Looks like no one added any tags here yet for you.
+evidence to support the criminal personality
Sybil & Hans Eysenck: compared 2070 prisoners scores on Eysencks personality Questionnaire with 2422 controls
Across all age groups were sampled (on measures of extraversion/neuroticism/psychoticism)
Prisoners recorded higher average scores than controls
Agrees with predictions of the theory that offenders rate higher (neurotic-extravert) than others
-counterpoint
David Farrington et al: conducted meta-analysis of relevant studies & reported that offenders tended to score high on psychoticism (but not for extraversion & neuroticism)
inconsistent evidence of differences on EEG measures between extraverts & introvertsâcasting doubt on Eysencks theory
-too simplistic
Terrie Moffitt: drew a distinction between offending behaviour that only occurs in adolescence & which continues into adulthood
Argues personality traits alone were a poor predictor of how long offending behaviour would go on forâsomeone likely to become âcareer offenderâ
Presents a more complex picture than Eysenck suggested, that course of offending behaviour is determined by interactions between personality & environment
-cultural factors not taken into account
Criminal personality may vary according to culture
Curt Bartol & Howard Holanchock: studied Hispanic & African-American offenders in a max-security prison in New York
Researchers divided offenders into 6 groups based on their offending history & nature of offences
Found all 6 groups were less extraverted than non-offender control group (Eysenck expected them to be more extraverted)
questions generalisability to other cultures