| Psychodynamic explanation | perspective that describes the different forces (mostly unconscious), that operate on the mind and direct human behavior and experience |
| inadequate superego | - superego works on morality principle and exerts its influence by punishing the ego through guilt
- superego is deficient or inadequate than offending behaviour |
| weak superego | same gender parent is absent during phallic stage, child cannot internalize a fully formed superego as there is no opportunity for identification. this would make immoral or offending behaviour more likely |
| deviant superego | superego that a child internalizes has immoral or deviant values this would lead to offending behaviour. e.g if the child has a criminal father, they are not likely to associate guilt with wrongdoing |
| over harsh superego | if a parent is very harsh in parenting style. this can lead to the child being crippled by guilt and anxiety, driving them to perform criminal acts in order to satisfy the superego's overwhelming need for punishment. |
| SUPPORT for deficient sueperego | - research conducted showed that all offenders assessed had disturbances in superego formation. |
| LIMITATION for Freudian theory | gender biased
- girls develop a weaker superego than boys because identification with same-gender parent is not as strong. this suggests than girls should be more likely to offend, however this is not true when looking at rates of imprisonment.
- alpha bias is present in freud's theory |
