2.4 Psychological Theory

The psychodynamic face (Freud): the crime as the unconscious conflict's symptom — the guilt's need (the punishment-seeking offender: the crime committed to be punished — the neurotic criminal); the undeveloped superego (the conscience's lack — the psychopathic line); the therapy's penology (the psychoanalysis's treatment claim). The behavioural faces: the learning theory (the behaviour's conditioning — the Pavlov-and-Skinner line: the crime as the learned response); the differential association (Sutherland — the criminal behaviour's learned-in- intimate-groups: the techniques + the motives + the rationalisations — the sociology-psychology bridge); the operant conditioning's reinforcement theory (the crime's rewards-and-costs balance). The personality faces: the psychopathy (the personality's disorder: the empathy's absence, the manipulativeness — the Hare's checklist world); the IQ-and-criminality debate (the contested history); the impulsivity-and-self-control (the modern synthesis — the low self- control as the stable criminality's trait — Gottfredson-and-Hirschi's face). The penology's face: the treatment-and-assessment (the forensic psychology's institutional role: the competency, the dangerousness, the rehabilitation's programmes).