Psychological explanations for offending : Eysench's theory

The criminal personality definition

an individual who scores highly on measure of extraversion neuroticism and psychoticism and cannot be easily conditioned
high e + high n + high p

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Personality theory

he said that criminal behaviour is partly caused by personality
certain personality traits make them more likely to offend especially when combined with poor socialisation

Eysenck said that behaviour could be represented along two dimensions - introversion-extraversion (E) and neuroticism-stability (N)
psychoticism (P) (most important) - associated with agression and lack of empathy
extraversion - sociable and enjoy excitement
neuroticism (N) - more anxious and emotionally unstable
personality affects how easily someone is socialised bc a child who is easily conditioned learns that bad behaviour = punishment → avoid doing it again
but people who are high is extraversion and neuroticism may be harder to condition therefore they may not lean from punishment as effectively
chain : personality → difficulty with conditioning → poor socialisation → criminal behaviour

Biological basis

psychoticism
- they have higher levels of testosterone , unemotional and prone to aggression

extraversion
- they have an under-active nervous system which means they are always looking for excitement and are likely yo engage in risk - taking behaviour
- lower levels or cortical arousal so they seek stimulation
neuroticism
- they have high levels of reactivity in the sympathetic nervous system so they respond quickly to situations of threat, tend to be overanxious

Socialisation

socialisation is where children are taught to become more able to delay gratification and become more socially oriented

offenders are concerned with immediate gratification
Eysenck didn’t say: “High P = criminal.” but that personality interacts with environmental influences and makes them difficult to condition
Biological personality → affects conditioning → affects socialisation → affects offending

Measuring the personality

Eysenck developed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ).
- It measures: E – Extraversion , N – Neuroticism, P – Psychoticism
It also contains a Lie Scale (L) to identify people who may be giving socially desirable answers.

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Strengths

Research support (Eysenck & Eysenck)
- compared 2070 prisoners scores on the EPQ with 2422 controls
- they found that prisoners scores higher on E,N and P than a control group
- this supports the idea that criminal behaviour is associated with Eysenck personality dimensions

Practical application
- the EPQ provides a standardised way of measuring E,N and P
- this means that researchers can compare the personality of offenders and non offenders objectively
- this has helped psychologist investigate the relationship between personality and offending

Limitataions

Contradictory research (Farrington et al)
- conducted a meta-analysis of research into Eysenck’s personality dimensions.
- They found inconsistent differences in E, N and P between offenders and non-offenders.
- This contradicts Eysenck’s claim that a particular combination of personality traits is associated with criminal behaviour.
- Therefore, the evidence for Eysenck’s theory is inconsistent, reducing the validity of the theory.