psychological explanations: eysenck's theory

Question 1

what are the 3 dimensions that eysenck (1947) proposed all behaviour could be represented along?

Answer 1

• introversion-extraversion (E)
• neuroticism-stability (N)
• psychoticism-sociability (P

Question 2

biological basis according to eysenck

Answer 2

• our personality traits are biological in origin and come about through the type of nervous system we inherit
• therefore, all personality types, including the criminal personality type, have an innate biological basis

Question 3

biological basis: extraverts

Answer 3

• have an underactive nervous system
• constantly seek excitement, stimulation and are likely to engage in risk-taking behaviours
• tend not to condition easily
• do not learn from their mistakes

Question 4

biological basis: neurotic individuals

Answer 4

• high level of reactivity in the sympathetic nervous system
• respond quickly to situations of threat (fight or flight)
• tend to be nervous, jumpy and overanxious
• general instability means their behaviour is often difficult to predict

Question 5

biological basis: psychotic individuals

Answer 5

• higher levels of testosterone
• unemotional
• prone to aggression

Question 6

what is the criminal personality type?

Answer 6

neurotic-extravert-psychotic

Question 7

why does the criminal personality type have these particular characteristics?

Answer 7

• neurotic individuals are unstable and therefore prone to overreact to situations of threat
• extraverts seek more arousal so engage in dangerous activities
• psychotic individuals are aggressive and lack empathy

Question 8

how did eysenck view offending behaviour?

Answer 8

• developmentally immature
• selfish
• concerned with immediate gratification

Question 9

what happens in the process of socialisation?

Answer 9

children are taught to become more able to delay gratification and more socially oriented

Question 10

how did is eysenck’s personality theory linked to offending behaviour via socialisation processes?

Answer 10

• eysenck believed that people with high E and N scores had nervous systems that made them difficult to condition
• therefore, they are less likely to learn anxiety responses to antisocial impulses
• they are more likely to act antisocially in situations were the opportunity is presented

Question 11

how can the criminal personality be measured?

Answer 11

• eysenck personality questionnaire (EPQ)
• form of psychological test which locates respondents along the E, N, and P dimensions to determine their personality type

Question 12

why is the notion that personality can be measured central to eysenck’s theory?

Answer 12

it enabled him to conduct research relating personality variables to other behaviours, such as criminality

Question 13

evaluation: evidence to support the criminal personality (eysenck and eysenck 1977)

Answer 13

• compared 2070 prisoners’ scores on the EPQ with 2422 controls
• on measures on 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 3 dimensions eysenck identified

Question 14

evaluation: central assumptions of the criminal personality have been challenged

Answer 14

• farrington et al. (1982) conducted a meta-analysis of relevant studies and reported that offenders tended to score high on measures of P, but not E and N
• küssner (2017) found inconsistent evidence of differences on EEG measures (used to measure cortical arousal) between extraverts and introverts which casts doubt on the physiological basis of eysenck’s theory

Question 15

evaluation: too simplistic to suggest that offending behaviour can be explained by personality traits alone (moffitt 1993)

Answer 15

• drew a distinction between offending behaviour that only occurs in adolescence (adolescence-limited) and that which continues into adulthood (life-course-persistent)
• argued that personality traits alone were a poor predictor of how long offending behaviour would go on for
• considered persistence in offending behaviour to be the result of a reciprocal process between individual personality traits and environmental reactions to those traits
• this presents a more complex picture than eysenck suggested; the cause of offending behaviour is determined by an interaction between personality and the environment

Question 16

evaluation: cultural factors are not taken into account (bartol and holanchock 1979)

Answer 16

• criminal personality may vary according to culture
• studied hispanic and african-american offenders in a maximum security prison in NY
• researchers divided the offenders into 6 groups based on their offending history and the nature of their offence
• found that all 6 groups were less extraverted than a non-offender control group whereas eysenck would expect them to be more extravert
• they suggested this was because the sample was a very different cultural group from that investigated by eysenck
• this questions how far the criminal personality can be generalised and suggests it may be a culturally relative concept

Question 17

evaluation: measuring personality (strength)

Answer 17

• eysenck’s theory offers a way to measure personality through the use of a psychological test (EPQ)
• this means we can see how the criminal personality differs from the rest of the population across different dimensions

Question 18

evaluation: measuring personality (limitation)

Answer 18

• critics have suggested that personality type may not be reducible to a ‘score’ in this way
• this suggestion that personality, if such a thing exists, is too complex and dynamic to be quantified
• this would also apply to a personality deemed to be ‘criminal’