Psychological Explanations

An exploration of the behavioural characteristics of crime and deviance wouldn't be complete without a dive into the world of psychology!

At the risk of getting too meta, like the approaches to criminology in general, psychology has a number of sub-approaches when it comes to attempting to explain crime and deviance. Each has pros and cons but none are a magic bullet that can explain all criminal acts (or any behaviour for that matter)

We'll look at the psychodynamic approach and how it can be used to explain deviant behaviour but feel free to investigate alternative psychological approaches!

The road so far... So far we've covered 3 of 4 sections in the 'History & Development...' unit. Your 'timelines' / presentations / reports (whatever you've chosen to do) should be coming along nicely with only the final 'psychological theories' section to complete.

Classical School - Biological Perspective - Sociological Theories

Now → Psychological Theories

For each of the theories we're going to study, we'll have a look at the basics of the approach in general. This should give us a basic understanding of what separates this approach from others. We'll then look at how the approach can be applied to explain criminal behaviour and the strengths and weaknesses of the explanation.

First up - check out this infographic for an introduction to some of the main approaches in psychology. Notice the dates... as our understanding of behaviour (and ability to research it) progresses, new theories emerge to replace or plug the gaps in older theories...

think ...

How would you define 'psychology'?
What areas / things fall under the title of 'psychology'?

the psychodynamic approach

To get an understanding of how the psychodynamic approach can be applied to explaining crime, we first need to understand how the psychodynamic approach explains behaviour in general.

Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939) proposed the psychodynamic approach in the early 20th century. The timing of the development is important - when we evaluate these approaches we have to understand the context in which they were created.

In the early 1900s we didn't have the scientific capabilities we have nowadays and psychologists such as Freud had to make do with analogies and metaphors to describe things like personality and the structure of the mind.

How did ideas proposed by psychoanalysis change our understanding of psychology?

The psychodynamic approach was developed at a time when biological explanations of behaviour were popular given Darwin's work on the theory of evolution as well as heightened awareness of biological differences because of things like colonisation.

Not long after Darwin's seminal work and in the wake of Cesare Lombroso (& others') work on the biology of behaviour, Freud acknowledged the impact of biology on our behaviour but also sought to account for the environmental factors which contribute to making us who we are! According to Freud, both our biology and our experiences - particularly those during childhood - shape who we are.

So, instead of claiming we are biologically predetermined to behave in certain ways, Freud also understood that the nurture side of the argument - in particular our childhood experiences - played an important role in who we are as adults.

TLDR: Unlike previous theories, Freud's psychoanalysis took both nature and nurture into account!

Psst. We're also going to look at behaviourism so we'll have approaches across the spectrum of the nature vs nurture debate.

The psychodynamic approach is much too BIG a topic to cover in detail but we'll look at the parts of the approach which we can use to provide a nice neat explanation of deviant behaviour. Just keep in mind that this is a simplified overview!

Check out this page for a great overview of the main concepts and theories within this approach and/or check out the video for a quick intro the tripartite model of personality

Psychodynamic Approach

"The psychodynamic approach includes all the theories in psychology that see human functioning based upon the interaction of drives and forces within the person, particularly unconscious, and between the different structures of the personality."

- SimplyPsych

In explaining criminal behaviour, we'll be focussing on the interaction between the different structures of personality.

According to Freud's tripartite personality theory, the psyche of every person is split into THREE parts,

the ID which is primal, impulsive and hedonistically motivated (seek pleasure / avoid punishment). The ID is driven by the PLEASURE PRINCIPLE
the SUPER-EGO which is the moral component of our personality and tried to ensure we're behaving correctly. The SUPEREGO is driven by the MORALITY PRINCIPLE
the EGO which is the mostly conscious part in the middle (i.e., YOU!) and has the difficult job of mediating between the conflicting demands of the ID and SUPER-EGO. The EGO is driven by the REALITY PRINCIPLE

In a healthy psyche, the EGO is in control... what do you think an unhealthy psyche looks like?

NOTE IT DOWN

Taking notes as you work / read through the materials means you wont have as much of a write-up at the end. At this point you could take a note of

Who founded the psychodynamic approach and when.
You could also note down the name of the personality model and the key components thereof.
You might also want to make a generic statement about behaviour (check out the quote above). We'll get into more detail below, just getting the basics for now...

Think about it... Why do you think the development of personality takes place in this order? What is the key difference between the toddler who obeys their parents and the 5 year old who obeys their parents? Is there any difference in their motivation?

activity

It's someone's birthday and you've turned up late. You're starving but there's only 1 piece of cake left, what do you do?

