Eysenck's theory of criminal personality

• general personality theory

  Eysenck proposed that behaviour could be represented along two dimensions

  1. introversion or extraversion
  2. neuroticism or stability

  the two dimensions combine to form a variety of personality characteristics. Eysenck later added a third dimension - psychoticism
• biological basis

  our personality traits are biological in origin and come about through the type of nervous system we inherit. all personality types including the criminal personality type are innate.
• extraverts

  they have an underactive nervous system which means they constantly seek excitement, stimulation and are likely to engage in risk-taking behaviour. they also tend not to condition easily and do not learn from their mistakes.
• neurotic individuals

  they tend to be nervous, jumpy and over-anxious, and their general instability means their behaviour is often difficult to predict
• the criminal personality

  the criminal personality type is neurotic extravert. a combination of all the characteristics and behaviour described for both neuroticism and extraversion. Eysenck suggested that the typical offender will also score highly on measures of psychoticism. psychotics are characterised as cold, unemotional and prone to aggression
• the role of socialisation

  the process of socialisation is in which children are taught to become more able to delay gratification and more socially orientated. Eysenck believed that people with high E and N scores had nervous systems that made them difficult to condition. They would not learn easily to respond to antisocial impulses with anxiety.
• measuring the criminal personality

  he developed the Eysenck Personality Inventory, a form of psychological test which locates respondents along the E and N dimensions to determine their personality type. A later scale was introduced that is used to measure psychoticism.
• A03 - evidence supporting Eysenck's theory

  • Eysenck compare 2070 male prisoners scores on the EPI with 2422 male controls
  • groups were subdivided into age groups from 16-69 years
  • prisoners recorded higher scores of psychoticism, neuroticism and extraversion than controls which supports the predictions of the theory
  • however, Farrington reviewed studies and reported that offenders tend to score high on P measures but not E and N. there is also little evidence of differences in EEG measures which doubts the psychological basis on the theory
• A03 - the idea of a single criminal type

  • has been criticised for being a single personality type to describe offending behaviour
  • Moffitt proposed several distinct types of male offenders based on the timing of their first offence and long the offending went on
  • Eysenck's criminal type is out of time with the modern personality theories, e.g. Digman's five factor model suggests alongside E and N there are additional dimensions of openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness
  • therefore a high E and N score does not mean offending is inevitable
• A03 - cultural bias

  • Bartol and Holanchock looked into cultural differences
  • they studied Hispanic and African-American offenders in a maximum security prison in New York and divided these into 6 groups based on their criminal history and nature of their offence
  • it was revealed all 6 groups were found to be less extravert than a non-criminal control group
  • Bartol suggested this was because of their sample was a very different cultural group than by Eysenck which questions the generalisability of the criminal personality