FP- Eysenck's Theory of Criminal Personality Flashcards
What did Eysenck propose?
Eysenck(1947) proposed that behaviour could be represented along two dimensions: introverstion/extraversion and neuroticism/stability.
What third dimension did Eysenck add?
Psychoticism
According to Eysenck, where do our personality traits come from?
- According to Eysenck (1947) our personality traits are biological in origin and come about through the type of nervous system we inherit from our parents.
- Therefore, all personality types, including the criminal personality type, have an innate, biological basis.
What behaviour does an underactive nervous system cause in extraverts?
- Extraverts have an underactive nervous system so they are constantly seeking excitement, and stimulation, and may engage in risk-taking behaviour.
What do neurotic individuals tend to be like?
Neurotic individuals tend to be nervous, jumpy and over-anxious.
- Their behaviour is difficult to predict.
What is the criminal personality type?
Neurotic-extravert.
As well as having the criminal personality type of neurotic-extravert, what else will a typical offender score highly on?
Eysenck suggested a typical offender will also score highly on psychoticism – cold, unemotional and prone to aggression.
What effect did the nervous system of people with high extraversion and neuroticism scores cause?
- Eysenck believed that people with high extraversion and neuroticism scores had nervous systems that made them difficult to condition, as a result they will not learn easily to respond to their anti-social impulses with anxiety.
- Consequently they are more likely to act antisocially in situations where the opportunity presents itself.
What personality test did Eysenck develop?
- Eysenck developed the Eysenck Personality Inventory, a psychological test which locates respondents along the extraversion and neuroticism dimensions to determine their personality type.
- A later scale was introduced that is used to measure psychoticism.
Evaluate Eysenck’s Theory. (Disadvantages)
1) Farrington et al. (1982) reviewed several studies and reported that offenders tended to score higher on psychoticism, but NOT on extraversion and neuroticism, than non-offenders.
2) The idea that all offending behaviour can be explained by a single personality type has been heavily criticised as being simplistic. Crime is too varied and complex a behaviour to be due to one single personality type, the type of individual who commits murder is likely to be very different to one who commits fraud.
3) Bartol and Holanchock (1979) looked into cultural differences. They studied Hispanic and African-American offenders in a maximum security prison in New York and divided them into six groups based on their criminal history and the nature of their offences. All six groups were found to be LESS extravert than non-criminal control groups. This means Eysenck’s theory could be culturally biased.
4) Eysenck’s theory is based on the idea that it is possible to measure personality through psychological tests. Critics have argued that personality may not be reducible to a score in this way. Many psychologists believe there is no such thing as stable personality, on a daily basis people’s personality changes depending who they are with and the situation they are in.
