Forensic Psychology - Psychodynamic explanations for offending Flashcards
Explanation 1) The Superego; explanation
- Develops around the age of four and serves as a conscience
- Superego has the ability to stop behaviour
- The superego is the part of our personality that is likely to be related to offending behaviour as this embodies our conscience and sense of right or wrong; if it develops poorly, criminal behaviour will result
- Strong superego = individuals feel guilt for their actions (unlikely to repeat behaviour as it is affect others in an unfavourable way)
- If the superego is underdeveloped then the ability to stop behaviour is reduced
- Blackburn (1993) argues that if the superego is deficient then criminality is inevitable as the Id is not properly controlled
Explanation 1) The Superego - 3 types that underpin crime
1) Underdeveloped superego (weak)
→ occurs if there are issues between ages 4-6
→ if not developed the ability to feel guilt / stop behaviour is impaired
→ leaves the person dominated by their Id (pleasure principle) impulses and this results in irrational and selfish behaviour
→ e.g, may develop if same-sex parent is absent during phallic stage of psycho-sexual development
2) Deviant superego
→ concept of identification in this phallic stage with same-sex parent
→identifies with same-sex parent to resolve oedipus / electra complex
→may develop if a child internalises the morals of the deviant behaviour
3) Overdeveloped superego (over-harsh)
→ Individual is crippled by guilt / anxiety and commits crime in order to satisfy the superego’s need for punishment
→ crime serves as a release from the overwhelming feelings (punishment relieves conscience)
Explanation 1) The Superego - research evidence 1
- Freud argued that females were less moral than males because the fear of castration for males is greater compared to girls losing their mother’s love so he argued that they are more immoral -> However, Hoffman (1975) found no gender differences when testing temptation.
- Freud also suggested in his psychosexual stages of development theory that the superego is formed in the phallic stage; in this stage our moral values begin to develop and we learn these from our same sex parent (5-6 years old).
- Blackburn argues that if the superego is deficient then criminality is inevitable as the id is not properly controlled and individuals will therefore give in to pleasures and impulses.
- Furthermore, Blackburn’s theory argues that if a child has a over-harsh superego then they will go on to offend.
- This is because the superego is excessively harsh and focused on punishment which leads to a heightened sense of guilt and an unconscious drive to commit crime in order to be punished.
Explanation 1) The Superego - evaluations as weaknesses
1) Freud’s theories in general are viewed as sexist / androcentric, as he argued females were less moral than males (males fear castration for Oedipus complex, females only fear losing love). However, this contradicts offending statistics, as most offenders are male. Therefore it lacks validity; men are 22x more likely to go to prison than females.
2) There is little research evidence for this theory - many children grow up without a parent of their sex and still do not turn to offending; although family influence is a factor in criminality, it does not relate to issues with the superego because of the family, but rather because of association with deviant family members. Therefore it lacks external validity.
In addition to this, it is very hard to empirically test for the existence of a superego, and so the theory is hard to falsify and justify with research evidence
3) The idea of an over-harsh superego and wanting to be punished does not stand up to scrutiny - many criminals go to great lengths to not be caught and punished.
Explanations 1) The Superego - evaluations; strengths
1) Usefulness - both Freud’s and Blackburn’s theories show that an unhealthy relationship with parents can influence whether a child turns to crime. This can be used to prevent crime by educating parents on how to develop strong relationships with their children
2) Holistic - it considers the complex nature of human behaviours allowing for various developments to happen in many ways
3) Nature and nurture - considers both nature (innate parts of the mind – superego) and nurture (influence of parental relationships and experiences)
Explanation 1) Superego research 2
- Megargee (1966) documented a series of cases of violence carried out by people who were regarded as passive and harmless. For example, an 11-year old boy stabbed his brother 34 times with a steak knife while previously described as polite and soft-spoken, and no history of aggression (Gross 1966).
- He argued that cases like this represent a subgroup of violent offenders with the shared characteristic as an apparent inability to express their anger in natural circumstances, instead eventually feel an overwhelming need to release it all at once, often as response to trivial provocation.
Explanation 2) Maternal Deprivation
- Maternal deprivation is defined as: The loss of emotional care that is normally provided by the primary caregiver.
- John Bowlby (1951,1953) proposed that prolonged separations between a mother and child would have long term-emotional consequences.
- Separation will only have this effect if this happens before the age of around 2 and a half years, and if there is no substitute mother-person available.
- There is a continuing risk up until the age of five years.
Consequences=
- Affectionless psychopathy, a lack of normal affection, shame or sense of responsibility. This is related to the general notion of a psychopath as someone who lacks understanding of the feelings of other people
Explanation 2) Maternal Deprivation and links to offending
- One potential long-term consequence of maternal deprivation is affectionless psychopathy.
