Eysenck’s Criminal Personality

Question 1

What is Eysenck’s criminal personality theory??

Answer 1

• focused on personality traits causing criminal behaviour
• personal will have innate type of central nervous system inherited from generations which would influence personality
• had 3 dimensions:
• extroversion vs introversion
• neuroticism vs stability
  Later added a 3rd dimension:
• psychoticism vs normality

Question 2

Personality traits of introvert??

Answer 2

• persistent behaviour like getting school work done, socially shy like turning down invitations
• have over aroused nervous system

Question 3

Personality traits of extroverts??

Answer 3

Have under aroused nervous system - seek excitement and stimulations to have optimum level and not learn from mistakes

Question 4

Personality traits of neuroticism??

Answer 4

Anxious, unpredictable, unstable, obsessive

Question 5

Personality traits of psychoticism??

Answer 5

Cold and insensitive, prone to aggression, lacking in conscience and lack empathy

Question 6

What is the supporting research??

Answer 6

Eysenck and his wife assessed 2070 male prisoners and compared them to group of 2422 non criminal males. Participants were asked to complete an EPQ questionnaire which assessed personality traits.
The prisoners were found to have higher scores of extrovert, neuroticism and psychoticism compared to the non criminal group

Question 7

How does this theory explain criminal behaviour??

Answer 7

High in extrovert makes someone prone to crime due to traits of wanting to commit crimes of excitement and thrill. High levels of neuroticism makes person more prone to crime due to being more volatile and having an inability to control their emotions which explains criminal behaviour. High psychoticism links to crime due to levels of aggression and not caring for the victims and no remorse as well.

Question 8

What is the criminal personality??

Answer 8

The PEN personality that have all the traits that link to criminal behaviour to make them prone to crime

Question 9

What are the strengths of Eysenck’s criminal personality theory??

Answer 9

• supporting evidence - Eysenck
• used to explain wide range of criminal behaviour - extrovert explain theft and drugs, neuro explains harassment and stalking, psycho explains rape and murder
• cannot be labelled reductionist - holistic

Question 10

What are the weaknesses of Eysenck’s criminal personality theory??

Answer 10

• does not acknowledge that personality is not fixed - personality does not stabilise until 27-30
• methodologically flawed - self report data considered low validity