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• Fill in the questionnaire. Don’t think too hard about your answers.

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• What do you think the questionnaire measures?

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Today’s session

You are learning about... You are learning to...• Eysenck’s theory of the

criminal personality• Apply psychological

concepts to explain and predict behaviour

• Use evidence to evaluate psychological theories

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Eysenck’s personality theory

Biological

Psychological

Social

Functioning of the nervous system

Stable psychological traits

Responses to socialisation (reinforcement & punishment)Behaviour in

situations where criminal behaviour is a possible outcome

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Eysenck’s personality theory

• People’s personality varies along two dimensions:– Extraversion – how much stimulation they need– Neuroticism – how emotionally unstable they are

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High N

Low N

Low E High E

People who have very changeable emotions; prone to anxiety and

depression

People who have very stable emotions

People who need lots of external stimulation

People who need little external stimulation

These traits are normally distributed. Most people have moderate scores; few people have extreme scores.

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E & N and the nervous system

• Eysenck suggests that E and N measure characteristics of the nervous system:– E measures your central and autonomic arousal level.

The lower this is, the more stimulation you need from your environment and the harder you are to condition successfully.

– N measures how strongly your nervous system reacts to aversive stimuli. The stronger your responses the more extreme your emotional changes. High N-scorers are also hard to condition.

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Nomological reductionism

• Eysenck suggests that each person’s unique personality is determined by their particular pattern of E and N, which is determined by their nervous system (and, probably, their genes).– What makes this a nomological view?– What makes this a reductionist view?

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Psychoticism

• Eysenck later added a third dimension (P). High P-scorers tend to be:– Cold– Uncaring– Solitary– Aggressive

• He also believed P to be largely genetically determined.

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• Which pattern of E, N and P scores is most likely to lead to criminal behaviour? Why?

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• Eysenck’s theory predicts that people who have high E, N and P will run a higher risk of offending, principally because it is difficult for them to learn to control their immature impulses.

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Evaluating Eysenck’s theory

• Evidence– Fairly consistent support for high N and P scores

but not high E scores– Response bias from self-report measures– Sampling bias when using convicted offenders

• Concepts– Circular definitions – what does P measure?– Personality trait may not be stable across

situations

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Evaluating Eysenck’s theory

• Usefulness– Makes broad statements about criminals in

general; does not address specific crimes– May assist in identifying those at risk of later

offending so prevention can take place