Individualistic theories
Psychodynamic (Freud):
→ Freud believed that the best way to understand behaviour is to examine early childhood experience. He also believed that criminal behaviour
could be due to conflicts within the personality
Freud split the personality into 3 different sections:
ID - Pleasure principle, all to do with our desires, demands gratification, present since birth
Ego - Reality principle, balances the demands of the ID + Superego
Superego - Moral principle, weighs up right from wrong, developed when your 5
Freud believe that for a healthy personality, there must be a balance of all 3 parts of the personality however, when there is an unresolved conflict
between the personality’s that is when someone will turn to criminals behaviour to try his satisfy different parts of the personality
They are 3 ways in which criminal behaviour can be developed from conflicts in the personality:
Weak superego
Deviant superego
Strong superego
Weak superego - can be formed via abnormal relationships with family members, results in the individual being anti social. Superego punishes
any immoral thoughts with anxiety and guilt which can allow for the ID to take over and commit crimes. Someone who does not have a same sex
parent are likely to develop a weak superego
Deviant superego - The superego reflects the same sex parents morals and punishes any behaviour that the parent would find unacceptable.
Therefore if the parent engages in crime then the child will not react as they have adopted these morals and think it is acceptable. This could
cause the child to go on to commit crimes.
Strong superego - May prevent an individual from expressing any impulses that would normally be expressed by defence mechanisms. This
would lead to a build up overtime of these impulses which would then eventually overwhelm the Ego and then expressed in a more violent act,
for example criminal behaviour
Strengths of this theory: Weaknesses of this theory:
• Positive contributions to criminology • Lack of validity and generalisability, hard to apply to
• Showed the importance of early childhood experiences the whole population.
and parent/child relationships • Explains behaviour but only after it has happened , so
• Useful, can apply to real life unable to prevent the criminal act from happening
• Developed methods of treatment, able to reduce criminal
activity.
• Reliable, helps to reduce crime
Social learning (Bandura):
→ Bandura believed that people learn behaviour by watching others, for example if children watch adults gaining pleasure from an activity or being
punished for an acitivity, they will either repeat or reject those behaviours depending on the consequences
Bandura conducted the bobo doll experiment where 96 children were exposed to 2 different adult models - aggressive and none
aggressive. The children would watch the adults either be aggressive towards the bobo doll e.g kicking, punching, verbal aggression or
none aggressive towards the bobo doll. The children were viewed via a one way mirror by experimenters.
The children who witnessed the aggressive model, were more aggressive towards the bobo doll when left alone with it compared to the
group of children who viewed the non-aggressive model.
Strengths of this theory: Weaknesses of this theory:
• highly controlled, makes the experiment more reliable - • considered unethical, children were exposed to
allows the study to be replicated again. aggression which could potentially lead to effects on
• useful, can apply to criminal behaviour their behaviour later on in life
• equipment used might not be valid, children who may
not have seen or played with a bobo doll before might
have just played with it as that is what they thought
was the correct way to
• low ecological validity, hitting a bobo doll is very
different to hitting a real life human
Psychological (Eysenck):
→ Eysenck believed that certain personalities were more likely to commit crime as they crave excitement but are slow to learn that crime has
bad consequences
Eysenck carried out a questionnaire on 700 soldiers who were being treated for neurotic disorders at the hospital
He developed 3 dimensions of personality:
1. Extraversion / introversion (can become bored quickly, if there is a lack of stimulation. Whereas introverts are reliable and in control of
their emotions.)
2. Neuroticism / stability ( Neurotics are very anxious and often irrational. Whereas a stable personality is calm and emotionally in control.)
3. Psychotism (cold, uncaring and aggressive personality. This indicated a tendency towards criminality as they are typically aggressive and
hostile towards people.)
Psychodynamic (Freud):
→ Freud believed that the best way to understand behaviour is to examine early childhood experience. He also believed that criminal behaviour
could be due to conflicts within the personality
Freud split the personality into 3 different sections:
ID - Pleasure principle, all to do with our desires, demands gratification, present since birth
Ego - Reality principle, balances the demands of the ID + Superego
Superego - Moral principle, weighs up right from wrong, developed when your 5
Freud believe that for a healthy personality, there must be a balance of all 3 parts of the personality however, when there is an unresolved conflict
between the personality’s that is when someone will turn to criminals behaviour to try his satisfy different parts of the personality
They are 3 ways in which criminal behaviour can be developed from conflicts in the personality:
Weak superego
Deviant superego
Strong superego
Weak superego - can be formed via abnormal relationships with family members, results in the individual being anti social. Superego punishes
any immoral thoughts with anxiety and guilt which can allow for the ID to take over and commit crimes. Someone who does not have a same sex
parent are likely to develop a weak superego
Deviant superego - The superego reflects the same sex parents morals and punishes any behaviour that the parent would find unacceptable.
Therefore if the parent engages in crime then the child will not react as they have adopted these morals and think it is acceptable. This could
cause the child to go on to commit crimes.
Strong superego - May prevent an individual from expressing any impulses that would normally be expressed by defence mechanisms. This
would lead to a build up overtime of these impulses which would then eventually overwhelm the Ego and then expressed in a more violent act,
for example criminal behaviour
Strengths of this theory: Weaknesses of this theory:
• Positive contributions to criminology • Lack of validity and generalisability, hard to apply to
• Showed the importance of early childhood experiences the whole population.
and parent/child relationships • Explains behaviour but only after it has happened , so
• Useful, can apply to real life unable to prevent the criminal act from happening
• Developed methods of treatment, able to reduce criminal
activity.
• Reliable, helps to reduce crime
Social learning (Bandura):
→ Bandura believed that people learn behaviour by watching others, for example if children watch adults gaining pleasure from an activity or being
punished for an acitivity, they will either repeat or reject those behaviours depending on the consequences
Bandura conducted the bobo doll experiment where 96 children were exposed to 2 different adult models - aggressive and none
aggressive. The children would watch the adults either be aggressive towards the bobo doll e.g kicking, punching, verbal aggression or
none aggressive towards the bobo doll. The children were viewed via a one way mirror by experimenters.
The children who witnessed the aggressive model, were more aggressive towards the bobo doll when left alone with it compared to the
group of children who viewed the non-aggressive model.
Strengths of this theory: Weaknesses of this theory:
• highly controlled, makes the experiment more reliable - • considered unethical, children were exposed to
allows the study to be replicated again. aggression which could potentially lead to effects on
• useful, can apply to criminal behaviour their behaviour later on in life
• equipment used might not be valid, children who may
not have seen or played with a bobo doll before might
have just played with it as that is what they thought
was the correct way to
• low ecological validity, hitting a bobo doll is very
different to hitting a real life human
Psychological (Eysenck):
→ Eysenck believed that certain personalities were more likely to commit crime as they crave excitement but are slow to learn that crime has
bad consequences
Eysenck carried out a questionnaire on 700 soldiers who were being treated for neurotic disorders at the hospital
He developed 3 dimensions of personality:
1. Extraversion / introversion (can become bored quickly, if there is a lack of stimulation. Whereas introverts are reliable and in control of
their emotions.)
2. Neuroticism / stability ( Neurotics are very anxious and often irrational. Whereas a stable personality is calm and emotionally in control.)
3. Psychotism (cold, uncaring and aggressive personality. This indicated a tendency towards criminality as they are typically aggressive and
hostile towards people.)
