Psychological Exp: Eysenck's Theory Flashcards
Theory of Criminal Personality
Eysenck (1947) proposed that personality could be represented along three dimensions:
* Introversion-extraversion (E).
* Neuroticism-stability (N).
* Psychoticism-sociability (P).
The dimensions combine to form a variety of personality characteristics or types.
Biological Basis
Eysenck suggested personality types are innate and based on the nervous system we inherit.
1) Extroverted traits - outgoing, sociable, impulsive, and assertive.
Iintroverted - reserved, quiet, and passive.
2) Stable end - reliable and calm.
Neurotic end - anxiousness and restlessness.
3) Psychotic - they are cold, unemotional and prone to aggression.
Psychoticism is how prone someone is to psychotic breakdown.
A psychotic breakdown is when a person experiences psychosis - difficulty distinguishing between reality and fantasy.
Criminal Personality Type
The criminal personality type is a combination:
• Neurotics are unstable and therefore prone to overreact to situations of threat.
• Extraverts seek more arousal and thus engage in dangerous activities.
• Psychotics are aggressive and lacking empathy.
Immediate Gratification
Eysenck saw offending behaviour as developmentally immature in that it is selfish and concerned with immediate gratification.
Offenders are impatient and cannot wait for things.
Socialisation
1) During the process of socialisation children are taught to become more able to delay gratification and more socially orientated.
2) Eysenck believed that people with high E and N scores had nervous systems that made it difficult for them to learn (be conditioned).
As a result, they are less likely to learn anxiety responses to antisocial impulses and thus more likely to act antisocially.
Measured Using EPQ
He developed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), a psychological test that locates respondents along the E, N and P dimensions to determine their personality type.
Strength of Theory
RESEARCH SUPPORT
1) Eysenck and Eysenck (1977) compared 2070 male prisoners’ scores on the EPQ with 2422 male controls.
2) On measures of E, N and P (across all the
age groups that were sampled) prisoners
recorded higher average scores than controls.
–> This agrees with the predictions of the theory that offenders rate higher than average across the three dimensions Eysenck identified.
Limitation of Theory
CULTURAL BIAS
1) Bartol and Holanchock (1979) studied Hispanic and African-American offenders in a New York maximum security
prison, dividing them into 6 groups based
on offending history and offences.
2) All 6 groups were less extravert than a
non-offender control group. Suggested
this was because the sample was a different cultural group from that investigated by Eysenck.
–> This questions the generalisability of the
criminal personality - it may be a culturally
relative concept.
Limitation of Theory
MEASURING PERSONALITY
1) The usefulness of the EPQ is that we can see how the criminal personality differs
from the rest of the population across different dimensions.
2) However, personality type may not be reducible to a ‘score’ in this way. The criminal personality is too complex and dynamic to be quantified.
–> This may undermine any claims Eysenck made about being able to identify ‘natural’ offenders using the EPQ.
Limitation of Theory
EPQ - SELF REPORT DATA
