Evaluation of the Psychodynamic Explanations
:red_cross: Gender bias - The explanation says girls automatically develop weaker superego than boys because they do not experience castration anxiety, so this means that females should be more prone to criminal behaviour, which is not supported by government statistics
:red_cross: Contradictory evidence - There is little evidence that children raised without a same sex parent are less law abiding as adults. Similarly, if children raised by deviant parents go on to commit crimes themselves, tis could be due to the influence of genetics or socialisation, rather than a deviant superego - (PEEICL Counter-Argument to DAT)
:red_cross: Correlational Links - Bowlby's research doesn't necessarily indicate a causal link - there could be other mediating factors (PEEICL). Additionally, Bowlby can be accused of researcher bias, which lowers the internal validity
:star: ISSUE AND DEBATE - PSYCHIC DETERMINISM - With the presence of any of these superego characteristics, it is assumed that you will be a criminal, linking to the psychodynamic approach