crime - individual: eyesenck Flashcards
(3 cards)
supportive evidence
P: there’s supporting evidence that links personality traits to criminal behaviours
E: Dunlop et al found that extraversion and psychoticism were predictors of delinquency, as measured by minor offences over 12 months such as theft or traffic offences. Their research also used lie scales to control for social desirability bias, strengthening the validity of their findings
T: This is a strength supports that extraversion and psychoticism can be linked to criminality, showing how the explanation has predictive validity which can be used to work out which individuals may be predisposed and therefore have intervention to reduce criminality.
COUNTER: however delinquency was only measured in minor offences and so cannot be generalised to more major types of crime like rape or murder which would be more useful to be able to predict and intervene with before they happen. Additionally, Coleta van Dam et al found that only a small group of male offenders in a juvenile detention centre had high PEN scores
arent always consistent
P: A weakness of theexplanation is that it assumes personality traits are consistent across all situations.
E: Walter Mischel and Peake (1982) investigated this by asking family, friends, and strangers to rate the personalities of 63 students across various situations. They found little correlation between traits displayed in different contexts, supporting the idea that personality is situational rather than stable.
T: This is therefore a weakness because it undermines the concept of a stable “criminal personality,” which is central to Eysenck’s theory. If personality varies significantly depending on the situation, it becomes difficult to attribute criminal behavior to ‘stable’ traits. This situational perspective suggests that environmental factors and context may have a greater influence on criminality than previously thought, weakening the validity of the explanation.
interactionalist
P: A strength of Eysenck’s theory is that it takes a holistic approach by integrating biological predispositions with environmental influences.
E: low cortical arousal, highly reactive sympathetic nervous system or high levels of testosterone leads to high PEN and these individuals are less easily conditioned as they struggle to link the punishment to the behaviour. Therefore they don’t learn to avoid that particular behaviour, therefore explaining why they display the criminal behaviours that others don’t.
T: This is therefore a strength because it acknowledges the complexity of human behavior and avoids the reductionism often seen in purely biological theories. By emphasizing the interaction between nature and nurture, the theory provides a more comprehensive framework for understanding criminality.
COUNTER: However, critics argue that the theory still places too much emphasis on biology and does not fully explore the specific environmental factors, such as socioeconomic status or cultural influences, that may play a more significant role in shaping criminal behavior.
