Freud's theory - Psychoanalytic Approach.

Freud’s Theory

This approach to the explanation of criminal behaviour is known as the Psychoanalytic Approach. This approach stresses the importance of irrational, unconscious motivations in criminal behaviour and is largely based on the:

ID – biological part of the personality: self-pleasure.
EGO – executive part of the personality: reality.
SUPEREGO – moral/judicial part of personality.

Freud suggested that a dysfunctional superego is likely to lead to criminal behaviour. How does a dysfunctional superego form?

According to Freud, the parents will have the biggest impact on the development of the child’s superego. If the boy fails to identify with his father- for reasons such as the father is rejecting, absent or weak, the *Oedipus conflict is not resolved and the young boy will develop a weak superego. On the other hand, if the boys father is over strict then the boy s likely to over identify with him thus leading to the development of a strong superego. (Later referred to by Blackburn as a harsh superego.)

Girls will only develop a weak superego because through fear of losing the love of their mother they identify with their mothers. Since girls do not have a penis, they are unable to develop a conscience through fear of castration in the same way as boys do and therefore the superegos of females are weak.

The ID and the SUPEREGO are in constant conflict and it is the EGO’s task to strike a balance between them. Freud called this the Ego defence mechanism, which prevents the system becoming dangerously unbalanced. When the id, ego and superego are reasonably well balanced, the ...