psychological explanations: eysencks theory Flashcards
what was the personality theory
-Eysenck proposed behaviour could be reprsented along intoversion-extraversion(E) and neuroticism-stability (n)
AND psychoticsm- stability(p)
what were extraverts
-underactive nervous system
-seek exicitement
-engage in risk taking beh
-dont learn from mistakes(cant conditon easily)
what were neurotics
-high level reactivity(sympathetic nervous system)
-respond quickly w Fight or flight
-nervous, jumpy, overanxious
-behaviour is hard to predict
what were psychotics
-higher levels of testosterone
-unemotional
-prone to agression
what is the criminal personality
-neurotic-extravert-psychotic
-neurotic are unstable, overeact to threats
-extraverts seek more arousal and engage in dangerous activities
-psychotics - agressive and lack empathy
whats the role of socialisation
-offenders want immediate gratification(imaptient and want things quickly)
-Eysenck saw that those with high E or N had nervous systems that made it difficult to conditon
what happens if an individual had a nervous system hard to condition
-less likely to learn anxiety responses to antisocial impulses and more likely to act anti social in situations
how did eysenck measure the criminal personality
-EPQ
-a psycholgical test
-locates respondents on E,N or P to determine personality type
what are the strengths to this theory
(supporting evidence)
-eysenck and eysenck assesed 2070 male prisoners on scores on the EPQ and compared them w acontrol grp of 2422 non criminal males
-E,N,P recorded higher scores than control
-supports theory
weaknesses of the theory
(counter research support)
-farringdon et al reviewed studies and found offenders to typically score higher on P measures not E or N
-consistent differences on EEG measures between extro and intro (to measure cortical arousal) hasent been found (makes invalid)
(too simplistic)
-cant use personality type alone
Moffitt = drew a distinction between offending occuring in adolesecne and contuniing in adulthood
-personality was poor predcitor for how long it occurs
-persistence in offending may be a result of a recirprocal process between traits and env
-diathesis stress may be better explained
(cultural factors)
-bartol and holanchock
-looked at hispanic and african american offenders
-all less extrovert than non criminals
-eysenck said criminals were more extrovert
-sample was culturally diff from E’s group
-limits generalisability
how can we argue a mismeasurement of personality
-we cant reduce personality type to a score from EPQ
-personality and criminal personality is too complex so exp is limited
how can we argue theory and biological approach
-eysenck theory may be seen as biologically reductionist and determinist
