psychological explanations - psychodynamic

Question 1

the inadequate superego / imbalance of tripartite personality

Answer 1

• superego is formed at end of phallic stage and works on the morality principle, exerts influence by punishing ego through guilt for wrongdoing, whilst rewarding it with pride for good moral behaviour
• Ronald Blackburn argued that if superego is somehow deficient or inadequate then offending behaviour is inevitable, as the id is given free rein and not properly controlled (imbalance of tripartite personality)
• imbalance can explain crimes such as sexual assault due to overpowering id and underactive ego / superego

three types of inadequate superego have been proposed -
1. the weak superego - if same-gender parent is absent during phallic stage, or if maternally deprived, child cannot internalise a fully-formed superego as no opportunity for identification, making immoral or offending behaviour more likely
2. the deviant superego - if superego that is internalised has immoral or deviant values, this leads to offending behaviour, for example a boy who is raised by criminal father (identified with him) is not likely to associate guilt with wrongdoing
3. the over-harsh superego - healthy superego is based on identification with parent who has firm rules but forgives transgressions, an overly harsh parenting style leads to over-harsh superego for child, who is crippled by guilt and anxiety, which may drive individual to perform criminal acts in order to satisfy superego’s overwhelming need for punishment

role of emotion -
- effect of inadequate superego is to allow primitive, emotional demands to become uppermost in guiding moral behaviour
- psychodynamic approach deals with emotional life of individual, for example it acknowledges role of anxiety ad guilt in development of offending behaviour
- means that lack of guilt is relevant to understanding offending behaviour

Question 2

theory of maternal deprivation (not as relevant)

Answer 2

• Bowlby argued that ability to form meaningful relationships in adulthood was dependent upon child forming warm, continuous relationship with mother-figure
• failure to establish such relationship during first years of life means child is likely to experience a number of damaging consequences later on in life
• one of these consequences is development of affectionless psychopathy, characterised by lack of guilt, empathy and feeling for others
• such maternally deprived individuals are likely to engage in acts of delinquency and cannot develop close relationships

44 thieves -
- Bowlby supported claims with investigation of 44 juvenile thieves
- found through interviews with thieves and families that 14 of the sample showed personality and behavioural characteristics that could be classified as affectionless psychopathy
- of this 14, 12 had experienced prolonged separation from their mothers during infancy
- in non-offender group, only 2 had experienced similar early separation
- concluded that effects of maternal deprivation had caused affectionless and delinquent behaviour among juvenile thieves

Question 3

evaluation strength - research support ⭐️

Answer 3

• Goreta conducted Freudian-style analysis of 10 offenders referred for psychiatric treatment
• in all offenders, disturbances in superego formation were diagnosed
• each offender experienced 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
• this evidence supports the role of psychic conflicts and an over-harsh superego as a basis for offending

Question 4

evaluation limitation - counterpoint to research support

Answer 4

• generally, central principles of inadequate superego theory are not supported
• if this theory was correct we would expect harsh, punitive parents to raise children who constantly experience guilt and anxiety
• evidence suggests that parents who rely on harsher forms of discipline tend to raise children who are rebellious and rarely express guilt or self-criticism
• this questions the relationship between a strong, punitive internal parent and excessive feelings of guilt within the child

Question 5

evaluation limitation - gender bias

Answer 5

• implicit assumption within Freud’s theory is that girls develop weaker superego because identification is not as strong, girls said to be less moral
• this is because girls do not experience emotion associated with castration anxiety, therefore under less pressure to identify with mothers
• therefore, according to Freud, their superego and sense of morality is less realised
• implication of this is that women should be more prone to offending behaviour, however rates of imprisonment show that this is not true
• in a study where children were required to resist temptation, Hoffman found little evidence of gender differences, and when there was, girls tended to be more moral than boys
• suggests alpha bias at the heart of Freud’s theory, may not be an appropriate explanation

Question 6

evaluation limitation (maternal deprivation) - other factors

Answer 6

• Bowlby’s theory is only based on association between maternal deprivation and offending
• Lewis analysed data drawn from interviews with 500 young people, found that maternal deprivation was a poor predictor of future offending and the ability to form close relationships
• even if there is a link, this is not necessarily a causal relationship
• countless other reasons for apparent link, for example maternal deprivation may be due to growing up in poverty, and this may explain later offending
• maternal deprivation may be one reason for later offending, but not the only reason

Question 7

evaluation limitation - not falsifiable ⭐️

Answer 7

• you can’t measure the unconscious, inferences need to be made
• so we can’t be sure of whether people have inadequate superegos
• no way of scientifically validating Freud’s explanation

Question 8

evaluation limitation - psychic determinism

Answer 8

• says that our behaviour is caused by our unconscious which we have no free will over, we don’t choose our upbringing or our psychosexual stages
• issue for our justice system because if someone commits crime because of an inadequate superego, it is difficult to judge whether they should be held accountable or not