Psychodynamic explanation - AO3

Question 1

What is a strength of psychodynamic explanations?

Answer 1

• P: Strength = research support for the link between offending and the superego
• E: Goreta (1991): Freudian style analysis of ten offenders referred for psychiatric treatment. In all, disturbances in Superego formation were diagnosed. Each offender experienced unconscious feelings of guilt and the need for self punishment
• E: Goreta explained this as a consequence of an overharsh superego, the need for punishment manifesting itself as a desire to commit acts of wrongdoing and offend
• L: Evidence seems to support the role of psychic conflicts and overharsh superego as a basis for offending

Question 2

What are two limitations of psychodynamic explanations?

Answer 2

• P: Limitation = central principles of inadequate superego theory are not supported
• E: If this theory were correct we would expect harsh, punitive parents to raise children who constantly experience feelings of guilt and anxiety
• E: Evidence suggests that the opposite is true. Parents who rely on harsher forms of discipline tend to raise children who are rebellious and rarely express feelings of guilt or self criticism (Kochanska et al 2000)
• L: Calls into question the relationship between a strong punitive internal parent and excessive feelings of guilt within the child

‎

• P: Limitation = theory is gender biased
• E: Girls develop a weaker superego than boys because identification with the same gender parent is not as strong. This is because girls do not experience castration anxiety - less pressure to identify with mothers. Morality is less realised
• E: Implication = women should be more prone to offending behaviour than men. Rates of imprisonment show that the opposite is more likely to be true. Hoffman (1975): children were required to resist temptation - hardly any evidence of gender differences when there was little girls tended to be more moral than boys
• L: Alpha bias is at the heart of its theory and it may not be appropriate as an explanationof offending behaviour