Psychological Theories
Psychological Theories
These theories basically state that crime is in the mind. That is, as the basic ideas of the psychological theories of crime state, crime can happen because of:
- failures in psychological development
- learning aggressive and violent behaviors
- lack of intelligence
- being afflicted by mental illness
Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory
One of the main psychological theories that could explain crime is Sigmund Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory. According to Freud, an individual's personality has three parts: the id, the ego, and the superego.
- The id is the unconscious part of the human psyche that is dominated by the drive for pleasure and inborn sexual and aggressive impulses.
- The ego is the rational part of personality that grows from the id.
- The superego holds the individual's moral code, norms, and values.
Freud also believed that people developed on different psychosexual stages:
- Oral Stage 0 to 18 months
During this stage, the infant's source of id gratification is the mouth. Infants get pleasure from sucking and swallowing. Later, when they have teeth, the infant enjoys the aggressive pleasure of biting and chewing. If unfulfilled, the child might become pessimistic, envious, and suspicious during adulthood. - Anal Stage 18 months to three years
When parents decide to toilet train their children during the anal stage, children learn how much control they can exert over others with anal sphincter muscles. Children can acquire immediate pleasure from expelling feces, but that may cause parents to punish them.
This demonstrates the conflict between the id, which is receiving pleasure from the expulsion of bodily wastes, and the superego, which is realizing that certain instances of expulsion results in punishment as it is outside expected behavioral norms. If the parents are too lenient during this conflict, it results in disorganized, reckless, and defiant child. Conversely, a child may become neat, stingy, and obstinate. - Phallic Stage three to six years
At this stage, the genitals start to become the primary source of pleasure for a child and the erotic pleasure mainly comes from masturbation, or the self-manipulation of the genitals. This is the time when children initially develop sexual attraction to the opposite sex. Albeit, boys can sometimes develop unconscious desires for their mothers and become rivals with their fathers for her attention. - Latency Stage six to 11 years
Sexual interest becomes relatively inactive during this stage. Sexual energy is instead sublimated and converted into interest in school work, physical activity, and imaginative play. - Genital Stage 11 years onwards
At this stage, individuals begin puberty. There is renewed interest in obtaining sexual pleasure through the genitals. Masturbation often becomes frequent and leads to orgasm for the first time. Sexual and romantic interest in others also become a central motive
The following are the main elements of Freud's theories:
- Human nature is inherently antisocial. Every child possesses a set of primitive antisocial instincts, or the id.
- Good behavior comes through adequate socialization.
- The life-long features of human personality originate in early childhood.
- Delinquent behavior is the result of a defective superego.
The Low-IQ Theory
This theory claims that people with low intelligence are easily led into law-breaking activities by the wiles of smart people.
In other words, people with low-IQ are easily persuaded by smarter people to commit illegal acts. These low-IQ individuals follow higher-IQ people because the low-IQ people trust that the higher-IQ ones know the best and are supposed to be intelligent.
Member discussion