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Psychological explanations of offending: Psychodynamic approach
Overview: Explanations that abide by Freudian principles that the roots of offending are formed
in childhood.
The inadequate superego
As a reminder, the superego is a part of the ‘tripartite structure’ and is formed at the end of
phallic stage (after Oedipus or Electra complex is resolved.) It works as the morality principle
that punishes and rewards the ego based on its moral behaviour.
Blackburn (1993): says if the superego is inadequate then offending behaviour is inevitable because
the ID is given ‘free rein’ and is not controlled.
The weak superego: if same sex parent is absent during phallic stage, child cannot identify with
them and lacks ability to understand guilt and learn morals etc. Making offending behaviour more
likely
The deviant superego: If a child internalises a superego based on the immoral values of a criminal
e.g., a criminal father, they will likely adopt these values themselves.
The ‘over harsh’ superego: A child who experiences an overly harsh parenting style may lead the
child to have a superego that is crippled by guilt and anxiety. The child may (unconsciously) drive the
individual to commit criminal acts in order to satisfy the superegos overwhelming need for
punishment.
Bowlby’s theory of material deprivation
Proposes that prolonged separation between mother/child has long term negative emotional
consequences, such as affectionless psychopathy. That Is, lack of ability to feel guilt, empathy, this
could lead to offending behaviour. Bowlby studied 44 juvenile thieves and found 12 of the 14 that
characterised as an affectionless psychopath had experienced early separation.
Conclusion: Bowlby concluded that the effects of material deprivation had caused affectionless and
delinquent behaviour among the juvenile thieves.
Evaluation +/-
One issue of the psychodynamic theory is that the inadequate superego is gender biased: An assumption of this theory is that
girls develop a weaker superego than boys because identification with the same sex parent is not as strong (as girls do not feel
pressure to identify with mother due to castration anxiety). The implication of this is that girls will commit more crime when in-
fact this is not true, rates of imprisonment show men 20x more likely than women, whereby males take up most prison
population. Suggesting that there is beta bias in this theory, and that lacks validity as it informs us of little about how to predict
crime.
Research support for the link between offending and the superego: that can link early experience to early behaviour. Goreta
(1991) researched 10 offenders and found superego disturbances (guilt and need for punishment) in all, this could be support for
the over harsh superego. (Counterpoint) concept about the unconscious are not empirically testable, meaning they cannot be
scientifically tested and only judged on face value. Perhaps scientific explanations like the biological approach specifically genetic
explanations (MA0A+CDH13 13x more likely to commit crime-Tihonnen) are a more suitable and valid explanation.
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