Hans Eysenck

• Hans Eysenck believed that certain personality types were more likely to commit crime as they crave excitement.
• Different personalities

  1. Introverts - Who are more reliable and in control.
  2. Extroverts - Who become bored quickly and require stimulation.
  3. Neuroticism - People who are more anxious and irrational.
  4. Stability - People who are calm and in control.
• His study

  Eysenck studied 700 soldiers who were being treated for neuroticism and handed them questionnaires > He created 2 dimensions of personality: 1) I vs E 2) N vs S. He then later added neuroticism.
• His study (2) - What does this suggest about criminal behaviour?

  Extroverts, neurotics and psychotics are more likely to offend as they have immature impulse and thrill-seeking tendencies, and unable to accept wider norms and rules of society.
• Instant gratification vs delayed gratification.

  Low constraint = high psychoticism

  High constraint = low psychoticism
• Advantages of psychological theory

  1. Eysenck’s research on soldiers supported his theory > those with trauma scores higher on neuroticism.
  2. If his theory is correct, it gives a gateway to early intervention with children to support their development.
  3. His personality testing has formed the bass of many modern personality tests that try to predict people’s behaviours- includes psychometric tests.
• Disadvantages of psychological theory

  1. There’s a lack of reliability as people may not respond exactly the same questions each time - mood dependent. Also, researcher bias - may appease the researcher.
  2. Relies on ‘self-supporting’ measures about a person‘s personality - could lead to biased or deliberately false answer.
  3. Suggests that personalities can be genetic and fails to fully consider change over time.