linsey- personality traits

• Hans Eysenck- what did he discover about personality?

  was interested in measuring personality traits that made people unique, he devised a model (EPI- Eysenck personality inventory) that represented all the traits that he though existed, Eysenck though the personality traits came from 2 factors. Conditioning= learning through the pleasure pain principle + Genetic inheritance= some nervous systems develop in different ways dependent on parental gene
• Hans Eysenck- how did he discover this?

  he designed a personality questionnaire, ranked them on a scale of E-N, sample included 700 soldiers who were being treated for neurotic disorders, statistical technique known as factors analysis- finding pattern and terms within large amounts of quantitative data
• Extraversion:

  E scale, personality type which is assertive, creative, dominant, active and attention seeking
• Introversion:

  personality type which is inward, looking shy, reserved and have low self esteem
• neuroticism:

  N scale, personality type which is anxious, moody, and prone to over reacting
• Emotional stability:

  personality type is calm, even tempered, controlled and unworried
• Psychoticism:

  P scale, personality type which is aggressive, anti social, ego centric, impulsive and lacking empathy
• Eysenck- how did it link to crime?

  suggested that young men are likely to scale high extrovert scale, repeat offenders are also likely to sore high extrovert scale, 'solitary misfits' or 'lone wolf offenders' score high on the psychoticism scale, psychopaths who lack empathy also score high on the psychoticism scale e.g. Anders Breivik
• problems with his theory-methodological

  measuring traits is difficult and subjective- depends on culture ideal personality traits, questionnaires can often be invalid- dependent on truth and understanding of peoples responses, sometimes more context needed, findings are static/snapshot, assumes the personalities don't change over time
• problems with his theory- ideological

  lacking causation, measuring stereotypes of personalities that society deem as wrong, people cope differently with their personality, awareness of the effects of personality types might occur
• policies to reduce crime

  Aversion therapy= reducing undesirable behaviour by conditioning (pairing a behaviour with a negative consequence), stops though which stops the crime, its.very limited and short term, very unethical, links to depression, anxiety and suicide