Personality Theory

• Eysenk Personality Theory:

  Strengths:

  • The theory is useful in describing how some measurable tendencies increase a persons risk of offending
  • Eysenk predicts that high P,E and N scores lead to criminality ans some studies support his predictions: offenders tend towards being extrovert, neurotic and psychotic.
• Eysenk Personality Theory:

  Limitations:

  • Farmington examined a range od studies. These show prisoners are neurotic and psychotic, but not extroverted
  • The E-Scale (extroversion) may be measuring two separate things: impulsiveness (lack of self-control), but not sociability (are loners).
  • Evidence on prisoners shows a correlation between personality type and criminality, but this doesn't prove that personality type causes criminality. It could be the other way round: being in prison might cause people to become neurotic
• Eysenk Personality Theory:

  Limitations (2):

  • Convicted offenders (on whom the theory is based) may not be typical of offenders as a whole. For example, less impulsive (low N) offenders may be more likely to avoid getting caught.
  • Eysenk used self-repost questionnaires which may not produce valid results: people may lie when asked about themselves.