freud

Question 1

strength: early childhood

Answer 1

The theory points to the importance of early childhood and family relationships in understanding criminal behaviour.

Question 2

strength: policies

Answer 2

Psychoanalytic explanations have had some influence on policies for dealing with crime and deviance.

Question 3

weakness: unscientific

Answer 3

Psychoanalytic explanations are unscientific and subjective – they rely on accepting the psychoanalyst’s claim that they see into the workings of the individual’s unconscious mind to discover their inner conflicts and motivations.

Question 4

weakness: psychologists

Answer 4

Psychodynamic theories of offending are no longer accredited by psychologists due to the difficulty of testing concepts such as the unconscious mind.