Psychodynamic Explanation Of Offending Content Flashcards
What was one of Bowlby’s consequences of prolonged separation from the primary caregiver during the critical period and onwards and what is this related to?
Affectionless psychopathy - lack of normal affection, feelings of guilt or responsibility.
- this behaviour is often related to a psychopath as they cannot understand the feelings of others
What characteristics allowed the 44 thieves to be thieves in Bowlby’s study?
They had experienced early and frequent separations, while also displaying signs of affectionless psychopathy
- this meant the children didn’t feel any guilt for stealing from others due to their characteristics
What relationship was drawn in Bowlby’s 44 thieves study?
Thieves often experience early prolonged separations, especially those who also possess the affectionless psychopathy characteristic
How are all of Freud’s components of personality driver?
Id - pleasure principle
Ego - reality principle
Superego - morality principle
Why is the superego likely to be related to offending behaviour?
It is concerned with what is right and wrong and feelings of guilt to do with this morality principle
What are the two ways the superego can malfunction and develop offending behaviour?
. Weak/undeveloped superego
. Harsh/overdeveloped superego
. Deviant superego
Which study from attachment explains delinquent behaviour?
44 thieves study, links affection less psychopathy with delinquency
When does the superego develop?
Around the age of four, during the phallic stage as a result of the Oedipus complex
Describe the 3 components of the Oedipus complex?
- Boys desire their mothers as the boy becomes aware of his sexuality and desires his mother, wanting her sole attention
- Boys see their father as a rival for the mothers love and wish for the death of their father. This wish creates anxiety and a fear of castration but the fears are repressed.
- The complex is resolved once the boy identifies with the father, internalises his father’s gender identity and accepting this as his own gender identity
How does a weak superego develop and what is the consequence?
If you don’t identify with your same-sex parent.
- this results in the individual having little control over anti-social behaviour as they haven’t resolved their Oedipus complex and acts in ways to gratify their primitive id impulses
How does a harsh superego develop and what are the consequences?
A child may identify too strongly with a strict same sex-parent. This identification with strict parent causes internalisation of excessive feelings of guilt and anxiety as the individual would feel awful for acting in their id impulses as their superego has been formed to have a very strict moral compass.
How can a harsh superego lead to criminal behaviour?
The individual will go out of the way to commit and crime with a wish to be caught and reduce their feelings of guilt through punishment as this is what they would be used to experiencing from the identification with the strict parent.
How does a deviant superego come about?
When the Oedipus complex is resolved normally but with a parent who is already a criminal.
This means the individual will adopt the same moral attitudes which are deviant and the child will likely become a criminal
