Psychodynamic

• Bowlby (psychodynamic) 


  There is a link between maternal deprivation and deviant or anti-social behaviour. A child needs a close, continuous relationship with a primary carer from birth to five in order to develop normally. If this attachment is broken it can lead to affectionless psychopathy and criminal behaviour. A study of 44 juvenile thieves were referred to a child guidance clinic. 39% suffered maternal deprivation before the age of 5. This theory doesn’t explain why 61% were not delinquent.
• Eysenck (psychodynamic) 


  His theory is based on the assumption that criminality is the result of a highly neurotic and highly extroverted personality type. Some people have a nervous system with a high need for stimulation so constantly seek excitement through rule breaking and anti-social behaviour. They are harder to condition into following societies rules because high anxiety levels prevent them from learning from punishment. People with a high psychoticism score tend to be solitary misfits who are more likely to be criminal and may have serious mental illness. e.g schizophrenia
• Sigmund Freud

  Personality is divided into 3 parts. The Id controls our selfish urges. The ego seeks rational and sensible control. The superego is our moral conscience. Anti-social behaviour is caused by abnormal relationships with parents. Conflicts between the Id, ego and superego are unresolved which leads to a weak or deviant superego. Children need to progress from the pleasure principle to the reality principle - being ego dominated. Criminals are those children who do not make this transition. The child needs a stable home environment to successfully make this transition.
• Evaluate Eysenck personality theory

  This theory relies heavily on self-reporting and may not be reliable and/or valid. This theory seems to rely on personality being a set of stable traits that cause people to behave consistently - this is questionable as personality and feelings can change. The theory suggests that personality is genetic and fails to consider that it may change over time. His personality testing has formed the basis of many modern personality tests to predict people’s behaviour in different situations e.g psychometric tests.