Eysenck's theory of criminal personality - psychological explanations of offending behaviour

what are the three features of a criminal personality

neuroticism, psychopathy, extraversion

why are extraverts likely to commit crime

they have an underactive nervous system so they constantly seek excitement

what don’t extraverts do

learn from their mistakes becuse they are hard to conditon

why are neurotic people likely to commit crimes

they have an overactive nervous system and respond quickly to threats

what is a neurotic person’s behaviour like

nervous, overanxious and difficult to predict

what are psychotics likely to commit crimes

they have high levels of testosterone, unemotional and prone to aggression

what role does socialisation have in offending behaviour

extraverts and neurotics are likely to act antisocially because they are developmentally immature

supporting evidence - evaluation

Eysenck compared prisoners and control scores on Eysenck’s personality quiz and found prisoners scored higher on extraversion, psychotic, neurotic

opposing evidence - evaluation

Farrington conducted a meta-analysis and found offenders score high on psychoticism but not extraversion or neuroticism

determinist - evaluation

if a criminal personality is innate then why do some people commit crime sin childhood but not adulthood