- This has a strong link to offending as affectionless psychopathy involves an individual having no ability to experience shame or guilt and lacks a social conscience. This means that they may find it ‘easier’ to commit crimes as the individual does not even consider the consequences that their actions will have on others.
- By disregarding and not even recognising the devastating impact their actions may have on others, prevents morals and ethics acting as mental barriers preventing them from committing trauma inducing acts.
- Multiple carers - loss of attachment and therefore antisocial behaviour due to a lack of intellectual development
- Internal working model - expect people cannot be trusted (insecure attachment) negatively impacted later relationships
- Quality of caregiver - poor quality leads to criminal behaviour
Explanation 2) Maternal Deprivation research evidence
- To test his theory, in 1944, Bowlby compared 44 thieves with a group of 44 control patients, where he found that none of the control participants experienced early separations. However, Bowlby discovered that 39% of the thieves had experience with early separations. Furthermore, he found that thieves with an affectionless character had almost all experienced frequent separations: 86% of the affectionless thieves (12 out of 14), compared with 17% (5 out of 30) of the other thieves.
- In addition, through his work in a Child Guidance Clinic in London he observed that a large amount of the young thieves had experiences both early and frequent separations while also showing signs of affectionless psychopathy.
- Michael Rutter’s 1972 Maternal Deprivation Reassessed, critiqued Bowlby’s concept of the Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis. He argued that Bowlby did not distinguish between separation from an attachment figure, loss of an attachment figure and a complete lack of attachment in his final assessment.
Explanation 2) Maternal Deprivation; strengths
- Further research has supported Bowlby’s findings. For example, Goldfarb (1955), followed 30 children (up to 12 years old) who had been orphaned due to a war. Of the original sample, half had been fostered by the age of 4 while the others stayed at the orphanage.
- At the age of 12, both groups were IQ tested and he found that the group who had been fostered had an average IQ of 96 whereas the group who hadn’t been fostered scored an average IQ of 68.
- This backs up Bowlby’s research as it shows a noticeable difference in the IQ of children without a parental figure and those who had one, meaning that maternal deprivation can cause a a lack of intellectual development.
Explanation 2) Maternal Deprivation; weaknesses
- However, Bowlby’s 44 thieves can be criticised for investigator bias. This is because Bowlby himself carried out the investigation and the families knew what Bowlby hoped to find so they could have tried to answer the assessment questions in a way that either messed up or aided the investigation.
- This is problematic because if Bowlby’s findings have been affected by investigator bias, this will mean that his theory is based on bias results and therefore can be called inaccurate.
Explanation 3) Defence Mechanisms
- Defence mechanisms are a psychological strategy used by the unconscious mind to reduce anxiety. These defence mechanisms protect us from feelings of guilt or anxiety in situations when we feel threatened.
There are a number of defence mechanisms that are implicated in offending:
- Displacement
- Sublimation
- Rationalisation
Explanation 3) Defence Mechanisms explained
Displacement:
- is the redirection of usually an aggressive impulse onto a powerless substitute target, and the focus of strong emotions are shifted to a neutral target that serves as a symbolic substitute for the actual target or source of aggression e.g. domestic violence from a displacement of work stress
Sublimation:
- a strong id impulse is expressed in a more socially acceptable way, and explains less heinous acts - id impulses are strong but downplayed and although the petty crimes are not entirely socially acceptable, it is a better option
- Id - primitive part of the personality that operates on the pleasure principle and demands immediate gratification
Rationalisation:
- actions driven by innate emotion are justified by rational explanations, and it is an effort to explain one’s own behaviours in order to fight guilt, uphold one’s self respect and become shielded from criticism - makes offender seem more socially acceptable e.g. seen in doctors murdering patients (angel of death)
Explanation 3) Defence Mechanisms - research evidence
Willemsen and Jochem:
- psychopathic offenders tend to describe their violent crimes in general and abstract terms and represent themselves as rational actors whose behaviour is normal and well - founded given the abnormal or irrational environment (studied the Defence Mechanism Rating Scale against 36 male inmates and noticed increased presence of obsessional defences, or intellectualisation
Granieri et al -
- investigated the relationship between the DMSR and DSM-5 maladaptive personality domains amongst adults, and the results showed that immature defences positively predicted maladaptive personality whereas mature defences were related to better personality functions - different defence patterns emerged as significant predictors of the maladaptative personality domains comprised in the alternative DSM-5 manual for personality disorder, suggesting increased use of immature defence has a negative impact on personality development
Explanation 3) Defence Mechanisms evaluations
Defence mechanisms are a theoretical concept and generate from the unconscious mind
- This means that they are unable to be tested, and so do not follow the scientific method
- They are not falsifiable, therefore not scientific.
Lack of practical applications - time consuming to individually identify the psychodynamic issues of each criminal individual
Affects free will and determinism - suggests actions are not a choice of free will
