heavens study

• heaven supports eysencks theory that criminals share a similar personality
• 3 personality traits

  • psychoticism
  • extraversion
  • self-esteem
• aim of the study

  to prove that the criminal personality of psychoticism, extraversion and self-esteem would lead to delinquency
• what is delinquency?


  minor crime, especially committed by young people
• it took 2 years, which makes it a longitudinal study
• what is the sample

  282 students from 2 catholic schools
• what is the research method?

  longitudinal correlational study
• procedure

  1. students were asked 2 questionnaires to find out what their personality type was and how much delinquency they committed
  2. 2 years later, the questionnaires were asked again
• findings

  • positive correlation between psychoticism and delinquency
  • weak positive correlation with extraversion
  • no correlation with self-esteem
  • males were more likely to be delinquents
• criticisms

  • culture bias
  • correlational study means they cant establish cause and effect
  • questionnaire study means they could lie as it is self report