Criminal Behaviours - Individual Differences Explanations: Eysenck’s Criminal Personality Flashcards
When describing this explanation what 5 components are there to describe
- Eysenck’s theory of personality
- psychoticism
- extroversion
- neuroticism
- link to operant conditioning
Describe Eysenck’s theory of criminal personality
- Hans Eysenck (1967,1978) developed a general theory of personality based on the idea that character traits (such as moodiness, talkativeness, etc) tend to cluster along three dimensions.
- Personality: A trait that you have, e.g. an adjective that you have like outgoing or social, etc…
- It is a state that you are in and a part of your personality that remains generally stable and enduring throughout your entire life
- The first two dimensions were extraversion and neuroticism.
- But later he added psychoticism.
- high PEN leads to criminality
Describe psychoticism
- continuum of normality, one end of the scale is being a ‘psychotic’
- Psychotics are: egocentric, aggressive in their nature, impulsive, impersonal and most importantly, they lack empathy (the ability to understand what someone else is going through). And they are generally unconcerned about the welfare of other people.
- Eysenck says that the higher the levels of your testosterone there are = the more likely you are to be at the psychotic end of the spectrum. High levels of testosterone have then been correlated with psychotic personalities.
- Testosterone is on the Y chromosome in particular, therefore testosterone is higher in males because they are XY (and females are XX).
- This can be easily linked to criminality because individuals are aggressive in their behaviour and then lack empathy. So in response to someone who has upset them, they will respond with violence. Due to the lack of empathy, they don’t care about the other person’s feelings and so are more likely to act this way (explaining things like stealing).
Describe extraversion
- Extraverts are: outgoing, have positive emotions but may get bored easily. They’re overall very positive people
Introverts are: quiet, not very sociable, not as outgoing, more pessimistic - Extraverts have a low cortical (brain) arousal, so are always trying to seek stimulation from outward sources because their brains aren’t currently stimulated. The overall arousal of a person is determined by their nervous system. If someone is underaroused cortically, they require more stimulation.
- Whereas introverts are over aroused already, so they already have enough cortical arousal going on innately. They are born over aroused. So they will try to reduce or avoid stimulation because they are already stimulated
- Extraverts are more likely to be criminals than introverts, because extraverts are taking part in criminal behaviours in order to stimulate their brains. They feel the need to partake in dangerous activities in order to increase their cortical arousal. For example, if someone has upset them, extraverts might find punching them in the face would increase their level of brain arousal and so are more inclined to do so.
Describe neuroticism
- It is about how stable an individual is. If you are neurotic = you are unstable. On the other end, you’d be classed as having stable characters.
- Being ‘Neurotic’ is the tendency to experience negative emotional states (such as anger, anxiety, depression, jealousy, dissatisfaction, easily frustrated) rather than positive emotional states.
- Being stable, you’d experience more positive emotions. They don’t respond in stressful ways and are generally calmer and happier.
- The biological basis behind neuroticism is that it is anxiety driven, so your level of neuroticism is dependent on the reactivity of your sympathetic nervous system. Sympathetic nervous system is your flight/fight response, how you respond to threats. If you are neurotic and there is a threat, your fight/flight response would be to fight because your sympathetic nervous system is very reactive. Whereas a stable individual would have a low reactivity, and so would flight
- Therefore neurotic individuals are quite easily upset, whereas a stable individual would remain calm.
- This leads to crime because neurotics are unstable and so are prone to overreact to situations. Their high levels of reactivity of the sympathetic nervous system means that they are more likely to get into fights or altercations with other individuals due to a lack of control on the fight or flight response.
Describe the link to operant conditioning
- A normal individual wouldn’t do bad behaviour because they’ve had some sort of previous punishment. This therefore decreases the likelihood of repeating the bad behaviour (according to Skinner)
- However, Eysenck says that those high in PEN are less easily conditioned as they struggle to link the punishment to the behaviour. Therefore they don’t learn to avoid that particular behaviour, therefore explaining why they display the criminal behaviours that others don’t.
