Individual difference explanation- Eysenck criminal personality type Flashcards
Who is eysenck and what did he believe?
An american psychologist
Believed everyone had different personality called the 3 dimensions
3 dimensions, what are these?
-Extroversion
-Neuroticism
-Psychoticism
3 dimensions, Neuroticism what is this?
High levels of anxiety, moody and irritable
3 dimensions, extroversion what is this?
Sociable
Lively
Optimistic
3 dimensions, Psychoticism what is this?
Aggressive and impatient
What does this theory’s say?
Criminals have personality types that differ to non criminals
Is this biological or psychological?
Both
personality is a biological basis and psychological due to our environment
Like a bridge the gap between them
What is the biological basis of criminal personality?
Personality traits caused by biology
Criminals inherit a type of nervous system affecting their ability to learn and adapt to environment
Biological basis of criminal personality- Extraversion vs Introversion?
E- under aroused nervous system so seek stimulation
I- over stimulated CNS, quiet and reserved and shun sensation
Biological basis of criminal personality- Neuroticism and stability?
S- Nervous system less reactive to stressful situations remaining calm and level headed
N- unstable nervous system and prone to over react to stimuli and may be quick to anger or fear
Biological basis of criminal personality- Psychoticism and normality?
P- high testosterone meaning high psychoticism
N- low testosterone
Biological basis of criminal personality- who is more likely to be a criminal and why- extraversion or introversion?
Extraversion
Need more arousal, seek dangerous situations and more impulsive
Crimes like theft or robbery
Biological basis of criminal personality- who is more likely to be a criminal and why- Neuroticism and stability?
Neuroticism
Prone to overreacting in anger or fear
Unstable leading to unplanned criminals acts from an esceleated event
e.g. crimes of passion, assault after an argument
Biological basis of criminal personality- who is more likely to be a criminal and why- Psychoticism and normality?
Psychoticism
High testosterone
Aggressive, impulsive and lack empathy
Crimes like murders or planned offences
The role of socialisation in criminal personality?
Eysenck believed that criminal behaviour could be explained through a combination of innate personality traits and socialist
A person can be born with certain personality traits that may predispose them to criminality but the interactions with the environment is important in the development of criminal behaviour
The role of socialisation in criminal personality- how does this link to conditioning?
Because the socialisation element occurs during childhood where children are taught bad behaviour is punished (fear and operant conditioning)
However people who scored highly on extraversion and neuroticism were less easily conditioned, meaning they aren’t scored of the punishment that bad behaviour and so dont learn to follow rules
Who is our research support?
Eysenck and Eysenck 1977
Reaserch support Eynsek?
2070 male prisoners and 2442 male controls were administered the personality questionaire, which gives scores on P N and E and lie scales
The groups were subdivided into age groups ranging from 16-69 years
-Scores on P E and N fell with age for both prisioners and controls, prisoners had higher scores than control on all 3 scales
Research support- what does this suggest?
People in prison scored high levels of all traits supported as findings a link between the traits and criminal behaviour, meaning personality does explain some crimes suggesting with age personality becomes more mellow
Evaluation- supporting research SEEW?
S- One strength of eysenck research is research support
E- Eysenck and Eysenck compared male prisoners to control found that prisoners scored higher than controls on PE and N scales
C- However, this research was conducted by Eysenck this is the founder of the theory presenting researcher bias to make theory look credible
W- Therefore, even though there is research support we need to be cautious of findings due to boas
Evaluation- Issues with measuring personality SEEW?
S- One weakness of personality explanation is that the accuracy of the personality measures can be questioned
E- Self report measures where p’s answer q’s that correlate to personality traits, open to social desirability to bias as may not answer truthfully due to fear of judgment to put them self in different life
E-However he did include a lie scale in his questionaries to help identify p’s that weren’t answering truthfully so data discarded
W- Therefore even though they controlled SD but can a questionnaire be an accuret measure of personality, suggest diff way
Evaluation- Consider influence of nature and nurture on criminality SEEW?
S- One strength is it considered nature and nurture
E- explained criminal behaviours biological and nurture
E- e.g. psychoticism causing aggression and peers can help us build up crime personality
W- A strength as its interactionalist its a more complete explained for criminal behaviour
Evaluation- determenistic?
S- One weakness is determinism
E- Meaning behaviour determined our path of life so we have no control
C- May be strength as it we know that ps have traits interventions can be put in place to stop these increasing
W- Although evidence to say it could be strength but it is a weakness as it ignores other factors
Evaluation- personality isn’t consistent SEEW paragraph?
S- One weakness is behaviour isn’t consistent
E- We aren’t born with the same personality we have now sp can this be applied to theory
E- 1930 Richard Lapiere asked 25 hotel perpetrators if they would serve chinese guests and only 1 yes however when he followed around a young chinese couples that visited the hotels they were only denied service to one
W- Therefore showing inconsistency so cant be applied to therapy
Conclusion
