Psychological Explanations: Psychodynamic Flashcards
What are the three parts to the tripart personality?
Id (pleasure principle, born with this)
Ego (reality, learned in early life)
Superego (morality principle, guilt and pride learned in phallic stage from same sex parent)
What are the 3 types of inadequate superego? AND who researched them?
Deviant, overharsh, weak… researched by Blackburn (note: this wasn’t Freud’s!)
Which attachment theory links to this explanation?
Maternal deprivation
IWM, insecure attachments, Law of accumulated separation, critical period (2.5 years)
Which key attachment study links to this explanation?
Bowlby 44 thieves
14/44 had affectionless psychopathy
12/14 prolonged separation in first two years.
How is the weak superego developed?
Same sex parent absent during the phallic stage, a child cannot internalise a fully formed superego as there is no opportunity for identification.
This would make immoral or offending behaviour more likely.
How is the deviant superego developed?
If the superego that a child internalises has immoral or deviant values this would lead to offending behaviour.
How is the over-harsh superego developed?
An excessively punitive or overly harsh parenting style leads to a child with an over-harsh superego who is crippled by guilt and anxiety.
This may unconsciously drive individual to perform criminal acts to satisfy superegos need for punishment.
Why does having an inadequate superego (either harsh/weak/deviant) potentially lead to criminality?
The ID is given free “rein” and not properly controlled. The ego will likely not be able to balance the needs of the ID and superego which may lead to criminality.
How does emotion link to the role of the superego in crime?
Psychodynamic approach deals with emotional life of the individual (anxiety and guilt) in the development of offending behaviour.
What is the link between the psychodynamic theory and maternal deprivation?
Early childhood experiences shape adulthood.
Those who have separation in childhood, likely to have consequences in adulthood e.g affectionless psychopathy.
Goreta (1991) provides support for the superego contributing towards criminality- how?
conducted a Freudian-style analysis of ten offenders referred for psychiatric treatment finding disturbances in Superego formation in all 10 e.g. unconscious feelings of guilt and need for self punishment (over-harsh superego).
Why might this theory be accused of being alpha bias?
An implicit assumption within Freud’s theory is that girls develop a weaker Superego than boys because identification with the same-sex 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).
Lewis (1954)
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 relationships in adolescence.
Why might this theory be subject to psychic determinism?
can we hold criminals responsible for their actions? Social sensitivity - labelling and blame of parent.
(Kochanska et al. 2001).
Some evidence suggests parents who rely on harsher forms of discipline tend to raise children who are rebellious and rarely express feelings of guilt or self-criticism
