Eysenck’s Theory Of The Criminal Personality

Question 1

Who proposed general personality theory

Answer 1

Eysenck in 1947

Question 2

What did Eysenck propose

Answer 2

That behaviour could be represented along two dimensions: introversion/extraversion and neuroticism/stability
(And the third dimension - psychoticism)

Question 3

What was the third dimension eysenck later added on

Answer 3

Psychoticism

Question 4

According to Eysenck, our personality traits are biological in origin and come from…?

Answer 4

The type of nervous system we inherit from our parents
Therefore all personality types have an innate, biological basis

Question 5

Characteristics of extraverts

Answer 5

• underactive nervous system, so they’re constantly seeking excitement and stimulation p, and may engage in risk-taking behaviour

Question 6

Why do extraverts not learn from their mistakes?

Answer 6

They’re difficult to condition

Question 7

What are neurotic individuals like?

Answer 7

• tend to be nervous
• jumpy
• over anxious
  Their general instability means their behaviour is often difficult to predict

Question 8

What’s the criminal personality type

Answer 8

Neurotic extravert (combo of all those characteristics and behaviours)

Question 9

What did Eysenck suggest a typical offender will also score highly on?

Answer 9

Psychoticism - cold, unemotional and prone to aggression

Question 10

In Eysenck’s theory personality is linked to criminal behaviour via what

Answer 10

Socialisation

Question 11

Why did Eysenck see criminal behaviour as developmentally immature

Answer 11

It’s selfish and concerned with gratification

Question 12

Why did Eysenck believe that people with high extraversion and neuroticism scores did not learn easily to respond to their anti-social impulses with anxiety

Answer 12

Because they had nervous systems that made them difficult to condition

Question 13

In which situations will those with high extraversion and neuroticism act more antisocially

Answer 13

Any situations where the opportunity presents itself!

Question 14

What did Eysenck develop

Answer 14

The Eysenck Personality Inventory

Question 15

What does the Eysenck Personality Inventory do / measure

Answer 15

Locates respondents along the extraversion and neuroticism dimensions to determine their personality type

Question 16

How is psychoticism measured then

Answer 16

Eysenck developed another later scale to do ot

Question 17

(-) Farrington et al reviewed several studies and what did he report

Answer 17

That offenders tended to score higher on psychoticism, but not on extraversion and neuroticism than non-offenders so Eysenck is kinda waffling

Question 18

Why is it wrong to explain all offending behaviour by a single personality type

Answer 18

• 2 simplistic
  Crime is too varied and complex a behaviour a behaviour to be due to one single personality type (e.g fraudster vs murderer r v diff 💀)

Question 19

What theory is Eysenck’s out of step with

Answer 19

Modern personality theory

Question 20

As the theory is out of step with the modern one, what model do we use instead that suggests more personality dimensions

Answer 20

Digman’s Five Factor Model of personality suggests that openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness are important personality dimensions, in addition to extraversion and neuroticism

Question 21

Why is the idea Eysenck’s theory is based on a weak basis

Answer 21

Eysenck’s theory is based on the idea that it is possible to measure personality through psychological tests
Personality may not be reducible to a score in this way

Question 22

Why can there be no way to have a stable personality

Answer 22

As on a daily basis, people change depending on who they’re with and the situation they’re in

Question 23

(-) how did Bartol and holanchock look into cultural differences

Answer 23

• they studies hispanic + African American offenders in a max security precision and divided them into 6 groups based on their criminal history and the nature of their offences

Question 24

What did bartol and holanchock find

Answer 24

All 6 groups were found to be less extravert than non - criminal control groups
Therefore Eysenck’s theory might be culturally biased