Psychological Explanations Forensics Psychodynamic Ao1

Question 1

Did frued directly address offending beh

Answer 1

No

Question 2

What drives future offendin beh

Answer 2

Unconscious conflicts
Rooted in early childhood
Detrmined by interactions with parents

Question 3

2 psychodynamic explanations of crime

Answer 3

• the inadequate superego
  Maternal deprivation theory

Question 4

Describe inadequate superego

Answer 4

Blackburn 1993 argued that if the supergo is somehow deficient or inadequate then offending behaviour is inevitable
Because id is given free rein and isn’t properly controlled

Question 5

Superego formed at the end of what stage

Answer 5

Phallic stage

Question 6

3 types of inadequate supergo have been proposed …

Answer 6

The weak under developed superego
The deviant superego
The overdeveloped/over harsh super ego

Question 7

Weak superego

Answer 7

If the same sex parent is absent during the phallic stage the child cannot internalise a fully formed superego as there is no opportunity for identification
Offending beh more likely bc they have little control over antisocial beh
Likely to act in ways that gratify their instinctual id complexes

Question 8

Deviant superego

Answer 8

If the super ego that the child internalises has immoral or deviant values eg a child with a criminal parent
This would lead to offending behaviours bc the chid may not associate wrong doing with guilt

Question 9

Over harsh supergo

Answer 9

A child may internalise the superego of a very strict same sex parent
Develops an excessively harsh super ego
Individual is crippled by guilt and anxiety bc any time a person acts on their id impulses they would feel bad
Unconciously drives individual to offend with a wish ti be caught
Satisfying the super egos over whelming need for punishment and reduce their feelings of guilt

Question 10

Via maternal dep why do ppl offend

Answer 10

If maternal deprivation (long-term separation or loss of emotional care from the mother or mother-substitute) occurs during the critical period (around 2½ years), then the child will experience a number of damaging and irreversible long-term consequences later in life.
• One of these is the development of the affectionless psychopathy personality type, which is characterised by a lack of guilt, empathy or strong emotion for others and responsibility.
• Such individuals are likely to offend and cannot develop close® relationships with others as they lack the necessary early experience to do so

Question 11

Bowlby 44 theives

Answer 11

sample contained 44 criminal teenageers accused of stealing
all 44 teens interviewd for signs of affectionless psychopathy
families also interviewed to establish whether “theives” had prolonged early seperation from mother
this sample was compared to a control group of 44 non criminal but emotionally disturbed young people
14/44 thieves could be described as affectionless psychopaths
out of those 14 thieves, 12 had experienced prolonged separation from their mothers in the first 2 years of their lives
in contrast only 5 of the remainng 30 had expirenced separations in control group 2/44 had expirenced long separations no affectionless psychopathy

Question 12

How is maternal dep theory a psychodynamic explanation

Answer 12

Focus on childhood expirences and relationships

Question 13

Bowlbys results are correlational why is this a problem

Answer 13

We can’t say for sure that there is causation that maternal deprivation causes offending beh
Eg in 44 thieves out of the 14 affectionless psychopaths 12 had extended separation from the mother
So how can this theory/study explain the offending behaviour in the 2 affectionless psychopaths that didn’t have maternal deprivation