Personality Flashcards
What are ‘personality traits’?
Stable and enduring tendencies to behave and think in a particular way
What is Eysneck’s trait theory of personality? (3 points)
He believed that the origin of these traits is mostly biological - centred on the arousal of the nervous system
These traits are found on a continuum:
+ Extrovert-introvert
+ Neurotic-stable
+ Psychotic
He believed criminals were positioned on the psychotic (P), extraverted (E) and neurotic (N) ends of the continuums and thus often referred to criminal personality as PEN
Define “extroversion” and “introversion”.
Extroversion - the degree to which someone is outgoing, sociable and prefers excitement
Introversion - refers to someone who is quiet, reserved and prefers solitary activities
What is the ARAS? (2 points)
Ascending Reticular Activating System - responsible for wakefulness
Suppressed when asleep and active when awake - activity leads to higher cortical arousal
How does the ARAS link to extroversion and introversion? (2 points)
Introverts - lower threshold
They require less external stimulation to experience equal cortical arousal
Extraverts - higher threshold
They require more external stimulation to experience equal cortical arousal
Define “neuroticism” and “stability”.
Neuroticism - refers to being emotionally unstable
Stability - refers to being emotionally stable and calm
What is the Autonomic Nervous System and how does it link to neuroticism/stability? (3 points)
The Autonomic Nervous System is controlled by the limbic system (hypothalamus and amygdala)
Neurotics - low activation thresholds
Their sympathetic nervous systems are stimulated by lesser stimuli than more stable individuals
Stable people -high activation thresholds
Calm under stressful situations
What is MAO?
Monoamine oxidase - involved in regulating and recycling neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin etc.
What is a ‘psychotic’ and what are their 3 symptoms?
Psychotic - an individual who is impersonal, self-centred and appears to lack empathy
Features:
* Low MAO levels
* High testosterone
* An underdeveloped prefrontal cortex which can’t control the fight-or-flight impulses from the amygdala well
What are the 1 supporting argument and 4 refuting arguments for personality traits linking to crime and antisocial behaviour?
Supporting:
McGurk and McDougal + Boduszek et al
Refuting:
Farrington et al + Rushton & Chrisjohn
Questionnaires’ credibility
EPQ’s credibility
Social Learning Theory
How do McGurk and McDougal and Boduszek et al support personality traits as an explanation for crime and antisocial behaviour? (5 points)
Boduszek et al
+ Investigated personality traits in predicting violent recidivism
+ Found extraversion predicted a greater probability of reoffending
McGurk and McDougal:
+ Compared delinquent and non-delinquent college students
+ Found the delinquent group to be higher in Psychoticism, Extraversion, and Neuroticism
+ The non-delinquent students were low in Neuroticism and Extraversion
How do Farrington et al and Rushton & Chrisjohn challenge personality traits as an explanation for crime and antisocial behaviour? (4 points)
Farrington et al:
Found that extraversion is less associated with criminality than the other two traits
Rushton & Chrisjohn:
Found a relationship between delinquency scores for extraversion and psychoticism but not for neuroticism
The involvement of each of the three traits in criminality has a high degree of variation in the research - difficult to determine which has the greatest influence on criminal behaviour
This brings the predictive validity of Eysenck’s PEN trait theory of criminality into question
How does the credibility of questionnaires challenge personality traits explaining crime and antisocial behaviour? (4 points)
Eysenck assessed personality traits to classify criminals using his EPQ (Eysenck’s Personality Questionnaire)
Evidence may be flawed due to social desirability bias
People may also lack self-awareness - their self-concept may be very different from their actual character
This brings the theory’s credibility and internal validity into question
How does the EPQ’s credibility challenge personality traits as an explanation for crime and anti-social behaviour?
The EPQ has been found to have high internal reliability for most traits
Tiwari administered a questionnaire of 48 items, including questions asking the same thing in different wording
They found items measuring extraversion and neuroticism were internally reliable however, psychoticism was not
Without reliability, validity is unachievable - EPQ measuring PEN personality lacks credibility
How do other explanations challenge personality traits linking to crime and antisocial behaviour? (4 points)
Reductionist - explains personality is mostly due to nature (arousal of the nervous system)
Eysenck acknowledged nurture by stating that extroverts are less receptive to operant conditioning - perhaps he has underplayed the nurture aspect
Social learning theory - people may observe and imitate their role models, such as energetic, moody, cold and unempathetic behaviours in parents
Rather than having their criminality dictated by their ARAS, sympathetic nervous system or MAO levels
