Eysenck

• criminal personality consisted of:

  1. extraversion = outgoing, seeks attention from others
  2. neuroticism = unstable, anxious and unpredictable
  3. pyschotism = low impulse control
• extroverted: tend to have an underactive nervous system

  • no adrenaline produced = seek stimulation through crime

  acts of vandalism, murder, sexual assault, drugs and drink related crime

  
  

  the nervous system that you inherit will impact how well you are socialized, selfish and want immediate gratification
• neurotic: overreactive nervous system, always on edge and touch

  • lead to acts of gang violence
• psychotic: high levels of testosterone, linking to high aggressions

  • violence and domestic crimes
• immediate gratification:

  • theft, immediate rewards with a lack of effort to gain it
  • violent crime, instant thrill of seeking revenge
• research from Eysenck: assessed male prisoners and compared them to a control group.

  • assessed 2070 male prisoners who were compared to 2422.
  • on measured of E, N and P, prisoners recorded higher scores than the control group = supporting Eysenck theory
• evaluation of research:

  strengths:

  • method is replicable, same questions used within the questionnaires

  weaknesses:

  • alpha bias, male study, doesn't explain female behaviour
  • american men, cultural element of lack of generalizability
  • subjective, self-report questionnaires that may not be entirely accurate
• evaluation of study:

  strengths:

  • Holistic and interactionalist element, considered the biological and environmental factors.

  weakness:

  • biologically deterministic, argues crime i innate - undermines justice system
  • wrongful convictions, being both doesn't necessarily mean you are criminal