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PERSONALITY TYPES CRIMINALS HOW TO

Reductionist – To assume that criminal personality can be represented by a single score on a test is extremely limited.

Further research is needed to understand the cultural differences in the personalities or criminals. This would imply that Eysenck’s theory is not generalisable to other cultures.

Cultural bias – Holanchock (1979) studied Hispanic and African-American offenders and found that many of the offenders were less extravert than a non-criminal control group.

We expect criminals to accept responsibility for their actions, whilst this theory removes some of the responsibility from the criminal and could lead to a divide in agreement between various professionals within this system and implementation of the law. This does not fit in with societies treatment towards criminals.

Determinism – Assuming that criminal behaviour is due to the nervous system implies that individuals have limited freewill in their actions.

It found very little difference between extraverts and introverts which highlights issues with Eysenck’s biological theory. In addition, biological measures have been used to measure the differences in cortical arousal. This casts doubt on the accuracy of the theory.

Opposing research- Farrington (1982) reviewed several studies and reported that offenders tended to score highly on psychoticism, but not on extraversion or neuroticism.

As a consequence, interventions can be put in place to help individuals when they are young, and provide more opportunities to effectively develop socialisation in order to deter criminal behaviour or to re-channel the need for environmental stimulation into other directions.

Deterministic – The idea that the nervous system determines criminal behaviours is useful because it can be used as a predictor of criminal behaviours.

This provides support for the theory and therefore increases the scientific credibility. They found that prisoners recorded higher scores in extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism than controls.

Research to Support- Eysenck (1977) compared over 2000 male prisoners scores on EPI with over 2000 male controls.Consequently, they are more likely to be impulsive and anti-social. This is because, they are always battling against the nervous system which determines their behaviour.

PERSONALITY TYPES CRIMINALS HOW TO

As a result they find it very difficult to learn how to respond to anti-social impulses. Can you identify the high delayers and low delayers of gratification.Įysenck believed that people with high extraversion and neuroticism had nervous systems that made them difficult to condition. they are able to withhold and control their desires/impulses. Socialisation is a process where children are taught to delay gratification i.e. Take Eysenck’s Personality Inventory (EPI) and see how you score:Įysenck (1964) believed that a criminal personality, would be characterised by people who score highly on neurotism, extraversion and psychotism. This has been linked to high levels of testosterone. Later, Eysenck added a third personality dimension, psychoticism, which relates to the degree to which somebody is anti-social, aggressive and uncaring. A stable person’s nervous system will generally be less reactive to stressful situations, remaining calm and level headed. This could lead to criminal behaviour, because they have a lack of stability that leads them to be unpredictable. Those who are neurotic tend to be nervous, jumpy and over anxious. Neurotic individuals have an Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) that responds quickly to stress – over reactive. A high neuroticism score would represent someone who is more reactive and volatile. Neuroticism refers to the stability of personality. They tend to be serious, reliable and pessimistic.Ī person’s level of neuroticism is determined by the reactivity of their sympathetic nervous system (responsible for flight or fight). Introverts are reserved, plan their actions and control their emotions. They are already over-aroused and shun sensation and stimulation. Introverts on the other hand lie at the other end of this scale, being quiet and reserved.

In the context of forensic psychology, this environmental stimulation may include criminal behaviour. Bungee jumping is the perfect activity for extraverts! People with high levels of extraversion have a low level of arousal, meaning they require more environmental stimulation to fuel their excitement. Eysenck’s theory of criminal personality suggests that personality is biologically based and that personality traits include dimensions of extraversion/introversion (E) and neuroticism/stability (N) that can be measured using a personality questionnaire.Īccording to Eysenck, extraverts have an under-active nervous system, which means they constantly seek excitement.