̈Deviance is in the eye of the beholder ̈ (Anonymous). According to the introduction to sociology, a behavior that violates norms is called deviance. For example, not doing what others would normally would .Deviance varies so much, researchers have different meanings. A Deviant celebrity is LIndsey Lohan, she was charged with drunk driving and possession of cocaine numerous times. According to psychological explanations, deviant behavior is caused by one’s thought process.
There are two different explanations of Deviant Behavior. One is the Psychoanalytic theory, and Cognitive Development Theory. The Psychoanalytic theory was developed by Sigmund Freud, his idea is that all humans have natural drives and urges that are repressed in the unconscious. As well that all human beings have criminal drive. All though they are curbed through the process of socialization. Process of socialization is when a person from young to old is taught society norms, expectations, and rules. For example, when people go through addictions, they seek more and they will do or go through anything in order to get what they want, knowingly it is bad for them and they should not do it.
The second Psychoanalytic theory is called Cognitive Development Theory. Lawrence Kohlberg, a developmental psychologist developed that Criminal and deviant behavior comes from in the way which individuals organize their thoughts around morality and law. He theorized that there are three levels of moral reasoning. The first stage is called the Preconventional stage, it is reached during middle childhood, obdeciance and avoiding punishment is what moral reasoning is based on. To illustrate, a child can still be influenced by own perception of the environment. The second level also known as the conventional level, it is reached at the end of middle childhood. Moral reasoning is based on the expectations that the child’s family and significant others have for him or her. For example, Logical reasoning can be applied that are real. The third level of moral reasoning, the postconventional level, is at the beginning of early adulthood. They are able to go beyond social conventions. To demonstrate, they can individual think and about potential events or abstract ideas.
Many researchers hold that psych factors such as one’s thinking process are prime indicators of deviant behavior. In Criminology, we learned about Winston Mosley. He is psychologically imbalanced, he had an urge to kill a woman, and he could not control the urge. The woman he killed was Catherine (Kitty) Genovese, he stabbed her twice in the back, fled the seen then came back stabbed Catherine (Kitty) several more timpes, attempted to rape her, and robbed her. He left her dying in her apartment complex hallway.
