PY4 - Psychology: Controversies, Topics and Applications
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Individualistic explanations for criminal behaviour
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PY4 - Psychology: Controversies, Topics and Applications
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WJEC
Answering the question (Describe one individualistic explanation of criminal behaviour? ) 10 marks. Awarded 10/10
Psychology in real world: component 3, criminal behaviour
PY4 - Psychology: Controversies, Topics and Applications
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Describe one individualistic explanation of criminal behavior? 10 marks
one individualistic explanation of criminal behavior is Eysenck’s criminal
personality test. Eysenck argued that differences in the personality type
between criminals and non-criminals have biological biases and is shaped by
the environment. He stated that certain personality traits are associated with
criminal behaviour, e.g., Extroversion, which is when a person is outgoing and
sociable and it’s the opposite of introversion. This links to criminality as he
purposed that people with high levels of extroversion are more likely to take
risks and be thrill seekers because they inherit and under aroused nerves
system, so they seek stimulation to restore the level of optimum stimulation.
Neuroticism is the opposite of stability. Someone with high levels of
neuroticism is more likely to be unstable, overreacting to events and quick to
anger, which is linked to criminality as Eysenck stated that people who have
high scores in both Extroversion and Neuroticism don’t condition well, meaning
that they don’t learn the society’s rules and social norms easily and they don’t
learn from the punishments and thus majority of criminals’’ personalities are
like this and those are more likely to re-offend because they don’t learn from
their mistakes of experiences or try to avoid further punishments.
Lastly, Psychoticism, which is the opposite of normality. A link has been found
between high levels of testosterone and Psychoticism and there is a good link
between crime and Psychosis (rule breaking, aggression and impulsivity). This
could be seen through statistics as according to Statista in 2022 in England and
Wales 96% of the prison population were males, this could be explained
through the personality type test of Eysenck as men tend to have higher levels
of testosterone comparing wit females which might be linked to higher levels
of psychoticism that is associated with criminal behavior.
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