FP - Psychological explanations of offending behaviour: Eysenck's theory Flashcards

1
Q

Extraversion

A

According to Eysenck, this refers to outgoing people who enjoy risk and danger because their nervous systems are under-aroused.

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2
Q

Neuroticism

A

According to Eysenck, this refers to people with a negative outlook who get upset easily. Their lack of stability is due to an over-reactive response to threat (fight-or-flight).

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3
Q

Psychoticism

A

According to Eysenck, this refers to an aggressive, anti-social person who lacks empathy. This may be related to high levels of testosterone.

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4
Q

What type of explanation is Eysenck’s theory?

A

Psychological

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5
Q

When did Eysenck develop his theory of the criminal personality?

A

1967, 1978

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6
Q

What did Eysenck develop?

A

A theory of personality based on the idea that character traits (such as moodiness, talkativeness, etc.) tend to cluster along 3 dimensions.

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7
Q

What was Eysenck’s theory based on?

A

The idea that character traits (such as moodiness, talkativeness, etc.) tend to cluster along 3 dimensions.

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8
Q

What are the 3 dimensions of Eysenck’s theory?

A

Extraversion
Neuroticism
Psychoticism

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9
Q

What are the 2 most important dimensions of Eysenck’s theory?

A

Extraversion and neuroticism.

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10
Q

What is the opposite to extraversion?

A

Introversion

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11
Q

What is the opposite to neuroticism?

A

Stability

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12
Q

What is the opposite to psychoticism?

A

Normality

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13
Q

How are extraverts characterised as?

A

Outgoing, having positive emotions, but may get bored easily.

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14
Q

What is neuroticism?

A

The tendency to experience negative emotional states (such as anger, anxiety and depression) rather than positive emotional states.

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15
Q

What are psychotics like?

A

Egocentric, aggressive, impulsive, impersonal, lacking in empathy and generally not concerned about the welfare of other people.

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16
Q

How are the dimensions distributed?

A

Normally distributed

17
Q

What would we expect when the dimensions are normally distributed?

A

We would expect about 68% of any population to fall within one standard deviation from the mean.

18
Q

What is the personality test devised by Eysenck to assess an individual’s personality called?

A

The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ).

19
Q

What did Eysenck (1982) suggest about personality?

A

Suggested that each trait has a biological basis which is mainly innate.

20
Q

What did Eysenck claim about the variance for traits?

A

He claimed that 67% of the variance for the traits is due to genetic factors.

21
Q

What is extraversion determined by?

A

The overall level of arousal in a person’s nervous systen.

22
Q

Explain what Eysenck means in extraversion being determined by arousal levels

A

A person who is under-aroused requires more stimulation, whereas an over-aroused person doesn’t require this.

Extraverts seek external stimulation to increase their cortical (brain) arousal. Introverts are innately over-aroused and thus seek to reduce or avoid stimulation.

23
Q

What is neuroticism determined by?

A

The level of stability (i.e. amount of reactivity) in the sympathetic nervous system - how much a person responds in situations of threat (fight-or-flight).

24
Q

Explain what Eysenck means in neuroticism being determined by level of stability

A

A neurotic person is someone who is slightly unstable and reacts/gets upset quickly.

At the opposite end of this dimension the ‘stable’ personality has a more unreactive nervous system. They are calm under pressure.

25
Q

What has psychoticism been related to?

A

Higher testosterone levels.

26
Q

What does the fact that psychoticism has been related to higher testosterone levels mean in terms of where men and women would place on the spectrum?

A

Means that men (who have higher levels of testosterone than women) are more likely to be found at this end (psychotic end) of the spectrum.

27
Q

How can the link between personality and criminal behaviour be explained in terms of arousal?

A

Extraverts seek more arousal and thus engage in dangerous activities.

28
Q

How can the link between personality and criminal behaviour be explained in terms of stability?

A

Neurotics are unstable and therefore prone to over-react to situations of threat, which would explain some criminal activity.

29
Q

How is psychoticism linked to criminality?

A

Because individuals are aggressive and lacking empathy.

30
Q

How else other than in terms of the 3 dimensions did Eysenck also explain criminality?

A

In terms of the outcome between innate (biologically determined) personality and socialisation.

31
Q

How can criminality be explained in terms of the outcome between innate (biologically determined) personality and socialisation?

A

A person is born with certain personality traits, but interaction with the environment is key in the development of criminality.

32
Q

How can criminality be seen in socialisation and particularly in conditioning?

A

In a ‘normal’ person, wrongdoing is avoided because of previous punishment - when a person does something wrong they are punished and this reduces the likelihood that the behaviour is repeated (operant conditioning).

33
Q

What did Eysenck claim the link between extraversion, neuroticism and conditioning is?

A

He claimed that people who were high in extraversion and neuroticism were less easily conditioned and therefore they do not learn to avoid anti-social behaviour.

34
Q

What type of explanation is Eysenck’s theory?

A

Psychological explanation