Protege roll into the watery depths of John D. Long Lake carrying

her two sons, Michael, 3, and his 14-month-old brother, Alexander

Henderson and Fields 1995). One can only wonder what could have

caused a mother to intentionally murder her two beautiful baby

boys. The motive seemed to be that Susan Smith's wealthy

boyfriend did not want the children. She also stated in her

handwritten confession that she knew he would never love her

(Smith 1994). I can only speculate that she meant he would never

love her as long as she had children. However, I believe that

Susan must have been deeply disturbed to commit such a horrible

In order to better understand this unthinkable act, I chose

to use the psychoanalytic theory from the psychological

perspective. I think this theory can describe Susan's behavior

better than the cognitive consistency theory because the id, ego,

and super-ego seem to observe mental processes more than the

cognitive consistency theory does. Using the cognitive

consistency theory would make it more difficult to observe the

mental processes of Susan Smith that I believe are necessary to

Susan Smith's role as a mother was definitely not normal. Perhaps

concerned with optimizing her rewards. This theory works better

behavioral perspective, social learning theory, 2000). We learn

are developed through parental socialization (Lecture notes,

contains our drives, wants, and needs that we are born with

notes, sociological perspective, role theory, 2000). Since being

life forever. After her confession, she was sentenced to life in

two children, but she decided against it (Smith). Perhaps her

Ascribed statuses are those that are given to us without a choice,

Some common words found in the essay are:
Susan Smith's, Susan Smith, Smith Eros, John Lake, Smith Turner2, According Freud, lecture notes, NC Dr, Henderson Fields, susan smith, theory 2000, psychoanalytic theory, role theory, List Dr, learning theory, psychological perspective, susan smith's, social learning theory, social learning, Mazda Protege, lecture notes psychological, sociological perspective, notes psychological perspective, notes sociological perspective, psychoanalytic theory 2000,
Approximate Word count = 1573
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)