evaluation

• one strength of Eysenck's criminal personality as an explanation for criminal behaviour is that it is well supported by research.
• research support - example

  McGurk and McDougall (1981) used a personality questionnaire based on Eysenck's theory and administered it to 100 college students who were "delinquent" and 100 who were not.

  within the delinquent student sample, there were many students with both high extraversion and high neuroticism, as well as a sub-group who scored high on all three.
• research support - example

  in comparison to the non-delinquent group, there was a significant % of individuals with low neuroticism and extraversion scores.
• research support - link

  this is a strength as there is empirical evidence demonstrating the significant differences in personality between delinquents and non-delinquents, increasing the credibility of Eysenck's criminal personality as an explanation.
• however, whilst there is some empirical support for Eysenck's theory, a number of critics have argued that the data is flawed.
• research weakness - example

  Farrington et al. argues that these personality questionnaires are subject to response bias.

  since research in this area relies heavily on self-report measures of personality, it could be argued that people may tend to give a socially desirable answer and thus their answers are not truthful.
• research weakness - explain

  this research also utilises comparisons between convicted offenders and the general population - such research inevitably excludes those who commit crimes and aren't caught and convicted.
• research weakness - link

  these methodological issues are a weakness as it decreases the validity of the explanation, due to demand characteristics, and that the "supporting" research only tells us about the personality characteristics of "unsuccessful" offenders.
• one weakness is that the explanation assumes personality is consistent.
• situationist - explain


  situationist theories suggest that people may be consistent in similar situations, but not across situations.
• situationist - example


  Mischel and Peake (1982) asked family, friends and strangers to rate 63 students in a variety of situations and found almost no correlation between traits displayed.
• situationist - link


  this is a weakness of the explanation, as people don't simply have "one" personality.
• conclusion


  scores on a personality test are unlikely to be a sole method of identifying criminals.

  even though the three traits are a good predictor of delinquency, it is not close enough to use as a means of detecting who is likely to be a criminal.