Forensic Psychology Flashcards
Outline Eyesencks Theory of Personality.
He used his questionnaire on 2070 male prisoners and 2422 male controls.
He believed personality is innate and has a biological basis.
He believed there is a criminal personality and these people score highly on extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism. These people are hard to control and train.
What did Eyesneck believe about the nervous system of people who have a criminal personality?
He believed criminal personality is from our inherited nervous system which affects their ability to learn from and condition to the environment. They struggle to control anxiety and therefore become less conscience and less guilty.
What is an extravert?
Social outgoing personalities. They may easily loose their temper and be aggressive and unreliable.
They have low arousal and actively seek stimulation therefore they may gain excitement from risk and danger.
Extraverts may be difficult to condition to societies rules.
What is neurotic/neuroticism?
People who score highly on this have a more reactive ANS (Autonomic Nervous System)
People who score on the stable end can be jumpy, anxious, unpredictable and emotionally unstable.
Eyesneck believed those on the higher scale have a more criminal personality due to being driven by emotion which can lead to crime.
Outline what Psychoticism is.
These people have cold/hostile behaviour an capable of cruelty. This personality type is held by the majority of hardcore criminals.
Outline supporting evidence for Eysenck. (Mcgurk and McDougall).
Aim - investigate relationship between criminal behaviour and personality characteristics using eyesencks scale.
Method - 100 delinquent colleague students and 100 non completed Eysencks personality inventory.
Results - Differences found between the score of extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism all with high scores however the non delinquents had low scores.
Evaluate Mcgurk and McDougall.
Participants may answer to be socially desirable and therefore skew results.
Strengths of Eysencks theory.
Several other studies show offenders score high on extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism.
Limitations of Eysencks theory.
Farrington reviews several studies and only found evidence of prisoners scoring high on psychoticism.
Personality can change over years as a person matures.
Cognitive Explanations (Psychological Theories of Crime).
What are cognitive distortions?
Faulty, biased or irrational ways of thinking. It is believed criminals must think in a different way than law abiding citizens and think in the wrong way.
