Lecture-4 Psychological Explanation of Crime

Intelligence and Crime The idea that crime is the product of people of low intelligence has long historical roots. Criminologist used to look for pedigree studies. H. H. Goddard in his Feeblemindedness: Its Causes and Consequences argued that criminals are feebleminded, and old fashioned term that means below-normal intelligence. He studied a family known as Kallikaks and found many people of lower intelligence in a family line of criminals. He saw feeblemindedness as the breeding ground for crime. At that time in society, 97% of all female prostitutes, 80% of truants and 50% of paupers were feeblemindedness. 70% of criminals in prison are feeblemindedness.

Criticism In 1931, Sutherland challenged this view. He compared the IQ scores of adult offenders to those of army draftees- representative of general population- and the two groups had nearly identical IQ levels. He concluded that intelligence is not a generally important cause of delinquency.

Freud’s Concept of the mind: Freud’s primary interest is in understanding how influential the mind may be in shaping our personalities and behaviours. His fundamental belief was that the mind was the most powerful influence on and individual’s action. He propounded that our mind has three components: 1. The conscious: responsible for dealing with our everyday actions. 2.The pre-conscious: store easily accessible memories and past events. 3.The unconscious: store all our experiences, especially those of a traumatic or unpleasant nature.

Unconscious part exerts the most influence upon our behaviour. All the answers to our behaviour and actions lay in this hidden, inaccessible area that makes up four- fifths of the mind. Freud’s psychoanalytical theory: Criminal behaviour to be the result of some mental conflicts of which criminals are unaware. They are: 1.Representation of id uncontrolled by the ego and the super-ego. 2.Improper resolution of the Oedipal conflict. 3.Reflection of death instinct.

Id, ego and super-ego Criminal behaviour is the representative of an id that operates unchecked by the ego and the super-ego. Id It consists of powerful urges and drives for gratification and satisfaction. The id is governed by pleasure principle which can be understood as a demand to take care of needs immediately. Just picture the hungry infant, screaming. It does not know what it wants in adult sense; it just knows that it wants it and it wants now.

Ego The ego is the surface of personality, the part one shows the world. It is governed by reality principle, or a pragmatic approach to the world. For example, a child may want to steal a mango from the tree, but will not if any person is present. Id desires are still present, but the ego realise the consequences of brazen mango theft. Ego is the executive of the personality, acting as a moderatior between the super ego and the id.

Super-ego The super ego acts as a moral code or conscience. It consists of two parts- the conscience and ego ideal. The conscience decides what course of action one should take. The ego-ideal is an idealized view of one’s self.

Improper resolution of the Oedipal conflict: The sex drive is the most important motivating force. It is a force not only for adults but also for children, even infants. Sexuality meant not only intercourse, but all pleasurable sensation from the skin. At different parts of our lives, different parts of our skin give us greatest pleasure.

1.The oral stage: From birth to 18 months The focus of pleasure is the mouth-- Sucking and biting. 2.The anal stage: 18 months-3/4 years Focus of pleasure is anus. Holding it in and letting it go are greatly enjoyed. 3.The phallic stage: 3/4 years – 5/6/7 years Focus of pleasure is genitalia. Masturbation is common. 4.The latent stage: 5/6/7 years- 12 years During this stage, the sexual impulse was suppressed in the service of learning. 5.The genital stage: begins at puberty. Represents the resurgence of the sex drive in adolescence, focus on sexual intercourse.

The Oedipal crisis: For the phallic stage, it is the Oedipal crisis, named after the ancient Greek story of kin Oedipus, who inadvertently killed his father and married his mother. Child during the process of sexual growth, attracted by the parent of opposite sex whilst feeling general hostility toward the parent of the same sex.

Reflection of death instinct: Freud saw all human behavior is motivated by life instincts and death instincts. Life instincts perpetuate the life of the individual, by motivating him or her to seek food, water, and to have sex. Inspiring by life instincts men want to lead a meaningful life that is try to be social and maintain behavior accepted by the society. Though life instincts keep us in perpetual motion, yet the goal of all this motion is to be still, to be satisfied, to be at peace, to have no more needs, the goal of life is death. Freud began to believe that under the beside the life instincts there was a death instincts.

Topographical Model

Freud believed that the majority of what we experience in our lives, the underlying emotions, beliefs, feelings, and impulses are not available to us at a conscious level. He believed that most of what drives us is buried in our unconscious. If you remember the Oedipus and Electra Complex, they were both pushed down into the unconscious, out of our awareness due to the extreme anxiety they caused. While buried there, however, they continue to impact us dramatically according to Freud.

The role of the unconscious is only one part of the model. Freud also believed that everything we are aware of is stored in our conscious. conscious Our conscious makes up a very small part of who we are. In other words, at any given time, we are only aware of a very small part of what makes up our personality; most of what we are is buried and inaccessible.

The final part is the preconscious or subconscious. This is the part of us that we can access if prompted, but is not in our active conscious. Its right below the surface, but still buried somewhat unless we search for it. Information such as our telephone number, some childhood memories, or the name of your best childhood friend is stored in the preconscious.

Because the unconscious is so large, and because we are only aware of the very small conscious at any given time, this theory has been likened to an iceberg, where the vast majority is buried beneath the water's surface. The water, by the way, would represent everything that we are not aware of, have not experienced, and that has not been integrated into our personalities, referred to as the nonconscious.

Criticism of Freud’s theory: 1.Freud’s hypotheses are neither verifiable nor falsifiable. It is not clear what would count as evidence sufficient to confirm or refute theoretical claims. 2.The theory is based on an inadequate conceptualization of the experience of women. 3.The theory overemphasizes the role of sexuality in human psychological development and experience.