Psychodynamic

• Freuds suggests that the superego is guided by the morality principle leading to feelings of guilt and wrongdoing
• Blackburn argued that if the superegos is inadequate (weak, deviant or over-harsh) then the id (governed by the pleasure principle) is given free reign - an uncontrolled id means that behaviour is more inevitable
• Weak superego - during the phallic stage the superego is formed from the Oedipus complex. If the same-sex parent is absent during this stage a child cannot internalise a fully formed superego as there is no identification
• Deviant superego - child internalises the same-sex parents' moral attitudes to form their superego. If these internalised moral attitudes are deviant superego
• Over harsh superego - excessively punitive or overly harsh parent creates a child who has a harsh superego and the child is crippled by guilt and anxiety. This may unconsciously drive the individual to perform criminal acts to satisfy the superegos overwhelming need for punishment
• Psychodynamic approach deals with the emotional life of the individual and its role in offending, unlike other theories of crime. Emotions guide moral behaviour
• 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 could lead to affectionless psychopathy and increased likelihood of delinquency
• Bowlby found that 14 out of the 44 thieves showed signs of affectionless psychopathy - 12 of these had prolonged separation from their mother in infancy. In a control group, only 2 thieves had experienced prolonged separation (maternal deprivation)
• Goreta conducted a Freudian-style analysis of 10 offenders referred for psychiatric treatment. The superego formation was diagnosed. Each offender experienced the need for punishment manifesting itself as a desire to commit acts of wrongdoing and offend (over-harsh superego?). This evidence seems to support the role of psychic conflicts and an over-harsh superego as a basis for offending
• A counterpoint to the research support for the link to the superego is that if the theory was correct, one would expect harsh, punitive parents to raise children who often experience guilt. Evidence suggests that the opposite is true - such children rarely express guilt. This calls into question the relationship between a strong, punitive internal parent and excessive feelings of guilt within the child
• One limitation is that it is gender biased. Psychodynamic theory assumes that girls develop a weaker superego than boys - they do not experience castration anxiety, so have less need to identify with their mothers. However there are 20 times more men than women in prison and Hoffman found no gender differences in childrens moral behaviour. This suggests there is alpha bias and may not be an appropriate explanation for offending behaviour
• One limitation is that 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 ability to form relationships close relationships in adolescene. Even if there is a link there are countless other reasons for it e.g: 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 one
• One limitation is the methodological issues. This study may be vulnerable to researcher bias as Bowlby interviewed the participants himself. The study was not blind