Forensic Psychology : Psychodynamic Explanations Of Offending Behaviour Flashcards
What is an ID?
- Infant will demand for its needs to be satisfied
- ID works on the pleasure principle
What is an Ego?
- The ego develops next
- The rational part of the personality Works on reality principles
- The ego tries to satisfy the needs of the ID (I want) with realistic ways to achieve these desires
What is an superego?
- The superego develops last (around 4 years)
- Works on the morality principle
- It’s the “you can’t have that” part of the personality
- The superego is your conscience given to you by parents, rules, society etc
What did Blackburn say about the superego?
Blackburn (1993) - argues that if the superego is deficient then criminality is inevitable as the ID (pleasure) is not properly controlled = give into our urges and impulses. He suggested three reasons as to why the superego may be deficient:
- Weak superego
- Harsh superego
- Deviant superego
What is a weak superego?
● If the same sex parent is absent during the phallic stage, the child cannot internalise a fully formed superego as there is no opportunity for identification
● Fail to internalise the moral values of the same sex parent
● Would make immoral or criminal behaviour more likely
What is a harsh superego?
● May develop if the same-sex parent is overly-harsh
● Identify with the same sex parent
● Feel unable to ‘live up’ to the parents
standards
● An individual is crippled by guilt and anxiety and commits crime in order to satisfy the superego need for punishment
What is a deviant superego?
● If the superego that the child internalises has immoral or deviant values it could lead to offending behaviour
● The child internalises the morals of criminal or deviant same-sex parent
● A boy that is raised by a criminal father is not likely to associate guilt with wrongdoing
What is Bowlby’s maternal deprivation hypothesis?
● Another psychodynamic theory
● Predicts that if an infant is deprived of a
mother or mother figure during the critical period of attachment then there will be serious consequences
● These consequences include mental abnormalities, delinquency, depression, affectionless psychopathology
What is an affectionless psychopathy?
● The ability to form meaningful social relationships in adulthood was dependent on a close, warm and continuous relationship with the mother in the first few years
● Inability to show affection
● Lack of empathy and concern for
others
● Little to no remorse or guilt for others
What other studies support maternal deprivation?
● 44 juvenile thieves study
● Reported that 39% of a group of juvenile delinquents has experienced significant disruption to their attachments, compared to only 5% of non-delinquents
Psychodynamic evaluation : Advantages
- The only explanation for offending behaviour that deals with the role of emotional factors
- This research had implications for prevention of delinquency - trying to prevent delinquency before it’s too late
Psychodynamic evaluation : Limitations
- Gender Bias - women should develop a weaker superego because they don’t identify as strongly with their same-sex parent
- Freud’s theory is seen as sexist as it focuses on the Oedipus Complex and only added the Electra Complex after
- Many children grow up without same-sex parents and the vast majority do not turn to crime
- The idea of the over-harsh superego & wanting to be punished does not add up - many criminals go to great lengths not to be caught and punished
- Correlation but NOT causation
- The vast majority of criminals are male, not female
What is maternal deprivation support?
● Bowlby (1944)
● 44 juvenile thieves study
● Reported that 39% of a group of juvenile delinquents has
experienced significant disruption to their attachments, compared to only 5% of non-delinquents
