Psychodynamic explanations to offending Flashcards
What does this theory propose?
o The Superego is the morality principle and acknowledges which behaviours are right/wrong and causes feelings of guilt when rules are broken
o Develop superego during Oedipus complex - during phallic stage
o Identify with same sex parent to develop
o therefore in criminal circumstances, a weak superego as would mean people do not get the same feelings of guilt
The effect of an inadequate Superego is to allow primitive, emotional demands to guide moral behaviour. This makes the psychodynamic approach different from other explanations of offending as it deals with the emotional life of the individual, for example it acknowledges the role of anxiety and guilt in the development of offending behaviour.
What are the 3 super-egos
Blackburn (1993) argued that if the superego is somehow deficient or inadequate then criminal behaviour is inevitable because the id is given ‘free rein’ and not properly controlled. Three types of superego have been proposed:
Weak superego:
How does this develop?
* Occurs if a child does not identify with their same sex parent or their parent is absent during the phallic stage
How does this explain criminality?
* Leads to the person having little control over immoral behaviour and is likely to act in ways that satisfy the desires of their id
Harsh superego:
How does this develop?
* Occurs if a child has a very strong identity with a strict parent
How does this explain criminality?
* Leads to excessive feelings of guilt and anxiety as any time the person acted on impulse, they would feel bad
* This may unconsciously drive the individual to crime in order to satisfy the Superego’s need for punishment
Deviant superego:
How does this develop?
* Occurs when there is normal identification with a criminal same-sex parent
How does this explain criminality?
* The child would then adopt the same deviant attitudes and not associate guilt with wrongdoing
Evaluation of superego explanation to offending
RESEARCH SUPPORT
P - One strength of the psychodynamic approach is research support for the link between offending and the Superego.
E - Goreta conducted a Freudian-style analysis of ten offenders referred for psychiatric treatment. In all those assessed, disturbances in Superego formation were diagnosed. Each offender experiences unconscious feelings of guilt and the need for self-punishment. Goreta explained this as a consequence of an over-harsh Superego, the need for punishment manifesting itself as a desire to commit acts of wrongdoing and offend.
E - This evidence seems to support the role of psychic conflicts and an over-harsh Superego as a basis for offending.
COUNTERPOINT
Generally, however, the central principles of the inadequate Superego theory are not supported. If this theory were correct, we would expect harsh, punitive parents to raise children who constantly experience feeling of guilt and anxiety. Evidence suggests, however, 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.
This calls into question the relationship between a strong, punitive internal parent and excessive feelings of guilt within the child.
GENDER BIAS
P - One limitation of Freudian theory is that it is gender-biased.
E - An implicit assumption within Freud’s theory is that 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 the intense emotion associated with castration anxiety, and therefore are under less pressure to identify with their mothers than boys are with their fathers. Therefore, according to Freud, their Superego and sense of morality is less fully realised. The implication of this is that women should be more prone to offending behaviour than men. Rates of imprisonment show that the opposite is more likely to be true, in the UK 20 times more men are imprisoned. Hoffman found in a study where children were required to resist temptation, hardly any evidence of gender differences and when there was, little girls tended to be more moral than little boys.
E - This suggests there is alpha bias at the heart of Freud’s theory and means it may not be appropriate as an explanation of offending behaviour.
- unfalsifiable
Bowlby maternal deprivation theory
Bowlby argues that the ability to form meaningful relationships in adulthood was dependent upon the child forming a warm, continuous relationship with a mother-figure. Failure to establish such a relationship before 2.5 years or if no substitute mother is available, means a child is likely to experience a number of damaging and irreversible consequences later in life.
One of these is the development of a particular personality type, known as affectionless psychopathy, characterised by lack of guilt, empathy and feelings for others. Such maternally deprived individuals are likely to engage in acts of delinquency and cannot develop close relationships with others.
Evaluation of Bowlby’s maternal deprivation theory
P - Another limitation of the psychodynamic approach to offending is that Bowlby’s theory is only based on an association between maternal deprivation and offending.
E - Lewis analysed data drawn from interviews with 500 young people and found that maternal deprivation was a poor predictor of future offending and the ability to form close relationship in adolescence. Even if there is a link between children who have experienced frequent or prolonged separation from their mothers and offending in later life, this is not necessarily a causal relationship. There are countless other reasons for this apparent link, for example the maternal deprivation may be due to growing up in poverty - and this might then explain later offending.
E - This suggests that maternal deprivation may be one of the reasons for later offending behaviour, but not the only reason.
- bowlby carried out 44 juvenile thieves study - bias
- less reductionist than other approaches - The effect of an inadequate Superego is to allow primitive, emotional demands to guide moral behaviour. This makes the psychodynamic approach different from other explanations of offending as it deals with the emotional life of the individual, for example it acknowledges the role of anxiety and guilt in the development of offending behaviour.
