Components Of Insanity Defense
From a psychoanalytic perspective, Freud-based theorists would argue that these impulses (or impulsive thoughts) are not random but are a result of our unconscious or childhood fixations/complex (i.e., psychic determinism). When examining the mind, Freud categorized it into 3 components: the ego (i.e., the rational side), the superego (i.e., the moral side), and the Id (i.e., the irrational and emotional side). More specifically, one can view the Id as “the devil on your shoulder,” the ego is “the angel on your shoulder,” and the superego serves to mediate the two and is what others see (i.e., your true …show more content…
After the autopsy, it was discovered that there was a tumor that affected his ability to control his violent impulses – such as the strong impulse to kill his wife, even though he could not “rationally pinpoint any specific reason” to do so – and strong emotions (Whitman, 1966). In addition, the tumor on the anterior cingulate began pressing on Whitman’s amygdala, which is primarily correlated with one’s motivation. One can hypothesize that, in addition to the effects of the tumor on the anterior cingulate, Whitman’s ‘cloudy’ judgment on that August day may have been because of his irrational