A psychologist asked adults to complete the psychoticism scale of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. Each adult then made ten choices between a small immediate reward and a larger delayed reward. The mean results were:
| EPQ psychoticism group | Mean number of immediate rewards chosen out of 10 |
|---|---|
| Higher-scoring group | 8.1 |
| Lower-scoring group | 3.2 |
Describe how Eysenck's theory could explain the pattern in the table through brain function at the synapse. In your answer, include one reason why these results do not show that dopamine activity causes psychoticism.
135 exam-style questions on OCR GCSE Psychology 1.2 Theories/Explanations of why criminal/anti-social behaviour occurs, covering 1.2.1 SLT: identification with role models, 1.2.2 SLT: observation and imitation, 1.2.3 SLT: vicarious reinforcement, 1.2.4 SLT: direct reinforcement and internalisation; criticisms, 1.2.5 SLT research study: Cooper and Mackie (1986), 1.2.6 Eysenck's Criminal Personality Theory, 1.2.7 CNS, arousal and criminal personality, 1.2.8 Brain function, synapses and dopamine in psychoticism, 1.2.9 Dopamine reward, RAS and cortex in extroversion, 1.2.10 Autonomic nervous and limbic system in neuroticism, 1.2.11 Early socialisation and conditioning; criticisms, and 1.2.12 Criminal Personality research study: Heaven (1996). Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.