In this scenario the ID, which demands immediate gratification, would be saying "Eat it! Nobody else matters, you're hungry so eat it now!"

The SUPER-EGO on the other hand, hyper-aware of how your actions might negatively impact others, would be saying "Leave it in case someone else wants it. If we eat it, other people might get upset!"

The EGO could succumb to either of these pressures OR formulate a compromise which appeases both the ID and SUPER-EGO. For example, you could ask "Does anyone want to share this last piece of cake?" and cut it in two, satisfying both the ID's demand for immediate gratification and the SUPER-EGO's desire to not upset anyone.

Your Turn

Your in Aldi scoping the middle aisles. You go to join the queue just as they open a new till. There are plenty of people in front of you who have been waiting longer but you've only got a couple items and could easily beat them to it...

Following the format of the cake example, see if you can describe how each element of our personality might react in this scenario, by stating...

a) What their goal / consideration would be

b) What they might 'say'?

A handy analogy if you're struggling to understand the different parts of the tripartite model of personality is the devil / angel on the shoulder cliché.

In this instance, the SUPER-EGO is represented by the angel while the ID would typically be considered the little devil trying to persuade the EGO (you) to do something. See any potential links to crime yet?

Note it down

Following your identification of the key components on the tripartite model of personality, see if you can describe how the different elements of our personality develop over time (what ages?).

What do the terms 'pleasure principle', 'morality principle' and 'reality principle' mean here?

You should also try to summarise each component - what is it TRYING to do? You can use examples to clarify what you mean if it makes it easier.

According to the psychodynamic approach, we all have these three components (ID, EGO, SUPER-EGO) and it's the interaction between these different elements and CRUCIALLY the proportional influence of each which determines how we behave...

Someone with a stronger ID is likely to be more impulsive, less empathetic and more self-centred versus someone with a stronger SUPER-EGO who might be more morally conscientious and hyper-aware of how your actions affect others

Take this test (with a pinch of salt) to see which part of your personality is in control!

ID, EGO or SUPEREGO?

psychodynamic theory and criminal behaviour

Thinking about the tripartite model of personality, which of the components of our psyche do you think is most likely to be the instigator of deviant behaviour?

The ego mediates between the id’s desire for instant gratification and the strict morality of the superego. When a crime is committed, advocates of psychodynamic theory would suggest that an individual committed a crime because he or she has an underdeveloped superego (i.e., the id has too much control).

Thus, criminal behaviour or deviance might be explained by an imbalance between the components of an individual’s personality…

Basically, that little devil has more influence than it should (overdeveloped) or the angel has less than it should (underdeveloped morality)

Note it down

Make an addition to your notes on the Psychodynamic approach by explaining how an imbalance within the tripartite model of personality might be a cause for criminal behaviour. Feel free to include any personal opinions on the approach - do you think it's a good explanation? Is it nonsense? Bit of both?

what about treatment?

Freud championed 'talk therapies'. He was one of the earliest psychologists to say 'Hey, let's talk about it'. His psychoanalytic techniques involved free association and dream analysis... methods aimed at unveiling what deep dark urges someone has rattling around in their unconscious

Rather than tell people what he thought was going on, Freud's techniques prompted introspection from his patients, allowing them to uncover the own root causes of their behaviour. While things have changed over time, free association techniques are still used today. Rorschach's inkblots are a good example of a free association / interpretation test. Once Freud and his subject has worked together to uncover the causes of a certain behaviour, by bringing it out into the open it could be addressed and resolved.

putting it all together

At this point, you should have a timeline or notes on four key components of the history and development unit - namely, the classical school, the biological perspective, a sociological explanation and a psychological approach.

what's next?

You're (hopefully) ready to take on your third and final criminology unit assessment. The assessment will be added to Teams (I'll put it up here AFTER I've put it on Teams). Please submit your work via TEAMS or on paper only (no emails please). Also, photos of written work are OK but please make sure they are oriented the right way and legible - if I can't make it out, I'll send it straight back.

Extra Psychodyanmic ACTIVITY

See if you can identify and explain ID, EGO and SUPER-EGO characters in at least 3 movies that you've seen.

If you're struggling, Disney / kids movies are a good bet as the characters are usually distinct and obvious.

The ID, EGO and SUPER-EGO are cliché character types we see in movies all the time.

extra psychological theory activities

Individualistic Theories of Criminality

loads of in-depth articles covering different approaches

Psychological Theories of Crime

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