psychodynamic (psychological explnations)

• psychodynamic approach

  • psychodynamic explanations of criminal behaviour explain crime as the result of unconscious conflicts with different parts of the mind
  • Freud's psychodynamic approach suggests that the superego is guided by the morality principle leading to feelings of guilt for wrongdoing
  • Blackburn = argued that if the superego is inadequate (weak, deviant or over-harsh) then the Id (governed by the pleasure principle) is given 'free-rein'
  • an uncontrolled Id means that offending behaviour is inevitable
• weak superego (absence of same-sex parent)

  • during the phallic stage the superego is formed through the resolution of the oedipus or electra complex
  • if the same-sex parent is absent during this stage, a child cannot internalise a fully-formed superego as there is no opportunity for identification
  • this would make offending behaviour more likely
• deviant superego (child internalises deviant values)

  • a child internalises the same-sex parent's moral attitudes to form their superego
  • if these internalised moral attitudes are deviant = this would lead to a deviant superego and to offending behaviour
• over-harsh superego (committing crime satisfies need for punishment)

  • an excessively punitive or overly harsh parent creates a child who has an over-harsh superego and the child is crippled by guilt and anxiety
  • this may (unconsciously) drive the individual to perform criminal acts in order to satisfy the superego's overwhelming need for punishment
• role of emotion

  • the psychodynamic approach deals with the emotional life of the individual and its role in offending - unlike other theories of crime
  • emotions (eg anxiety) guide moral behaviour
• maternal deprivation and affectionless psychopathy

  • Bowlby = argued that a warm, continuous relationship with a mother-figure was crucial to future relationships, well-being and development
  • a loss of attachment in infancy (maternal deprivation) could lead to a lack of empathy and guilt (affectionless psychopathy) and increased likelihood of delinquency
• 44 thieves study - supports maternal deprivation hypothesis

  • Bowlby found that 14/44 juvenile thieves showed signs of affectionless psychopathy
  • 12 of the 14 had prolonged separation from their mothers in infancy
  • in a control group, only 2 'thieves' had experienced prolonged separation (maternal deprivation)
• strength = research support for link to the superego

  • Goreta = conducted a Freudian-style analysis of 10 offenders referred for psychiatric treatment - in all those assessed = disturbances in superego formation were diagnosed
  • each offender experienced the need for punishment manifesting itself as a desire to commit acts of wrongdoing and offend (possibly due to an over-harsh superego)
  • this evidence seems to support the role of psychic conflicts and an over-harsh superego as a basis for offending
• counterpoint to research support for the link to the superego

  • if this theory were correct we would expect harsh, punitive parents to raise children who often experience guilt
  • evidence suggests that the opposite is true- such children rarely rarely express guilt
  • this calls into question the relationship between a strong, punitive internal parent and excessive feelings of guilt within the child
• limitation = freudian theory is gender-biased

  • psychodynamic theory assumes girls develop a weaker superego than boys - they do not experience castration anxiety, so have less need to identify with their mothers
  • BUT = there are 20 times more men than women in prison
  • AND Hoffman found no gender differences in children's moral behaviour
  • this suggests there is alpha bias at the heart of Freud's theory and means it may not be appropriate as an explanation of offending behaviour
• limitation = Bowlby's theory is based on an association

  • Lewis = analysed 500 interviews with young people, maternal deprivation was a poor predictor of future offending and the ability to form close relationships in adolescence
  • even if there is a link there are countless other reasons for it (eg = maternal deprivation may be due to growing up in poverty)
  • this suggests that maternal deprivation may be one of the reasons for later offending behaviour, but not the only reason
• extra evaluation = contribution

  • psychodynamic explanations were first to link moral behaviour/offending to early childhood and emotional factors
  • BUT = unconscious concepts are not open to empirical testing. arguments such as the inadequate superego can only be judged on their face value
  • this suggests that although psychodynamic explanations have made a useful contribution to the debate, the lack of a credible scientific basis is an issue
• Limitation = psychic determinism

  • explanation proposes that behaviours are determined by unconscious forces and past experiences
  • No opportunity for free will
• Limitations = difficult to falsify - links to extra evaluation

  • Can’t be tested etc
  • => as an explanation for offending, less scientific than other explanations (eg biological approach)