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Hans Eysenck's Personality Theory Analysis

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This essay will discuss four theorists and their theories in connection with crime causation. This will be explained by highlighting the issue of free will versus determinism when it comes to the cause of a crime. The four theorists who will be discussed throughout are, Sarnoff A. Mednick’s genetic theory which includes adoption studies, Gender theory relating to a key theorist Carol Smart with an approach relating to feminism, Hans Eysenck’s with his personality theory and finally, Robert K. Merton’s social theory.

The first essay for discussion is Sarnoff A. Mednick’s genetic theory. Genes are based around biological factors making this a determinist theory. Inherited genes decide a criminal’s behaviour or other abnormalities would be …show more content…
Hans Eysenck lived from 1959-1975 his theories were psychological focusing on what’s going on inside the mind. Personality being a biological factor Eysenck highlights how a human’s personality is trained to be persuaded towards crime. Eysenck believed there were two factors that had a part to play in personality traits, Introversion/Extroversion. An introversion personality is a person who is shy and focused they do not like stimulation as it can lead them to not performing well due to being over-aroused An extroversion personality is someone who is very outgoing and need high arousal levels to be able to perform well. They can also be very unpredictable and like taking risks. The second factor is Neuroticism/stability. A neuroticism personality is a person who shows they are emotionally insecure and show features of anxiety. A person who is stable will show features of being calm and even-tempered. Hans Eysenck says a criminal has a neurotic extrovert personality meaning they are outgoing. Eysenck then investigated E, N, P and criminal behaviour on how personality has a connection with criminal behaviour with socialization methods. Eysenck viewed criminal behaviour as being selfish. This left concern for urgent gratification. Socialization is when children are trained to become more able to delay gratification through conditioning. When a child acts in a childish manner they are disciplined for this leading to anxiety by showing signs of withdrawing behaviour. If this process is a success thinking about behaving in a withdrawn manner creates anxiety this results in the person preventing this from happening. Eysenck believed people with higher E and N scores have nervous systems that make it hard to condition. The outcome on this would not be able to react with antisocial impulses with anxiety, therefore, they are more likely to act in a bad manner in a setting where the chance presents itself.

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