Individualistic theories

• Freud's theory


  Our personality is tripartite (three parts)
• Parts of our personality

  • Id
  • Ego
  • Superego
• Id


  • Present from birth, the pleasure principle, represents our basic needs, requires instant gratification, selfish and primitive
• Ego


  • Develops from about 18 months, the reality principle, it is practical and acts as a mediator between the Id and superego
• Superego


  • Develops after completion of the Phallic stage, internalise morality of same sex parent, our conscience and ego ideal
• These parts of our personality develop during the first three stages of development
• As we reach the phallic stage at around 3 years. We go through a stage known as the Oedipus complex in boys and Electra Complex in girls. The child internalises the morality of their same sex parent.
• Weak Superego


  Same sex parent is absent during phallic stage. Child has no one to identify with and no morality to internalise.
• Deviant Superego


  The child identifies with the same sex parent but that parent happens to be criminal. Therefore, the child develops the same morality as a criminal.
• Harsh or Overdeveloped Superego

  Strong identification with a strict parent. Causing excessive guilt and anxiety
• Bowlby's maternal deprivation theory


  When a child is deprived of a close, continuous relationship with its primary carer.
• Bowlby argued that children need this bond (with their mother) in order to develop normally.
• Consequences of maternal deprivation (Bowlby's study of 44 juvenile thieves)


  • An inability to form attachments in the future
  • Affectionless psychopathy (inability to feel remorse)
  • Delinquency (behavioural problems in adolescence)
  • Problems with Cognitive Development
• 39% of thieves experienced early separation before the age of 5, compared with 5% in a control group of non delinquents
• Bowlby's research supports Freud

  Both argue that young children need a stable home environment and a healthy emotional relationship with their primary caregiver to develop a healthy, well adjusted personality.
• Introverts


  • Prefer their own company, they are more cautious and less sociable than extroverts.
• Extroverts


  • Outgoing, prefer the company of others to being alone, get bored easily, experience positive emotions
• Neuroticism


  A tendency to experience negative emotions such as anger, anxiety and depression.
• Emotional Stability


  This is the other end of the scale and these people are calm, even tempered and carefree.
• Eysenck found criminals scored very highly on extraversion and neuroticism in tests
• Extraverts


  Nervous system needs a high level of stimulation from their environment, so are constantly seeking excitement. leads to impulsive, rule breaking behaviour.
• Neurotics


  Are hard to condition into following society's rule because their high anxiety levels prevent them from. Learning from their mistakes.
• A combo of high E & N is likely to lead to criminality
• Psychoticism


  People with a high P score are also likely to engage in criminal activity. Psychotics are egocentric, aggressive, impulsive, impersonal, lacking in empathy and generally not concerned about the welfare of other people. Tend to be solitary misfits who are cruel.
• Psychotics have higher levels of testosterone – so men are more likely to be psychotics.
• Sutherland's differential association theory


  Criminal behaviour is learnt largely through family and peers
• Key factors in Sutherland's theory

  • Imitation- individuals learn criminal behaviour from observing those around them
  • Learned attitudes- socialisation into attitudes and values about the law and the CJS. Pro crime attitudes- if exposed to these they are more likely to offend. Anti crime attitudes- would reduce the likelihood of criminal behaviour. If pro crime outweighs anti crime then more likely to offend
• Operant Learning Theory


  Our behaviour is shaped by reinforcements and punishments. Behaviour that results in a reward is likely to be repeated, behaviour with an undesirable outcome is not likely to be repeated. Therefore operant conditioning must explain criminal behaviour
• Jeffreys differential reinforcement theory

  If a crime has more rewarding consequences than punishing ones for an individual, they are more likely to engage in criminal behaviour
• Social Learning Theory


  Very young children imitate the behaviour they see in social situations. The children imitate their 'models' and they model their behaviour on how they see them behaving. Vicarious reinforcement- if we see a model rewarded for their behaviour we are more likely to imitate it
• Criminality Personality Theory


  Yochelson & Samenow suggest criminals are prone to faulty thinking which makes them more likely to commit crime. They studied 240 long term offenders, most of whom were committed to a psychiatric hospital. The faulty thinking included: lying, secretiveness, need for power/control, super optimism, failure to understand other's positions, lack of trust, believed they were unique, gave themselves victim status, blamed others
• Kohlberg's Moral Development Theory

  Kohlberg suggests that our stages of moral development change as we develop. Pre-conventional moral reasoning- Very young children define right and wrong simply in terms whether an act brings punishment or reward. Post-conventional moral reasoning- By adulthood our sense of right or wrong is determined by our own deeply held moral principles which are seen as more important than the laws of the land. Criminals don't develop their moral thinking. They are stuck at a less mature level than everyone else. They think in terms of whether their action will lead to reward or punishment, and not about the impact their action might have on other people. Their lack of ability to engage in moral reasoning causes them to offend.
• Individualistic theories


  Theories that focus on the individual as the cause of criminal behaviour, rather than external social factors.
• Individualistic theorists include Freud, Eysenck, Sutherland, Skinner, Bandura, Yochelson & Samenow, and Kohlberg.
• Key findings of individualistic theories

  • Personality traits and cognitive processes can predispose individuals to criminal behaviour
  • Early childhood experiences and socialisation shape an individual's personality and moral development
  • Individuals learn criminal behaviour through imitation, reinforcement, and cognitive distortions
• General criticisms of individualistic theories

  • They ignore the role of social and environmental factors in shaping criminal behaviour
  • They rely heavily on self-report data and lab experiments, which may not reflect real-world behaviour
  • They often fail to explain why some individuals with the same risk factors do not engage in criminal behaviour
• Rorschach inkblot tests- asking participants what they see in symmetrical ink shapes, this is thought to unlock the unconscious mind
• Psychoanalysis


  A therapy developed by Sigmund Freud to see the unconscious mind and enable a person to deal with abnormal behaviour e.g hypnosis, free/word association, dream analysis. It is usually a lengthy process
• When the id, ego and superego are imbalance it causes people to commit crimes, if offenders can bring their unconscious motives to the surface they can be corrected and will prevent further crimes
• Informal policies that attempt to influence early childhood e.g NHS, health visitors are linked to the psychodynamic theory, PDT argues personality is formed in early childhood