psychological explanations : Eysnecks theory

Question 1

Eysenck suggested that there was a specific criminal personality (neurotic-extravert) which could be measure across

Answer 1

two dimensions initially neurotic-stable and extravert-introvert
with the third dimension of psychoticism being added later

Question 2

the criminal personality theory has considerable links with biological explanations of criminality because the theory views criminals behaviour as

Answer 2

being due to the activity of the nervous system , which is attributed to specific personalities.
for example extraverts have an underactive nervous system so are looking for new stimulation , which may exhaling their nervous and impulsive nature.

Question 3

the type of personality a person has and the activity of the nervous system which they inherit both affect the extent to which the individual is affected by

Answer 3

socialisation , which occurs in childhood and aims to teach children essential social-communication skills as well as the value of delayed gratification.

Question 4

those with a (criminal) neurotic-extravert personality are unable to perceive

Answer 4

antisocial behaviour as negative or undesirable and so act accordingly

Question 5

personality can be measured across the 3 dimensions using the

Answer 5

EPI , Eysnecks personality Inventory

Question 6

the criminal personality , is the PEN personality

Answer 6

pscyhoticism
extraverted
neurotic

Question 7

• the EPI takes on a reductionist approach to assessing and measuring personality , as suggested by Mischel 1988

Answer 7

Personality traits are unlikely to all be accounted for using only 3 dimensions and measured by being assigned a single number. 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.

Question 8

• Eysnecks criminal personality theory may also suffer from curtal bias due to

Answer 8

the largely Western culture from which the sample was drawn, as suggested by Bartol and Holanchock (1979). For example, these researchers found that a group of Hispanic convicts were less extravert compared to non-criminals (a control group), which suggests that Eysenck’s theory is not universal and so lacks generalisability to all cultures.

Question 9

• the criminal personality theory shares a weakness similar to the top-down approach , and that is an oversimplification of the classification of criminals

Answer 9

It is unlikely that there is only one criminal personality type, as suggested by Digman’s Five Factor Model which suggests that there are additional dimensions along which personality can be measured.These include extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience (or Intellect).