Eysenck's Theory of the Criminal Personality

Eysenck (1947) proposed that behaviour could be measured and represented along two dimensions - introversion / extraversion (E) and neuroticism / stability (N). The combination of these two elements contributes to the make-up of personality.

A third dimension - psychoticism (P) was later added by Eysenck.

Eysenck suggested that personality traits originate from biology, therefore they are innate.

He suggested this was linked to the activity of the nervous system, which is inherited.

Extroverts have an underactive nervous system, so constantly seek excitement and interest, and don't learn as well from mistakes.

Neurotic people are nervous and anxious, and are generally unstable.

Eysenck argued that the criminal personality is a combination of extravert and neurotic characteristics, as well as psychotic characteristics - unemotional and prone to aggression.

Eysenck saw criminal behaviour as developmentally immature, as the criminal is concerned with instant gratification - instead of waiting before they can get something, they take it straight away.

If an individual had a high N and E score, they would find it hard to learn delayed gratification in childhood and be socialised properly.

Therefore, they would be more likely to act in selfish, antisocial ways if given the chance.

Eysenck developed the 'Eysenck Personality Questionnaire' (EPQ), a test which measures where respondents would be placed along the E and N dimensions, to determine their personality type.

+/- Eysenck and Eysenck (1977) found that criminals scored highly on E, N, and P measures compared to a control group of non-criminals, supporting the theory. However, Farrington et al (1982) reviewed studies which showed that criminals scored highly on P measures, but not E and N. Therefore, the evidence for the theory is mixed.

- It has been suggested that there are many different types of criminal personality, depending on what types of crimes are involved and how they are carried out. Therefore, the idea that there is only criminal personality 'type' has been criticised as over-simplistic.

- The way of measuring personality (through a test which gives a 'score' for different dimensions) can be argued to be reductionist, not reflecting the true complexity of personality and how it may differ over time. This reduces the validity of Eysenck's theory.