Psychodynamic theories

• Who developed the idea of Psychoanalysis?

  Freud
• What was Freuds key idea?

  Believed that the best way to understand behaviour is to examine early childhood experiences
• What where the personalities that Freud came up with?

  Id - controls our selfish + animalistic urges

  Ego - seeks rational + sensible control

  Superego - moral conscience
• How can you link Freud's study to crime?

  Anti-social behaviour caused by abnormal relationship with parents. Conflicts between Id, Ego and superego are unresolved which leads to weak over harsh or deviant superego.
• What are 2 strengths of Freuds personality theory?

  • comprehensive framework to describe human responsibility
  • importance of childhood on later life and development
• what are 3 weaknesses of Freud's theory?

  • critics doubt the existence of the unconscious mind
  • suggest we have no conscious free will over our behaviour
  • difficult to test by experimenting
• Who came up with the Maternal Deprivation theory?

  Bowlby
• What was the key idea of Bowlby's theory?

  That there is a link between maternal deprivation and deviance or anti-social behaviour. (spending time apart from parents - mothers especially)
• Attachment in relation to MDT:

  A child needs a close, continuous relationship with a primary carer from birth to develop normally.
• Seperation in relation to MDT:

  If attachment is broken - can lead to affectionless, psychopathy + criminal behaviour
• What evidence does the MDT by Bowlby have?

  Study of 44 juvenile thieves referred to child guidance clinic.

  39% suffered MD before age of 5 compared to 5% of control group of non offenders.
• What is the case study for the social learning theory?

  • Jamie Bulger (1993)
  • Taken from shop by two young boys and tortured and killed and put on railway tracks
  • Actions of the boys blamed a film the boys had watched
• Who came up with the personality theory?

  Eysenck
• What was Eysenck's key idea?

  Believed that certain personality types are more likely to commit a crime because they crave excitement.
• What was evidence for Eysenck's theory? 


  Came up with a questionnaire which he carried out on 700 soilders who were being treated for neurological disorders. - dimensions of personality
• What are the four personalities for Eysenck's theory?

  • Extroversion - sociable but gets bored quickly if lack of stimulation
  • Introversion - reliable + control of emotions
  • Neuroticism - concerns of emotional stability of the person
  • Stability - can be anxious + often irrational/ unstable personality
  • Extra - Psychoticism - cold, uncaring + aggressive personality
• What are some strengths of Eysenck's theory?

  • takes into account biological, social and psychological factors
  • useful for describing how measurable tendencies could increase a persons risk of offending
• What are some weaknesses of Eysenck's theory?

  • assumes traits are fixed and stable in all circumstances
  • evidence from questionnaires can be followed
  • correlation between personality type and prisoners but does not answer a cause of criminality
• What are cognitive theories of crime?

  • Psychologists Yochelson and Samenow applied cognitive theory to criminality.
  • The key idea is that criminals are prone to faulty thinking, and this makes them more likely to commit crime.
  • theory is based on a long-time study of 240 male offenders, most that have been committed to psychiatric hospitals.
• What are thinking errors?

  • considered 'criminal thinking'
  • present in everyone in varying degrees
  • criminals take these errors into the extreme - develops into patterns of thinking + behaviour that victimise and harm others - lying, secretiveness, need for power + control, super-optimism, lack of trust in others, feeling that they are special
• What is Kohlberg's moral development theory?

  • how we develop our moral thinking
  • our ideas of right and wrong develop through a series of levels + stages from child --- adulthood
  • suggested that criminals moral development is stuck at a less mature level than everyone else
  • likely to think if actions will lead to a reward or punishment, rather than how it might affect others
• 2 strengths of Kohlberg's theory...

  • studies show offenders are more likely to have immature moral development, as the theory predicts
  • Thornton + Reid -- found this for crimes such as theft + robbery and other cases of violent crime
• 1 weakness of Kohlberg's theory...

  • focuses on moral thinking rather than moral behaviour. Someone may be perfectly capable of thinking morally but acting immorally.