eysenck's theory of personality Flashcards
criminal personality
proposed by Eysenck - applies when individual scores highly on measures of extraversion (E), neuroticism (N) and psychoticism (P) and cannot easily be conditioned, is cold and unfeeling, and is likely to engage in offending behaviour.
biological basis
all personality types, including criminal personality type, have innate, biological basis
extraverts - underactive NS meaning they constantly seek excitement, stimulation and engage in risk taking behaviours, tend to not condition easily and dont learn from mistakes
neurotic - nervous, jumpy and over anxious, general instability means behaviour is difficult to predict
role of socialisation
Eysenck saw criminal behaviour as developmentally immature as it’s concerned with immediate gratification.
socialisation teaches children to become more able to delay gratification and more socially oriented. Eysenck believed people with high E and N scores had nervous systems that made them difficult to condition so more likely to act antisocially in situations where the opportunity presented itself.
measuring criminal personality
Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) - locates respondents along E and N dimensions to determine personality type.
later scale was introduced that is used to measure psychoticism
evaluation - supporting evidence
eysenck compared 2070 male prisoners’ scores on EPI with 2422 male controls - prisoners were subdivided into age groups, ranging from 16-69 years.
on measures of P, E and N, prisoners across all age groups recorded higher scores than controls which accords with predictions of the theory.
However, Farrington et al reviewed several studies and reported that offenders tended to score high on P measures, but not for E and N which casts doubt on physiological basis of Eysenck’s theory.
evaluation - cultural bias
Bartol and Holanchock provide evidence to show the theory is subject to cultural bias - looked into cultural differences through study of Hispanic and African-American offenders - divided them into 6 groups based on criminal history and nature of their offence.
revealed that all 6 groups were found to be less extravert than control group of non-criminals. Bartol et al suggested that this was due to sample being a very different cultural group to that investigated by Eyseneck - questions generalisability of criminal personality.
evaluation - single criminal type
idea that all offending behaviour can be explained by single personality type has been criticised.
Moffitt proposed several distinct types of adult male offender based on timing of first offence and how long offending persists.
therefore it’s argued that high E and N score doesn’t mean offending is inevitable as there are other characteristics that can affect how likely individual is to offend.
