numerous things that we do in our lives that do not make sense. For instance, a student knows that if she fails to study she will get poor grades. However, it is not unusual to find a student not studying for an exam even if it is nearly approaching. Another good example is walking away and feeling ashamed when you see a beautiful lady across the room that you have feelings for rather than approaching her and expressing what you feel (Luyten et al., 2017). It is through a psychodynamic approach that one can clearly understand why such things happen in our lives and we have no control over them. The psychodynamic theory explains personality using the unconscious part of the mind which plays a big role in the decisions and activities we carry out.

Behavior and feelings are the key factors that define psychodynamics and philosophers believe that these factors are driven by one’s personality. The life instincts versus the death instincts and the sex drive versus the aggressive drive determine a person's id. The unconscious part of the mind relates to a person’s superego and is usually in constant conflict with the conscious mind that encompasses the ego. Due to the conflict between the ego and the superego creates a state of anxiety in a person which makes someone to develop defense mechanisms. According to Sigmund Freud, the personality of a human being is shaped in the childhood stage during the psychosexual development where the conflict between the conscious and unconscious part of the mind is greatly affected by the environmental factors (King, 2016). Freud concluded that even though we are unaware of our unconscious mind and its influence on our behavior and feelings, it affects our personality including the preconscious and conscious part of the mind. Therefore, personality is shaped by the interactions between the thoughts and feelings in the conscious and the unconscious part of the mind.

Despite the great influence of the unconscious mind, the conscious part plays a bigger role in our daily mental activities. However, a person is only aware of ten percent of his or her mind’s activities leaving the larger part, ninety percent, to the hidden and unconscious mind. According to Freud, the unconscious mind harbors unacceptable ideas and desires such as aggressive and sexual urges, past traumas and painful memories, and primitive desires of hunger. He further states that these desires are referred to as pleasure principles and the ultimate goal is satisfaction through a process known as repression (Bornstein, 2015). The end result is that the repressed urges can easily resurface and affect a person’s behavior. A good example is welcoming a relative you do not like in your house and rather than saying “I am glad you are here,” you end up saying “I am sad you’re here.”

While psychodynamics categorize human nature in three complementary parts: the id, ego, and superego, the id is the greatest player in a person's behavior (King, 2016). Philosophers agree with Freud's argument that the unconscious part of the mind occupies the largest part of mental activities. The id starts right from birth and it drives a person to avoid pain and seek pleasure. As a child grows, social interactions shape the other complementary parts of human nature. The influence of ego and superego on the id leads to the development of instinctual id. While most people associate superego with feelings of pride when successful and guilt on failing, superego shapes a person's behavior to strive for perfection (King, 2016). On the other hand, the ego is the part of the brain that brings out the self in a person and is what defines the rational behaviors of a person. Ego, according to Freud, is what a person expresses in the real world. It joins the id and superego of a person and tries to strike a balance of the real world and internal urges. The psychodynamic perspective of philosophy concludes that the three aspects of behavior and personality are ever interacting and form a dynamic pattern that gives each person a unique human nature. For example, the id of a student in a class during a lesson might tell him, “I am hungry, I need to eat immediately!” The superego will immediately argue, “You are in the middle of a lesson, you cannot do that right now,” and on the other hand the ego will immediately come in and state, “I will suck some sweet lozenges, drink some water, and eat after class.” This is why even identical twins have different human nature despite having a lot of biological similarities (Bornstein, 2015).

Although the modern understanding of the behavior and brain of a person does not align with the Freud’s division of the mind into the id, ego, and superego, the modern physiology has been unable to explain human nature, especially in bad and unhealthy behaviors. However, with the inclusion of Freud’s ideologies, one can explain why people commit crimes and why they develop defense mechanisms in such situations (Bornstein, 2015). Freud argued that a healthy person who approaches issues rationally should have a strong ego that can be able to balance the judgment of the superego and the demands of the id. In case of any imbalances, one develops a tendency of doing bad things or experiencing negative thoughts and emotions. When a person has a weak id, he or she will definitely live in denial while an impulsive person definitely has an overactive ego (King, 2016). On the other hand, a person with a weak superego leads a selfish and cruel life while a person with a very dominant superego leads a life full of guilt. And in such situations, it is usually difficult for the ego to mediate the conflict between the superego and the id which ends up in imbalances and behaviors that are contrary to what is expected. In this case, either the id or the superego affects the ego that shapes a person’s character.

The way a person feels thinks and acts define his or her personality. A person who has a fully developed conscious and unconscious mind can express their feelings, thoughts, and actions in various mechanisms according to Freud (King, 2016). They can project that their actions and feelings are unacceptable to others and prevent their expression. As a result, they can decide to redirect their impulses to a more acceptable or less threatening person (Luyten et al., 2017). On the other hand, a person can decide to change the activity or refuse to perceive it by separating emotions from reality. Freud defines this as the dynamic nature of the human’s brain that forms a plethora of events both in the conscious and unconscious mind before initiating an action.

According to Freud Sigmund, human beings experience numerous stages of psychosexual development that help understand the id, ego, and superego parameters. In the first few months of life, a child requires nourishment. Freud refers to this stage as the oral stage where the need for the child is to feed and can only be satisfied with food (King, 2016). The child cries if the need is not met. At this stage, the id part of the mind dominates because the ego and superego have not developed. As time moves, toilet training is initiated by the guardians and defecation becomes a need. Freud refers to this as the anal stage where the ego starts to develop and starts conflicting with the id. At the age of three years, the ego becomes fully developed due to the experience with the outside world and a child starts recognizing her physical existence (Bornstein, 2015). This is the phallic stage as a child recognizes their sexuality and starts demanding the attention of the parent of the opposite sex over the other. As a result, feelings of guilt arise from experiencing such desires which signify the development of the superego part of the mind. From the stages, Freud concluded that the person’s id is dictated by the unconscious mind which drives one’s desires while superego and ego control temper and behavior.

Psychodynamic theory is commonly used in psychology and counseling. The theory is used to understand the mind of an individual and get what is going on in their unconscious part of the mind. In the counseling sessions, the approach is used by the counselor to get into the head of the patient and find out their views, experiences, preferences, behaviors, and relationships to the world. It is with the use of the psychodynamic approach that counselors are able to understand the root cause of a patient’s issues and problems (Bornstein, 2015).

In conclusion, the unconscious mind is the most powerful factor that influences emotion, behavior, and personality of a human being. And human behavior is the result of the interactions among the three complementary components of the mind: the id, ego, and the superego. In my opinion, the feelings and behavior of a person are rooted in the childhood experiences and social interactions. Therefore, other than our mind, parenting and society play a very key role in what we become later in life.

References

Bornstein, R. (2015). The psychodynamic perspective.

King, L. A. (2016). The science of psychology: An appreciative view. McGraw-Hill Education.

Luyten, P., Mayes, L. C., Fonagy, P., Blatt, S. J., & Target, M. (Eds.). (2017). Handbook of psychodynamic approaches to psychopathology. Guilford Publications.