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FORENSICS- psychodynamic explanations for offending - Coggle Diagram
FORENSICS- psychodynamic explanations for offending
psychodynamic explanation
focus is on the role of the parent-child relationship in developing the persoanlity of a criminal adult and the unconscious mental processes that lead to criminal behaviour.
superego explanatipn
superego= morality principle. regulates behaviour by giving feelings of guilt and pride as rewards or punishment. develops as part of phalic psychosexual stage pf development. child resolves O/E complex by identifying with same sex parent
underdeveloped superego= lack of identification with same sex parent superego cant fully form and control the id by providing rewards or punishments needed for moral behaviour
deviant superego= same sex parent identified wth normally however the parent is a criminal, the behaviours imitated are criminal and the superego doesnt have the same sense of morality shared by society
overdeveloped superego= overly strict parenting and over-identification produces an excessively dominant and punishing superego. the need to justify these extreme feelings of guilt lead to the person carrying out criminal behaviours
defence mechanisms
unconscious mental orocesses that are used to avoid the ego experiencing feelings of anxiety from unacceptable thoughts/ stimuli
denial= criminal rejects reality/ serious nature of their crimes
displacement= violent criminals express anger onto someone weaker because they cant express it on the target
rationalisation= criminal finds a way to make behaviour justified- "they dont care i broke in because the door was open"
Bowlby's theory of attachment
his theories were based on psychodyna,mic as well as cognitive and evolutionary ideas. attachment theory suggests a poor quality infant-caregiver relationship results in criminal behaviour
first relationship with mother acts as internal working model for future relationsips. children with insecure attachment style expect other people cant be trusted which negatively influences later interactions with others
extreme levels of maternal deprivation can result in affectionless psychopathy- lack of empathy or guilt. he linked this personality type to high levels of delinuency in young boys in the 44 thieves study
evaluating psychodynamic explanations for offending behaviour
NEGATIVE- Bowlby suggests a connection between poor parenting and delinquency but this cant be seen as scientific evidence that a poorly developed superego leads to delinquency. this is because many freudian concepts like the superego are not directly observable or falsifiable, so it cant be empirically testec meaning itll always be an unscientific explanation
POSITIVE- if theres a link between early childhood experience and later criminality can be applied to reduce crime. freuds ideas can be used to ensure childrens superego isnt under or over developed with parenting classes. in adoption, care should be taken to not give the child a deviant same sex parent to identify with. his ideas have already been accepted into care to reduce maternal deprivation
NEGATIVE- 44 thieves study is correlational. criminal behaviour may have been due to other factors. range of other explanations for offending behaviour like SLT processed and genetic origins