Freud's psychodynamic explanation of aggression

part of the mind containing thoughts, memories and desires of which we are unaware - the origin of powerful aggressive instincts

human behaviour is influenced by unconscious desires and unresolved childhood experiences that shape personality.

the id is the pleasure principle - it exists from birth and is the most primitive element contained entirely in the unconscious mind. It contains impulses that are socially unacceptable with no consideration of other factors.

the ego is the reality principle - it is the logical and conscious part of personality that begins developing shortly after birth. The ego satisfies both the superego and the id by fulfilling, controlling and redirecting urges.

the moral compass - emerges later in development around age 5 or 6 years. It represents the sense of right and wrong as well as an ideal self image - the superego opposes the id's aggressive drive through guilt and shame when we fail to meet the highest moral standards.

expressing aggression releases psychic energy, reduces the aggressive drive and makes further aggression less likely preventing an undesirable outcome such as self-harm or violent assault (observing others behaving aggressively such as in films or displacing anger onto objects such as a pillow)

aggression towards one person is redirected against a less powerful and more available substitute (e.g. an object such as a pillow)

creating false excuses for one's unacceptable behaviours, thoughts or feelings

reverting to immature behaviour from an earlier stage of development

attributing one's own unacceptable feelings and thoughts to others and not yourself

opposing evidence - made 600 college students angry at a confederate, then let one group vent by hitting a punchbag - Bushman found that these students blasted the confederate with the loudest and longest noises than the control group. like 'gasoline to put out a fire'

supporting evidence - we should rant rather than vent. ranting (such as in writing) allows for controlled expression of anger and a consideration of why one is angry - leading to preventing aggressive behaviour.

strength - 'hot-blooded' aggression is impulsive, from the id - represents a failure in ego's functioning of redirecting the id's aggressive urges. 'cold-blooded' aggression is rational and is the outcome of the ego's successful control of id impulses. - this increases validity as it matches with the reality of the behavioujr

an application of psychodynamic theory - allows therapists to retrieve repressed memories / feelings from the unconscious mind, giving one the chance to reduce aggression by working through repressed emotions

cannot be proved wrong - therefore cannot be scientifically tested (subjective)

damage to particular brain areas has scientific evidence proving its impact on aggressive behaviour. Raine PET scanned 41 murderers who had pleaded NGRI and 41 controls and found murderers had lower glucose metabolism in their left amygdala (feelings of happiness + emotional memory) but greater activity in their right amygdala (fear)

fear of black horses wearing harness at 5 years old - freud says this was due to a fear of castration from his father relating to his black moustache. however this is a very subjective and unscientific interpretation as well as being an idiographic case study making it ungeneralisable

psychodynamic theory explains individual differences in aggression - Freud argued that we develop in childhood through a series of stagesthat each present psychological challenges, if one fails to overcome one of these challenges they become fixated on one stage, affecting one's adult personality.

-summarise theory
-unconscious / unfalsifiable
-id ego superego / diff types aggression
-psychosexual stages / individual differences
-catharsis bushman (2002) / Graham (2008)