psychodynamic explanation to criminal behaviour- FORENSICS

Question 1

Inadequate superego, what are the 3 parts of the personality and how does freud predict that this causes criminal behaviour

Answer 1

• 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

Question 2

What is a weak superego?

Answer 2

• 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

Question 3

What is a deviant superego?

Answer 3

• same sex parent child identifies with is immoral
• child internalises a deviant moral code

Question 4

What is a harsh superego?

Answer 4

• 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

Question 5

What did Freud believe about differences in morality of girls and boys?

Answer 5

• 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

Question 6

AO3- inadequate superego

Answer 6

• 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.

Question 7

AO1 defence mechanisms

Answer 7

• 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

Question 8

AO3- defence mechanisms

Answer 8

• because they’re unconscious they can’t be tested so no empirical evidence for their existence

Question 9

AO1- maternal depravation

Answer 9

• 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

Question 10

AO3- maternal depravation

Answer 10

• 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

Question 11

AO3 psychodynamic explanation as a whole

Answer 11

• 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.