forensics- psychological explanations of offending behaviour

Question 1

what is eysencks criminal personality (definition)

Answer 1

an individual who scores highly on measures of extraversion, neuroticism, psychoticism and cannot be easily conditioned, is cold and unfeeling, likely to engage in offending behaviour

Question 2

what were the 2 dimensions eysencks and then what was the 3rd and his theory is …..

Answer 2

introversion - extraversion
neuroticism - stability

psychoticism - socialibility

BIOLOGICAL (determinism)

our personality traits all have a biological basis > come through in the type of nervous system we inherit

so must mean that all criminal personality types have a bio basis

Question 3

how do extroverts link to criminal personality biologically, what are they.

Answer 3

they have an underactive nervous system SO constantly seek excitement, stimulation, they WANT THRILL so more likely to engage in risk taking behaviours

Question 4

how do neuroticism link to criminal personality biologically, what are they.

Answer 4

high level of reactivity in sns so individuals respond quickly to situations of threat (f/f r)

so they do things without thinking because they are overanxious, they could potentially enter a dangerous situation

nervousness, jumpiness and overanxious and this form of instability makes their behaviour difficult to predict

Question 5

how do psychoticism link to criminal personality biologically, what are they.

Answer 5

high levels of testosterone and which leads to increased aggression and unemotional, lack of morals and remorse and empathy

Question 6

how can we measure criminal personality and describe and why is this useful

Answer 6

eysencks personality questionnaire

this is a psych test which locates respondents along the three dimensions (introversion - extraversion neuroticism - stability psychoticism - socialibility) to establish their personality type

based on this Q E could conduct research relating personality behaviours to other behaviours eg criminality.

Question 7

what is the role of socialisation in cp for eyseck

Answer 7

thought that p is linked to offending b via socialisation processes ie if you have these p characteristics (P, E, N) then you cant learn to delay gratification/difficult to condition as a child, because of the nervous system that you have inherited and so offending b occurs as less likely to learn anxiety responses to antisocial responses therefore more likely to act antisocially

offending b is concerned with selfishness and immediate gratification, children and taught to delay gratification via socialisation.

Question 8

strength: research support from mcgurk and mcdougal

Answer 8

they aimed to investigate the link between eysencks personality type and criminality

they had 10 students classed as delinquents and 100 not, they had to the EPQ, scores calculated.

they found a significant difference in all scores of all 3 dimensions between both groups, D group had a combo of high PEN score

so there IS a relationship between personality (specifically P, E, N) and delinquent behaviour indicating a link between personality and criminality

Question 9

evaluation of mcgurk and mcdougal cps

Answer 9

had a control group- strength as gives comparison and so can see differences between delinquents and not > valid

100 in each group isnt really representative

correlation so not a c+e rel

questionnaire is a self report technique so social desirability + demand characteristics > deviate from true result (rel and val)

reductionist- only looks at p factors as an exp for OB

determinist- (biological so no E eg slt ) assumes individuals with these traits will go on to offend

Question 10

strength: eysenck and eysenck

Answer 10

compared 2070 prisoners scores from EPQ with 2422 controls

prisoners scored higher across all age groups in terms of P, E, N

support for theory as higher across 3d, suggests having those scores increases chances of being a criminal and OB

Question 11

limitation: cp of eysenck and eysenck , farrington

Answer 11

meta analysis and found offenders scored higher on E but not P and N

and there was inconsistent evidence with EEG measures exploring cortical arousal between extr and intr - if theory correct then there wouldnt be this inconsistency

therefore central assumptions of theory are challenged as only 1d was supported