Psychodyamic theory

• Freud's psychodynamic theory (1909) is based on the theory of mind (conscience, preconscious, subconscious) and personality (ID, Ego and Superego)
• Freud (1909) claims the superego is formed at the end of the phallic stage after the oedipus or elektra complex
• Blackburn (1993) says if the superego is inadequate then the individual will become an offender
• 3 types of inadequate superego; weak, deviant, and overharsh
• the weak superego develops if the same sex parent is absent during the phallic stage as the child cannot resolve their complex through identification with them causing immoral behaviour
• The deviant superego is when the superego has alternative values to what is considered the norm
• the overharsh superego is when the superego desires to punish the individual causing them to offend in order to receive the punishment they desire
• Bowlby (1944) claims deviance is based on the internal working model which does not form properly if maternal deprivation takes place
• Bowlby (1944) states that affectionless psychopathy due to maternal deprivation causing an incomplete internal working model causes criminality
• Bowlby (1944) compared 44 criminal adolescents and 44 non-criminal adolescents internal working models matched on characteristics like IQ
• Bowlby (1944) found 12/14 criminal adolescents had experienced maternal deprivation while only 2/44 non-criminal ones did
• Strength; Hoffman (1975) found differences in male and female morality that could be explained using the oedipus and elektra complex
• Strength; real world application as it can be applied to psychodynamic therapy techniques in order to prevent reoffending
• Weakness; alpha bias as it suggests males and females are more different in terms of morality than they actually are as girls are under less pressure to identify with their same sex parent in the elektra complex suggesting they may have weaker morality
• Weakness; psychodynamic theory is unscientific as it lacks falsifiability as unobservable concepts such as superego cannot be properly studied
• Weakness; Bowlby's 44 thieves study (1944) has issues in terms of ethics and sampling as the participants used were hand selected by Bowlby from a group of adolescents he had already worked with causing researcher bias within the sample as he may have chosen participants solely to prove his theory
• Weakness: Lewis (1954) analysed 500 young people and found maternal deprivation is not a good indicator of criminal behaviour