Traditionally, psychology and criminology had remained a separate subject with not many psychological definition on crime causation. This has started to change as there is now more psychological research into crime and anti-social behaviour. One theory is personality traits of crime which looks at the different personalities of a criminal and a non-criminal.
Eysenck developed his very influential theory of personality which identified three dimensions: extroversion, neuroticism and psychoticism. He done this so that he could get a better understanding of criminal behaviour. To define these dimensions, Eysenck used a technique called factor analysis which combined and then reduced behaviour into the different dimensions (McLeod, 2014).
Eysenck believed that those who were introverted were more serious, reliable and pessimistic than extroverts. Their behaviour tends to be more controlled. Neurotics tended to be anxious, worried and moody. When neurotics are upset, they find it difficult to calm down. Individuals who had psychoticism were defined as being aggressive and troublesome. Eysenck has states that criminals are more likely to have neurotic personalities and have psychoticism (McLeod, 2014).
Eysenck's personality trait theory is at strength as it does show the personality of individuals who are more likely to commit crimes. However, his theory uses questionnaires to test personality and can be subject to an individual's bias and can therefore be seen as invalid due to not being provable.
Reference:
Simplypsychology.org. (2014). Theories of Personality | Simply Psychology. [online] Available at: https://www.simplypsychology.org/personality-theories.html [Accessed 25 Apr. 2017].
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