Individual Differences Evaluation - Eyesenck's Criminal Personality Flashcards
Evaluate support for link between personality and criminal behaviour…
Patrcik Dunlop et al (2012) found that extraversion and psychoticism were good predictors of delinquency through an assessment of minor offences committed by students and their friends in the last 12 months
Coleta van Dam et al (2007) found that only a small group of male offenders in a juvenile detention centre had high scores on all three Eysenck variables
Evaluate research on the genetic basis of personality…
Suggested that personality types have a biological basis, with support from twin studies
Marvin Zuckerman (1987) found +.52 correlation (MZ) and +.24 correlation (DZ) in neuroticism, with similar result being found for extraversion and psychoticism
Doesn’t show as high of a genetic component as Eyesenck claimed
Evaluate how personality may not be consistent…
Suggested that people may be consistent in similar situation but not across situations; relaxed at home but neurotic at work
Mishel and Peake (1982) asked family, friends, and strangers to rate 63 students in different situations, where no correlation between traits was displayed, where regularity is suggested to be due to familiarity with a situation
Notion of criminal personality is flawed as people don’t have ‘one’ personality
Evaluate how personality tests may not be reliable…
Score or label given depends on answers provided on a personality questionnaire, where answers may not represent reality or be truthful as participants are responding to the questionnaire’s demands and adhering to social desirability
Scores are unlikely to enable identification of criminals, indicating that the three traits are good predictors but not close enough to detect the likelihood of someone becoming a criminal
