A03 Psychodynamic Explanations

• Gender bias

  Freudian theory argues girls develop a weaker superego than boys due to not experiencing castration anxiety. Thus girls are under less pressure to identify with their mothers so their superego and sense of morality is less realised.
• Hoffman (Gender bias)

  Hoffman found, in a temptation study, there was no gender differences between girls and boys.
• Contradictory evidence

  Little evidence for children raised without same-sex parent is less law-abiding as adults contradicts Blackburn's theory. Likewise, those raised by deviant parents may commit crime due to genetics or socialisation, rather than simply a deviant superego.
• Punishment desire (Contradictory evidence)


  Criminals tend to avoid punishment and therefore this contradicts the idea that some criminals have an unconcious desire to be caught. Lack of ecological validity.
• Unconcious concepts


  Lack of falsifiability. Many unconcious conepts that have applications to crime lack empirical evidence and testing. So these theories can only be judge by face value and not scientific value. Thus, PA is pseudoscience and may only contribute little to crime and how to prevent it.
• Methodological issues with Bolby's research


  Bowbly accused of researcher bias as his preconceptions of what he expected to see may have influence the response of his interactions. Failed to draw a distinction between deprivation and privation.
• Correlation not causation


  Lewis analysed data drawn from interviews with 500 young people and found maternal deprivation was a poor predicter of future offending and ability to form close relationships in adolescence.
• Other factors involved (Correlation not causation)


  There is no causal link between deprivation and delinquency. Other factors like genetics and influences from environment and other people (differential association theory). Maternal deprivation may be one of the reasons but not the only reason.