Nature evaluation by Louise O'Neill

strength

2023-11-02 09:57:49 UTC

simplicity

strength

2023-11-02 09:59:43 UTC

ability to measure key dimensions of personality

Strength

2023-11-02 10:00:39 UTC

Eysenck’s personality test can prevent crime from happening, this is because criminal behaviour can be found in early childhood meaning the behaviour being continued into adulthood can be prevented, therefore reducing crime.

Strength

2023-11-02 10:01:51 UTC

It is a simple test as it is a “Yes” or “No” questionnaire, this is a strength as it allows people of all capacities to partake in the test.

Weakness

2023-11-02 10:02:12 UTC

The test includes comparing the general public and known criminals, this is a weakness as it compares criminals to other criminals who haven’t been caught without knowing, therefore the personalities of convicted criminals may just be failed criminals.

Weakness

2023-11-02 10:02:24 UTC

Personality can change, this is a weakness because Eysenck studied personality to be stable traits, however people’s personality can be inconsistent meaning that the test taken and the answer given could change overtime.

strength

2023-11-02 10:02:24 UTC

reliability

Weakness

2023-11-02 10:02:57 UTC

Peoples personalities are not consistent with just a single personality. So, while somebody may appear calm and collected in their home, they could be more frantic and panicked at work.

1) Eysenck personality inventory (EPI) has both advantages and disadvantages an advantage of the EPI is that it takes into account both nature and nurture. Another advantage is that the traits that are identified in childhood and may turn into criminal behaviour can be treated and thus criminal behaviour can be prevented.

2023-11-02 10:03:26 UTC

Weakness

2023-11-02 10:06:12 UTC

The personality research is entirely based off a persons ability to self-report their own personality. If people struggle with this, then that could affect the results, making them inaccurate.

Dispute

2023-11-02 10:06:35 UTC

Howitt (2009) disputes Eysenck’s theory. Eysenck’s theory tells what personality traits criminals such as rapists and child abusers have, however it doesn’t tell why they do this, therefore trying to analyse the criminals is harder.

However a disadvantage of the EPI is that the subject may not answer honestly in order to choose answers the deem as socially acceptable another disadvantage is highlighted by Howit (2009) Eysenck’s theory tells us that rapists and child abusers are extravert, neurotic and psychotic, but it does not tell us why they rape or abuse children.

2023-11-02 10:09:04 UTC

2) Dispute Mischel (1968) disputes EPI because of the way Eysenck decided that personality is a set of stable traits which cause people to behave the same across a variety of different situations. Mischel argues that the reason for this is that people are just being observed in the same situations.

2023-11-02 10:13:16 UTC

Strength

2023-11-02 10:20:12 UTC

The Test itself is quite simple, giving the two options of ‘Yes’ and ‘No’. This would make it so anyone and everyone is able to participate in completing it.

Brunner

2023-11-02 10:20:50 UTC

Brunner only used a small group of men to carry out the research, this is a weakness as the overall evaluation is based on a small population, therefore cannot be compared fairly.

Strength

2023-11-02 10:22:34 UTC

Due to the simple nature of it, It means the test will not take a long period of time to complete.

Brunner

2023-11-02 10:49:39 UTC

The condition that was studied is quite rare, this means that the researchers were unable to compare it fairly to others who had the same gene present.

Brunner

2023-11-02 10:55:19 UTC

Brunner used a very limited subject group in his research 5 men from the same family meaning the results would apply to that niche group and not wider society

Brunner

2023-11-02 11:05:08 UTC

Brunner found that the men did not learn the violent behaviour, but it was genetic. This is a strength because it backs up the study and causes the violent tendencies.

brunner weakness

2023-11-02 11:05:49 UTC

Coupled with the fact that brunner used a very limited subject group some of the men could actually control their violent tendencies there for skewing the results

Brunner

2023-11-02 11:08:58 UTC

A strength is that the study only took place over a 24 hour period, meaning that it was quick and efficient for the results.

Weakness

2023-11-02 11:13:33 UTC

because someone is taking this test about their own personality they could easily lie making results inaccurate

Dispute

2023-11-02 11:14:25 UTC

Two genes were found to link towards violent behaviour in Finland, over 900 offenders had the gene. Jari Tiihonen, found that most people with the gene will not commit a crime and genetic makeup should not have influence in a court setting.

brunner

2023-11-02 11:14:28 UTC

as the experiment was strictly scientific there was no bias or desire to change answers due to social pressure

the study was simple to conduct and the study took only 24 hours to complete meaning it is easy to replicate

2023-11-02 11:15:20 UTC

Dispute

2023-11-02 11:22:13 UTC

Mischel (1968) disagrees with Eysenck's theory on how everyone's personality consists of stable traits. Mischel thinks that that's only the conclusion because people are only being observed in similar situations.

Weakness

2023-11-02 11:25:33 UTC

It's entirely possible that the way we measure someone's aggression could be different, making it biased.

Strength

2023-11-02 11:28:57 UTC

because of Eysenck's test we know criminal behaviour stems from childhood. this means we can do thing to prevent a child becoming a criminal when they grow up because we can spot these "criminal" personality traits.

Weakness

2023-11-02 11:29:13 UTC

A small group was used to conduct this experiment. This would mean that it’s a small sample, making it less accurate to the general population.

Strength

2023-11-02 11:30:34 UTC

Due to the experiment being entirely scientific, it led for no room to be biased or prejudice towards it. This would be a strength because it shows the results are not changed due to someone's opinion on it.

Maoa

2023-11-02 11:31:45 UTC

Jari Tiihonen analysed almost 900 criminals categorizing them into violent and non violent groups the association between genes and previous behaviour was strongest for the 78 who fitted the "extremely violent offender" profile. The two genes associated with violent criminals were the MAOA gene and a variant of cadherin 13 (CDH13) the non-violent offenders did not have these genes.

