Psychological explanations: Eysenck’s theory

Question 1

Psychological explanations: Eysenck’s theory

Answer 1

└Eysenck (1947)
└the criminal personality: an individual who scores highly on measures of extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism
└cannot be easily conditioned, is cold and unfeeling, is likenly to engage in offending behaviour

Question 2

Psychological explanations: Eysenck’s theory

parts

Answer 2

General personality theory	
Biological basis
Criminal personality	
Role of socialisation
Measuring the criminal personality

Question 3

General personality theory

Answer 3

└Eysenck (1947) 
  └proposed behaviour could be represented along 2 dimensions 
    └introversion / extraversion (E)
    └neuroticism / stability (N)
  └added a 3rd dimension
    └psychoticism (P)

Question 4

Biological basis

Answer 4

└personality traits are biological in origin
└depends on the type of nervous system we inherit
└personality types e.g. criminal have innate biological basis
└extraverts: underactive nervous system
└constantly seek excitement and stimulation
└engage in risk taking behaviours
└don’t condition easily or learn from mistakes
└neurotic individuals: nervous, jumpy, anxious
└=unpredictable behaviour

Question 5

Criminal personality

Answer 5

└criminal personality type= neurotic + extrovert
└combination of both their personality characteristics
└score high on psychoticism
└cold, unemotional, aggressive

Question 6

Role of socialisation

Answer 6

└personality is linked to criminal behaviour via socialisation processes
└criminal behaviour= developmentally immature, impatient, concerned with immediate gratification
└socialisation: the process where children are taught to delay gratification and become more socially orientated
└people with high E and N scores had nervous systems that made them difficult to condition
└=wouldn’t learn to respond to antisocial situations with anxiety
└=more likely to act antisocially

Question 7

Measuring the criminal personality

Answer 7

└personality can be measured
└Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI)
└form of psychological test which determines personality type

Question 8

Psychological explanations: Eysenck’s theory

strengths

Answer 8

Evidence supporting Eysenck’s theory
└Eysenck and Eysenck (1977)
└compared 2070 male prisoners scores on the EPI with 2422 male controls
└subdivided into age groups, 16-69
└prisoners scored higher than controls on measures of psychoticism, extraversion and neuroticism
└=supports theory

└HOWEVER Farrington et al (1982)
└reviewed studies
└found offenders scored high on P measures, not E and N

Question 9

Psychological explanations: Eysenck’s theory
limitations
summary

Answer 9

Idea of a single criminal type - Terrie Moffitt (1993)

Cultural bias - Bartol and Holanchock (1979), Bartol et al

Question 10

Psychological explanations: Eysenck’s theory
limitations
Idea of a single criminal type

Answer 10

└the idea that all offending behaviour can be explained by a single personality type has been heavily criticised
└Terrie Moffitt (1993)
└proposed several different types of male offender depending on when the first offence was and how long offending lasts

Question 11

Psychological explanations: Eysenck’s theory
limitations
Cultural bias

Answer 11

└Bartol and Holanchock (1979)
└looked into cultural differences
└studied Hispanic and African-American offenders in a maximum securest prison in NY
└divided them into 6 groups depending on their offence
└all six groups less extrovert than non-criminal control group

└Bartol et al
└suggested this was because the sample was very culturally different than Eysencks
└=criminal personality cant be generalised