PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS: EYSENCK Flashcards
what is Eysenck’s theory?
that behaviour could be represented along two dimensions that combine to form a variety of personality characteristics or traits
what is extraversion?
extraverts have an underachieve nervous system so they constantly seek excitement and stimulation and are likely to engage in risk taking behaviours. they also tend not to condition easily and don’t learn from their mistakes
what is neuroticism?
neurotic individuals tend to be nervous, jumpy and over-anxious, and their general instability means that their behaviour is often difficult to predict.
what is psychotisism?
Eysenck later added this third dimension. it is a personality type that is cold, unemotional and prone to aggression
what is the criminal personality type?
it is a neurotic-extravert. a combination of all the characteristics and behaviours from neuroticism, extraversion and also psychotisim
how is the personality linked to criminal behaviour?
through socialisation processes
how did Eysenck see criminal behaviour?
as developmentally immature as its selfish and concerned with immediate gratification. they are impatient and cant wait for things.
what is the result of developmentally immature criminal behaviour?
they won’t easily learn to respond to antisocial impulses with anxiety. so, there more likely to behave anti-socially in situations where there was an opportunity. they also don’t learn from punishment.
what did Eysenck believe about personality?
that it could be measured
what is the EPI (Eysenck personality inventory)?
he developed the EPI, a psychological test which locates respondents along the extroversion and neuroticism dimensions to determine their personality type. a later scale was introduced that is used to measure psychotisism.
AO3: how is ‘supporting evidence’ a strength to Eysencks theory?
Eysenck compared 2070 male prisoners scores on the EPI with a control group. the groups were subdivided into age groups. across all age groups prisoners recorded higher scores that the controls.
AO3: how is ‘crisitism for one personality type’ a limitation to Eysenck’s theory?
there are criticisms of the idea that all offending can be explained by a single personality type. other researchers suggest there are several types of adult male offenders based on the timing of the first offence and how long offending persists. furthermore, it is likely that there is a five factor model of personality and there are 3 additional dimensions of openers, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. therefore, having a high extrovert and neuroticism score doesn’t mean offending is inevitable.
AO3: how is ‘culture bias’ a limitation to Eysencks theory?
BARTOL AND HOLANCHOCK (1979) questioned Eysencks theory. they studied hispanic and African-american offenders in a prison and divided them into 6 groups depending on their criminal history and offence. they found that all groups were less extroverted than a non-criminal group. this therefore shows us that Eysencks theory may be culturally biased and so may be ethnocentric, we may be unable to generalise findings to other cultures.
AO3: how is ‘free will versus determinism’ a limitation to Eysencks theory?
as eysenck believes that we are born with these personality traits, this theory is thought to be deterministic. this suggests that if an individual possesses these personality traits, they are predisposed to offending and behaving criminally. this then suggests that individuals won’t have free will to make their own decisions such as committing a crime, which can be an issue as the criminal justice system and the law believe that any act of crime is done under an individuals free will. therefore, by suggesting that anyone predisposed to these personality traits, it suggests that some people with that personality type may never commit crimes and there are not outside factors that may lead to individual to offend.