2023-11-02 11:33:28 UTC

it only took 24 hours to do and it discovered a gene that answered why the males in the family were so violent

Strength

2023-11-02 11:33:50 UTC

Due to the experiment only taking 24 hours to complete, it means that the experiment is easy to do again.

weakness

2023-11-02 11:34:33 UTC

However, it also has limitations, such as potential cultural bias and the exclusions of certain personality traits.

dispute

2023-11-02 11:35:12 UTC

as well as this theory can take you there a problem that have been looked into by Howitt (2009). He goes on to praise the attempt to align contacted levels of theorising. The name of this researcher was Dennis Howitt. He backs up his statement by saying that rapists and child abusers get this method used on them and they give us there personality which include, neurotic and psychotic traits but that doesn’t actually tell us why they rape or abuse children.

2023-11-02 11:35:29 UTC

he only used a small sample of 5 men which means they cant apply it to general population and Brunner only used men which excludes women

strength

2023-11-02 11:36:34 UTC

A strength would be that that’s it may explain gender related differences, woman have double x chromosome whereas men have the XY chromosome. another strength would be that only females carry this condition but it only affects males

weaknesses

2023-11-02 11:37:08 UTC

However the weaknesses are that the scale study is quite minuscule and that means it cannot be generalised within others.

dispute

2023-11-02 11:37:33 UTC

Brunner et al (1993) refers to a scientific study conducted by Brunner and colleagues in 1993. The investigated the genetic basis of aggressive behaviour by studying a specific gene called MAOA. Melissa Hogenboom wrote and researched Brunner et al (1993) and about MAOA. She writes about how there may be many of more genes intertwined that makes the extremely violent behaviour, but these genes cannot be used to profile criminals.

2023-11-02 11:37:49 UTC

easy to understand

2023-11-02 11:39:01 UTC

ability for the results to be expressed as a value

2023-11-02 11:39:11 UTC

can be bias

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not 100% accurate

Strength

2023-11-02 11:39:40 UTC

Study was simple and easy to conduct meaning it was easy to replicate.

Strengths

2023-11-02 11:40:12 UTC

The first Strength of Eysenck’s theory include usefulness in detecting criminal behaviour at a young age where intervention could be put in place to reduce the manifestation of criminal behaviour, therefore preventing crime.

2023-11-02 11:40:17 UTC

research (howitt (2009)) tells us that the criminals are neurotic and disordered but it doesnt tell us why they commit the crimes

2023-11-02 11:40:44 UTC

hereditary

Strengths

2023-11-02 11:40:52 UTC

The second Strength is that the Theory covers both Nature and Nurture and covers a broad spectrum of genetic, biological, psychological and social factors.

2023-11-02 11:41:00 UTC

more common in men to have dysfunctional gene

2023-11-02 11:41:20 UTC

study was only conducted with one family so it cant be compared

2023-11-02 11:41:40 UTC

maoa does not count for all acts of aggression

Weaknesses

2023-11-02 11:41:48 UTC

Mischel (1968) argues that people are typically observed in similar situations, and that consistency of stable personalities do not exist. Personalities can change in different situations/settings/environments which could be manipulated by others.

support

2023-11-02 11:42:00 UTC

Brunner (1993) looked at males in a large family from the Netherlands, who were exhibiting abnormally high aggression. 5 males in the family were tested and resulted for the dysfunctional version of the MAOA gene whilst the women in the family were not affected by the abnormal gene. The MAOA gene is a result of the X chromosome, and as females have two X chromosome even if they possess the dysfunctional MAOA gene, their other X chromosome has a high chance of having a MAOA gene which is not dysfunctional, which are more than likely dominant to the dysfunctional gene and therefore overpowers the dysfunctional gene which means they will not possess such aggressive traits.

2023-11-02 11:42:23 UTC

A genetic analysis of nearly 900 offenders in Finland revealed that two certain genes were linked to violent crimes. Those with certain genes (The MAOA and CDH13) are 13 more times likely to have a history of violent behaviour.

2023-11-02 11:44:39 UTC

Jan Schnupp from university of oxford disagrees saying that the genes may make you less likely to control your behaviour but it doesn't make you do criminal things

Weaknesses

2023-11-02 11:46:37 UTC

This type of Questionnaire/Personality Test relies on its participants to be truthful.

Supported evidence against

2023-11-02 11:47:35 UTC

Howitt (2009) suggests that Eysenck’s Theory only focuses on specific types of crime, ignoring the real concerns of psychologists. The Theory only tells us what category criminals fall into. The theory fails to tell us why criminals act the way they do.

Weaknesses

2023-11-02 11:49:31 UTC

This Study was only conducted on one small family, therefore cannot be generalised to the wider population.

2023-11-02 11:50:48 UTC

The MAOM condition is relatively rare, therefore further studies on this subject cannot be conducted enough for comparison outcomes.

Strengths

2023-11-02 11:53:45 UTC

This study was quick to complete and uncovered a gene linking violent behaviour to men in the same family which then explained the violent traits they all exhibited.

Strengths

2023-11-02 12:01:45 UTC

The results could not have been manipulated by Brunner due to all males in the study having a hereditary genetic disorder, therefore the results are of scientific nature.

Supporting Evidence

2023-11-02 12:21:56 UTC

A study was conducted by 'tuart et al. (2014)' on 97 males who had shown serious domestic violence towards their partners. The study concluded that the men who had displayed the most violence and aggression, and who had inflicted the worst injuries on their partners, did in fact have the faulty MAOM gene. These findings back up Brunner's findings in his study, which found the same MAOM gene present in 5 males who had also shown severe aggressive behaviour.