Psychological explanation to offending: Eysenck's theory of criminal personality Flashcards
Eysenck proposed that personality can be measured represented along 3 dimensions.
What are these dimensions?
- Introversion - extraversion
- Neuroticism - stability
- Psychoticism - sociability
How does Eysenck’s theory have biological influences?
He suggested that personality types are innate and based on our inherited nervous system
Explain how extraversion can lead to criminal behaviour
Extraverts have an underactive nervous system
Seek excitement and risk taking
Do not condition easily and therefore do not easily learn from their mistakes
Explain how being neurotic can lead to offending
High levels of reactivity in Sympathetic nervous system
Respond quickly to threat (fight or flight)
Jumpy, anxious, unpredictable
Explain how psychoticism can lead to offending behaviour
Psychotic individuals have higher levels of testosterone
This could make them cold, unfeeling and aggressive
Contrast how Eysenck predicted behaviours in young and old people
Believed that extraversion was a good indicator of offending behaviour in young people
Neuroticism is a good indicator of offending behaviour in old people
Under Eysenck’s theory, how can personality be measured
EPQ -Eysenck personality questionnaire
Determines personality type
Research to support Eysenck
Eysenck and Eysenck
Compared 2100 male prisoner’s score on EPQ with 2400 controls. Prisoners recorded higher average scores than controls, on all Extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism
Evaluation of Eysenck (strengths)
- Research to support
- EPQ is standardised and can be carried out on large samples
- Bridge psychological and biological explanations, making it comprehensive and holistic rather than reductionist
Evaluation of Eysenck (weakneses)
- Too simplistic - Moffit research.
- Culturally biased
Describe research which suggests the theory is culturally biased
- Bartol and Holanhock
- Studied Hispanic and African Americans, divided into 6 groups
- All 6 groups were less extraverted than non offending control group
Which researchers suggested the theory is culturally biased?
Bartol and Holanhock
Describe Moffit’s research in addition to what she proposed about criminal behaviour.
- Moffit grew a distinction between offending behaviour that only occurs inn adolescence and offending behaviour which goes into adulthood
- Considers persistence in offending behaviours to be a reciprocal process between individual personality traits and environment
