criminals are prone to faulty thinking and this makes them more likely to commit crime
study
240 males offenders, most of who’m had been committed to a psychiatric group
link to crime
criminals show a range of biases and errors in their thinking and decision making which may contribute to crime e.g. lying, secretiveness, the need for power and control, lack of empathy and a victim stance
strenghts
looks to measure personality traits and create profiles of particular character traits offenders may have
Rushton and chris john (1981) measure those with high levels of delinquency and found they scored high for ENP
limitations
sample of unrepresentative, only used male sand mostly iin psychiatric hospitals
high sample attrition rate- only 30 left by the end
