psychological explantions - psychodynamic Flashcards
the inadequate superego
superego works on the morality principle
exerts its influence by punishing the ego through guilt for wrongdoing whilst rewarding it with pride for good moral behaviour
contains the superego ID and EGO
formed at the end of the phallic stage
Blackburn - argued that if the superego is somehow deficient or inadequate then offending behaviour is inevitable because the ID is given free rein and not properly controlled
three types of inadequate superego
- the weak superego
if the same gender parent is absent during the phallic stage
a child cannot internalise a fully formed superego as there is no opportunity for identification
this would make immortal or offend in behaviour more likely
- the deviant superego
if the superego that a child internalises has immoral or deviant values this would lead to offending behaviour
- the over-harsh superego
a healthy superego is based on identification with a parent who has firm rules but forgives transgressions
in contrast an over harsh parenting style leads to a child with an over harsh superego
crippled by guilt and anxiety
may unconsciously drive the individual to per of criminal acts in order to satisfy the superego overwhelming need for punishment
the role of emotion
effect of an inadequate superego is to allow primitive emotional demands to become uppermost guiding moral behaviour
key feature of psychodynamic approach
acknowledges the role of anxiety and guilt in the delopment of offending behaviour
means that lack of guilt s relevan to understanding offending behaviour
theory of maternal deprivation
Bowlby
argued that the ability to form meaningful relationships in adulthood was dependent upon the child forming a warm continuous relationship with. the mother figure
failure to establish such a relationship during the first few years of life means a child is likely to experience a number of damaging and irreversible consequesnses in later life
one of them being the development of particular peronality type known as affectionatless psychopathy
characterised by a 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
44 juvenile thieves
bowlby
supported his claims with his own investigation
found through interviews with the thieved and their families that 14 of the sample he studied showed peronality and behavioural characteristics that could be classified as affectionalites opscyhopathy
of this 14 12 had experienced prolonged separation from their maiothers during infancy
in a non-offender group only two had experienced similar early separation
bowlby concluded that the effects of maternal deprivation had caused affection less and delinquent behaviour among the juvenile thieves
strength
research support
link between offending and the superego
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 expienced 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 wrong doing and offend
this evidence seems to support the role of psychic conflicts andf an over-harsh superego as a basis for offending
limitation
gender bias
implicit assumption of frauds theory is that girls develop a weaker superego than boys because their identification with the same gender parent is not as strong
this is because girls fo not expirnces the intense emotion associated with castration anxiety
therefore under less pressure to identify witht heir mothers
therefore according to freud their superego is less fully released
the implication of this is that women should be more prone to offending behaviour than men
rates of imprisonment show the opposite and men are 20 times more likely to be in prison than one
suggest there is an alpha bias at the heart of frauds theory and means it may not be apporpate as an ecxplantion of offending behaviour
limitation
other factors
only based on association between maternal deprivation and offending
Lewis
analysed data drawn from interviews with 500 young people
found that maternal derivation was a poor predictor of future offending and the ability to form close relationships in adolescence
even if there was a link between children who have experienced frequent or prolonged separation from their mothers nand offending in later life this is not neccesaring a causal relationship
there ar other reasons for the link such as growing up in poverty
suggest that maternal deprivation may be one of the reasons for later offending behaviour but not the only reason
