eysenck's theory Flashcards
What is Eysenck’s general personality theory?
Behaviour represented along two dimensions
Introversion/extraversion
Neuroticism/stability
Third dimension added - psychoticism
How does personality have a biological basis?
Extroverts - underactive nervous system, seek excitement and risks, do not condition easily or learn from mistakes
Neurotics - nervous and anxious, difficult to predict behaviour
What is the criminal personality?
Neurotic-extrovert
High measure of psychoticism - cold, unemotional and aggressive
What is the socialisation process?
Criminal behaviour is developmentally immature - selfish and concerned with immediate gratification
Children taught to become able to delay gratification and act socially - high E and N makes them difficult to condition
More likely to act antisocially
How is the criminal personality measured?
Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI)
Located along E and N dimensions
Later scale measures psychoticism
Evaluation - evidence supporting Eysenck
Eysenck - compared prisoner EPI scores with controls, subdivided into age groups
PEN higher in prisoners across all ages
Farrington - higher P, not EN
Little evidence of consistent EEG differences between introverts and extroverts
Evaluation - single criminal type
Moffitt - proposed several types of offender based on timing and persistence
Digman’s Five Factor Model - other dimensions of openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness
Evaluation - cultural bias
Bartol and Holanchock - studied Hispanic and black offenders
Less extrovert than control group
Very different cultural group to Eysenck’s sample
Evaluation - mismeasurement of personality
Premise that personality can be measured
Can’t be reduced to score - not a stable entity
Personality can change depending on situation
Evaluation - biological basis
Fits with biological explanations
Suffers from same problems as these
