mith defyed her status and role of being a mother that our
             society accepts. Role theory will be more helpful than symbolic
             interaction theory because I believe that Susan Smith had a great
             deal of role conflict between being a mother and a girlfriend.
             Symbolic interaction theory does not deal with roles, and focuses
             more on symbolic communications (Lecture notes, sociological
             perspective, symbolic interaction theory, 2000).
             The psychoanalytic theory helps us to better understand
             personality development of individuals. According to Freud, we
             have a bio-sexual origin of personality that consists of two
             components. The first is called the Eros, and it is our life
             instinct. It is our will to stay alive under any circumstances.
             The second component is the Thenatos which is our death instinct.
             These are motivators for our social behavior (Lecture notes,
             psychological perspective, psychoanalytic theory, 2000). Susan
             Smith stated that she wanted to roll into the river along with her
             two children, but she decided against it (Smith). Perhaps her
             Eros was much more powerful than her Thenatos, or she would have
             ...