A psychodynamic therapist wished to investigate the childhood origins of generalized anxiety. She conducted unstructured interviews with four of her long-term clients, asking them to describe their earliest childhood memories. She then analysed their descriptions, interpreting references to 'shadows' and 'lost keys' as symbolic evidence of repressed conflicts from the phallic stage of psychosexual development.
Referring to the study described above, explain why psychodynamic researchers have often been criticised for neglecting the rules of the scientific approach.
Practise AQA A Level Psychology Approaches in Psychology with exam-style questions for A Level Psychology. 248 questions covering Learning approaches, Cognitive approach, Biological approach, Psychodynamic approach (A-level only), Humanistic Psychology (A-level only), and Comparison of approaches (A-level only), matched to the AQA A Level Psychology (7182) specification and written in Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 3 style. Every question includes a full worked solution and mark scheme, so you can see where marks are awarded rather than just whether you got the answer right.