AO3

• Evaluation Points of Psychodynamic Explanations


  • Research Support
  • Gender Bias
  • Other Factors
• Psychodynamic Explanations: Research Support


  A strength of the psychodynamic explanation is that there is research support for the link between the superego and offending. Goreta conducted an analysis on 10 offenders receiving psychiatric treatment. She found that all of them had experienced disturbances in their superego formation, and had feelings of guilt and need for self punishment. Goreta said that these feelings unconsciously drive their offending behaviour. This supports the link between offending behaviour and an over-harsh superego.
• Psychodynamic Explanations: Gender Bias


  Freud's theory and the basis of the superego explanation is subject to gender bias. Freud said that girls have a weaker superego, as they don't experience the same intense castration anxiety, so they have less pressure to identify with their same-sex parent. Therefore, according to Freud, girls are more likely to offend. However, Hoffman studied children being asked to resist temptation and found no gender differences, if anything girls were more moral. This questions the explanatory power of the superego, limiting the validity.
• Psychodynamic Explanations: Other Factors


  Bowlby's MDT only explains offending through maternal deprivation and doesn't consider other factors. Lewis analysed data from interviews of 500 young people and said that MD was a poor predictor of later offending. Separation from mother doesn't necessarily mean that they are not close. There are many other reasons for the link between MD and offending, such as poverty, which can cause both MD and offending.