When evaluating this explanation, what do you talk about
:)
- Supportive evidence
- Holism
:(
- personality isn’t always consistent
- Personality tests aren’t reliable
Write a paragraph for the strength of having supportive evidence
P: A strength is the evidence supporting a link between personality traits and criminal behavior.
E: Patrick Dunlop et al. (2012) found that extraversion and psychoticism were good predictors of delinquency, as measured by minor offenses committed over the previous 12 months, such as theft or traffic offenses. Their research also used lie scales to control for social desirability bias, strengthening the validity of their findings.
T: This is therefore a strength because it provides empirical support for Eysenck’s theory that certain personality traits, particularly extraversion and psychoticism, are linked to criminality. Such findings highlight how personality traits may predispose individuals to engage in criminal behaviour
COUNTER: However, the study’s participants were all students and their friends, aged 15–75, which limits its generalizability to other groups, particularly adults with more serious criminal records. Furthermore, the offenses measured were primarily minor, meaning the findings may not be representative of more severe forms of criminal behavior.
Write a paragraph for the weakness of personality not being consistent
P: A weakness of theexplanation is that it assumes personality traits are consistent across all situations.
E: Walter Mischel and Peake (1982) investigated this by asking family, friends, and strangers to rate the personalities of 63 students across various situations. They found little correlation between traits displayed in different contexts, supporting the idea that personality is situational rather than stable.
T: This is therefore a weakness because it undermines the concept of a stable “criminal personality,” which is central to Eysenck’s theory. If personality varies significantly depending on the situation, it becomes difficult to attribute criminal behavior to ‘stable’ traits. This situational perspective suggests that environmental factors and context may have a greater influence on criminality than previously thought, weakening the validity of the explanation.
COUNTER: However, it could be argued that certain traits, such as impulsivity or aggression, may still be consistent enough to predispose individuals to criminal behavior in specific contexts, even if personality is not entirely stable.
Write a paragraph for the weakness of personality tests not being reliable
P: A weakness of the explanation is that personality tests, such as the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), may lack reliability.
E: Personality tests rely on self-reported data, requiring participants to answer questions like “Are you rather lively?” with a forced “yes” or “no.” This may not accurately reflect an individual’s personality, as responses can be influenced by social desirability bias or the tendency to overthink answers. For instance, individuals may choose answers they perceive as more socially acceptable rather than those that reflect their true behavior.
T: This is therefore a weakness because it calls into question the accuracy of the data used to support Eysenck’s theory. If personality measures are unreliable, the validity of conclusions drawn about the link between personality and criminality is compromised. Furthermore, the inability to capture the complexity and nuance of personality in a questionnaire limits the reliability of these findings.
COUNTER: However, the inclusion of lie scales in such questionnaires, such as questions like “Are all your habits good and desirable?” can help identify participants who respond dishonestly, improving the overall reliability of the data. Still, this does not fully address the issue of oversimplified forced-choice responses.
Write a paragraph for the strength of holism
P: A strength of Eysenck’s theory is that it takes a holistic approach by integrating biological predispositions with environmental influences.
E: low cortical arousal, highly reactive sympathetic nervous system or high levels of testosterone leads to high PEN and these individuals are less easily conditioned as they struggle to link the punishment to the behaviour. Therefore they don’t learn to avoid that particular behaviour, therefore explaining why they display the criminal behaviours that others don’t.
T: This is therefore a strength because it acknowledges the complexity of human behavior and avoids the reductionism often seen in purely biological theories. By emphasizing the interaction between nature and nurture, the theory provides a more comprehensive framework for understanding criminality.
COUNTER: However, critics argue that the theory still places too much emphasis on biology and does not fully explore the specific environmental factors, such as socioeconomic status or cultural influences, that may play a more significant role in shaping criminal behavior.
