eysenck's theory

• what eysenck's theory of the criminal personality

  agrees criminal behaviour has a biological basis but looks at the impact of this on personality. believes personality traits are biological at origin and develops based on the nervous system we inherit
• what are the dimensions behaviour can be expressed (eysenck)

  • extroversion
  • introversion
  • stability
  • neuroticism
  • psychoticism
• what is neuroticism

  having difficulty coping with stress, displays unpredictable behaviour and view the glass as half empty
• what is stability

  can cope with stress, have good self confident and less reactive to negatie events
• what is psychoticism

  someone who is cold, unemotional and aggressive
• outline the role of socialisation in the criminal personality theory

  criminal behaviour = developmentally immature

  due to a lack of adequate socialisation they don't learn how to delay gratification and are more likely to behave antisocially
• what type of nervous systems to extroverts have

  an under active one whereby they seek excitement and engage in risk taking behaviours
• outline how you measure the criminal personality

  a psychological test which measure extroversion, neuroticism and gives individuals a personality type
• what is the issue with using a questionnaire to assess criminal personalities

  • ppts could lie
  • ppts could give socially desirable answers
  • personality isn't stable so we shouldn't reduce it to a score
  • therefore there may not be a constant personality type that is driving our behaviour
• explain why eysenck's theory is biologically deterministic

  criminal behaviour isn't chosen yet is influenced by factors outside of an individual control e.g. their biology. inherited nervous systems governs our behaviours and personality types.
• explain cultural bias in eysenck's theory

  • psychologists looked into cultural differences
  • studied hispanic + african american offenders in prison
  • divided offenders into 6 groups based on criminal personality
  • all 6 groups were less extroverted than the non criminal group
  • theory cannot be generalised across cultures