Eysenck's Criminal Personality

• According to Eysenck, our personality traits are biological in origin and come about through the type of nervous system we inherit. Thus, all personality types including the criminal personality type have an innate biological basis.
• Extraverts – A person who scores highly on extraversion would have a nervous system with low arousal. This means that to fulfil their need for excitement they will engage in risky behaviours such as criminal activity. People who score highly on extraversion also tend not to condition easily and therefore do not learn from their mistakes.
• Neurotic individuals – have a high level of reactivity in the sympathetic nervous system meaning they respond quickly to situations of threat (fight or flight). This means people who score highly on neuroticism tend to be nervous, jumpy, reactive and overanxious making their behaviour difficult to predict. A person who scores low on neuroticism however does not have changeable reactions meaning their nervous system is stable and so are more in control of their responses to different situations.
• Psychotic individuals – are suggested to have higher levels of testosterone and are unemotional and prone to aggression.
• What are the three personality dimensions suggested by Eysenck?

  • Extravert and Introvert.
  • Neurotic and Stable.
  • Psychoticism.
• Psychoticism - Measured on a scale of low to high, psychotics are emotionally cold and do not feel compassion (heartless)
• Criminal personalities are highly extroverted, neurotic and psychotic.
• In Eysenck’s theory, personality is linked to offending behaviour via socialisation processes. Eysenck saw offending behaviour as developmentally immature in that it is selfish and concerned with immediate gratification – offenders are impatient and cannot wait for things.
• What is the process of socialisation?

  The process of socialisation is one in which children are taught to become more able to delay gratification and more socially oriented.
• Eysenck believed that people who scored highly on dimensions of extraversion and neuroticism had nervous systems that made them difficult to condition. As a result, they are less likely to learn anxiety responses to antisocial impulses and consequently they would be more likely to act antisocially in situations where the opportunity presented itself.