Psychological explanations for offending: Psychodynamic

Question 1

Inadequate superego (Blackburn 1993)

Answer 1

The superego is responsible for our conscience and is guided by the morality principle. It forms at the end of the phallic stage through resolution of the Oedipus/Electra complex.
He suggested if the superego doesn’t develop properly, it can lead to criminal behaviour

Question 2

The weak superego

Answer 2

forms when the same sex parent is absent during childhood. The child cannot internalise a fully formed superego as identification doesn’t take place. Immoral behaviour will have free reign as the superego will not be there to warn against it.

Question 3

The deviant superego

Answer 3

is caused by internalising the superego of an immoral or criminal parent. This is because they do not associate guilt with wrong doing.

Question 4

The over-harsh superego

Answer 4

caused by overly strict parenting causes so much guilt in the person that it causes an unconscious need for self-punishment and so leads to crime.

Question 5

Maternal deprivation (Bowlby 1944)

Answer 5

proposed that a warm, continuous bond with a caregiver is essential for forming adult emotional relationships.
Failure to establish this bond would lead to affection less psychopathy: lack of guilt & empathy.

Question 6

2.

Answer 6

such an individual are likely to engage in acts of delinquency and cannot develop close relationships with others.

Question 7

Evaluation strength: Bowlby’s 44 thieves study

Answer 7

Found 14 of them has some level of affectionless psychopathy and 12 had experienced prolonged separation from their mother.

Question 8

Evaluation weakness: Bowlby’s study has methodological issues

Answer 8

he was looking for evidence to support his own theory and therefore could of influenced researcher bias. Rutter also suggests that privation is much worse than deprivation.

Question 9

Evaluation weakness: psychodynamic has gender bias

Answer 9

Due to girls not experiencing the fear of castration, the theory suggests that they will experience less of a need to internalise their parent’s superego and develop a less strict super ego and would increase their risk of crime. But Hoffman (1975) found girls were slightly better at resisting the temptation than boys.

Question 10

Evaluation weakness: psychodynamic is unfalsifiable

Answer 10

It is impossible to disprove the existence of unconscious processes.