Inadequate Superego

• The superego is one the three parts of personality and is formed at the end of the phallic stage - it is the morality principle and exerts influence by punishing the ego through guilt and rewarded with pride.
• The three explainations for crime developed by Blackburn revolve around either a weak, devient or over-harsh superego.
• The Weak Superego

  • Absence of the same sex parent so there is no opportunity for identification
  • The child cannot identify
  • Makes immorality / criminality more likely
• The Deviant Superego

  • The superego that the child internalises has deviant or immoral values
  • E.g. A boy that is raised by a criminal father is not likely to associate guilt with wrongdoing.
• The Over-harsh Superego

  • The superego is based on identification with a strict and firm but forgiving authority.
  • Harsh parenting leads to an over-harsh superego - individual is crippled with anxiety and guilt.
  • Could unconsciously drive the individual to commit crimes to satisfy the superego's excessive need for punishment.
• A key feature in the psychodynamic approach to crime is that it deals with the emotional life of individuals - inadequate superego results in primitive emotional demands to take control and guide behaviour. Also acknowledges the role of guilt and anxiety and important the lack thereof.
• Evaluation Inadequate Superego - Research Support

  • Goreta conducted a freudian style analysis of 10 offenders- Disturbances in the superego formation were diagnosed.
  • Each offender experienced unconcious feelings of guilt and the need for self punishment - Overharsh superego
  • This seems to support the role of psychic conflicts and over harsh superego as a basis for offending.  
• Counterpoint - Research Support

  • If this theory was correct we would expect harsh punitive parent to raise children who constantly experience feelings of guilt and anxiety
  • Evidence suggests opposite is true
  • Harsh parenting results in children who are rebellious and rarely expressed feelings of guilt or self-criticism (Kochanska et al 2001).
• Evaluation Inadequate Superego - Gender Bias

  • Girls develop a weaker superego because identification with same sex parent is not as strong - don't experience castration anxiety.
  • Should result in more female offenders - 20x more men in prison than women in the UK
  • Hoffman has also found that females are slightly more able to resist temptation and are more moral than males.