lesson 8 - psychodynamic explanations

Question 1

what does the psychodynamic approach say

Answer 1

According to the Psychodynamic Approach, offenders have an Id which is insufficiently controlled/moderated because of problems with the development of the superego.

Question 2

what are the stages of forming your personality

Answer 2

The superego is the last aspect of personality to form. It develops at the end of the phallic stage of psychosexual development at 3-6 years old. The major
conflict of this stage is the Oedipus complex in which the male child
unconsciously wishes to possess their mother and get rid of their father. As a
result of this desire boys experience castration anxiety, they fear their father will remove their penis to punish them for their desire of their mother. In an attempt to resolve this anxiety the child identifies with their father and will eventually internalise their father’s superego, creating their own.
Girls go through a similar process, called the Electra complex, but because they do not have castration anxiety, they do not internalise their mother’s superego to the same extent, and so their own superego is less well developed than a male
superego.

Question 3

what are the three types of inadequate superegos

Answer 3

1. Weak Superego –The superego is weak due to failure to identify fully
   with a same-sex parent.
2. Deviant Superego – The superego is deviant due to identification with a
   deviant same-sex parent.
3. Over-Harsh Superego –An over-harsh superego is excessively punitive
   meaning the individual is crippled by guilt and anxiety. Crimes are
   committed to fulfil the unconscious desire for punishment.

Question 4

strengths of inadequate superego

Answer 4

This theory combines innate drives such as those in the id (nature) and the
effects of early experience (nurture).

Question 5

weaknesses of inadequate superego

Answer 5

This theory has a lack of falsifiability. The id and superego are unconscious
and therefore cannot be empirically tested.

• Viewing the cause of offending as within the person neglects the complexity of the social conditions of offending, such as deprivation, lack of education, poverty etc.
• According to Freud male identification with the same-sex parent is stronger, therefore males should be more moral than females. This is simply not supported by crime statistics, the evidence is that more males offend than females.
• There is no evidence that children raised without a same-sex parent offend more than children who do.
• This theory adheres to psychic determinism as it suggests that offenders cannot be held responsible for their crimes. If problems are rooted in childhood experience behaviour cannot change.
• If children raised by deviant parents go on to commit crime themselves this
  could be due to genetics or learning rather than a deviant superego.
• The idea that some criminals have an unconscious desire for punishment is
  implausible, most offenders go to great lengths to conceal their crime and so avoid punishment.