Individual Differences Explanations: Criminal Behaviours

Eysenck's Theory of the Criminal Personality

  • Three dimensions of personality:

    • Extraversion-introversion: Extraverts seek stimulation; introverts avoid it.

    • Neuroticism-stability: Neuroticism involves negative emotional states; stability involves calmness.

    • Psychoticism-normality: Psychoticism includes traits like egocentricity and lack of empathy.

  • Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) assesses personality.

  • Biological Basis:

    • Traits are mainly innate (67% genetic).

    • Extraversion is linked to arousal levels in the nervous system.

    • Neuroticism is related to stability in the sympathetic nervous system.

    • Psychoticism is linked to higher testosterone levels.

  • Link to Criminal Behavior:

    • Extraverts seek arousal, leading to risky activities.

    • Neurotics overreact to threats.

    • Psychoticism involves aggression and lack of empathy.

    • Criminality arises from the interaction of innate personality and socialization.

    • Extraversion and neuroticism make conditioning (learning to avoid antisocial behavior) difficult.

Evaluation of Eysenck's Theory

  • Support for Link Between Personality and Criminal Behavior:

    • Dunlop et al. (2012) found extraversion, psychoticism, and lie scales predict delinquency.

    • Van Dam et al. (2007) found only a small group of juvenile offenders scored highly on all three traits.

  • Research on the genetic basis of personality:

    • Twin studies (Zuckerman, 1987) show that genetics account for approximately 40%40\% of the variance in neuroticism and extraversion.

  • Personality may not be consistent:

    • Mischel and Peake (1982) found little correlation between traits across different situations.

  • Personality tests may not be reliable:

    • EPQ uses binary answers and may not reflect true complexity; socially desirable answers may skew results.

Cognitive Factors

  • Cognitive Distortions: Irrational thinking that twists reality.

    • Hostile Attribution Bias: Tendency to interpret actions negatively, leading to aggression.

    • Minimalization: Reducing the negative interpretation of behavior to reduce negative emotions.

  • Level of Moral Reasoning: Kohlberg's theory of moral development.

    • Pre-conventional: Decisions based on rewards and punishments.

    • Conventional: Decisions based on maintaining relationships and societal norms.

    • Post-conventional: Decisions based on universal ethical principles.

    • Most criminals are likely at the pre-conventional level (Hollin et al., 2002).

    • Children under 10 are not charged with crimes as they are believed to be at the pre-conventional level.

  • Anger Management: Based on cognitive behavioral therapy.

    • CALM program: Aims to reduce anger by teaching participants to monitor and understand their emotions.

Evaluation of Cognitive Factors

  • Research Support for Hostile Attribution Bias:

    • Schönenberg and Justye (2014) found violent offenders interpret ambiguous expressions as aggressive.

  • Research support for level of moral reasoning:

    • Colby and Kohlberg (1987) found universal stages of moral reasoning.

    • Gudjonsson and Sigurdsson (2007) showed juvenile offenders reason at a pre-conventional level.

    • Chen and Howitt (2007) found offenders with more advanced moral reasoning were less likely to commit violent crimes.

  • Oversimplification of Complex Behaviors:

    • Cognitive explanations may oversimplify the causes of offending by focusing on thought processes, ignoring emotions, social environment, and biological influences.

  • Limitations of Kohlberg's theory:

    • Krebs and Denton (2005) argued moral principles justify behavior after the fact and can be overridden by personal gain.