AO1

• According to Eysenck, personality traits are innate and come about through the type of nervous system we inherit. He suggested that the criminal personality had an innate biological basis.
• General personality theory - Eysenck proposed behaviour could be represented along two dimensions: introversion/extroversion and neuroticism/stability
• Biological basis - Eysenck believed our personality traits are biological and come about through the type of nervous system we inherit
• Extroverts have an underactive nervous system meaning they constantly seek excitement whereas neurotic individuals tend to be nervous and overanxious and their instability means behaviour is difficult to predict
• Criminal personality: neurotic-extrovert, Eysenck suggested that a typical offender will also have high levels of psychoticism (cold, unemotional and aggressive)