Psychodynamic explanations

• Outline psychodynamic approach to offenders?

  In 1993 Blackburn proposed the inadequate superego theory developed from Freuds tripartite personality. The superego is governed by the morality principle, punishing the id with feelings of anxiety and guilt. However, Blackburn suggested there are three types of superegos that could cause the id to have full control over behaviour and therefore cause criminality. 
• what are the three types of superego?

  weak, deviant, over harsh
• what is the weak superego?

  weak - same sex parent is absent during the phallic stage, then the chid cannot internalise there superego, meaning the superego is not as influential over the id.
• what is the deviant superego?

  deviant - same sex parent displays offending behaviour themselves, then the child will internalise their superego and behave similarly.
• what is the overharsh superego?

  over harsh - If the child experiences excess punishment then an extreme superego will be internalised, causing more guilt and anxiety than normal. This causes children to unconsciously expect punishment as they are self degrading and when it is not received they behave in a way that will result in punishment i.e offending behaviour. 
• Strengths of psychodynamic approach?

  support from other researchers including Goretas 1991 analysis of 10 offenders. Results showed all of them had a disturbance during the phallic stage and experience strong feelings of guilt and need for punishment. Goreta suggested this was due to an over harsh superego. 
• weaknesses of psychodynamic approach?

  lacks empirical evidence as no scientific experiments or statistical testing can be done because the superego is part of the unconscious mind. This questions the validity and credibility of the theory. Additionally, bowlbys study is subjected to investigator effects due to the self report nature of his interviews. Participants may be influenced by social desirability bias or demand characteristics so alter the truth they provide, and recalling early year experiences may cause distortion or inaccuracies in memory further reducing its validity.