psychological explanations of offending behaviour: Eysenck's theory

Question 1

what is personality theory?

Answer 1

• eysenck suggested behaviour could be represented along two dimensions
• two dimensions combined create variety of different personality traits
  1. introversion + extraversion
  2. stability + neuroticism
  later added third dimensions - psychoticism

Question 2

what does eyenck suggest about having a biological basis?

Answer 2

• personality traits biological in origin + come about through the type of nervous system we inherit
• including criminal personality type - innate biological basis
• extraverts
• neurotic
• psychotic

Question 3

what are extraverts?

Answer 3

• underactive nervous system - constantly seek excitement, stimulation + likely to engage in risk-taking behaviours
• tend not to condition easily therefore do not learn from mistakes
  outgoing, positive emotions, easily bored

Question 4

what are neurotics?

Answer 4

• high level of reactivity in the sympathetic nervous system responding quickly to situations of threat (fight/flight)
• means tend to be nervous, jumpy + overanxious
• general instability means behaviour often difficult to predict
  negative emotional states of anger, anxiety, depression

Question 5

what are psychotics?

Answer 5

• suggested to have higher levels of testosterone
• unemotional + prone to aggression
  egocentric, impulsive, impersonal, lack empathy

Question 6

what is the criminal personality type?

Answer 6

• neurotic-extravert - a combination of N+E characteristics
• eysenck suggested typical offender also score highly on measures of psychoticism

Question 7

how did eysenck measure criminal personality?

Answer 7

• developed EPQ - form of psych test locating respondents along E, N + P dimensions to determine personality type
• important enabling him to conduct research relating personality variables to other behaviours (ex. criminality)

Question 8

what is the role of socialisation?

Answer 8

• Eysenck said criminal behaviour is developmentally immature, selfish & concerned with immediate gratification. ​
• By the process of socialisation children are typically taught delayed gratification and self control.
• Criminals may not have been taught this – because E & N are difficult to condition i.e. children who have high E & N will be difficult to socialise properly.

Question 9

evaluate eysencks theory

Answer 9

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Question 10

how are eysenck and his wife a strength of his theory?

Answer 10

• Eysenck and his wife Sybil assessed 2070 male prisoners who were compared to a control group of 2422 males
• On measures of E, N and P, prisoners recorded higher scores than the control group across all age groups sampled
• which accords with the prediction of the theory

Question 11

what is a counter-point to eysenck and his wife?

Answer 11

Farrington et al (1982) conducted a meta-analysis and found that offenders tend to score highly on P measures, but not always on E and N

Question 12

how is not considering cultural factors a limitation of eysenck’s theory?

Answer 12

• CP may vary according to culture
• barton and halonchock (1979) found that AA and hispanic offenders are less extroverted than a control group
• contradicts criminal perosnality as not all criminals are extraverted
• cannot explain all types of offending as not all criminals fit the model
• too simplistic ad cannot explain all types of criminals

Question 13

how is the interactionist approach a strength of eysencks theory

Answer 13

• theory takes an interactionist approach to offending as it uses the diathesis stress model to explain offending
  suggests individuals have genetic predispositions through personality inherited nervous systems but offend due to the environment through socialisation
• where the individuals are not conditioned into delayed gratification
• recognises the importance of both nature and nurture in offending rather than focusing solely on either genes or socialisation

Question 14

how is methodological issues a drawback of eysenck?

Answer 14

• EPQ to assess an individual’s personality with the score/label given to person depending on answers they provide
• issue = uses simple yes/no questions questions offering forced choice - high in trait/low
• issue = asked for what best apply - may not represent ‘reality/ inaccurately labelling have/have not CP
• offenders often used in sample - social desirability bias
• decreases validity