Freud

• Claims

  • psychodynamic theory, Psychoanalysis Theory
  • 3 parts of the mind: conscious, preconscious, unconscious
  • unconscious mind controls behaviour
  • childhood trauma leaves a mark on the unconscious mind
  • to understand behaviour you need to examine early childhood experiences
• Components

  • 3 parts of personality: Id (instincts), Ego (reality) and Superego (morality)
  • imbalance of the three parts results in criminality
  • criminals don't progress from the pleasure principle (id) to the reality principle (ego)
• Credibility

  • foundation of psychoanalysis and psychiatric therapies
  • links can be made between the parts of the brain and their function
  • cognitive psychology has identified unconscious procedures
  • unrepresentative sample
  • deterministic
  • reductionist
• Application

  • Patrick Mackay: serial killer who was a frequent victim of physical abuse as a child
• Refuting Evidence

  • unrepresentative sample
  • androcentric study
  • subjective theory
  • Clarke and Clarke 1976: studied children from deprived backgrounds and found many contributing factors to criminality
• Supporting Evidence

  • Bawlby 1946: studied 44 juvenile delinquents and found 39% had suffered complete separation from their mothers whereas only 5% of the control group suffered the same circumstances
  • Fischer and Greenburg 1996: concluded there is evidence to support Freud's personality theory