psychodynamic explanation to criminal behaviour- FORENSICS Flashcards
Inadequate superego, what are the 3 parts of the personality and how does freud predict that this causes criminal behaviour
- Id= demanding, self-gratifying instinct
- Superego= conscience
- ego= moderates demands of id and superego
- stable life if all 3 are balanced
- Freud’s theory would predict that criminal behaviour would occur if there was an imbalance
What is a weak superego?
- no same sex parent in phallic stage
- child can’t identify with same sex parent and internalise their moral code
- child grows up having no idea of right and wrong
- superego doesn’t cause guilt so person shows no inhibition
What is a deviant superego?
- same sex parent child identifies with is immoral
- child internalises a deviant moral code
What is a harsh superego?
- superego demands guilt
- leads child to seek out opportunities to be punished in order to satisfy the need for punishment
- compulsive criminal behaviour underpinned by desire to be punished
What did Freud believe about differences in morality of girls and boys?
- Freud believed boys identify more strongly with their fathers than girls identify with their mothers,
so girls are less morally developed because their moral code is less firmly internalised
AO3- inadequate superego
- many people without a same sex parent with whom they can identify grow up to be law-abiding
- freud believed males have a stronger superego than females, so males should be more moral. But statistics show males commit more crimes than females.
AO1 defence mechanisms
- unconscious processes
- defend the conscious self from unpleasant events
DISPLACEMENT=
- taking out anger on a substitute object, eg man angry at gf goes and stabs a random stranger
SUBLIMATION=
- redirection of morally primitive impulses into other more acceptable activities
AO3- defence mechanisms
- because they’re unconscious they can’t be tested so no empirical evidence for their existence
AO1- maternal depravation
- Bowlby stated that being deprived of a loving and continuous relationship with the mother in the first 2 years of life can lead to damaging consequences—-> delinquency and intellect problems
44 juvenile delinquents, 14 affection less psychopaths , 12/14 had maternal depravation
—-> antisocial behaviour linked directly to loss of mother figure
AO3- maternal depravation
- criticised for concentration on separation leading to delinquency, what’s important is failure to form a bond with someone whether or not this is caused by separation
- possible to remain in contact with mother, but if she is cold and unloving, no proper bond will be formed
AO3 psychodynamic explanation as a whole
- doesn’t explain all crime—> KLINE suggests that crimes can be carefully planned and executed, are motivated by rational decision rather than irrational thought processes.
- it’s the only theory that suggests the importance of emotional factors in criminal behaviour , putting forward the idea that conscious processes are important.