Psychological explanations: Eysenck's Theory

Question 1

A01

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Explain Eysenck’s personality theory

Answer 1

Eysenck is an important figure in personality & intelligence research during 1950s
Eysenck proposed that behaviour could be represented along 3 dimensions
* Introversion-extroversion(E)
* Neuroticism-stability(N)
* Psychoticism-Sociability (P)

Question 2

A01

Biological Basis of Personality Traits

Answer 2

According to Eysenck, all personality types stem from a biological basis
suggested personality traits come about through the type of nervous system we inherit

Extraverts: have an underactive NS & constantly seeking excitement engage in risk taking behaviour

Neuroticism: those who are neurotic have an overactive NS & responsive sympathetic nervous system, they are jumpy, nervous, anxious & quick to respond to situations (always in fight or flight mode)
Their neurotic nature means their behaviour is difficult to predict

Psychoticism: those who show psychotic traits are said to have high levels of testosterone, unemotional,lack empathy

Question 3

A01

Outline the criminal personality ( Eysencks theory)

Answer 3

According to Eysenck, the criminal personality is neurotic-extrovert-psychotic
* Neurotic individuals are unstable & therefore prone to overacting in situations of threat,
* extroverted people are more likely to seek arousal and engage in risk taking behaviours
* Psychotic individuals are aggressive and lack empathy

Question 4

A01

Outline the role of socialisation

Answer 4

In eysencks theory, personality is linked to criminal behaviour via socialisation processes
argued without proper socialisation, delayed gratification was not learned,
so offenders grow to be impatient & would not be able to control their impulses
In socialisation, children are taught ( conditioned) to delay immediate gratification
* but Eysenck believed people with high Extraversion & Neuroticism scores had nervous systems that difficult to condition
The lack of conditioning meant children less likely to learn anxiety as a response to antisocial impulses so would act in an antisocial way

Question 5

A01

Measuring the criminal personality

Answer 5

Eysenck designed the EPQ (Eysenck Personality Questionnaire) as a psychological assessment tool to measure personality
which locates respondents along E & N dimensions to determine their personality

Question 6

A03

Culturally bias theory-Bartol & Holanchock

Limitation

Answer 6

Bartol & Holanchock (1979) studied a group of Hispanic & African-American offenders in a high security prison in New York
found that, when compared to a control group, offenders were less extraverted - the opposite of what Eysenck predicted
This shows a lack of cultural relativism within the theory which suggests that it may not be applicable to other cultures, outside of the one sampled by Eysenck originally

Lacks generalisability

Question 7

A03

Eysenks theory recognises persoanlity has genetic basis & EPQ is standardised procedure

strength

Answer 7

The EPI is a standardised measure which is easy to replicate in large numbers means has good reliability
Eysencks theory attempts to bridge both biological & psychological explanations for criminality which goes some way towards offering holistic view of criminality

Question 8

A03

— The EPQ takes on a reductionist approach to assessing and measuring personality, as
suggested by Mischel

Limitation

Answer 8

Personality traits are unlikely to all be accounted for using only 3
dimensions
These traits are also likely to change depending on who we interact with and under what circumstances, thus not always being stable.
This means that such a reductionist approach may not offer an accurate account of personality.