Psychodynamic explanations

• Psychodynamic explanations suggest that criminal behaviour results from early childhood experiences and unconscious psychological conflicts, particularly those related to Freud’s personality structure and attachment theory.
• The superego develops during the phallic stage through identification with the same-sex parent after the child resolves the Oedipus complex (boys) or Electra complex (girls). If this process is disrupted, a weak or abnormal superego may result, leading to criminal behaviour. There are three types of inadequate superego:

  • Weak superego
  • Deviant superego
  • Over-harsh superego
• Deviant superego occurs when a child internalises criminal or immoral values from a parent (e.g., a father who encourages violence), and they may adopt these behaviours.
• The Over-harsh superego is an excessively strict superego that may lead to excessive guilt, unconsciously driving criminal behaviour to satisfy the superego's overwhelming need for punishment.
• Bowlby's maternal deprivation theory suggests that failure to establish the maternal bond during the first few years of life (critical period) means the child will experience several damaging and irreversible consequences later in life.

  • An example is affectionless psychopathy, characterised by a lack of guilt, empathy and feeling for others.
• Bowlby (1944) studied 44 juvenile thieves and found that 14 of them were "affectionless psychopaths".

  • 12 of these 14 had experienced prolonged maternal separation before age 5.
  • Bowlby concluded that maternal deprivation in early childhood leads to emotionally detached personalities, making criminal behaviour more likely.
• A strength is that Bowlby’s (1944) 44 thieves study supports the idea that maternal deprivation increases the risk of criminality. 12 out of the 14 of the juvenile offenders that displayed signs of affectionless psychopathy also had experienced early separation from their mothers. However, this study is retrospective and relies on self-report data, which may be biased or inaccurate. Additionally, Lewis (1954) found no clear link between maternal deprivation and offending, suggesting the relationship may not be as strong as Bowlby claimed.
• A major limitation is that Freud’s theory is androcentric and does not fully explain female offending. Freud argued that girls develop a weaker superego because they do not experience castration anxiety, meaning they have less pressure to identify with their mothers. This would suggest that women should be more prone to crime, but in reality, men commit far more crimes than women. This gender bias challenges the validity of Freud’s psychodynamic explanation of offending.
• Another issue is that psychodynamic explanations are difficult to test scientifically. Concepts like the superego and the unconscious mind are unobservable and cannot be falsified. Unlike biological explanations, which can be tested using brain scans and genetic analysis, psychodynamic theories rely on case studies and subjective interpretations, making them less scientific and reliable.
• The Weak superego occurs when a child fails to identify with a same-sex parent because they are absent during the phallic stage.

  • This means the child cannot internalise a fully-formed superego as there is no chance for identification.
  • They may develop little guilt or lack of self-control, making crime more likely.