psycholoigical explanations-Eysenck theory

• What did eysenck propose?

  he proposed that behvaiour could be represented along 2 dimensions

  -intoversiom/extraversion

  -neurotoism/stability
• What do these 2 dimensions combine to form?

  these 2 dimensions combine to form a variety of personalitiy characterisitcs or traits
• What do eysenck later add?

  later added 3rd dimesnsion

  -called psychotomism
• What basis are perosnalitites?


  personality traits are biological in origin and come about through the type of nervous system we inherit

  >therefore all personality types including the criminal personality type have an innate, biological basis?
• What is consisted of the criminal personality?

  -individuals who score highly on measures of extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism

  -and cannot be easily conditioned

  -is cold and unfeeling and is likely to engage in offending behaviour
• What is consists of extraverts personalitiy?

  -underactive nervous system

  -which means they consistently seek excitement, stimulation and are likely to engage in risk-taking behaviour

  -tend not to condition easily

  -don't learn from their mistakes
• What is consists of neurotic personality?

  -nervous, jumpy and over-anxious

  -general instability means their behaviour is often difficult to predict
• What is consists of psychotism perosnality?

  -cold

  -unemotional

  -prone to aggression
• What is the role of socialisation?


  He saw criminal behaviour as developing mentally immature in that it is selfish and concerned with immediate gratification- they are impatient and cannot wait for things
• What is the process of socialisation?

  is one in which children are taught to become more bale to delay gratification and more socialy orinteded
• Why cant criminals condiiton

  he believes that people with high E and N scores had a nervous system that made them difficult to condition

  -as a result, they would not respond easily to antisocial impulses

  -so they are more likely to act antisocially in situations when presented
• What measure did eyesenck develop?

  eysenck perosnlaity invetory (epi)

  -a psychological test which locates respondents along the E and N dimension to determine your personality type

  -a later scale eas introduced that is used to measure psychotism
• E-Strength-Supporting evidence in eysenck theory

  -supporting evidence in eysenck theory

  -sybil and hans eysenck compared 2070 prisioners score on EPI with 2422 male controls.

  -found prisionera recorded higher scores than controls
• E-Limitation-contradictory evidence


  -contradictory evidence

  -Farrington revealed several studies and reported that offenders tended to score high on P measures but not for E and N
• E-Limitation-no single criminal type


  -no single criminal type

  -moffit proposed several distinct types of adult male offender based on timinings of the offence and how long offending persit
• E-Limitation-culture bias


  -culture bias

  -datrol and Holanchock studied Hispanic and African-American offenders in New York and divided them into 6 groups based on criminal history and the nature of the crime

  -found all 6 groups were found to be less extravert than non-criminals

  -batrol suggested this was because their sample was a different culture group