Ac2.2 Individualistic theories

• Freud's psychodynamic theory is a theory of the mind that suggests that our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by unconscious conflicts and desires.
• Freud's 5 stages of psychosexual development

  1. Oral stage
  2. Anal stage
  3. Phallic stage
  4. Latency stage
  5. Genital stage

  During the phallic stage girls undergo the electra complex and boys the oedipus complex. This is where the child identifies with the same sex parent and internalises their beliefs and values because they are attracted to the opposite sex parent and fear castration/rejection.
• Id


  Instincts
• Ego


  reality
• superego


  morality
• The id, ego and superego need to be balanced for a healthy personality
• weak superego


  the id takes over and gives into desires and commits crime
• harsh superego


  commit crime to get caught and appease guilt
• deviant superego


  child identifies with same sex criminal parent
• Freud strengths

  • highlights the importance of early socialisation and family relationships in understanding criminality
  • some influence on policies developed to deal with crime
• Freud weaknesses

  • unscientific and subjective and cannot be proven
  • How can we possibly understand the 'unconscious mind'?
• Bowlby's maternal deprivation theory suggests if a child's bond is broken in the first 2 years then the child will suffer lasting effects such as problems with cognitive development, affectionless and delinquency.
• Maternal deprivation


  deprived of close and continuous relationship with primary caregiver
• Bowlby

  • studied 44 juvenile delinquents
  • 39% experienced complete separation from their mother for 6 months or more during the first five years
  • 5% in the control group had
• Bowlby strengths

  • research support
  • consider parent and child relationships explaining criminality
• Bowlby weaknesses

  • retrospective study
  • overestimates how far early experiences have a permanent effect on later life
• Eysenck personality theory

  • neurotic or stable
  • introverted or extroverted
• (Eysneck) neurotic extraverts are most likely to be criminals

  E= nervous system needs a high level of stimulation from environment, seeking excitement, impulsive, rule breaker

  N= hard to condition, high levels of anxiety, no learning from mistakes
• Eysenck also added psychotics, who are egocentric misfits, have high levels of testosterone and are also most likely to be criminal.
• Eysenck strengths

  • Useful test for measuring tendencies that increase risk of offending
  • Some studies support his predictions high E, N and P
• Eysenck weaknesses

  • offenders are often unsociable but impulsive
  • less impulsive offenders are less likely to get caught and therefore not representative
• Sutherland's differential association learning theory is where an individuals learn values and attitudes for criminal behaviour from their family and peer group
• (Sutherland) Osborne and West

  • Father had a criminal conviction, sons were 40% more likely to have a criminal conviction by 18
  • 13% for non-criminal fathers
• (Sutherland) Matthews

  • Juvenile delinquents are more likely to report having peers who engage in criminal activity than those who dont
• (Sutherland) Walmsley

  • 1/3 of UK prisoners have a family member also in prison
• Sutherland

  Differential association learning theory
• Sutherland strengths

  • Supported by evidence
  • Sutherland - white collar crime is normalised in the work place
• Sutherland weaknesses

  • Not everyone who is exposed to criminal influence becomes a criminal
  • Peer pressure/ genetics
• Skinner

  Operant learning theory
• Operant conditioning 


  Positive reinforcements and punishment shape behaviour
• Differential reinforcement theory

  Rewards ( financial and emtional ) outway pushiments
• Skinner's rat box

  • Rats learnt that if they pull the lever=
  • Green light =food
  • Red light= shock
• Skinner's strengths

  • Proved that animals learn from experience through reinforcement. Some human learning also follows this pattern
  • Logical that if crime is more rewarding than pushing outcomes they will be more likely to offend
• Skinner's weaknesses

  • Ignores intern mental processes and values
  • Based on animals in labs and cannot be generalised
• Bandura

  observational social learning theory
• Observational social learning theory

  • Learn through observation of role models based on

  1. Attractiveness
  2. Status
  3. Perceived similarity with observer
• Observational social learning theory

  Vicarious reinforcement

  • Imitate depends on time consequences of that behaviour
  • If you see the behaviour getting a reward then you are more likely to imitate it
• Observational social learning theory- bobo doll

  • Film of adult being aggressive to bobo doll shown to children
  • The adult was either:

  1. Rewarded
  2. Told off
  3. Control

  The child was most likely to repeat the behaviour if it was rewarded
• Bandura strengths

  • Takes into account the fact humans are social beings and learn from the experiences of others
  • Shows the importance of role models in learning
• Bandura weaknesses

  • Lab experiments
  • Ignores free will and freedom