What the exam asks
- Concept application (Section I MCQ): Given a brief story about a person coping with stress or anxiety, identify which of the eight ego defense mechanisms they are using, or distinguish between psychodynamic and humanistic explanations of a behavior.
- Research evaluation (Section I & AAQ): Evaluate the scientific limitations (specifically low reliability and validity) of projective personality assessments.
- Argumentation (Section II EBQ): Use concepts like unconditional positive regard, the self-actualizing tendency, or ego defense mechanisms as external psychological knowledge in parts B(ii) and C(ii) to explain why research evidence supports your claim.
Core ideas
Psychodynamic theory of personality
Originating in the work of Sigmund Freud and updated by neo-Freudians, psychodynamic theory proposes that personality is driven by unconscious processes—thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories operating below conscious awareness, often rooted in childhood experiences.
- Conscious mind: What you are aware of right now.
- Preconscious mind: Information outside current awareness that you can easily retrieve into consciousness (such as your middle name or what you ate for dinner yesterday).
- Unconscious mind: A reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, and memories blocked from awareness because acknowledging them would cause anxiety.
According to psychodynamic theory, personality arises from a constant tug-of-war among three interacting systems:
- Id: Operates on the pleasure principle; completely unconscious; demands immediate gratification of basic drives and impulses.
- Superego: Operates on the morality principle; our internalized conscience and standards for right and wrong; pushes for perfection and induces guilt.
- Ego: Operates on the reality principle; mostly conscious; the “executive” mediator that satisfies the id’s desires in realistic ways that will not offend the superego.
Ego defense mechanisms
When the ego cannot satisfy both the id and the superego, it experiences anxiety. To protect itself, the ego unconsciously distorts reality using ego defense mechanisms.