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PSYCODYNAMIC - INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCE EXPLANATION OF CRIM BEHAVIOURS -…
PSYCODYNAMIC - INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCE EXPLANATION OF CRIM BEHAVIOURS
FREUD
Freud believed that our early childhood experiences determine our personality and future behaviour
Early experiences determine whether we will act in anti-social ways
The human personality is structured into three parts that develops at different stages in our life
Abnormal or criminal behaviour is the result of abnormal development of the psyche
ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR
A weakly developed superego: individual will feel less guilt about anti-social actions and less inhibition about acting on the id
A too hard and unforgiving superego: creates deep seated guilt feelings in the individual, who then craves punishment as a release from the feelings
A deviant superego: child is successfully socialised but into a deviant moral code
OBJECT RELATIONS
Object relations is the psychological attachment to another person or object
Who an adult forms an attachment with is dependent on the quality of the child’s object relationship during early formative years
The child starts as a narcissist but following a successful relationship with their mother, they start to form relationships with their family and the wider community
BOWLBY
Bowlby attempted to explain criminal behaviour by maternal deprivation
Children become affectionless thieves because they experience separation from their mother
A child satisfies cravings of the libido in early life by having milk, later toys and sweets- possession of things
When a child is separated from their mother they become aggressive due to frustration- they crave love
To satisfy the cravings of the libido, the child steals things
FREUD
This is the impulsive and unconscious part of our personality and is present from birth
It is instinctive and animal part of the mind
It demands immediate satisfaction, which is referred to as the pleasure principle- sex, food and sleep
The main aim of the id is to gain pleasure and gratification at any cost
If we act on the id's impulses it will lead to anti-social and criminal behaviours
EVALUATION
METHODOLOGICAL
Weakness is that some of the research on which the psychodynamic explanation of criminal behavior is based on case studies.
Bowlby’s (1944)
research where he completed a series of case studies of 88 children, 44 of whom were thieves, and the rest were ‘emotionally maladjusted.’
Although the information supplied about the children is detailed, it’s unclear if the difference in the prevalence of maternal separation is the only difference between the two cohorts.
REFUTING RESEARCH
the studies of affectionless characters and early experiences may be exaggerated
Rutter (1971)
claimed Bowlby failed to distinguish between deprivation and privation
Rutter
critiques Bowlby's study as he only focusses on the maternal deprivation and affectionless character of thieves and is also androcentric as it was a sample of specifically teenage boys.
SUPPORTING RESEARCH
View is that it demonstrates clear links between childhood relations and criminal behaviors.
Bender (1947)
, referring to an inpatient sample at Bellevue Hospital, regarded emotional deprivation during infancy as a causal factor of ‘psychopathic behavior disorder in children’.
When children become emotionally deprived during infancy, they are more likely to be diagnosed with psychopathic behaviors disorder