Eysenck's theory

• Personality theory:

  • Eysenck was an important figure in personality and intelligence research.
  • He proposed that behaviour could be represented along two dimensions: introversion- extraversion (E) and neuroticism- stability.
  • The two dimensions combine to form a variety of personality characteristics or traits.
  • Later added a third dimension- psychoticism sociability.
• Biological basis

  = Our personality traits are biological in origin and come about through the type of nervous system we inherit. So all personality types have an innate, biological basis.
• Criminal personality= feature of Eysenck's theory of crime, an individual who scores highly on measures of extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism and cant easily be conditioned, is cold and unfeeling and is likely to engage in offending behaviour.
• Extraverts:

  • Have an under active nervous system which means they constantly seek excitement, stimulation and are likely to engage in risk-taking behaviours.
  • They also tend to not condition easily and therefore don't learn learn from their mistakes.
• neurotic:

  • Individuals have a high level of reactivity in the sympathetic nervous system- they tend to respond quickly to situations of threat.
  • This means they tend to be nervous, jumpy and overanxious, and their general instability means their behaviour is often difficult to predict.
• Psychotic:

  • Individuals are suggested to have higher levels of testosterone and are unemotional and prone to aggression.
• Criminal personality

  = Type is neurotic- extravert- psychotic.

  • Neurotics are unstable and prone to overreact to situations of threat.
  • Extraverts seek more arousal and this engage in dangerous activities.
  • Psychotics are aggressive and lack empathy.
• Role of socialisation

  • Eysenck saw offending behaviour as developmentally immature in that it is selfish and concerned with immediate gratification- offenders are impatient.
  • This process of socialisation= children are taught to become more able to delay gratification and more socially orientated.
• Role of socialisation

  • Eysenck believed that people with high E and N scores 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.
• Measuring the criminal personality

  Eysenck developed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, a form of test which locates respondents along the E, N and P dimensions to determine their personality type.

  • The measurement of personality enabled him to conduct research relating personality variables to other behaviours like criminality.
• Evaluation- research support

  Eysenck compared 2070 prisoners' scores on Eysenck Personality Questionnaire with 2422 controls.

  • On measures of extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism across all the age groups that were sampled, prisoners recorded higher average scores than controls.
  • This agrees with the predictions of the theory that offenders rate higher than average across the three dimensions Eysenck identified.
• Evaluation- counterpoint

  Farrington conducted a meta analysis of relavant studies and reported that offenders tended to score high on measures of psychoticism but not for extraversion and neuroticism.

  • There is also inconsistent evidence of differences on EEG measures between extraverts and introverts which cast doubt on the psychological basis of Eysenck's theory.
  • Means some of the central assumptions of the criminal personality have been challenged.
• Evaluation- too simplistic

  Limitation= idea that all offending behaviour can be explained by personality traits alone.

  • Moffitt drew a distinction between offending behaviour that only occurs in adolescence and that which continues into adulthood.
  • She argued that personality traits alone were a poor predictor of how long offending behaviour would go on for, 'career offending.
  • She considered persistence in offending behaviour to be the result of a reciprocal process between individual personality traits and environmental reactions to traits. More complex
• Evaluation- cultural factors

  Limitation= cultural factors are not taken into account.

  • Criminal personality may vary according to culture.
  • Bartol and Holanchock studied hispanic and african-american offenders. The researchers divided offenders into 6 groups based on their offending history and the nature of their offences.
  • Found that all 6 groups were less extravert than a non-offender control group whereas Eysenck would expect them to be more extravert.
  • Suggested that is was because the sample was a very different cultural group from that investigated by Eysenck.
  • Questions generalisability