6. Psychological Explanations: Eysenck's Theory Flashcards
What was Eysenck’s general personality theory?
Eysenck proposed that behaviour could be represented along two dimensions:
Introversion-Extroversion
Neuroticism-Stability
He later added a third dimension - psychoticism
What do the different dimensions create/show?
They combine to form a variety of personality characteristics or traits.
Where did Eysenck believe our personality type came from?
Eysenck thought our personality type was determined by the type of nervous system we inherit - biological.
What links did Eysenck between the type of nervous system and type of personality?
Extraverts - under active nervous system - constantly seek excitement and stimulation - risk-taking - don’t learn from mistakes.
Neurotics - nervous, jumpy and over-anxious - there general instability makes behaviour difficult to predict.
(Intraverts & Stable = opposite)
What did Eysenck consider the criminal personality?
A neurotic-extravert - all of the above characteristics + they’ll score highly on the psychoticism scale. Psychotic personalities are cold, unemotional and prone to aggression.
What is the significance of socialisation in Eysenck’s theory?
Eysenck saw criminal behaviour as developmentally immature - selfish, immediate gratification. Through socialisation children are taught to delay gratification and become more socially oriented. Eysenck thought people with high E & N scores were hard to condition - therefore they didn’t learn to respond to antisocial impulses with anxiety - so they’re more likely to commit antisocial behaviour when the opportunity presents itself.
How did Eysenck measure the criminal personality?
He developed the Eysenck Personality Inventory - a form of psychological test which ranks respondents E & N - a later scale measuring psychoticism was introduced.
What are the evaluation points for Eysenck’s theory for offending behaviour?
+ Supporting evidence
- The idea of a single criminal type
- Cultural bias
+ Biological basis
What is the supporting evidence for Eysenck’s theory?
Hans & Sybil Eysenck found that 2070 male prisoners scored more highly than 2422 male controls in terms of extraversion and neuroticism - supports theory.
What is the issue with Eysenck’s single criminal type theory?
Modern theories have suggested there are several different types of criminals - determined by when they first offend, how long they persist for, how conscientious they are etc. - therefore high E & N isn’t the only type of criminal and doesn’t necessarily make a criminal.
How does Eysenck’s theory suffer from cultural bias?
Bartol & Holanchock found in there study that criminals of an African-American or Hispanic origin actually had lower extravert scores than a control group. This suggests Eysenck’s first sample was culturally biased and questions his criminal personality theory.
How does Eysenck’s theory benefit and lose out from being biologically based/coherent?
By acknowledging that criminality may have a biological basis Eysenck’s theory is compatible with other biological explanations like Rane’s APD theory. However it also suffers from issues like biological reductionism as a result.
