Psychodynamic Explanation Of Offending Behaviour Flashcards
What is the maternal deprivation theory
John bowl by (1951,53) proposed prolonged seperation between a mother and child would have long term emotional consequences. Seperation would only have an affect if it happened before the age of 2 and a half and without a substitute.
What is a long term consequence of maternal deprivation and what does it mean
Affectionless psychopathy, a lack of normal affection, shame or sense of responsibility. Related to the general notion of a psychopath as someone who lacks understanding of the feelings of other people
What’s the definition of maternal deprivation
The loss of emotional care that is normally provided by the primary caregiver
What was bowlbys study of the 44 thieves in 1944
- compared 44 thieves attending his clinic with 44 control patients.
- found none of the control participants had experienced early seperation, but 38% of thieves had.
- found thieves with affectionless character had experienced frequent seperation - 86% of the affectionless thieves compared to 17% of the other thieves
What is Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis
- personality stems from 3 components the id, ego, superego each demanding gratification
- Id represents our primitive wants, operates according to pleasure principle
- ego is anchored in the reality of the external world - reality principle
- superego determines what behaviour is permissible, causing feelings of guilt when rules are broken - a moral compass
What are the consequences if developing a overdeveloped superego
- child may develop strong identification with a strict parent. This consequence is excessive feelings of guilt and anxiety when acting on Id impulses.
- individual would commit a crime with a wish to be caught and then the punishment would reduce their feelings of guilt
What are the consequences of a deviant superego
- normal identification with same-sex parent means child takes on same moral attitudes as that parent.
- if child has a criminal parent, it would develop same deviant attitudes
What are the consequences of a underdeveloped superego
- develops around age of 4
- child who doesn’t identify with same sex parent develops a weak superego, as a result person has little control over anti-social behaviour and is likely to act in ways gratifying id impulses
What is a pro of the psychodynamic approach
- only explanation for offending behaviour that deals with the role of emotional factors
- psychodynamic approach therefore address multiple factors and offer some useful insight into the effect of childhood experiences on adult behaviour
What’s a limitation of Bowlby’s 44 thieves study
- may be tempting to conclude from the study that prolonged seperation cause the emotional problems experiences by many of the thieves, this isn’t possible however as seperation was not manipulated
- the fact you cannot draw casual conclusions means this study should be used with caution to support his theory
What are the real life applications of bowlbys theory
- had implications for prevention of delinquency
- suggests if you reduce early seperation you may reduce delinquency
Why is the gender bias in Freud’s theory a limitation
- proposed women develop a weaker superego because they don’t identify with same sex parent as much
- if this were to be true, women would be more likely to be criminals which isn’t true
- this therefore represents an alpha bias, exaggerating the difference between men and women and devaluing women
What contribution does the psychodynamic approach make
- Farrington et al, 40 year longitudinal study in UK beginning in 1950 with 400 boys from south London.
- this study concluded that most important risk factors at age 8-10 were family history of criminality
- this shows that different explanations can be combined to give a clearer picture of the origins of offending behaviour
