Personality

Levels of analysis

Different perspectives or approaches to explaining a phenomenon

Psychological explanations

Emphasize the personal experience and personality of the individual as the cause of criminal behavior

Sociological explanations

Emphasize the social or cultural background of the actor as the cause of criminal behavior

Macro-level differentiation

A broad categorization that is not detailed enough to be useful

Personality evaluation

The assessment of an individual's predisposition to behave in a particular way

Personality disorders

Enduring pathological or criminal behaviors that are inferred from certain personality characteristics

Causative role

The role that pre-existing and stable personality characteristics play in behavior

Personality Types

Clinical-descriptive personality "types" are uncommon and personality is best seen as a constellation of qualities that interact to form behavior.

Structural Models of Personality

A constellation of qualities that interact to form behavior. Clinical observations and self-reported personality disorder assessments strongly support this structural approach to personality.

Dimensional Structural Models

Models like Eysenck's PEN and Costa and McCrae's five-factor model are academic psychology's most powerful typological schemes.

DSM-IV Personality Disorders

Structural models of personality correlate with DSM-IV personality disorders and psychopathy, suggesting that even clinically observed conditions are underpinned by general dispositional processes.

Higher-Order Constructs

Personality disorders and psychopathy are likely higher-order constructs emerging from lower-level processes.

Extraversion (E)

A personality trait characterized by outgoing, sociable, and energetic behavior.

Neuroticism (N)

A personality trait characterized by anxiety, moodiness, and emotional instability.

Psychoticism (P)

A personality trait characterized by aggression, impulsivity, and lack of empathy.

Gray's Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory

A biosocial orientation-influenced hypothesis linking personality to criminal behaviour that argues there are two motivating systems for regulating behaviour.

Behavioural Activation System (BAS)

A system that regulates responses to reward and is facilitated at the neuronal level by activation of dopaminergic neural pathways.

Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS)

A system that regulates responses to aversive stimuli and is considered a septo-hippocampal system.

BIS-BAS model

A model that has consequences for behaviour difficulties in children, where a strong BAS is connected with externalizing problems, whereas a strong BIS predicts internalizing problems.

General Theory of Crime (GTC)

A sociological theory that defines the characteristic of criminal behaviour as a lack of self-control, which develops early in infancy as a result of parental example and early teaching.

Low Self-Control

The defining characteristic of criminal behaviour according to the GTC, which is a lack of self-control that develops early in infancy as a result of parental example and early teaching.

Behavioral Activation System (BAS)

A system that regulates responses to reward and is facilitated at the neuronal level by activation of dopaminergic neural pathways.

Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS)

A system that regulates responses to aversive stimuli and is considered a septo-hippocampal system.

Self-report questionnaires

Limit personality-crime research. Participants must describe their regular behaviour to the researcher. Antisocial people may be less honest than a normative sample. Many raters improve psychometric instrument data integrity.

Personality disorder assessment

Assessed with self-report scales such the NEO-PI-R, NEO-FFI/NEO-FFI-R, PEN, Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, and Profiler. Usually diagnosed through structured clinical interviews like the IPDE. Screening interviews and case histories assess psychopathy.

Eysenck’s PEN Model

Defines three major personality traits

Five-Factor Model (FFM)

A personality model that identifies five general personality qualities that can explain most human behavior.

Structural Traits

Personality theories that are highly empirical and based on extensive factor-analytic research to find the dimensions underlying variation in psychometric instruments.

Neuroticism (N)

A dimension of the Five-Factor Model that significantly influences seemingly dissimilar dimensions such as self-esteem, locus of control, and generalized self-efficacy.

Integration of Personality Discoveries

Researchers in the field attempt to integrate personality discoveries with data from other disciplines, including genetics, biology, primatology, and experimental psychology.

Context-Dependent Personality

The debate about whether personality is context-dependent, and whether specific traits reliably predict antisocial behavior, and whether it is complicated by other variables.