psychodynamic explanations

• Superego


  part of the tripartite structure of personality - superego, id, ego

  works on the morality principle and exerts its influence by punishing the ego through guilt for wrongdoing, whilst rewarding it with pride for moral behaviour.
• Oedipus complex


  A psychoanalytic theory that a child has unconscious desire for the opposite-sex parent, together with rivalry and hostility toward the same-sex parent.
• Electra complex


  A psychoanalytic theory that a girl has unconscious desire for the father, together with rivalry and hostility toward the mother.
• Inadequate superego- blackburn


  • If the superego is somehow deficient or inadequate, then criminal behaviour is inevitable because the id is given 'free rein' and not properly controlled.
• Types of inadequate superego

  • Weak superego - child can't internalise a fully formed superego as there is no opportunity for identification when the same sex parent is absent during phallic stage
  • Deviant superego - offending behaviour caused if the superego that the child internalises has deviant values
  • Over-harsh superego - individual is crippled by guilt and anxiety which can drive individual to perform criminal acts to satisfy the super ego's overwhelming need for punishment
• Weak superego


  If the same-sex parent is absent during the phallic stage, the child cannot internalise a fully-formed superego as there is no opportunity for identification. This would make immoral or criminal behaviour more likely.
• Deviant superego


  If the superego that the child internalises has immoral or deviant values this would lead to offending behaviour.
• Over-harsh superego


  A superego that is excessively punitive or overly harsh means the individual is crippled by guilt and anxiety, which may (unconsciously) drive the individual to perform criminal acts in order to satisfy the superego's overwhelming need for punishment.
• Maternal deprivation theory- bowlby


  The ability to form meaningful relationships in adulthood was dependent upon the child forming a warm, continuous relationship with a mother-figure
• Affectionless psychopathy is characterised by a lack of guilt, empathy and feeling for others, and such maternally deprived individuals are likely to engage in acts of delinquency and cannot develop close relationships with others.
• 44 juvenile thieves

  • 14 showed personality and behavioural characteristics that could be classified as 'affectionless psychopathy', and 12 of these had experienced prolonged separation from their mothers during infancy.
• theories influenced by freud which share the belief that unconscious conflicts which are rooted in early childhood and are determined by interactions with parents, drive future and criminal behaviour
• ego employs defence mechanisms to balance the psyche and manage anxiety

  1. displacement - the focus of a person's anxiety is moved onto something else (neutral target) where it might be considered more acceptable than the underlying impulse - eg. releasing frustration/anxiety caused by parents by mugging someone
  2. rationalisation - creating a good reason for committing criminal acts - eg. jack the ripper targeted prostitutes as a war on sin
• maternal bond - unique, superior to other bonds, vital for child's development


  Failure to establish this bond in early stages of life = child will experience damaging and irreversible consequences in later life

  loss of attachment = becomes an affectionless psychopath
• 44 juvenile thieves study - aim


  to look at effects of early maternal deprivation on the likelihood of children becoming young offenders
• 44 juvenile study - method


  interviewed 44 young people who were caught stealing and compared to 44 controls who had not engaged in criminal behaviour
• 44 juvenile study - results

  14/44 thieves - classed as affectionless psychopaths

  • 12 of the 14 - experienced long term separation from mother before age of 2

  no affectionless psychopaths found in control group

  • only 2 in control group had experienced maternal deprivation
• X psychodynamic explanations are very unscientific - lack credible supporting evidence
• X low validity in bowlby's study - longitudinal research has a large gap between the initial maternal deprivation and the subsequent delinquent behaviour

  • During this time there are other uncontrolled variables that may have affected whether a person engages in criminal behaviour
• X bowlby's research is androcentric - only studied male babies
• X bowlby's research places blame on mother by only focusing on the disrupted bond between a child and its mother
• X psychodynamic theories are very deterministic and fail to account for free will in offending behaviour
• X freud's explanations for explaining behaviour is often criticised for being too simplistic and ignoring the complexity of human nature