Criminology - Psychodynamic Theories (AC2.2)

• ID Personality Type 


  the instinctive “animal” parts of the mind - includes selfish and pleasure seeking behaviours.
• Superego Personality Type 


  the conscience or moral part of the mind - acting against the superego leads to guilt and anxiety.
• Ego Personality Type 


  referees the urges of the ID and the Superego - tries to satisfy the IDs urges in socially acceptable ways.
• Freud - Psychoanalysis

  Freuds theory is the idea that our early childhood experiences can determine our personalities, and future behaviours, including criminality. The personalities of the unconscious mind have 3 conflicting elements - the ID, the Ego and the Superego. This theory links to crime as anti social behaviour which is caused by an abnormal relationship with parents can lead to unresolved conflicts between the 3 elements, which can lead to a weak, over harsh or deviant superego.
• Freud - Psychoanalysis Evaluation

  A strength of this theory is that it highlights the importance of primary socialisation and early family relationships when it comes to understanding criminal behaviour. However, a limitation of this theory is that critics doubt the existence of the unconscious mind, and can be seen as unscientific and subjective as the theory relies on claims based on someone else’s mind.
• Weak Superego 


  when the superego is weak, the mind has less guilty feelings and is more likely to act on the IDs urges.
• Harsh Superego 


  when the superego is harsh, the mind craves punishment to release guilty feelings.
• Deviant Superego 


  when the superego is deviant, the socialisation is successful but into the deviant moral code instead.
• Bowlby - Maternal Deprivation Theory

  Bowlbys theory is the idea that there’s a link between maternal deprivation and deviant/ anti social behaviour. From birth to the ages of 5, for a child to develop normally, a child needs a close and continious relationship with a primary carer. if this attatchment is broken, it can lead to criminal behaviour and affectionless psychopathy.
• Bowlby Evaluation

  A strength of Bowlbys theory is that theres evidence from the 44 thieves study which highlights the importance of parent - child relationships in criminality. in this study, 44 thieves werre referred to a child guidance clinic, and 39% suffered from maternal deprivation before aged 5 in comparison to 5% of none delinquents. However, a weakness is that the theory relies on memories of an individuals childhood, and overestimates how far early childhood effects later behaviours.
• Primary Carer 


  the main person who looks after the child.
• Attachment 


  describes the relationship between the child and the primary carer.
• Affectionless Psycopathy


  the inability to form meaningful relationships as a result of the broken attachment before aged 5.
• Socialisation 


  the process of learning societies norms and values.