What are the psychological theories of deviance? Provide examples for each theory.

There are three basic types of psychological theory applied to deviant behavior:The first is psychodynamic theory, originally based on Freudian psychoanalysis (though it has moved beyond this), on which it is not actually deviant behavior that needs to be explained, but conforming behavior. In psychoanalytic theory, what we call "deviance" is really just a reversion to our innate evolutionary drives (such as hunger and lust) that have been suppressed by civilization and social norms....

There are three basic types of psychological theory applied to deviant behavior:

The first is psychodynamic theory, originally based on Freudian psychoanalysis (though it has moved beyond this), on which it is not actually deviant behavior that needs to be explained, but conforming behavior. In psychoanalytic theory, what we call "deviance" is really just a reversion to our innate evolutionary drives (such as hunger and lust) that have been suppressed by civilization and social norms. This theory probably makes the most sense for weird impulsive crimes like indecent exposure; while rationally this behavior does not make much sense, it is explicable in terms of normal inhibitions being suddenly overridden by a very powerful sex drive.

The second is cognitive development theory, which is generally based on Kohlberg's theory of human moral development. According to this theory, humans normally develop through multiple stages of moral reasoning, starting from very simplistic reward-punishment reasoning and rising up to following social norms and ultimately to reasoning according to abstract principles. The cognitive development theory of deviance says that some individuals are delayed or restrained in this development, and so persist at a lower stage of moral development and engage in behaviors that more fully-developed individuals recognize as immoral. This theory probably applies best to white-collar crimes, which are typically committed by intelligent high-functioning psychopaths. Unlike more low-functioning psychopaths, these individuals can often restrain their impulsive behavior; but they are still motivated primarily by their own self-interest, and concerned with avoiding criminal behavior only insofar as it prevents them from being punished. Their behavior is in this sense rational, even though it is not ethical. It is as though they are stuck at the lowest level of moral development, in which only reward and punishment are important.

Finally there is learning theory, on which deviant behavior is actually its own sort of social norm that people acquire by living in a subculture that rewards or encourages that sort of behavior. According to this theory, individuals observe others engaging in criminal activity and being rewarded or praised for doing so, and thereby infer that this is an appropriate way of behaving. This theory probably makes the most sense for gangs and organized crime, where groups that engage in acts we'd normally find abhorrent such as robbery and murder nonetheless act according to a sort of "code" of social norms where individuals are expected to act in a certain way and serve the interests of their group.