Eysenck's Personality Theories (OCR GCSE Psychology): Revision Note

Eysenck's criminal personality theories

• Hans Eysenck (1916–1997) proposed that criminal behaviour stems from biological differences in personality

  • He argued that certain personality traits make individuals more likely to engage in criminal or antisocial behaviour

• Personality, according to Eysenck, is largely inherited, but can also be influenced by environment and learning

Eysenck’s three personality dimensions

• Eysenck identified three core personality traits that everyone has to varying degrees

  • Extravesrion (E)

  • Neuroticism (N)

  • Psychoticism (P)

• They are measured using the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ)

• Individuals can score high, low, or somewhere in between on each trait

Extraversion (E)

• People who score highly on extraversion are sociable, lively, and outgoing

• Their nervous system is under-aroused, so they seek stimulation through excitement, risk-taking, or antisocial acts

• At the opposite end, introverts are quiet, reserved and cautious

• Criminal personality link:

  • Criminals are often extroverted, seeking the thrill or excitement of crime

  • Their low arousal means they are less sensitive to punishment, making them harder to condition

Neuroticism (N)

• People who score highly on neuroticism are anxious, moody, and emotionally unstable

• Their autonomic nervous system (ANS) is overreactive, making them easily stressed or aggressive

• At the opposite end, stable individuals are calm, controlled, and resilient

• Criminal personality link:

  • Criminals are often neurotic, showing impulsive or emotional outbursts

  • They may commit crimes to relieve anxiety or frustration

  • Because of their high emotional reactivity, they are less responsive to punishment and learn less effectively from negative consequences

Psychoticism (P)

• People who score high on psychoticism are impulsive, aggressive, egocentric, and lack empathy

• Those low in psychoticism have high impulse control and are warm, considerate, and conscientious

• Criminal personality link:

  • High psychoticism is most strongly associated with violent and antisocial behaviour

  • Eysenck believed psychoticism had a biological basis, involving dopamine activity in the brain

The biological basis of personality

• Eysenck proposed that biological systems in the brain and nervous system explain personality traits and how they link to criminal behaviour

Central nervous system (CNS)

• The CNS (brain and spinal cord) controls thinking, emotions and behaviour

• Differences in arousal levels within the CNS explain why:

  • extraverts seek stimulation (thrill-seeking, risk-taking, antisocial acts)

  • introverts avoid stimulation and prefer calm, controlled situations

Reticular activation system (RAS)

• Located in the brain stem, the RAS regulates arousal and alertness

• Extraverts have an under-aroused RAS

  • They seek external stimulation — such as excitement or crime — to reach optimal arousal

• Introverts have a highly aroused RAS

  • They are naturally alert and avoid overstimulation or risky behaviour

Dopamine reward system

• The dopamine reward system is a neural pathway responsible for pleasure and reinforcement

• Extraverts have a stronger dopamine response

  • They experience greater pleasure from rewards such as excitement, money, or status

• An overactive dopamine system can lead to addictive thrill-seeking or risk-taking, increasing the likelihood of criminal acts

Dopaminergic neurons and synaptic transmission

• Dopaminergic neurons release the neurotransmitter dopamine during synaptic transmission, producing feelings of pleasure and reward

• When dopamine release is excessive, it reinforces impulsive or aggressive acts, encouraging repetition of antisocial behaviour

• Overactive dopamine activity is linked to psychoticism, explaining the aggression and lack of empathy seen in some offenders

Autonomic nervous system (ANS)

• The ANS controls involuntary bodily functions, such as heart rate and the stress response

• High neuroticism is associated with an over-aroused ANS, making individuals:

  • highly reactive to stress or threat

  • more prone to anger, anxiety, and impulsivity

• This emotional instability increases the risk of aggressive or antisocial behaviour

Early socialisation and conditioning

• Eysenck argued that moral behaviour is learned through conditioning — linking wrongdoing with punishment and good behaviour with reward

• People high in E and N are harder to condition:

  • Extraverts are less sensitive to punishment because their nervous system is under-aroused

  • Neurotics are emotionally unstable, so learning from experience is inconsistent

• As a result, they fail to associate wrongdoing with punishment, making criminal behaviour more likely to persist

• Children high in E and N may resist early moral socialisation, so parents and teachers must work harder to reinforce appropriate behaviour

• However, Eysenck accepted that nature and nurture interact — not all extraverted or neurotic individuals become criminals

  • Some may channel their energy into risk-based but lawful careers (e.g. business, politics, sports)

Criticisms of Eysenck’s theory

• Ignores individual differences

  • Not all criminals share the same personality traits

  • It is too simplistic to group all offenders as 'neurotic extraverts' and assume similar causes of crime

• Too deterministic

  • The theory suggests people are born with traits that lead to crime, overlooking free will and personal responsibility

  • This deterministic view limits the usefulness of the theory for rehabilitation, since it implies that people cannot change

• Broad generalisations

  • Unlikely that all offenders share one personality profile, given the range of crimes

  • For instance, a spontaneous thief may have different traits from a calculated fraudster

  • Even Eysenck later acknowledged that violent offenders may be more emotionally stable than neurotic

• Concept of psychoticism

  • The P scale is vague and difficult to measure reliably

  • Critics argue that it may simply describe criminal traits rather than explain their cause

• Underemphasises nurture

  • The theory focuses heavily on biological influences, neglecting the role of social and environmental factors such as poverty, family, and peer influence

  • Critics suggest that with the right environmental conditions, neurotic extraverts can be socialised successfully and do not necessarily turn to crime