Eysenck's personality explanation (Year 13 Booklet 7)

Define psychological explanations of offending behaviour

Explanations which assume that criminality is best explained through looking towards social and psychological influences

What are the 4 psychological explanations of offending

• Eysenck’s personality theory

• Cognitive explanations

• Differential association theory

• Psychodynamic explanations

What are the 3 traits that Eysenck’s theory suggested were particularly important for behaviour?

• Extraversion/Introversion

• Neuroticism/Stability

• Psychoticism/Socialisation

Define trait

A consistent pattern in the way people think, act and feel

Define Psychoticism

• A personality trait describing individuals who are aggressive, cold, unemotional and lacking empathy

• Opposed to socialisation where individuals learn the norms, values, and behaviours expected by society

How is Eysenck’s PEN theory measured?

Using Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI)

Define extraversion

• A personality trait describing individuals who draw energy from social interactions and seek stimulation

• As opposed to introverts who are quieter and more reserved

Define Neuroticism

• A personality trait describing individuals who are emotionally unstable, anxious, jumpy and unpredictable

• Opposed to those who are calm and emotionally stable (stability)

Why is Eysenck’s theory somewhat of a middle ground theory?

What is the biological origin of extraversion? What situations does this mean they are looking to seek out?

• Due to low levels of cortical arousal caused by an underactive nervous system

• Seek out things that will stimulate nervous system

  • risk-taking

  • thrill-seeking

What is the biological origin of neuroticism?

Hypersensitive sympathetic nervous system

What is the biological origin of psychoticism?

High testosterone levels

Define socialisation

How we learn to interact appropriately with the people and world around us

Why did Eysenck believe people who were highly extraverted were harder to condition?

Due to underactive nervous system they require instant gratification

Give Eysenck’s definition of the conscience

A conditioned emotional response that prevents antisocial behaviour and helps us regulate behaviour in a healthy way

Why do people with high extroversion engage in general antisocial behaviour?

1. Less conditionable

2. Conscience is conditioned

3. Do not learn conscience

4. Conscience not present to prevent antisocial behaviour

(Limitation) Why might Eysenck’s theory be reductionist? What other personality theory considers more dimensions of personality?

• Assumes there is only one single criminal type

• Digman’s OCEAN (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism) personality test is thought to be a more comprehensive assessment of personality

  • Multiple combinations of OCEAN traits increase likelihood of criminality (different types of criminality)

• Strength Counter: OCEAN wouldn’t have been developed without Eysenck’s theory

(Supporting Evidence) What did Eysenck and Eysenck (1977) find when comparing EPI scores?

• Sample

  • 2070 male prisoners

  • 2422 male controls

• Findings

  • Found prisoners had high Psychoticism, Extroversion and Neuroticism scores across all ages

  • Increases validity

(Limitation) What did Bartol and Holanchock find that reduces generalisability of Eysenck’s findings?

• Sample

  • Hispanic and African American Offenders

  • In NYC maximum security prison

• Findings

  • Regardless of nature of offence, offenders scored lower on extraversion than non-criminal controls

  • Opposes Eysenck’s theory → Eysenck’s theory shows cultural bias