Psychological explanations: Psychodynamic

• Superego


  Formed at end of phallic stage, works on morality principle, exerts influence by punishing the Ego through guilt for wrongdoing, rewarding it with pride for good moral behaviour
• Inadequate Superego


  • Offending behaviour is inevitable because the Id is given 'free rein' and not properly controlled
• Types of inadequate superego

  • Weak superego
  • Deviant superego
  • Over-harsh superego
• Weak superego


  Same-gender parent is absent during phallic stage, child cannot internalise a fully-formed superego, no opportunity for identification, makes immoral/offending behaviour more likely
• Deviant superego


  Superego that a child internalises has immoral/deviant values, this would lead to offending behaviour
• Over-harsh superego


  Healthy superego is based on identification with a parent who has firm rules but forgives transgressions, in contrast an excessively punitive/overly harsh parenting style leads to a child with an over-harsh superego who is crippled by guilt and anxiety, may drive the individual to perform criminal acts in order to satisfy the Superego's overwhelming need for punishment
• Role of emotion


  • Allows primitive, emotional demands to become uppermost in guiding moral behaviour, key feature of the psychodynamic approach, deals with the emotional life of the individual, acknowledges the role of anxiety and guilt in the development of offending behaviour
• Lack of guilt is relevant to understanding offending behaviour, as in case of maternal deprivation theory
• Maternal deprivation theory


  Ability to form meaningful relationships in adulthood was dependent upon the child forming a warm, continuous relationship with a mother figure, failure to establish such a relationship during the first few years of life means a child is likely to experience a number of damaging and irreversible consequences in later life, one of these is development of a particular personality type: affectionless psychopathy - characterised by a lack of guilt, empathy and feeling for others, maternally deprived individuals are likely to engage in acts of delinquency and cannot develop close relationships with others
• Bowlby's investigation of 44 juvenile thieves found 14 showed personality and behavioural characteristics of affectionless psychopathy, of which 12 experienced prolonged separation from mothers during infancy, in the non offender group, 2 had experienced similar early separation
• Bowlby concluded the effects of maternal deprivation has caused affectionless and delinquent behaviour among the juvenile thieves